Community Powered Mapping
Codename: "MAPAS"
Background
The Community Research Institute (CRI) has noticed an increased demand for localized data for specific geographies and an emphasis placed on geographic context of local data. CRI has provided data services and maps for several years, but these recent increased demands—along with new technological capacity—have led CRI to create an online tool to facilitate a community dialog surrounding data and geographic contexts. This online mapping tool will allow members of the community to layer local, state, or national data with data points in order to examine important issues.
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Tools/Functionality
CRI has decided to contract with PlaceBase to utilize their PushPin tool for online mapping. This technology has an appearance similar to online mapping tools with which most users will be familiar. Users can zoom, pan, browse for locations, and search for addresses.
In order to accommodate a broad range of user preferences, the system will have two functional views: a basic view and an advanced view. The basic view is question-based—populating the map with appropriate community data based upon the question selected by the user. The advance view allows users to select data indicators, boundary layers, labels, and points of interest. Both views allow community members to draw custom geographies and to retrieve data based upon these geographies.
Additionally, data can be shown as graphs—allowing users to compare two or more geographies across several data indicators.
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Data
The new online mapping tool is rooted in CRI’s expertise in data analysis and its access to local datasets. Community members will be able to layer the map with local data, state level data, and National level data.
- Local data: Crime, voting, and vital records. Locations of nonprofit organizations and places of worship
- State data: Michigan Department of Education and the Center for Educational Performance and Information provide users with school data for every public school in Michigan
- National data: Demographic, housing, and economic data are provided by the United States Census Bureau
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Looking Ahead
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CRI hopes that this online mapping tool will encourage users and other members of the community to engage in a dialog about data and the implications of data. To facilitate this, CRI has created feedback loops and a forum on the online mapping system. CRI anticipates that a diverse group of users will utilize the online mapping tools and that functionality and data will expand over time.
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