MAPC worked with the City of Somerville's Digital Bridge Initiative to develop the city's first Digital Equity Plan. Developed as part of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute’s (MBI) Municipal Digital Equity Planning program, the plan addresses the disproportionate impacts that gaps in internet access, device availability, and digital literacy have on the community's most vulnerable populations. 

In May 2024, the Data Services Team achieved a major milestone in their ongoing multi-year effort to work with other Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs) to produce a statewide database for standardized trails data. 

For the first time ever, a partnership with MassGIS (Bureau of Geographic Information) was formalized and includes MassGIS hosting the database and providing the opportunity for RPAs to both directly contribute data and manage that data for their regions.  

MAPC's Data Services Team completed an analysis to identify the most suitable parcels for large ground-mounted solar within every municipality in Massachusetts. 

The analysis can be used to inform local zoning and land use policies to ensure that statewide solar deployment targets are met, and that solar is deployed equitably across municipalities. 

The research shows how municipalities can help achieve the statewide targets for solar power production laid out in the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan and the 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap. 

Data underlying the analysis came from the Department of Energy Resources’ Technical Potential of Solar Study. 

In partnership with MAPC's Transportation Team, the Data Services Team conducted an evaluation of Somerville's Transit Pass Pilot Program, which provided free MBTA transit passes to low-income residents and parents and guardians of Somerville public school students between 2022 and 2024. 

MAPC's evaluation of the program found that the free transit passes increased participants' use of public transit, and decreased their vehicle travel. 

Participants saved more than $500,000 on transit trips. Additionally, participants widely agreed that the passes had significant benefits on their finances and mental health, and that the passes resulted in them taking more transit trips and accessing more destinations than they had in the past.

In spring 2024, MAPC's Data Services' Research Team released an update to their 2017 report, The Waning Influence of Housing Production on Public School Enrollment, analyzing the relationship between housing unit development and school enrollment. 

Consistent with the original report, the update finds that there is no association between new housing unit development and increased school enrollment. Learn more and access the data and analysis on the An Update on Housing Production's Affect on Public School Enrollment webpage.

The updated analysis utilizes 2010 and 2020 decennial census date to quantify housing unit growth between 2010 and 2020 by municipality, and measures that growth against school enrollment data between the 2010/2011 and 2019/2020 school years.