Media

Blue Raster at Esri UC, June 27–July 1

Posted on by Beth Bodner

Blue Raster is proud to attend our 16th Esri User Conference in San Diego! This year we have teamed up with the National Arbor Day Foundation to replant our national forests. Place a pin on our map at #EsriUC, and we will plant a tree in Tahoe National Forest. Be sure to come check out Blue Raster at booth 2215, near the Sustainable World Showcase! Meet the Blue Raster team, learn about our mapping applications, plant a tree in Tahoe National Forest, and more!

Blue Raster events at Esri User Conference:

Monday
    • Impact of Climate Change on Children (UNICEF)
      Monday (6/27) 4:30pm, Christopher Gabris
      SDCC, Ballroom 20 D – Lightning Talk
    • Visit us in the Map Gallery to see our UNICEF poster
      Monday (6/27) 3:30pm– 7:00pm, Map Gallery Opening and Evening Reception
      SDCC, Sails Pavilion
Tuesday (World Resources Institute)
    •  Using Big Data to Identify Patterns of Deforestation and Drive Action to Protect Forests (World Resources Institute)
      Tuesday (6/28) 2:30pm, Liz Goldman
      Conservation Tower
    • Mapping Sustainable Development Goals (DHS Program), Tuesday (6/28) 3:00pm, Christina Phang, Sustainable Development Tower (Exhibit Hall B1)
    • Community Forest Monitoring (Jane Goodall Institute)
      Tuesday (6/28) 3:15pm
      SDCC, Ballroom 24 C
    • Fish Taco Night in Ocean Beach
      Tuesday (6/28) 7:00pm – Blue Raster’s annual retreat to Ocean Beach for the best fish tacos – Stop by the booth for details
Wednesday
  • Small Business Partners Walk through
    Wednesday (7/29) 1:30pm
  • Panel Presentation – Effective Geospatial Tools for Sustainable Development
    Wednesday (6/29) 3:15pm, Adrienne Allegretti Room 30A

Before you arrive, check out esri.com/events/user-conference/agenda  for a complete schedule of events.

We look forward to seeing everyone and all of the latest mapping trends and technologies, stop by our booth and say hello!

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Enhancing Public Access to GIS

Posted on by Megan Gottfried

The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation (NAPSG), is committed to enhancing public safety one community at a time and building a more resilient nation across all levels of government. With the help of Blue Raster, NAPSG enhanced their website in two ways:

  • Modernize the resource library turning it into an organized, user-friendly data outlet
  • Created a symbol library establishing a common language for incident information

resourcepage

symbols

The Resources Page is a publicly accessible data platform, allowing communities and local entities access to key resources that aid in decision making. The Resources page is built with Wordpress and features newly organized categories and search functionality, Researchers can now pinpoint what is needed and where to find it quickly rather than spending time scrolling through information.

Built with React JS, Flux and Python, the Symbol Library provides a set of standardized incident symbols that can be used on maps and in GIS applications. Framework and guidelines are included to ensure that all of the downloadable data is used properly and consistently. Complete with its own Library Tool, symbols can be downloaded on an individual level or by topic.

 

“Blue Raster understood our community’s needs and requirements out of the gate. This made designing the solution for our Symbol Library Tool and reorganization of resources on our website a much more streamlined and efficient process. Again the Blue Raster Team exceeded our expectations.”
-Rebecca Harned, Senior Program Manager, National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation

 

Bear Basics – New Portal Into the World of Bears

Posted on by Christina Nordling

Blue Raster has long recognized the importance of putting exploration tools into the hands of science enthusiasts. So we were excited to collaborate on a joint project with Bear Trust International, a non-profit dedicated to conservation education.

Bears of the World Story Map

As part of their STEM program, Bear Trust asked Blue Raster to create an engaging web lesson plan rooted in bear research and ecology. Using datasets generously provided from the IUCN Red List, Blue Raster created the Bears of the World story map.

Bears of the World Story Map

Built with ArcGIS Online, the story map enables kids to learn about the eight species of bears worldwide and view their range maps.

“The folks at Blue Raster provided unparalleled customer service, expertise, and creative vision.  We are so excited about providing our interactive map to kids and the public, and we look forward to our next collaborative project with Blue Raster.”

-Dr. Melissa Reynolds-Hogland, Executive Director of Bear Trust International

Check out the story map today, and discover how its helping engage the next generation of environmental stewards.

Future Ready Map Video for White House ConnectED Event

Posted on by Stephen Ansari

More than 1,200 School Superintendents Take the Future Ready District Pledge

Blue Raster is proud to have produced the Future Ready video for the White House ConnectED conference on Wednesday in partnership with All4Ed. The standing-room-only East Room was abuzz with more than 120 superintendents “signing the pledge”. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama addressed the invited guests. Enjoy a brief highlight of the event via YouTube as well as the map video below.

Behind-the-scenes look at producing the video:

A behind-the-scenes look at the video production.

A behind-the-scenes look at the video production.

 The final video map:

Mapping the Global Adoption of Digital Media

Posted on by Jessica Viel

The explosion of digital media has created new ways to distribute news and information with global audiences. Events in almost any location can be shared immediately with citizens in the remote corners of the developing world.  Although this digital revolution holds promise for organizations that support freedom of expression and balanced news coverage, it also presents challenges, such as bridging the digital divide between prosperous and impoverished communities.

The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy partnered with Blue Raster to develop an interactive map featuring 10 digital media indicators from Open Society Foundations‘ Mapping Digital Media project. The project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project includes data on how these changes affect news about political, economic, and social affairs.

Using this interactive web map, visitors can view indicators of digital media penetration and usage by country.  Selected indicators include television consumption, digital broadcasting, internet penetration, broadband, mobile phone and social media usage.  The indicator data is drawn from the Mapping Digital Media project reports, which were researched and written by teams of in-country academics and journalists.  Users can quickly view all 10 indicators from these reports or compare specific indicators across countries of interest.  The tool also encourages users to share new information via social media.  By making the Mapping Digital Media tool available to the public, CIMA hopes to expand the conversation about its mission to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of independent media development throughout the world.

The application, accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, was built utilizing ArcGIS Online, the Esri JavaScript API and HTML5.  Blue Raster also used Adobe PhoneGap to create an iPad version of the map, which is available for download from the Apple App Store.

CIMA - Mapping Digital Media

App Store

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