In 1999, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works created a new planning tool. The map was compiled in a digital environment from aerial photos and from land parcel data and targets areas along the 60 miles of Los Angeles River that could be transformed into public-use space.

For the master plan planning, the department used the latest, state-of-the-art computer-mapping technology, including MicroStation, as well as the most advanced methods of photogrammetry. If this preliminary study had been accomplished by traditional means, it would have cost $564,000 and involved onsite surveys, field trips, engineering mapping and review, and map preparation. The cost of its finished planning study was accomplished by aerial orthophotos that only cost about $64,000.