Density + Urban Structure

The urban experience is ultimately about the spaces between buildings.  When we look at the city of Toronto as a whole and analyze site coverage (aka the footprint of the building as a percentage of the total site area) and highlight sites that have high coverage (60% +), we see some obvious results as well as some outlying surprises.  Interestingly, industrial areas along the railway corridors also tend to have high coverage ratios, but presumably low density.  

How can we use this type of analysis to help determine opportunities for infill development?  

Collaborate easily with RATIO.CITY’s new SHARE feature

We’ve introduced clickable and shareable links to our platform to make it easy for our users to share projects with clients, consultants, investors and stakeholders.  We’re always adding new functionality and sharing links was a requested feature. Here’s how it works:

Step 1
Refine proposed 3D building massing - adjust front, side and rear setbacks, floor to floor heights, total height until appropriate.  Once ready to share...

Step 2
… click the share button and copy and paste the URL directly into an email.

Step 3
When clicked, the Recipient can log in and view the 3D building massing.  Recipients can’t change any settings unless they also have a subscription, but they can see all the setback assumptions and rotate the 3d model in its neighbourhood context on any web browser.   

RATIO.CITY is an online mapping and analysis tool that helps real estate developers, urban planners, architects and municipalities instantly evaluate potential development sites.  Get in touch with us to schedule a DEMO for your team!

$100K Pitch Competition Winner

We are so excited to announce that RATIO.CITY was selected out of 8 finalists for the grand prize of $100K in start up capital in Communitech's Fierce Founder Pitch Competition!

A Toronto architect determined to foster urban development and create “more dense, liveable cities,” has emerged as the winner of the latest Fierce Founders Bootcamp pitch competition.

Monika Jaroszonek, CEO and co-founder of Ratio.City, earned the $100,000 grand prize for the best pitch, making her case Thursday before a standing-room only audience at the Tannery Event Centre and a panel of five judges, beating out seven other competitors.

“This is very exciting because now it means we can start building out this functionality that we’ve been talking about and hopefully hit the market as quickly as possible,” said Jaroszonek after the symbolic cheque presentation.

“This really lets us hit the ground running. We’ve been bootstrapping, self-funded to date, and this lets us expand our team and … create a product that will be viable in the market, and help build those dynamic cities that will make great neighbourhoods for us all to live in.”

 (Communitech photo: Kelsey Vere)

Beta 2.0 Live Preview

We just released a overhaul of our original BETA!  Login with either your email or LinkedIn credentials for the next 2 weeks.  Take it for a spin and we would love to hear your thoughts!

Filter Search

Search for off-market sites across the whole city.  As a demonstration, we have set up filters for Existing Zoning Category and a limited number of Existing Uses.  What other search criteria do you consider a "must have" to make this an indispensable tool for off-market site identification?  

Updated User Interface Design

Adding the additional functionality required we tighten up the layout.  What you think about the new pull down menus, labels and toggles?  Was it easy enough to find what you're looking for?

user tips:

• reset the search by pressing CLEAR button;
• the closer your zoom, the faster the results return;
• scroll through the pagination at the bottom to see all results

Data Visualization

One of the most exciting aspects of new mapping technology is to give us new ways of seeing cities.   In this case, overlaying the existing built form and the allowable zoning heights in San Fransisco and highlighting the areas of the biggest differential.  This is a great example of an intuitive visualization of complex data sets that helps in understanding city structure and highlighting development potential.   

It made us start to think about changes to the planning approvals process and how we can use technology to find sites that meet Provincial Planning Policies and growth targets...stay tuned...