Community map

From Community

A Community map is a community building tool that combines the universal appeal of a geophysical map (such as a USGS topographical map) superimposed onto dynamic geographical-chronological virtual data model. This model is a new type of community map made possible, thanks to current and emerging technologies within the sphere of Geospatial Information Systems or GIS.

[edit] Background

Most people are familiar with varients of the characature-type community maps used for promoting tourism, commerce, education and other aspects of describing and illustrating what a community has to offer. These maps have been around for hundereds of years and were used extensively since the European Rennaisance to promote tourism at the birth of the industry.

Communities of all shapes and sizes have used artistic cartography to depict points of interest, geophysical resources, hydrological dynamics and all sorts of groovey aspects. The Public Internet, along with new GIS-aware websites, public domain content, collaborative software (sometimes known as groupware) and many other innovations can provide a framework for community development that takes community mapping to a whole new level.

[edit] Field work

A field crew is assembled and equipped with GPS handheld devices and a laptop and other resources to go out across the local landscape to perform surveys, canvasses, wildlife and resource inventories, logistical evaluation, archeological digs and many other services. If your group becomes proficient at identifying local political power strucures, finding funding, understanding community dynamics, invoking participation and other such tasks, a productive enterprise could become a real-world result. But you will need boots on the ground.

To learn more, see and join WikiMaps Cartography Taskforce at Wikiversity