Intro to GIS Mapping April 23, 2014

Agenda Why GIS, and what is it? • Why mapping data is effective – Bill Kennedy, Legal Services of Northern California

• The basics of GIS – Christina Sanabria, Legal Services Corporation

Agenda How can mapping help my organization? Examples of GIS in legal aid organizations: • Advocacy – Bill Kennedy, Legal Services of Northern California

• Planning – Dave Sobie, Legal Aid of North Carolina

• Assessment – Jonathan Pyle, Philadelphia Legal Assistance

Agenda How can I get started? • Experiment with a few free tools – Christina Sanabria, Legal Services Corporation

• Join us for a two-part tutorial – May 14 and 21 trainings on Google Fusion Tables

Why Mapping? The Cognitive Science of Mapping and Graphic Presentations of Data

Bill Kennedy, Legal Services of Northern California

Spatial Memory and the Brain

Spatial Memory and the Brain • Hippocampus is the center of “spatial memory.” • Showing data in a map gives advocates opportunity to bypass other memory centers (amygdala, entorhinal cortex). • “Re-orient” the viewer and build new memories using different parts of the brain.

Images can be more accessible than numbers

The same data, now on a map

It has been done for a long time W.E.B. du Bois’ map of Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward, 1899

GIS Basics

Christina Sanabria, Legal Services Corporation

GIS Map = a Database with Spatial Info File containing attributes about geographies • • •

File containing spatial data

How much/ many What kind When

Joined

Resource: http://www.census.gov/cgibin/geo/shapefiles2010/main

File with your data that can be mapped

Data: Three Geographic Representations Nodes (points) 2012 LSC grantee offices

Arcs (lines) NYC subway lines

Polygons (shapes) Percent change in DC population 2000-2010, by Ward

Nodes (points) • Input: address converted to latitude and longitude coordinates • Ways to use – Color and/or shape can show type/category – Proximity can show concentration – Color and/or size can show magnitude

Polygons (shapes) • Input: – Reference pre-existing geographies (e.g. counties) – Create your own geographies (advanced)

• Ways to use – Color can show type/category or quantity – Styling (e.g. cross-hatching) can show type/cat.

Data Can be Layered

Layer multiple datasets to show a fuller picture

Mapping in Advocacy Avondale Glen Elder Neighborhood Association

Bill Kennedy, Legal Services of Northern California

Environmental Justice • In December 2008, staff from Sacramento Natural Gas Storage Company contacted clients in a historically African American community two weeks before Christmas offering $500 cash and a $200 gasoline credit card for the mineral rights beneath their homes. • Their plan was to pump 7.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas into bedrock beneath the homes.

Maps in Less Than an Hour

Advocating against proposed closure of mental health centers

Potential burden on patients traveling to health centers

Takeaways • Maps are processed differently by the brain than written/spoken material. • Maps don’t have to be “pretty” or take a long time to be meaningful.

Office Location Assessment Mapping for Planning

Dave Sobie, Legal Aid of North Carolina

Do we need an additional legal aid office in this area?

Why map the data? • It would help answer a specific question (“Do we need an additional legal aid office?”) • We wanted to see spatial relationships within this area. Where are the concentrated areas of poverty? For adults? Children? Seniors? Etc. • Mapping the data may raise additional questions for further inquiry.

Poverty in the Focus Area

Poverty and Clients Served in the Focus Area

Extreme Poverty (income