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Community Mapping

  • What is it?
  • Why Use it?
  • How to Use It
  • Key Players
  • Challenges
  • Success Factors
  • Financing
  • Policy
  • Case Studies
  • Resources

    • Rescources

    Sample maps and mapping projects:

    Examples of mapping relating specifically to equitable development and gentrification:

    • The Urban Institute, Washington , D.C.  
      The Urban Institute is a nonprofit policy research organization established in Washington , D.C. , in 1968. The Institute's goals are to sharpen thinking about society's problems and efforts to solve them, improve government decisions and their implementation, and increase citizens' awareness about important public choices
      http://www.urban.org
      A slide show of leading indicators of gentrification in leading neighborhoods in Washington, D.C.
      http://www.urban.org/news/events/DCGentrification/sld001.htm

    Asset Maps:

    • Common Ground Community Mapping Project   Vancouver , BC
      Common Ground is a community-based mapping and planning project based in Victoria , BC , which provides mapping and learning resources and opportunities for schools, neighborhoods and communities wishing to undertake sustainable community development and planning projects.
      www3.telus.net/cground/index.html
      Map in Argentina of soccer fields, community centers, and medicinal plant gardens:
      www3.telus.net/cground/map-nuestra.jpg
      Map of fruit trees in Victoria Canada that would usually go un-harvested:
      www3.telus.net/cground/pics/fruit tree map.jpg
    • Community Youth Mapping (CYM)
      Community Youth Mapping is young people and adults canvassing their neighborhoods in search of places to go and things to do. Simply put, CYM is data collection for young people, children and families, by youth. Community Youth Mapping, a youth development strategy instituted by the AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, is ideally coordinated by a local public/private/nonprofit partnership and led by a local community-based institution.
      www.communityyouthmapping.org/
    • Green Map System
      www.greenmap.com/home/home.html
    • Mapping Community Assets Workbook
      www.nwrel.org/ruraled/publications/com_mapping.pdf

    Information on asset mapping:

    Sharing community data:

    • The Piton Foundation  Denver, CO
      The Piton Foundation is a private operating foundation that provides opportunities to children and families in Denver move from poverty and dependence to self-reliance.  A variety of neighborhood resource maps can be found at the Foundation's web site.
      www.piton.org/
    • Boston Foundation   Boston , MA
      www.tbf.org/
    • Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (NKLA)
      NKLA is a web site dedicated to helping prevent housing and neighborhood conditions from deteriorating. NKLA provides tools for accessing property and neighborhood data and works with neighborhood residents, community organizations, and policymakers to mobilize support for community improvement in the Los Angeles area. Several informative maps can be found within the NKLA database at their web site:
      nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu/
    • The Northeast Los Angeles Network (nelanet)
      Nelanet is a project in community web site development by Occidental College . They are part of a growing movement of community or civic computer networks on the Internet that serve to promote local economic development, community memory and culture, electronic literacy, and connectivity among youth, citizens and community organizations throughout our nation.  They hope to help bridge the "digital divide" in the educational system and citizenry between those who are beneficiaries of the informational economy and those who are not.  Their web site contains comprehensive data maps that show various resource centers for several neighborhoods in northeast Los Angeles.
      www.nelanet.org/
    • DANEnet
      DANEnet is a non-profit, community-owned Internet site which focuses on the information needs of the Dane County (Wisconsin) community. There mission is to help people share information and connect through the use of the Internet. DANEnet provides access to all kinds of community information, and facilitates the online discussion of community issues. Created largely by volunteers, we strive to serve the whole community including the traditionally underserved by providing free, dial-up access to information and community access sites at youth and neighborhood centers.
      www.danenet.org/
      Neighborhood asset map of the Madison, Wisconsin area:
      danenet.danenet.org/tlna/web-data/steering/images/asset.html

    Web sites for monitoring change:

    • Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System
      apollo.gsfa.upenn.edu/Projects/NIS.asp
    • Map Milwaukee
      www.gis.ci.mil.wi.us/isa/Map_Milwaukee/

    Technical Assistance Providers:

    • Coalition for Low Income Community Development (CLICD)
      The Coalition for Low Income Community Development (CLICD) is a coalition of grassroots and national groups organized to ensure that low income people benefit from community planning and development programs. CLICD's mission is to improve low-income groups' access to funds for community revitalization and to implement model community planning processes. Our special expertise is community-based planning and community mapping using geographic information system (GIS) software.
      www.clicd.org/
      Map showing area median income and amount of check cashing facilities:
      www.clicd.org/map/image13_copy.gif
      Map of Maryland showing gap between minimum wage and rental housing costs:
      www.clicd.org/map/image15_copy.gif
      Map showing Section 8 housing in Boston:
      www.clicd.org/map/image14_copy.gif
    • Community Mapping Assistance Project (CMAP)  
      The Community Mapping Assistance Project provides customized, affordable computer mapping services to non-profit organizations.  CMAP is a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc. (NYPIRG).
      www.cmap.nypirg.org/
      CMAP provides various sample maps
      http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/webmapping/default.asp
    • Metropolitan Area Research Corporation (MARC)
      www.metroresearch.org/
    • Compumentor
      www.compumentor.org/
    • GreenInfo  
      The mission of GreenInfo Network is to bring the power of computer based mapping to non-profits, public agencies and other public interest organizations  We enable these groups to more effectively show the relationships between issues, people and places.
      www.greeninfo.org/
      Map of poverty percentages in San Francisco:
      www.greeninfo.org/HTML/gallery/map032000.htm
      Map of environmental organization in California:
      www.greeninfo.org/HTML/gallery/map052000.htm
      Map of Transit in San Mateo County:
      www.greeninfo.org/HTML/gallery/map121999.htm
    • Center for Youth Development and Policy Research 
      The Center for Youth Development and Policy Research is an organization dedicated to contributing to better the futures of all youth in the United States.  It focuses on shifting the public debate and commitment from youth problems to youth development. 
      www.aed.org/us/cyd/ydmobilization.html
      An example of community youth mapping:
      www.aed.org/us/cyd/cym/map.html
    • The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)
      URISA is a non-profit association of professionals using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other information technologies to solve challenges in all state and local government agencies and departments.  URISA is considered to be the premier organization for the use and integration of spatial information technology to improve the quality of life in urban and regional environments.
      www.urisa.org/
    • National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP)
      NNIP is a collaborative effort by the Urban Institute and local partners to further the development and use of neighborhood-level information systems in local policymaking and community building.
      www.urban.org/nnip/index.htm
      A variety of demographic maps made by NNIP can be found at this link:
      www.urban.org/nnip/wtwmaps.html


    Data Sources:

    Housing Costs /Sale Rates

    Demographics:

    Neighborhood Safety, Schools, and Health

    • Neighborhood Place 
      By typing in your area code, graphs show, average household size, median age, median household income, total household expenditures, crime risk, and carbon monoxide level, county, state, and the United States.  This site also has community reports. 
      www.neighborhoodplace.com/apps/WebObjects/NPApp
    • Urban Institute 
      Reports on at-risk teens, crime in America, Medicare, Social Security, Washington, D.C., Welfare Reform, the Working Poor
      www.urban.org/index.htm

    Environmental

    Other:

    Non-Federal Statistical Web Sites:

    Federal Information Web Sites:

    Learning Resources:

    General GIS information

    • GISPortal
      Portal for general GIS information.
      www.gisportal.com

    About GIS software:

    How to use data:

    • murmur.arch.gatech.edu/~dapa/

    Online GIS Courses: