Abstract
This chapter offers a brief background on web mapping including examples of US-based web maps and a case study on an award-winning web mapping project known as NJ MAP. NJ MAP is an interactive atlas for ecological resources, environmental education, and sustainable communities. NJ MAP was created to assist New Jersey municipalities, nonprofits and local-level stakeholders in visualizing and understanding their environment and engaging in effective action. The platform, created and maintained by Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, since 2011, facilitates sound land use and environmental management decisions to achieve sustainability objectives and goals. The vision of NJ MAP is to democratize data so that it is easily accessible and understandable for all; not locked away to tech experts. This means making New Jersey GIS data relatable and easy to understand. Map collections, data layers, and tools are intuitively designed so that volunteer citizen users (such as planning board members, environmental commission members, watershed organizations, green action committees, and citizen groups) may easily access the vast amounts of geospatial data available that are typically only accessible to trained GIS professionals. The map-based platform is designed to be responsive and up to date so that it may be used in the field or during public meetings. This functionality allows for on-the-fly analysis at multiple scales from the parcel level to regional or statewide scale.
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Acknowledgements
In addition to the generous support of our funders, we would like to acknowledge the following NJ MAP team members: Mark Corbalis, for his brilliance in developing the technical capabilities of the NJ MAP platform, Makenzie Franco, Michael Brein, Adam Taylor, Christine Nolan, and Michelle Martel. Special thanks to Connor Buckmaster for his editorial expertise.
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McCarthy, K., Hasse, J., Meenar, M. (2022). Web Mapping Platforms for Community Planning and Engagement: Lessons Learned from NJ MAP. In: Patnaik, S., Sen, S., Ghosh, S. (eds) Smart Cities and Smart Communities. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 294. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1146-0_11
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