Comments on: The Revolution Will Be Mapped

By: Paul Frank

Paul Frank — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 06:19:25 +0000

Bravo![PS--It is certainly the case that misleading maps can be created and misleading cases can be presented. Most information technologies are subject to possible "gerrymandering" if you will. In our adversarial system of justice it is the job of opposing legal representatives to expose these abuses. The world and our legal systems are clearly better off with these new information technologies, abuses notwithstanding.]

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:28:24 +0000

Curious how folks want to add data to put their own spin on the map. I’d love to see this for the Houston area and New Orleans pre- and post- Katrina. This also sounds like something I want to do when I retire as I’ve been doing GIS for 20 years.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:28:24 +0000

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:14:32 +0000

One of the challenges in this GIS world is that the data is primarily collected, organized, and used by planners and advocates – not consumers. At MoveSmart.org, we’re attempting to empower housing seekers with this data to make smarter decisions. We’d love to hear what you think. twitter: @justinmassa and @movesmart

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:06:45 +0000

While this may be a case of discrimination, it really is yet another example of the way equal protection under the law has become a joke. What’s so hard about making the same service available on similar terms and conditions to ALL residents?

By: Ann Moss Joyner

Ann Moss Joyner — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:38:57 +0000

Obviously, the point of this story is how GIS is used to illustrate discrimination. It didn’t and couldn’t go into the fine points of each case, but what matters in each case is how the neighborhoods we look at are similar to or different from others like them, and what the effect of the disparities are. In the Coal Run case, there were no other minority neighborhoods in the County, and this was the only neighborhood this proximate to the Water Plant without potable water. In North Carolina, the issue regarding who is without public health infrastructure is usually the size of the lots, which effects the safety of using wells and septic fields. – Ann Moss Joyner, President, Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities, Inc.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:12:49 +0000

Having read a great deal on Coal Run case, it seems to be an undeniable case of discrimination. That said, finding a minority or low income neighborhood in North Carolina that does not receive all municipal services does not mean you have proof of some kind of racial discrimination. When you ignore evidence showing provision of services (or the lack there of) has no correlation with race or income, you are being dishonet. When that same GIS expert could easily find a nearby neighborhood also on the edge of town populated by well-off white people also on septic tanks and wells, the “case” for “exclusion” at every turn has little merit.

By: Usermond Jack

Usermond Jack — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:43:28 +0000

I, for one, welcome our new ESRI Overlords.

By: Ristic Hugh

Ristic Hugh — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:27:46 +0000

Why shouldn’t government (alleged) “services” be in proportion to taxes paid? Or put another way: why should I be threatened with deadly force in order to be forced provide someone else with services? That’s an obvious injustice and the remedy is to abolish taxation and government, alleged services.

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:48:47 +0000

totally awesome! i live on a deprived estate,just reading this makes me feal better!thankyou

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:18:43 +0000

check out our new mapping tool over at The Extraordinaries – it lets a community map issues important to it with no special GIS skills – just 2 minutes to set up and then get mapping: http://app.beextra.org/create/microapp/name/mapper

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:18:43 +0000

By: Josh Knauer

Josh Knauer — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:26:47 +0000

In our work helping local communities use maps to help improve decision-making and community understanding, we have found that providing everyone with access to all of the data is essential. The traditional problem in GIS is that you’ve had to run very expensive proprietary software on a desktop to do analysis. With emerging web-based tools like those created by Rhiza Labs (http://www.rhizalabs.com) it is now possible to provide everyone in a community with easy to understand analysis tools at a reasonable price.As these and other similar tools emerge in the market, it will become easier for communities to more effectively tell their data stories. I look forward to helping make that a reality.Josh KnauerCEO, Rhiza Labs – http://www.rhizalabs.comtwitter: @jknauer

By: Anonymous User

Anonymous User — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:12:08 +0000

So why didn’t they show the ethnic background of the rest of the roads without water service? How many whites aren’t served on Wallwork, Huston, or the uncharted areas of Coal Run. Are those stretches uninhabited, or do they undermine the case of discrimination? Be interested, too, to know the cost/house/mile — the population density of the roads not served compared to that served.