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Integrating publicly available web mapping tools for cartographic visualization of community food insecurity: a prototype

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Abstract

Spatial profiling of community food security data can help the targeting of geographic areas and populations most vulnerable to food insecurity. While multiple poverty mapping systems support spatial profiling, they often lack capabilities to disseminate mapping results to a wide range of audiences and to spatially link qualitative data to quantitative analysis. To address these limitations, this study presents a web mapping framework which integrates a variety of publicly available software tools to enable spatial exploration of both quantitative and qualitative data. Specifically, our framework allows online choropleth mapping and thematic data exploration through a mixture of free mapping Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and open source software tools for spatial data processing and desktop-like user interfaces. The study demonstrates this framework by developing a web prototype for informing food insecurity issues in Bogotá, Colombia. The prototype implementation reveals that the proposed framework facilitates the development of scalable and functionally-extensible mapping systems and the identification of community-specific food insecurity problems (e.g., food kitchens inaccessible from workplaces of low-income residents). This suggests that web-based cartographic visualization using publicly available software tools can be useful for spatial examination of community food insecurity as well as for cost-effective distribution of the resulting map information.

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Notes

  1. Global Positioning System (GPS) is another critical technology that enabled the proliferation of user-created spatial data (Haklay et al. 2008). Our discussion, however, does not include GPS, since the major focus of this paper is on data dissemination and visualization rather than direct data collection.

  2. http://google-latlong.blogspot.com.

  3. http://geodacenter.asu.edu/software.

  4. http://code.google.com/apis/maps/.

  5. http://www.sencha.com/products/js/.

  6. The JSON is a lightweight, text-based format for interchanging primitive and associative array data (Crockford 2006). It is usually used for web application development.

  7. The HTTP is a standard protocol for message exchange in distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (Fielding et al. 1999).

  8. The PNG is a bitmapped image format designed for transferring images on the Internet (PNG Development Group 2003).

  9. The CGI is a simple interface for running external programs, software, or gateways under an information server in a platform-independent manner (Robinson and Coar 2004).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Luc Anselin, Dr. Julia Koschinsky, and Charles R. Schmidt of the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation at Arizona State University for their support and feedback. Natalia Maria Rojas Tarazona’s research assistance, especially in regards to local data collection in Bogotá, is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Myunghwa Hwang & Marissa Smith

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  1. Myunghwa Hwang
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  2. Marissa Smith
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Correspondence to Myunghwa Hwang.

Additional information

This research was supported by the United States Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) (Agreement No. W9132T-08-2-0005). Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, not those of CERL.

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Hwang, M., Smith, M. Integrating publicly available web mapping tools for cartographic visualization of community food insecurity: a prototype. GeoJournal 77, 47–62 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-010-9385-3

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