HungerMaps

Challenges Entered:

HungerMaps provides the tools, and our users supply the data â€“ anything that will make a difference in the fight against hunger. In New Orleans, users are mapping emergency food programs for Katrina survivors. In New York, users are mapping WIC centers, the results of a survey of produce retailers and others. In Anchorage, users are mapping food bank member agencies. HungerMaps provides the geocoding, and the Google API provides the geographic features. In enhanced maps like Seattleâ€™s, users can also interact with specific data about which agencies need food, what kind of food they need, when theyâ€™re open and how to get there. In the near future, HungerMaps plans to provide more options for users, including shaded census data to help smaller users target scarce resources, and route planning for the logistical challenges of large organizations.

What else have you done in this area of work?

HungerMaps was modeled as the public extension of a pioneering GIS project created by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and celebrated by TechSoup.org.

HungerMaps has since received recognition on the front page of the Non-Profit Times, in Todayâ€™s Dietician magazine, in the newsletter of World Hunger Year, and of course, on Google Maps Mania.

The HungerMaps team is spread throughout the country â€“ New York, New Brunswick, Chicago, Cinncinati, and Laredo â€“ and has a corresponding breadth of experience in software development, management consulting, GIS map design and anti-hunger advocacy. The team has also applied this combination to recognized anti-hunger advocacy efforts at the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and the South Texas Food Bank.

Project Details

Project url:

http://www.hungermaps.org

Project video:

Supporting organization:

Better Information Group

Project Assessment

Financial support:

Project has financial support

Project goals:

35.1 mil Americans face hunger and food insecurity. HungerMaps.org is the nationâ€™s first GIS mashup to support anti-hunger advocacy and service provision, transforming local data into a national portrait of needs and resources as the basis for direct action. At the heart of HungerMaps is a free, user-friendly GIS mapping interface that enables registered users to upload local data and create interactive, online maps on-the-fly. Users can then share their maps and datasets through email, widgets and â€“ to our knowledge â€“ the first software capable of turning live Google mashups into print-worthy PDFs. Now in itâ€™s second year of operation, HungerMapsâ€™ users from Alabama to Alaska are using data visualization to engage volunteers, donors, colleagues and elected officials in the fight against hunger. Outside the anti-hunger movement, HungerMapsâ€™ innovative approach has led to its use in college courses at the University of California and recognition by nutritionists in Todayâ€™s Dietician magazine. HungerMaps also provides paid software-as-a-service to organizations that want maps tailored to their specific objectives. In Seattle, HungerMaps has worked with the Seattle Public Utilities to create a map facilitating donations between soup kitchens and restaurants, saving tons of food that would otherwise go to waste. HungerMaps is discussing partnerships with corporate entities, national groups, and more local users in the coming year. Through these efforts, HungerMaps aims to break the habit of late technology adoption among nonprofits and lead the wave of â€œbest in classâ€ online map creation and presentation.

Identified Obstacles:

HungerMaps needs: * Funding for software developers to bring more enhancements to the free HungerMaps utility. * Greater partnership from the academic, for-profit and government communities. * Guidance from the larger software industry to more strategically meet the needs of our users. * Partners from other issue-areas who may benefit from the HungerMaps software.