Content in Context :: Place and Time :: Google Earth

ABOVE: modernism map mashup - A screenshot of Google Earth incorporating 1) data from the SEAA and NOPL 2) gathered by the Regional Modernism class in 2008 3) uploaded to GeoCommons and 4) layered over Norman's Chart of the Lower Mississippi by A. Persac, 1858 courtesy of David Rumsey Historical Maps.

Last week I was in Toronto participating in the Visual Resources Association annual meeting. I presented on NeoGeography and Pedagogy as part of the Engaging New Technologies Session. Hope to get the powerpoint edited with proper links and uploaded to slideshare soon. My presentation focused on some of the ways one can use Google Earth to explore architecture in context.

Recent content and functional additions to Google Earth enrich the exploration of place at different points in time. We can explore place through user-contributed photos (Panoramio) and panoramas (360Cities) as well as Google-created street level panoramas (Street View). The Panoramio / Street View mashup in Google Maps is gorgeous. It presents an index of thumbnails of Panoramio photos that are mapped to the same Street View location. Superb! One can explore contemporary perceptions of ancient Rome through the University of Virginia's Ancient Rome 3D gallery. If the cool reconstructions leave you longing for the romance of ruins, turn on the 360Cities layer and tour the interior of the Colosseum. Or take a trip to Venice and glide from one panorama to the next, a virtual tour reminding us that monuments do not exist in isolation. Engaging the Historical Imagery function allows one to select the satellite view from different dates according to available imagery. This is an invaluable tool for those of us involved in the mapping of the recovery of the city of New Orleans. Turn on the Rumsey Historical Maps layer and you can select a historic basemap. I would love to see more maps of New Orleans available as base layers, especially the Robinson Atlas of 1883.

I have a number of ideas of how I'd like to see the Google Earth developed in the future - but will save those thoughts for the next post.

DOCOMOMO New Orleans map

DOCOMOMO New Orleans map, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

This map was created with Loc.alize.us. It shows some of the buildings which DOCOMOMO Louisiana intends to submit to the national registry.

Loc.alize.us + Flickr

Loc.alize.us + Flickr, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Loc.alize.us is a "bookmarklet" that you can add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then, when you click on it when you are in one of your flickr photo windows.
Presto! map interface.
Click: search place
Enter: location
That's it. Your photo is geotagged and on your fickr map. It is also accessible in the loc.alize.us map which can be embedded in a website.

I found out about this cool tool in the GeoTagging Flickr group forum. go to:
loc.alize.us - All Our Flickr Photos on Google Maps!

Neo-Geo Notebook

MapWarper, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Andrew Turner came to New Orleans last week to meet up with NetSquared New Orleans and faculty at the Tulane School of Architecture. Both meetings were quite informative and very valuable. These are a few of my notes.

1. MapWarper. This tool is in development and indeed comes with the following warning: Proto-Alpha - expect it to break and stuff to get deleted!

MapWarper is a tool for creating a custom basemap. My source map was from a Tulane student project in 1950, documented on 35mm slide and scanned into the New Orleans Virtual Archive. Basically the user indicates matching points between two maps. And a new map layer is born. I picked a tricky source, so my map is a bit more warped than it should be. I asked Andrew about the next step after MapWarper and I think that's where it flies a bit over my head. Nevertheless a cool tool to play with a have a better understanding of how one could create a custom basemap for a presentation. I would love to have a virtual library of historic basemaps stored in layers, so one could view data on different maps. Just layering two maps together can provide some interesting information about the changes in urban fabric over time.
2. EyeFi Explore. This is a souped up memory card. It can automatically upload photos to your computer or online photo storage service, like flickr or picasa. It also geocodes the photos (and records this info in photo EXIF profile) IF there is a wireless hotspot. I used this card last week in a trial session. It worked fairly well, but was unfortunately not accurate enough. And was of course ineffective in sites without wireless hotspots, like the Lower Ninth Ward. Interesting tool, but not as good as a gps.

3. Flickr Commons. Another great resource. Some top institutions (Library of Congress, Smithsonian) are uploading archival images with no known copyright restrictions to the Flickr Commons for all to use. The Commons encourages the public to assist with the description and tagging of the photos.

4. SlideShare. This service allows one to upload a powerpoint or keynote presentation. Very nice. Review Andrew's presentation at Tulane here: Rebuilding a City through Community Participation, Neogeography and GIS

Many thanks, Andrew!

NeoGeography in New Orleans

Tulane School of Architecture, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Andrew Turner (High Earth Orbit) is a neogeographer, a thoroughly modern mapmaker. His products include Mapufacture, recently acquired by Fortius One, and PocketMaps, paper maps of dynamic data. He is the Chief Technological Officer for the GeoCommons which integrates public data into publicly accessible and modifiable map formats. Maps for the rest of us.

I had the pleasure of working with Andrew on the NetSquared mashup challenge in May. Together with Alan Gutierrez, we presented on the active and ongoing process of Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery. See Squanderedheritage. We discussed ways that extraordinary citizens had responded to this profound need for information as their neighborhoods were actively altered in the aftermath of the storm. Documenting the city and its myriad conditions. Then uploading those images to flickr and picasa. Accessing public information and creating google maps of demolitions. Trying to link the photos and the maps to tell our stories.

My Regional Modernism class was inspired by this activity to create our own maps of modernist sites. This facilitated the documentation of these buildings which are vanishing from the urban fabric at rapid pace. The work continues. Thanks to a NetSquared grant, we are able to bring Andrew Turner to New Orleans for these special events. He is eager to meet up and help us determine the right tools for our mapping needs. Two events are scheduled this week. Free and open to the public.

Net2NO meetup #3:
NeoGeography and the Geospatial Web experience
Tuesday 11.11.08
6 pm
in the back room@ the Bridge Lounge
1201 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA
please rsvp here

and

Practical NeoGeography: Integrating GIS in the classroom and the field
Wednesday 11.12.08
noon
Tulane School of Architecture Richardson Memorial 204
The St. Charles Avenue streetcar stops in front of Tulane. The Richardson Memorial Building is the second rusticated stone building back from the front circle.

Regional Modernism Endorses Planning

Vote yes on the amendment to the city charter to give the master plan the force of law.


We also heart Barack Obama.

Modernism and Desire: A Streetcar Tour of Endangered Buildings

Building Canal Street, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

AIA New Orleans is proud to partner with DOCOMOMO-New Orleans to present, "Modernism and Desire: A Streetcar Tour of Endangered Buildings" a streetcar tour taking place on historic Canal Street. This tour is presented in conjunction with a nationwide day of Modern architecture tours, lectures and other special events in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of DOCOMOMO-US.
From end to end, Canal Street boasts a collection of Modern buildings, the architectural features and distinct elements of which are best appreciated from a comfortable perch on a slow-moving streetcar. Many of the buildings, endangered since they were flooded by Katrina’s waters, sit in stark contrast to the recovery efforts achieved in the surrounding Mid-City neighborhoods. “Modernism and Desire” will emphasize the goals of DOCOMOMO-US Louisiana, organized to promote and protect modern architecture and urban design in and around the New Orleans area.

The guided tour on a chartered New Orleans streetcar will be narrated by local architect, John Klingman. The “Modernism and Desire” tour will end at the foot of Canal Street, just steps from the city’s Art for Art’s Sake celebration. Cost per person is $25.00 for DOCOMOMO-US members and $35.00 for non-members in advance. Seating is limited, and advance reservations are highly recommended.

04 Oct 2008
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
tour begins and ends:
World Trade Center
2 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA

To register for the event, click here.

RSD analysis map :: layer one :: the land banked

RSD analysis map :: layer one, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Sixty-six properties. Some are open. Some are closed. Some are already demolished. None are projected to be viable school facilities in the future, according to the most recent and nearly final School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish.

The plan was announced in the Times-Picayune Sunday edition. The story included a map of the new construction or renovation of twenty-eight schools in the first phase (approximately five years). A facing layout listed the other ninety-seven facilities that will not be part of the first phase of this building boom. Of these, thirty-one are slated for future renovation, though no funds are secured for those schools. Unless the other sixty-six are "land banked."

Land banking can mean many things, most usually selling the building or demolishing the building and selling the land. Some of the sixty-six land banked properties are actually slated for new construction in "future phases", also unfunded. Architects of these potentially land-banked schools include E. A. Christy, Charles Colbert, Curtis and Davis, Moise Goldstein, and Henry Howard. One of Christy's facilities, the Lockett School has already been demolished, though there are no plans for a New School until "future phases" of the plan, i.e. sometime in the next thirty years.

The plan will be presented to the Orleans Parish School Board Tuesday 8.19.08 at 5 p.m. at McDonogh #35 High School, 1331 Kerlerec Street.

Source of data: Times-Picayune 8.17.08 print edition, page A-11.
Google Map by Francine Stock

UPDATE 8.22.08 This map has been posted to the Save Our Schools New Orleans site.

VA Hospital Site Selection Public Meeting

Charity, originally uploaded by Karen Apricot New Orleans.

A presentation of information regarding the Lindy Boggs Area - an additional site being considered as an alternative location for the replacement of the VAMC. see MAPS

Monday, August 11, 2008
Time: 7:00-9:00 pm
location of meeting: Grace Episcopal Church
3700 Canal Street
New Orleans, LA 70119

the child is the monument

Thomy Lafon Elementary School (THREATENED), originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Dozens of public school buildings in Orleans Parish are threatened by demolition or "complete replacement" in the preliminary School Facilities Master Plan.

Tonight (Thursday 7.10) there is a Facilities Master Plan Community Update Meeting at the Dryades YMCA, 2000 Philips St. @ 6:30 PM.

My concern for the fate of our Modernist monuments does not supercede my concern for the fate of our children. In fact, they are entwined. Charles Colbert, architect was the original designer of the new school building program initiated in 1950. He encouraged his fellow architects to consider the "emotional and spiritual needs of children" in their design of school buildings. "The child is the monument," he wrote.

Two of unoccupied school facilities, Thomy Lafon Elementary and Phillis Wheatley Elementary, were built on raised piers which saved them from the flood. The initial design was driven by a desire to create ample play space protected from the elements on an urban site. They were designed in a period of sheer optimism and growth. The conservation of these structures can serve as symbols of the city's rebirth, as we recover the future from the past.

New Orleans Architectural History Survey

The Flickr group New Orleans Architectural History Survey (NOAHs) has been active for about six months. The group "is a reNewed survey of historic New Orleans 19th century vernacular architecture, with the 1979 HDLC survey serving as an outline for types and styles of historic architecture. This survey, completed nearly 30 years ago, was done for the city, providing recommendations for the city to establish national and city landmarks, and historic architectural districts."

The group photo pool grows daily. As I write it contains nearly 2500 images. Jeff Lamb, the founder of NOAHs and author of the 1979 HDLC survey, highlights recent additions in his wordpress. Recently a couple of our Modernist monuments have been invited to join the group. And I'm so thankful. Modernist architecture is a real underdog in a city which is so strongly identified with its 19th century architecture. In the spirit of inclusion and collaboration, I created this map in Mapufacture which shows the most recent geo-tagged photos through the group feed. The next step is to figure out how to extend the length of the feed so more images are included and to encourage more flickr users to geo-tag. But it's a start.

MapSquared

robinson24Holy Cross, originally uploaded by jeff lamb. Source: Robinson’s Atlas of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1883, New Orleans Notarial Archives

The NetSquared experience was more than a bit intense: two extended days of discussions with the progressive and powerful. We were one of 21 projects recognized for our efforts to use the internet for social change. We came home to our swampy fertile crescent with a bit of seed money to get our project going. It's a small seed, but it's an official start. So, thank you NetSquared. I've been asked to define this project in terms of its benefits. How does the development of this mapping application directly create positive change? How will people use it? How will the benefits be realized?

Our project will create a visualization tool that can be used to document the historic significance of neighborhoods. Yesterday I spoke with Liliana at the Partnership for Transformation of Urban Communities about how we can help map their photo census of Pontilly. Pontilly is the neighborhood organization for Ponchartrain Park and Gentilly Woods. These are early and mid-20th century neighborhoods that have joined forces to lobby for historic district status. Our photo-mapping presentation tool can help them achieve that goal. They are so close. They have already created the photo census of the neighborhood and uploaded the photos to a server. Their data is in a spreadsheet. The photos and data just need to be integrated into a dynamic map to help tell their story.

Open data. Open source. Open access. We will make it clear to participants upfront that they are contributing to the creation of a virtual public library. Any data sets integrated into our maps will be licensed though Creative Commons. Our maps will provide information about the sources for the data, recognizing the work of the people, organizations and archives who are creating and providing the data and photos. The data sets themselves will be exportable as KML for re-mashing. We have so much more to gain by sharing this information, than by keeping it proprietary.

Our project will create a library of historic base maps and data sets. This is a dream come true. Every architect I know (and I know more than my share) would love to have the ability to review different historic site maps online and then be able to actually USE those maps to present their work. Not only will architects use this feature, but so will the academy, the non-profits, the government, city planners, the schoolchildren, the tourists.

We are creating a site-specific presentation tool for telling stories. The Neighborhood Story Project's mission is "Our stories told by us." In a collaboration with Tulane City Center, they produced Cornerstones, celebrating the everyday monuments of New Orleans culture and neighborhoods. They are accepting nominations to expand their registry of everyday monuments, sites which other people just don't see. It's such a beautiful project. We have partnered with the Tulane City Center to help integrate their photos, oral histories, video and building plans into a dynamic map.

I don't think I would be so engaged in this mapping project, were it not so incredibly loaded with potential. Our crescent city is such fertile ground for mapping and data collection and photo documentation. We need to strike while it's hot.

The map that launched a thousand ships

Green Space Map, originally uploaded by Karen Apricot New Orleans.

I can’t believe I kind of forgot about the green dot map. Karen Gadbois emailed it to me Saturday morning and suggested we look into it to help tell our story at netSquared.

The "green dot plan" was generated by the Urban Land Institute for the Mayor’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission. It was released in January 2006.* The six big green dots: “approximate areas expected to become green space.”

This is the plan that launched a thousand ships, an armada of civic pride and activism. It was a plan that united us to fight against it. I started thinking about how this map could tell the stories of the People under those dots. How could it tell a story of the Buildings? The Neighborhoods? The Cornerstones? We can use this map against itself to tell the story of our defense of New Orleans. In this mashup, we can integrate citizen-created content into those green dots. Of course, we would also need to tell the story of the creation of that map. The story of Czar Canizaro and the Urban Land Institute. And we would need to actually layer this plan over a real map and discover the actual boundaries of those seemingly arbitrary dots.

It’s interesting on another level as well. Up to now, we have been thinking of the stories that get told by the data. This reverses the process as it starts with a historic map from the recent past. Through our mashup, the map becomes a virtual archive of its own significance. a meta-map. very cool.

* Note: The green dot map is missing from the Times-Picayune graphics archive online. The archive has no graphics from January 2006. Original plan: 2005. November 29. Urban Land Institute's Rebuilding Plan.

The links below are only abstracts. The Times-Picayune makes one subscribe online to read the full articles. There are many more listings on the Urban Land Institute's plan in the paid archive. I only posted a few abstracts here.

2006. January 11.
4 MONTHS TO DECIDE ; Nagin panel says hardest hit areas must prove viability city's footprint may shrink; full buyouts proposed for those forced to move. New housing to be developed in vast swaths of New Orleans' higher groundNagin panel would restrict rebuildingNeighborhoods would have 4 months to prove viability. by Frank Donze and Gordon

2006. March 19.
Land use debate recalls St. Thomas controversy ; Canizaro had role in creating River Garden by Brian Thevenot.

2007. April 1.
Will plan lift the Curse of the Green Dot? by Stephanie Grace

topophilia :::::::::::::::: a love of place

The New Orleans mashup for Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery is really gaining momentum. Yesterday as it bucketed with rain, Alan Gutierrez and I had long and productive phone conversations with three of our partners: Denice Warren Ross of the GNOCDC, Andrew Turner of Mapufacture and Karen Gadbois of Squandered Heritage. In the in-between-time, Alan met with the Neighborhood Coworking Project and I created a slideshow of a few of my favorite maps of New Orleans.

But back to the conversations:

New Orleans is a ripe or fertile environment for mapping. - Denice Warren Ross

No one knows this better than GNOCDC. In 1997 the Greater New Orleans Data Center was founded to democratize information from administrative data sets. The GNOCDC is offering us a wealth of wisdom gained through their years of experience. How to actually use this medium to create a map with context: one that tells a story. How to design a product for a specific audience with a specific purpose and then test it in the field. The GNOCDC methodology includes field usability testing for mapping systems. While they will not be supplying us with data, they are offering us the use of some of their seminal maps, especially the Neighborhood Boundaries Map and the Planning Districts Map. Their support of this project provides us with a strong foundation. Thank you, Denise.

Mapufacture provides dynamic, customizable geographic information and collaborative mapping. - Andrew Turner

Andrew is the project engineer on our team. Two days ago, I posted in the GIS Forum a recipe for a demo map for us to help us tell the story of the plight of the public schools in New Orleans. And just 3 hours later, Andrew had presented us with a preliminary mashup of various data set with the School Facilties Master Plan building reports. This is a work in progress. The ultimate product should incorporate photos from Flickr on a historic basemap. I can't say thanks enough, Andrew.

Dead House Walking - Karen Gadbois

Karen and I talked at length last night about her story. She began Squandered Heritage in April of 2006 after returning home. Her neighborhood lost a significant block of houses to fire. Pritchard Place at South Carrollton. Can we all put our heads together and conjure up that memory? I know I've tried. Karen tried. She went searching for photos and could turn up no visual archive. So Squandered Heritage began as a Memory Project. Which is a lot. But it's become much more. It started as place to visually document the memory of buildings. And as the stories of the buildings got told, it became more focussed on the various plights of the people who have lost so much. We are all indebted to Karen for continuing to fight, for continuing to keep us informed. For her diligence and dedication to the defense of New Orleans culture, our varied architectural heritage and the preservation of our neighborhood communities.

We all saw those 24 pages of addresses of houses to be demolished that was published in the Times-Picayune in the summer of 2007. I sat and stared at that paper. Gutted. I've spent years developing a New Orleans Virtual Archive (coming soon... coming soon). But my collection is based heavily in the 19th century city, the sliver by the river, the aisle of denial. We got that documented. But what about the other 80% that sat under water? What I could I do? How does one begin to tackle that scale of a documentation project? The scope of loss was Unfathomable. But while I sat frozen at the kitchen table, Karen started working. She is an absolute inspiration to me. Her success gave me the confidence to attempt to document modernism in New Orleans. Muchas muchas gracias.

Now for a shout out for that Times-Picayune insert. If anyone has it, please please please let me borrow it and scan it. I would really like to take it to netSquared. It's a perfect artifact to help tell our story.

Manifesto for a Mashup

At the end of the month Alan Gutierrez of Think New Orleans, Andrew Turner of Mapufacture and I will pitch a Mashup for Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery in the 2008 NetSquared Mashup challenge.

Challenge, indeed. As an artist-curator-historian, I'm not exactly Silicon Valley savvy.

But I do know what I like in a map: Layers. Think about this with me.

Imagine a Google map that allows one to select a historical view of the topography, New Orleans before or after the storm. Imagine being able to integrate past and present. Being able to view current data on the recovery on old Sanborn maps. And historic data from archives on contemporary maps. And being able to turn on and off different sets of data simultaneously. In this way, one could see if a historic house is on a demolition list. Imagine that. Making information more accessible, meaningful and interesting.

Mapping gives life to spreadsheets (demolition lists or building permits). Suddenly these droning lists of addresses form patterns and relationships. We can now go to a house, photograph it, blog it and sometimes actually save it. Usually not. But in the very least, it has been documented before it's history. The current push for demolition before the FEMA money runs out weighs heavy on the collective soul of New Orleans.

As we plan for the future, we ought to revisit the past. I'm thinking about Storyville and the Iberville Housing Projects. The "Big Four" are almost gone. What will rise up in their place? Can we see their old street grids amidst the live oaks? I'm thinking about having a better understanding of the history of all our neighborhoods, not just the 19th century ones.

The 20th century city of New Orleans suffered the most from the flooding. It had nothing to do with race or income. It's geography. Mapping is destiny and people all over the city are trying to map the madness away. Citizen created content in Google Maps track housing demolitions, housing project locations, shootings in 2008, mid-century modern architecture, unopened schools, schools to be demolished, the Housing Conservation District Review Committee (HCDRC) agenda, and of course New Orleans music.

I'm obviously keen on the idea of integrating geo-tagged photos as well. So this Mashup could potentially link recovery data, archival data and geo-tagged photos into a central space with layers of historic and contemporary maps of the city. The humble hope: to assist the recovery of New Orleans by increasing awareness of what we have, what is lost and for what we will fight to the end to preserve.

on the road + online

Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.
Photo courtesy of the New Orleans Virtual Archive (coming soon!)

I'm working on a method of translating the processes learned in this semester's course into a system for capturing the digital photos taken by summer study programs and travel fellowships. I have a number of recommendations for integrating or mashing up different technologies. The online toolkit includes: EditGrid, MapBuilder, Flickr and Blogger.*

ITINERARY IN EDITGRID.

Before the trip, I can assist the faculty in setting up a spreadsheet for the base itinerary in EditGrid.** EditGrid is a online spreadsheet that can be shared and updated by multiple users. It's a great tool for a collaborative project.

ITINERARY DATA WILL BE USED TO GENERATE DESCRIPTIONS AND TAGS FOR PHOTOS.

1. We will keep the data simple and relevant:building name, architect(s), and location (street address, city, country).
2. We will also add a group tag or ID to all sites: This could be a course ID (DSGN652) or relevant word string (TSAJapan08). Essentially, this tag that will identify any images uploaded to different Flickr accounts as being part of this image collective.
   

ITINERARY UPDATES.

1. The EditGrid itinerary spreadsheet should be updated regularly to reflect actual sites visited.
2. This task can be delegated and shared by members of the group.
3. If anyone in the group has an iPhone, the itinerary can be updated in real time.

MAPPING THE INTINERARY.

1. In EditGrid, export as csv.
2. Then go to MapBuilder, and import the intinerary.
3. MapBuilder will generate coordinates for latitude and longitude.
4. One can also then export the data from MapBuilder and import it into Google Maps or Google Earth via GPSVisualizer.

IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS IN FLICKR.

• Upload images to Flickr using the Flickr Uploadr relevant to your OS:
• Upload images of a single building at a time
• Place them into a Set
• Set name = Building name
• Copy and paste the relevant line of data from the EditGrid itinerary
• into the description
• and into the tag
• Photographers should also add their own name
• into the description
• and as a tag
• Tags
• Place phrases in quotes.
• Individual words do not need quotes.
• ex. "Bibliotheque Nationale" "Henri Labrouste" "11 Quai François-Mauriac, Paris, France" tsaParis08 "Victor Jones"
• Images should also be mapped / geo-tagged in Flickr.
• Flickr> Map> Organize > Your Map
• Select: Your non-geotagged content
• Shift-select images to map
• Find a location: enter location data
• Drag images to the appropriate point

BLOGGING THE TRAIL. Travel groups or fellowships may wish to set up a blog to create an online travel journal. Then one can simply select an image in Flickr and click "blog this" to generate a post.

Presentation at Tulane School of Architecture on Wednesday, April 30 at 11 am. Richardson Memorial Hall (#4 on campus map) room 204.

*One will need to register in EditGrid and MapBuilder. Flickr requires a yahoo mail account and Blogger requires a Google mail account.

**I would have used EditGrid in our course mapping project, but I only discovered it (with thanks to Alan Gutierrez) after the maps had been created.

THE THREAT:

The Recovery School District is in the process of finalizing the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish (http://SFMPOP.org). After reviewing the Building Summaries, it is apparent that the plan may effectively erase the mid-century modern school facilities from the map.* In A Guide to the Architecture of New Orleans 1699-1959 Samuel Wilson, Jr. cites twenty-five of the thirty public schools which were built in the 1950s. Of these, ten have been demolished or are slated for demolition.** Of the remaining fifteen mid-century modern schools, fourteen were assessed as “complete replacement.” While many of these buildings were clearly damaged by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent inundation, some are merely victims of neglect. The Recovery School District is indeed in the process of recovering. However, that is not an excuse for the wholesale demolition of mid-century modern public school architecture from the city of New Orleans. These schools were designed with respect to the city’s environment and the structures are ripe for sustainable rehabilitation and reuse.

The use of the phrase "complete replacement" in the SFMPOP assessments is potentially misleading. Is the RSD actually considering replacing all of these facilities?

________________________________________________________________
Map of schools listed in Samuel Wilson’s A Guide to the Architecture of New Orleans 1699-1959
Red pins represent schools that have been demolished or are threatened by “complete replacement.” Schools represented by green pins are safe. They are private schools. Of note, Brother Martin High School in Gentilly managed to renovate and re-open by February 2006. Google map by Francine Stock.

* "RSD Plans 47 School Demolitions," City Business, February 25, 2008. There are some older historic school buildings which are also threatened, including Arthur Ashe Elementary School (1907, E.A. Christy, architect). See: Squandered Heritage and Think New Orleans. Shaw Elementary (1939, E.A. Christy, architect) is also among the threatened.
** Demolished: Hynes, White, Kohn, Henderson. Replaced in mid-1980’s: McDonogh 40 (Jordan), Moton. To be demolished: Abrams, Jefferson Davis, Hardin, Edwards. Alfred Lawless High School (Charles Colbert, 1960) is also slated for demolition, but is not listed in Wilson’s Guide, as it was built after 1959. For Recovery School District Press Release see: http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/comm/pressrelease.aspx?PR=968

Geocoding photos

So far, we have mapped sites of modern architecture and have started taking photos of those sites, but have not yet linked the two. Yesterday I met with Alan Gutierrez of Think New Orleans in an informal open co-working session at the Bayou Coffee House. We discussed collaborating on our mapping project, as this could help both of us out. I'm thrilled. Alan suggested starting a Flickr account for online photo storage, so I've set one up. But I am also exploring other options, before we get too far into it.
I went to wikipedia to learn more about geocoding photos: embedding latitude and longitude coordinates into the photo's file information or EXIF. (In photoshop: FILE > FILE INFO > EXIF) One can geo-tag in an online photo sharing program like Flickr or Picasa. But this only tags the smaller image files that have been uploaded to these sites. I would like to geotag my master image files. Apparently one can manually enter these coordinates into the photo's EXIF, but that sounds like a bore.
Wikipedia lists two desktop applications, iTag and Robogeo, for geocoding photos. At first glance, neither is an ideal fit for me; iTag is free, but windows only; RoboGeo is $39.95, and I'm trying to accomplish this task without purchasing additional software. hmmmm.

Regional Modernism Map

Photography assignments have been distributed. We will have our first photography review in class on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Student photographers will also be uploading images to Flickr and linking them into the Regional Modernism Map. Specific photo assignments are color coded by pins or balloons on the map.

Updated Schools Map

The color coding and data for the 1950s schools map have been updated.
Red = demolished or slated for demolition.
Yellow = received a preliminary assessment of "complete replacement" by the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish.
Green = OK. Only one of these buildings (Mahalia Jackson Elementary, 2101 Freret) is part of the public school system. The others are private. Of note, Brother Martin High School in Gentilly managed to renovate and re-open by February 2006.
Public hearings will be held at various school sites.
All of these schools were all recognized in Samuel Wilson's Guide to New Orleans Architecture.