Interactive mapping platform launched - dialogue through data

NRU
Feb. 10, 2016
By Geordie Gordon

Hoping to break down information and data silos and to facilitate dialogue on planning issues at community, municipal and regional scales, the Neptis Foundation has launched a mapping and information platform. The application is based on thematic data sets-transportation, environment,
agriculture and land use.

The platform reflects a substantial rebuilding of Neptis’ previous Geoweb mapping and information application. It comprises four components-an interactive mapping tool, profiles and comparisons on local and regional scales, discussion topics based on the data presented in the application, and a place for users to add their own personal stories.

Neptis executive director Marcy Burchfield told NRU that the platform is first and foremost an application for interactive mapping. It is Neptis’ hope that the platform will support and complement integrative planning approaches, and help users view different thematic elements in relation to one another.

Burchfield stressed that the platform will continue to evolve as data and enhancements are added. She said that Neptis intends to form partnerships to expand the data based that is included in the platform.

Neptis welcomes feedback and has incorporated a function right into the platform to receive input. Recognizing that the data were never going to be perfect, Burchfield said Neptis is looking for input to help make it a better product.

“I think one of the biggest barriers to a project like this is fear and paralysis that you have to have perfect data. In the real world, I think there is no such thing as perfect data, and, in particular, spatial data,” she said.

Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review advisory panel chair David Crombie told NRU that the platform is a tool that could be used to break down silos of information. He said it could help to bring about some of the secretariat reorganization that was recommended in the advisory panel’s report, Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe: 2015-2041.

“This is exactly the kind of tool we need to bring those changes about... I think the point is, if you wait for there to be a breaking of the silos and then look for the technology that helps you out, you’ll be waiting forever. We have to depend on the technology to ram through integration [both] internally and externally,” he said.

Crombie said that the only gap in information that he saw from the launch was the platforms lack of emphasis on agricultural land, which he said is often “the part left over after planning.” He will be
recommending to Neptis that it include more information on agricultural land supply.

Ontario Home Builders Association policy director Michael Collins-Williams told NRU that Geoweb is a tool that would likely be of use to OHBA members, by providing additional layers of information prior to making business decisions. Collins-Williams also saw the importance of the platform as an engagement and discussion tool.

“This [platform] will enhance the discourse amongst the general public. People, whether it’s community groups, or just private citizens, have much more interest today than they ever had in the past about how our communities are growing. Having a tool like this available ... I think is very helpful in terms of sharing knowledge and elevating the level of conversation,” he said.

The platform, which was launched Tuesday morning at the Evergreen Brickworks, was created with financial contributions from the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and the Metcalf Foundation.