Tribes get mapping tools to protect 40 million acres of rainforest

Today I found a news item about a group of tribes in the Amazon who received tools and technology to map (and protect) their region. This is a great example of the public participatory approach to GIS. In the words of the president of the organization that assists the tribes:

“Indigenous peoples know, manage and protect the rainforest far better than we do. If you want to protect the rainforest, why not enlist the assistance of the people who actually live there? This is the only way that equilibrium change can be brought about in terms of protecting the greatest expression of life on earth.”

More information from the article:

The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) works with indigenous groups across the Amazon to conserve biodiversity, traditional culture, and health. ACT has provided 28 tribes with the tools necessary to map, manage, and protect their territories—totaling more than 40 million acres of rainforest. ACT has also launched enduring Shamans and Apprentices programs that preserve, strengthen, and promote indigenous knowledge of the Amazon’s medicinal plants, and provide training to tribal leaders in sustainable agriculture and economic development.

Link to the article:
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0311-act_skoll.html

Creating maps: YourMap

This is a very simple service, designed to let you map one location easily, and embed it in your website by copying and pasting the generated code.

http://www.gearthhacks.com/yourmap/

Have you ever wanted a nice Google Map to your church on your site, but didn’t have the time or knowledge to get it done? Here is a simple way to put a Google Map (along with a Google Earth file) on your website in about two minutes!

No special software is required — virtually any web host will work! Here is a demo of what it could look like on your site.

If you have any questions, or if you need help getting it to work on your site, please visit the YourMap forum.

Public Participatory Mapping

I am glad to start this blog site with Ben.  I always believed that interactive mapping is a great way to connect people and communities.  I will be mainly focus on Community Participatory or Public Participatory GIS.  The project that I was known for was “Mapping New York Restoom” (http://www.nyrestroom.com).   I was featured at New Yorker magazine for that  (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/27/060327ta_talk_seabrook ).  I will try to write down as many as possible.

 - Wansoo

Mapping hunger

Hello, my name is Ben Bakelaar and I will be a regular contributor to this blog. My experience with mapping is mostly in the area of online mapping, particularly using the Google Maps platform. I generally work with non-profit organizations to help them map data for their audiences, which might include policy makers as well as individuals needing support. The project I most recently worked on was mapping hunger resources in New York City. We mapped the locations of food pantries and soup kitchens around the city, totaling over 1300. That map is available here: http://www.nyccah.org/maps/. We then put that data into ArcView and overlaid census data in order to analyze where there was a need for more hunger resources. This was quite a large project, and several of the people involved joined forces to form a new mapping service, called HungerMaps. You can visit the site here: http://www.hungermaps.org. Take a look and see how communities can form around mapping!

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