1. Community Mapping ACM Mid-Southeast Conference November 12, 2010
Josh Moore
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Brian Toone
Community Mapping

2. Overview Goal – answer the question… What is community health?
Provide tools to help make progress towards answer
mapmycity.org – visual display of GIS data,
data collection
servemycity.org – collect organization and
volunteer info
resourcemycity.org – facilitate charitable giving

3. mapmycity.org

4. Marker display for spot-location data

5. How is data collected? Completed Map page entry Street address
GPS coordinates
In-progress
Facebook
Twitter
Smartphone Apps

6. What kind of data is stored?
Census data
Data currently used is from 2000 census
Marker-based information
User
Category
Latitude and longitude
Full street address
Reference to a stored picture (if applicable)
Date reported
Date resolved
Why collect this data? To show changes over time.

7. Heat map display for summary data
polygon overlays

8. How are the heat maps created?
Census data obtained and stored in MySQL database.
Data is queried based on user input (e.g., median income for Birmingham)
Green, yellow, and red polygons are drawn on the map using Google Map’s GPolygon API function.

9. Heat map display for markers
GPolygon overlays

10. Marker display for spot location data
Public safety (e.g., abandoned houses)
Social services (e.g., charitable organizations, clinics)
Education (e.g., schools, job training, Bible studies)
Business/commerce (e.g., businesses, shopping centers)
Workforce (e.g., employment agencies)
Technology (e.g., internet cafes, free wi-fi locations)
Churches (e.g., church locations)

11. How are the marker maps created?
XML file is parsed by GDownloadURL request
as map is loaded.

12. Example usage of spot-location data
Identify where to focus resources
Nehemiah Group – purchases abandoned houses
Habitat for Humanity – properties for renovation
Churches – guided prayer walks
Raising community awareness
Motivate people to provide information
Motivate people to change their community
Encourage people by showing changes over time
Raising funds from potential donors
“Let me show you the community…”

13. Heat map display for summary data
Median income ($)
Finer granularity
Faster map creation for large areas than GPolygon
We need a new Global Mapper image for this slide which includes the missing county.
global mapper

14. Heat maps Goal - summarize data using colors Polygon overlays
Hover over to display specific information
Nicer visual integration with Google Maps
Global Mapper
Downloadable, standalone map
Allows easier offline distribution
Wider range of colors
Easy to change color scheme

15. servemycity.org

16. servemycity.org Idea – mobilize volunteers
Organizations can create an account where members can provide their skills, interests, availability, etc.
Organizations can then see a list of their members who want to volunteer and use this tool to help make decisions about who to place where
Individuals can also independently fill out a survey and placed in a generic unaffiliated category

17. Survey for individual wanting to volunteer

18. Survey for individual wanting to volunteer, cont’d

19. Survey for individual wanting to volunteer, cont’d

20. Registered organization info page
Information on this page is generated from responses on the registration form
Organizations receive an individual page (e.g. servemycity.org/unaffiliated)

21. Listing a service opportunity
Integral part of Serve My City – collect organization and volunteer info
Listing service opportunities here will make opportunity appear on MapMyCity map and on the organization page

22. Changing organization information

23. Responding to survey results
Organizations can mobilize volunteers to serve on service opportunities
Organizations can filter survey results to contact groups of people who best fit the needs of service opportunities

24. resourcemycity.org

25. resourcemycity.org Still in brainstorming phase Idea
facilitate charitable donations
route the donations to areas of greatest need
donations can be time/money or in-kind

26. Summary
Three tools for defining, visualizing, and impacting community health:
Mapmycity.org – visualize health
Servemycity.org – mobilize volunteers
Resourcemycity.org – facilitate charitable giving

27. Thank you! Any questions?
Josh Moore –
Brian Toone –