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Community Development: Location One&

Presentation Site FAQ

The LocationOne& Information System (LOIS) presentation site displays the data and images entered in the administration site. The general public can access the presentation site and does not require a username or password. Download a printer-friendly version of this FAQ [PDF format - 2 pages, 161KB] Download the LocationOne Training Manual [PDF format - 53 pages, 3.65MB]

How long until the information entered into the administration site is displayed on the presentation site?

Once data is saved in the administration site, it is published instantly on the presentation site.

Can I integrate LOIS into my Web site? What does it cost?

Any Alliant Energy community can integrate LOIS into their Web site. The only charge is the cost for your Web site designer to modify your Web site to incorporate LOIS.

How do I integrate LOIS into my Web site?

Users must create hyperlinks using the following URL's to access a section or individual record.

To link to a section:

http://www.locationone.com/lois/logon.do?
username= userid &appsection= app section name

Example:

http://www.locationone.com/lois/logon.do?
username=alliant&appsection=buildings

To link to a specific record:

http://www.locationone.com/lois/logon.do?
username= userid &appsection= appsectionname &appsection1_id= ID#

Example:

http://www.locationone.com/lois/logon.do?
username=alliant&appsection=localities&community_id=2748

• userid: User ID (Note: users with a space in their user ID should enter “%20” instead of the space in the URL, i.e. Alliant Energy would be “Alliant%20Energy”).
• app section name: Insert one of the following words: states, counties, metros, localities, buildings or sites.
• appsection1 : Insert one of the following words: state, county, metro, community, building or site.
• ID# : Record's ID number. To identify a record's ID number, open the record in the administration site. The number will be the last number displayed in the browser address.

How can the public view my information in LOIS?

If you have integrated LOIS into your Web site, you should direct them to your Web site.

If you have not integrated LOIS into your Web site, you either need to direct them to Alliant Energy's Economic Development Web site or to your state's Web site if they are utilizing LOIS:

• Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
• Iowa Department of Economic Development
• Forward Wisconsin

By not integrating LOIS into your Web site, one disadvantage is that when you direct someone to Alliant Energy or your state's Web site, the user will see more than just your information. Their Web sites will show all records in their profile (i.e. Alliant Energy will show information for all four states it serves).

Can I send a link to someone to view our information in LOIS by copying and pasting the URL into an e-mail?

You cannot simply do a copy and paste from LOIS. The URL is different (it will start with https://secure) than what you would type in to link to a section or specific record.

The reason is that it has rolled over into a secure site (for security purposes). If you provide someone else with this URL, it will result in a log-in page.

Instead, you need to type in the link that you would use to integrate LOIS into your Web site .

If I integrate LOIS into my Web site, can the search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) search the pages that I'm linking to?

Search engines cannot search within the LOIS application. We recommend that you set up your Web pages with “meta tags,” including keywords, that describe your site and that visitors will use to search for this information.

Meta tag: HTML (programming language) code that provides information about a particular Web page. Keywords (a series of main words that describe the content of the Web page) are used most by search engines to see if your Web page matches the search criteria entered for a particular search.

Is it possible to export the data?

A feature has been added that allows users to download the information. To do this:

• Click on the gray Download tab.
• From the drop-down menu, select the type of information you want to download.
• Select the state(s) you want like information for. The state(s) listed on the drop-down menu is driven by the Web site the user is in. For example, on Alliant Energy's Web site, the user can select any of our four states; on Janesville, Wisconsin's Web site, the only option is Wisconsin.
• Select the county/counties you want information for (or can select All).
• Select the locality/localities you want information for (or can select All).
• For Buildings, you can select a range of square feet that you want (or can leave blank for All).
• Select the section(s) you want to include in the output (or Select All). The information will be exported into an Excel file.

When I conduct a search, it only allows me to select one state, county, locality, etc. at a time. Can a multiple search feature be added?

Users are able to make multiple selections on the search page by holding down the control key and making selections from the drop-down menu.