Riverside's Economic Development Commission has enlisted a Northern Illinois University research team to revitalize the business climate downtown.

Six NIU students and their professor, Richard Greene, have volunteered to gauge downtown Riverside's potential for economic improvement through a method of planning known as geographic information systems.

GIS is a complex system of collecting and computing geographic data, in this case to come up with a practical and sustainable business scenario for downtown.

In September the six-member village committee formed three subcommittees - Business Outreach, Marketing, and Funding - to consider ways to boost the village's economy.

Commissioner Eric Kollman is part of the Business Outreach subcommittee.

He took it upon himself to contact Greene, an NIU professor, to see if he would be interested in putting together a preliminary project.

"NIU had a good reputation," Kollman said. "[Greene] indicated that he could find out if any of his students would be interested in doing it as a project."

Greene is a professor in the Department of Geography at NIU and is an accomplished and experienced urban planner, a geographer and an author.

"This was perfect timing, right when the class was starting Eric e-mailed me," Greene said.

Greene recruited the six students from his Land Use and Planning course at NIU, an upper-level course consisting of graduate and undergraduate students.

"This is going to present the students with a real-world opportunity," he said.

According to Greene the first step is to gather data, a lot of data.

Since Riverside's train access links it with other towns, which could potentially bring more consumers, the group will be paying attention to towns within the six counties that Metra serves - Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, McHenry and Kane - that resemble Riverside in terms of size, demographic and economic profile.

Each town, including Riverside, will be given a score on the basis of the overall amount and predominant types of successful businesses within each area.

This is known as an amenity index and the idea is to study what types of businesses are most successful in areas like Riverside.

Riverside will be included in the equation so the group can judge whether it should increase the amount and types of businesses that Riverside already has, in the event that it receives a high score; or, if it should take a different route, in the event that it receives a low score.

The system will be used to compare Riverside with other municipalities and possibly improve its score by putting together a scenario that resembles a similar town with a higher score.

There will also be a more intensive review of areas within a 5-mile radius to determine just how accessible different business scenarios would be to various populations.

Through an accessibility index, the group wants to look at what types of consumers are living within a 5-mile radius of downtown Riverside to judge what types of businesses would most likely succeed.

To gather all of this data, Greene and his students will be utilizing the online Yellow Pages, census records and sales data.

In addition, they will be going straight to the source and asking the people at the Riverside Metra station during rush hour what type of climate they would like to see downtown.

Through GIS the group will then be able to put all of this information together and package a preliminary report on the types of businesses that Riverside should reach out to.

"We bring this powerful tool [GIS] to the table ... [and] it's a volunteer effort," Greene said.

"There will be consulting firms that will say, 'Hey, why didn't we do this?'"

On Nov. 5, at the EDC's monthly meeting, the research team will be presenting the EDC with a preliminary report on their findings.

"Whatever we come up with, if the village doesn't like it they don't have to pay for it," Greene said.

"I think it's a good resource Eric has tapped into in how to make the next step for downtown," said EDC chairperson Deanna Zalas.

The commission must then decide whether or not to bring the Chamber of Commerce and the Planning Department to the table to consider moving forward with any of the group's suggestions.