weMap: A Non-Profit Mapping Collaborative
The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) recognizes the challenges faced by newcomers to Ontario's cities and towns. The need for accessible and integrated settlement services and the drive to implement innovative solutions to alleviate sector issues has led OCASI to explore a new avenue of providing information about community services for newcomers.
OCASI approached the Partnership Platform, which acts a catalyst between non-profits and the IT sector, to explore more intuitive and user-friendly online mapping approaches to locating services and organizations of interest in Ontario's neighbourhoods.
Through partnerships with the Computer Science Department at the University of Toronto, OCASI, Partnership Platform and several other interested non-profit agencies, the Non-Profit Mapping Collaborative is born.
The Non-Profit Mapping Collaborative aims to foster a network (or constellation) of non-profit agencies engaged in sharing organizational databases and online maps highlighting community-based services (including non- and for-profit services).
The Collaborative will facilitate the sharing of online directories and maps across a number of web sites using a community-driven approach to share content from a variety of stakeholders across Ontario. Partner members will share databases of organizational directories to be mapped online. The Collaborative is committed to providing access to timely, accurate, authoritative and comprehensive community service information. The presentation of such information in an intuitive mapping format will enhance services such as 211, 311, emergency/disaster and other community services.
The Non-Profit Mapping Collaborative will change the world in the following ways:
- Provide users with a one-stop-shop solution by amalgamating both privately and publicly available data from various online sources into a centralized database of services and organizations of interest to newcomers to Ontario's neighbourhoods
- Provide users with an interactive visual representation of desired services mapped to a specified area
- Foster effective collaborative data partnerships
- Create an open-source, creative commons solution that can be shared throughout the non-profit community
weMap facilitates the process of finding social services in the community. Users have access to a wide array of social services including educational services, employment resources, community and recreation agencies, health services, etc.
Utilizing data made available, initially, by non-profit organizations, these listings are mapped to a centralized database that enforces a uniform taxonomy. As data is pulled from multiple sources, a significant amount of development resources are focused on harmonizing duplicated records. Listings are then geocoded using the Google Maps API and made accessible via the mashup.
Information will be shared by non-profit organizations across sectors. Users will include staff at non-profits and any members of the public who are looking for community services and services in their communities.
Users will be able to select an Ontario neighbourhood or specify an address, choose the services they are interested in (as many as they like!) and see these mapped on weMap. Finding an employment office, near the public library, that's just a 5 minute walk away from a child care centre just got simpler and faster!
Eventually, for-profit or retail data might be included, to enhance local information available to residents.
OCASI manages the settlement.org website, providing newcomers with information and resources to settle in Ontario, Canada. With over 9,000 visitors per day, Settlement.Org is ready for expansion and enhancement by capitalizing on available technology and relevant partnerships.
The Partnership Platform has helped to form over 90 successful partnerships in the areas of technology capacity building for the non-profit sector. One examples would be the development of the project management training for foreign-trained IT professionals for the Learning Enrichment Foundation (in partnership with Ajilon Consulting and Outset Consulting) to provide training and hands-on work experience for new comers to Canada.
The University of Toronto strives to build stronger neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. Its vision is to see students, faculty, and staff connect learning to their service and for them to develop a life-long orientation to building strong communities.
Feedback about our idea and how to further develop our solution. We're using TurboGears, a Python web development framework, and we are interested in working with both experienced Python developers as well as web developers since TurboGears is an intersection that requires both disciplines.
Harmonizing duplicate data is a challenge. Data is pulled for many sources, some of which is duplicated information, sometimes with a slightly different presentation. Ideas on mitigating this challenge are important as data harmonization is an integral part of our solution.
We want to hear from other organizations that can propose different uses for weMap, suggest enhancements and/or identify other fields/sectors that may benefit from the use of our mashup.
We also have an interest in building partnerships with groups that want to participate with us. These partnerships are key to accomplishing our goal of building a comprehensive community services solution.
Most of our data will be provided to us directly from various data partners in the sector (here are some groups we're hoping to actively work and partner with).
http://www.211ontario.ca
http://www.settlement.org/site/REGIONS
http://www.cioc.ca
http://www.toronto.ca/children/gcmapx.htm
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/esl/wizard/index.aspx
http://immigration.windsor-essex.info/
http://www.connexontario.ca/
http://www.newcomerswaterloo.ca/
great minds think alike
Very cool project.
MoveSmart.org (http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/movesmart-org-beta) wants to map almost an identical set of data, but for a different purpose (and not knowing enough about Canada, I don't know if it would make sense there). In Chicago, and most major US cities, there is severe racial and economic segregation and an unequal distribution of resources across communities. Like weMap, our project will target housing seekers and encourage them to move to opportunities, which in our situation will likely mean an integrative move.
Good luck!