Essentials
Policies
The building blocks of analysis on Arterial
Arterial’s core functionality is based on the analysis of land development policies; we hold an enormous database of regulations ranging from zoning to official plans, development applications, and more.
Each project on Arterial is built on top of this database, and several powerful analysis tools are available to assist you in interpreting them:
On any policy page, you can use the Search button to search for specific policies or regulations. Arterial will find all references nd relevant information and show you a subsection of the extracts that match.To gain a better understanding of the policy, you can use the Create Interpretation button to ask Arterial to interpret the policy for you.
Quickstart
1
Project Creation
Projects are how Arterial analyzes specific parcels in conjunction with policies; you can create a project from the project dashboard, explore page, or a project dataset page.See Projects for more information on how to create a project.
2
Policy Overview
You can view all the policies Arterial has collected in the Policies tab in the sidebar.These policy values inform the regulations that Arterial is able to find; for all necessary manual values, we’ll provide the maps and information you need to fill out the correct information.
3
Searching & Interpretations
Interpretations allow you to gain a cursory understanding of regulations
by asking questions as you would to a planner.
Policy Information
Arterial’s policy algorithm
Arterial uses Datasets to find the zoning, official plan, and other policy values relevant to a project. Each of these values is paired with a particular set of regulations (an extract from a page of a piece of legislation or design guideline). Arterial then resolves every regulation that is referenced or references another one—allowing us to find the full set of regulations faster than any human could, at a level that is computationally verifiable.Inspecting extracts
Each regulation on Arterial is composed of a few core pieces, and can be inspected in detail:- Hovering on regulations allows you to view it in the context of the document
- Clicking on a section title scrolls to the relevant section in the document
- Clicking on the chevron to the left of a regulation will collapse/expand it
Frequently Asked Questions
How often are policies refreshed?
How often are policies refreshed?
All policies are refreshed on a weekly basis across all supported cities. We have servers that ping the relevant municipal, state, and provincial authorities looking for both consolidated bylaws and direct amendments to policies.Each of these amendments is processed and added to our large data graph on the fly—whenever you use Arterial for simulation, you can be sure that the policies are up-to-date.
How do I add a new policy?
How do I add a new policy?
All of Arterial’s policies are refreshed on-the-fly; if you have a policy that you would like to see added, you can send us the relevant information and we’ll add it to our database.
To voice support for new features, send an email to rishi@arterial.design or send Rishi a message on Slack.
How do I know if a policy is missing?
How do I know if a policy is missing?
All of Arterial’s policies are designed to be self-contained; policies will mathematically never be missing. In certain edge cases, we’ll have the most broadly applicable policy used for our own analysis.
Next Steps
Create a Massing
Build 3D visualizations and design your building envelope
Export Information
Export your policy analyses and datasets in a variety of formats
Explore Mode
Search for parcels and analyze policies across different areas
Variance Simulation
Test policy variations and explore development scenarios