Came across this great article looking at the effects of the spread of mapmaking tools and greater access to data. While all this great access to tool and data is good, how do we ensure good quality in the use of these tools? And how do we use these tools to broaden the dialogue and conversations in our communities? Interesting food for thought.
Is GIS about to get as ubiquitous as word processing, and if so what are the implications?
The Nonprofit Technology Network has put together a great intro on how online maps actually work and the tools you can use. Implementing truly gorgeous online maps still requires some custom code and technical know-how – but, the cost and learning curve involved has dropped considerably.
From our fine colleagues at Social Planning Toronto, here is a followup on using maps to display how proposed cuts to the City of Toronto 2012 budget will affect low income residents in Toronto. For those location-specific cuts are known, they are disproportionately located in low income neighbourhoods.
http://www.socialplanningtoronto.org/news/january-10-mapping-the-cuts-part-ii/
From our fine colleagues at Social Planning Toronto, check out the use of maps to display how proposed cuts to the City of Toronto 2012 budget will affect low income residents in Toronto. For those location-specific cuts are known, they are disproportionately located in low income neighbourhoods.
http://www.socialplanningtoronto.org/news/december-6-mapping-the-cuts/
A volunteer effort to map all the food stores in Brooklyn, New York, is an example of two rising trends: citizen mapping and increasing scrutiny of urban Americans’ access to healthy food. Would be great to work on similar projects here in Canada. Read the full article here:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mapping-the-food-desert
The online map can be found at http://foodcensus.org/
