No this isn’t my product shown above…. yet! I’ve been interested in creating a GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping project for some time and tackling it as my learning project for OLTD 505 will be my second attempt at it. ESRI Arc GIS is considered the industry leader in GIS and mapping and a few years ago I found that they offered a free 60 day training program, which  I thought it was an excellent opportunity to get started learning about GIS. I didn’t get very far with it though, perhaps knowing I wouldn’t be able to use it at the end unless I paid the very high price for it undermined my momentum to learn it. Now that I’ve become aware of all the open resources available on the internet and that I might be able to build a community mapping page without ESRI I’m really excited to try it again. A community mapping project is one where interest members of the community send the map building project coordinator, information in the form of photos, information, stories, etc., along with the GPS location of their position at the time of siting or writing. You can view some examples in the list of projects at the UVic Community Mapping Collaboratory including the one shown in the screen shot above.

To get started I did a quick Google search for “community mapping tools” and found several useful sites to begin my learning process. The webpage A Few Good Mapping and GIS Tools on  Idealware, which has the lead message “Helping Nonprofits Make Smart Technology Decisions” sounds like a good place to start. Another website called Community Tool Box has a section titled Geographic Information Systems: Tools for Community Mapping that  carries the reader through the essentials of planning a community mapping project and upon reading it I realized I was getting ahead of myself because what I need to do first is to get my hands on a Global Positioning System, GPS, device and learn how to use.  Then I thought, “How do I get the map coordinate from the GPS on my cell phone?” and that’s where I start the hands-on component of my learning process! #oltd505