Acquiring landscape municipal code information has come a long way. EnCodePlus software https://encodeplus.com is an internet-based document editing and presentation system used for authoring, displaying and managing all aspects of land development regulations, zoning ordinances and municipal codes. The system allows you to view a city's full written code, plus maps of existing land use, streets, school districts, slopes, watersheds, ward boundaries, zip codes and zoning. This zoning map of Lenexa, Kansas was created with enCodePlus by Kendig Keaste Collaborative https://tinyurl.com/pymh4hg

Code Writing
Most citizens do not understand the world around them is built to the written word. Many assume that those who design cities"?uarchitects, landscape architects, engineers, interior designers and builders"?ucreate the elements of a community by simply drawing plans and being creative. Many assume that talented people learn how to design and build a city from lessons learned in technical schools or on the job.

But most professionals understand that communities are built according to municipal law. The rules, regulations and standards are found within a community's municipal codes, zoning ordinances, land development regulations, building codes and even landscape codes and tree ordinances used by landscape architects.

Code Research
In the early 1980s, a designer/planner had to go down to city hall or request a community's written code by mail. That took time, and when received, most often they were pages of typewritten documents. The new technology at the time was an IBM Selectric, an electric typewriter with built-in memory, a quantum leap from the old Smith Corona manual typewriters. Computers had not yet found their way into the hands of code writers.

Microsoft had been founded in 1975. Apple Computer ran its famous "1984" commercial during Super Bowl XVIII to introduce to the world the Apple Macintosh with its improved graphics capability"?ugraphical use interface (mouse), enhanced processor, memory capability, and a covey of simple software for drawing, painting and word processing.

There were few codification companies at the time, and most communities used their attorney or planning director to keep the code updated.

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To explore multiple design scenarios for Bay City, Kendig Keast Collaborative, a community-planning firm, used its in-house developed software tools to create this "North Downtown Plan" rendering for the Houston-Galveston Area Council and Bay City Community Development Corp. Source: Kendig Keaste Collaborative

Codification Companies
By 1990, with the advent of computer technology and the development of modern codification databases, code writing had changed. Today, large commercial databases exist: American Legal, Code Publishing, Conway Green, enCode-360, General Code, Keystone, LexisNexis, MRSC, MuniCode, Sterling Codifiers, and West Law are just a few that are used for code research. All have accessible subscription databases that are available 24 hours a day.

Changing Codes
Today, enhanced computer programs and desktop servers allow code storage, retrieval, editing and immediate publishing in color. Electronic codes now make use of graphics, are built around site use math and very fitting for use by municipal authorities and consultants.

Digital 21st century graphic codes have greatly simplified the search for information. This generation of developmental regulations makes it easy for the design, building, construction and legal industries to have immediate access to codes from a laptop, a tablet, or smart phone. Modern codes make use of the internet and cloud-based based storage, which allows rapid updating and publishing code revisions quickly. Computers easily allow the addition of graphics, dynamic tables, illustrations and even tools that allow for calculating parking and loading, landscaping, and buffering or even determining development yield. Digital codes can link parcel-based maps to the applicable zoning regulations. Computers use hyperlinking for efficient navigation, and rapid retrieval of definitions, illustrative diagrams, state laws and even miscellaneous written documents, such as meeting minutes or staff notes. The system is customizable to meet the needs of any level of government jurisdiction.

Cutting Edge Landscape Codes
A rising company that provides this type of code writing support is called enCode360, LLC https://encodeplus.com. This is an online code publishing company and self-codification system that was pioneered by the well-known national, planning and code writing firm of Kendig Keaste Collaborative (https://tinyurl.com/pymh4hg). Visit the website and test drive some of the most innovative and intuitive electronic codes that exist on the market today.

For instance, you can use the one-of-a-kind Buffer Builder interactive simulator to test various widths for yard buffers, and types and densities of plant material. You can add fences and berms to view their opacities and calculate whether they meet code requirements. Buffer Builder even allows you to see your design change with the season and after 5, 10 or 15 years. The tool displays the design in plan and elevation view.

You can arrange the "plant units" by dropping and dragging or just command the Buffer Builder tool to scatter them. The design is also seen in elevation views against a number of various zoning districts background photographic images.

On line codes are useful tool to quickly show the client what meeting the requirements of printed landscape code will look like upon completion of the project.