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.

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.

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.