mapping extension community and economic projects and news using open source tools
DESCRIPTION
#netc2014TRANSCRIPT
Mapping Extension Community and Economic Projects and News using
Open Source Tools
Bailey Hanson, GIS Specialist
Christopher J Seeger, Associate Professor
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Communities and Economic Development
Presentation Overview
This presentation previews how ISU Extension to Communities and Economic Development is utilizing open-source interactive mapping tools to visualize the location of outreach projects and corresponding news articles. The tool provides an interactive search for articles by location or keywords making it a valuable resource for staff and administrators.
Presentation Outline
• Introduction of ISUEO CED and Geospatial Technology Program
• Geospatial information to map• Open Source• Web Mapping Technologies• Data Formats• Demo Example• Challenges • Future Plans
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
Our core purpose is to engage citizens through research-based educational programs. Extend the resources of Iowa State University across the state.
Educational Areas– 4-H Youth Development– Agriculture and Natural
Resources– Community and Economic
Development (CED)– Human Sciences– County Extension
ISUEO CED Geospatial Technology Program
The Iowa State University Geospatial Technology Program partners with Extension to Communities and Economic Development to offer GIS training and support to the public and ISU staff, students and faculty as well as a provide a variety of online resources and consult on a variety of geospatial projects.
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/gis
Geospatial Information for Mapping Application
• Projects and trainings being reported in out online reporting system– Locations of trainings and projects
• Community Matters newsletter articles with links to article – Locations of article news
• CED Staff – Locations of staff
Reporting System• Reporting impacts - Administrative, legislative and
USDA purposes– Some of this would be good information for the public to
see as well as our staff, not only administrative staff
• Each unit at ISU is responsible for managing their own reporting system– Unique needs for each unit
• Extension IT did not have the capacity (time) to build the reporting system – used outside vendor
• Redevelopment of reporting system and creation of an API to pull reported information
Reporting System Search User Interface
Reporting System Search User Interface
• Search results gives us table of information– static results not easy to
quantify or analyze
• Lacks interactivity and visualization
Community Matters
A quarterly publication for Iowa leaders from Extension and Outreach Community and Economic Development.
Database of all news articles including article and location information along with a URL to the article.
CED Staff Locations
• Database of CED Staff with contact information, area of expertise, and location
• http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/campus-faculty-and-staff– List of CED Staff
members
Need for a Tool• Have multiple sources of information all a with
geospatial component• Need a tool to capture that information and present
it in an visual and interactive way• The merging of this data in a mapping application
will be useful to ISUEO staff and the general public– Identification of areas ISU CED resources are being
utilized or under utilized– Identify locations of specific programs (search
functionality)– Identify a specialist near you – Identify projects/programming in/near your community
Open-Source Technology
• A development model that promotes a universal access via free license to a product’s design and redistribution of that design, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.– Customizable– Free– No licensing issues– No max map views
Leaflet• A modern open-source JavaScript Library
for developing mobile-friendly interactive maps.
Leaflet
• Layer control– Tile layers– WMS layers– GeoJSON layers– Markers and vector
layers
• Customizable popups
• Customizable icons
• Built for mobile• Point clustering• Lightweight
– Add-ons (Github)– Esri-leaflet
Why Not Google Maps or ESRI’s ArcGIS Online?
• Google Maps API– Limits on map views and requests – Limited to Google Maps for basemap tiles
• Iowa State University has a educational license for the ArcGIS software suite.– Covers education and research– Outreach projects might not always have an
educational or research component
JSON
• JavaScript Object Notation, a human-readable and compact solution to representing a complex data structure and facilitates data-interchange between systems.
• Array of objects with name/value pairs
GeoJSON
• A JSON data format structure for geographic data
• Points • Lines• Polygons• Feature Collections
Data
• Database of field staff• Database of Community Matters news
articles• Reporting system API• GeoJSON
– Iowa Counties– Iowa Cities– ISU Extension Regions
DEMO
• Example of data layers added to a Leaflet map
Issues
• In testing, we discovered that when there are multiple features being mapped to the same location, the markers are layered overtop of each other making only the top marker or feature clickable.
• When converting shapefile or excel tables to GeoJSON we have to alter the GeoJSON to have multiple properties for one location rather than one property and location for each feature.
Future Plans for Project
• Search bar• Side bar• Export of data• Point Clustering• Layers with population and demographic
information• Query layers
– By location– By date or time frame– By program
Bootleaf.js• User Interface for Leaflet maps• Hosted on GitHub
• Leaflet MarkerCluster add-on• Hosted on GitHub
Example• CED staff works on Latino small business
development in a community– Information about the work, impacts and location are
entered into the reporting system– Go to the mapping application – information is automatically
pulled from the reporting system to the map through the API– Are programs happening in areas where there is a large
Latino population?– Can the reported impacts actually be identified?– Is there population increase or decrease in poverty level
since programs were implemented?– Are specialized staff in the right location?
