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From Data to Decisions on Global Malnutrition

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Christina Nordling

Blue Raster recently worked with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to build a mapping application to highlight the multiple burdens of malnutrition in low, middle and high-income countries. This is a contribution to the growing research on the issue of the double/multiple burden of malnutrition globally. The interactive map transforms extensive tabular data from various resources into rich geographic visualizations, bringing the data to life in ways not possible in traditional reports.

Intended as a policy and advocacy tool, the map allows users to analyze emerging issues and explore important indicators driving malnutrition. It provides country-level data and possibility to view the following:

Demographics
Undernutrition
Overweight / Obesity
Non-communicable diseases
Risk factors, and
Protective factors

Cloud-based ArcGIS Online powers the interactive mapping. For rapid performance, Blue Raster leveraged ArcGIS Desktop to symbolize and tile the data, and ArcGIS Online to host and serve the tiled layers and feature services. Users can explore and understand the underlying data by selecting multiple variables simultaneously and viewing countries exceeding thresholds or missing data.

“Blue Raster did an excellent job under a very tight timeline. Their responsiveness to our needs and their creativity exceeded our expectations. We are very excited to share this policy and advocacy tool with researchers and other stakeholders around the world.”

-Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

GAIN’s mapping tool is helping deliver a better understanding of the burdens faced by countries suffering from malnutrition. It provides new geographic insight and analytical capabilities, and will lead to better decisions on how to help the most vulnerable of the global population. Visit the site, and see how Blue Raster helped GAIN move from static reports to a powerful advocacy tool.

New Mobile-Friendly Water Risk Atlas

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Christina Nordling

Earlier today, Blue Raster and the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a new version of Aqueduct Atlas, an application helping companies and investors manage exposure to water risks. Launched in 2013, Aqueduct is used worldwide by leading companies, including McDonald’s, Goldman Sachs, and Procter & Gamble. For the first time, the site is optimized for mobile phones and tablets.

The new site enables users to:

Assess water stress, supply, and demand in the coming decades
Learn where water risks will be most severe under well-known climate scenarios
Prioritize investments for projected conditions

“The World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct team has worked closely with Blue Raster for over three years developing the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas. Blue Raster has been an invaluable partner in building innovative mapping tools to meet our target audiences’ needs.”
-Charles Iceland, Director, Aqueduct Project

Features:

Global water risk maps
Weighing risk priorities: scarcity, quality, prices, governance, and competition
Provides industry presets with sector-specific weighting schemes or define your own
Geocode facilities, suppliers, and potential new market locations
Export analysis results to Excel

Aqueduct is powered by ArcGIS for Server, ArcGIS JavaScript API, and ArcGIS Desktop. To learn more, visit the platform and see Aqueduct featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, Fast Company, Bloomberg, and Greenbiz.

Posted in
Nonprofit/NGO
Water

APTA Story Map Amplifies Advocacy Message

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Christina Nordling

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) asked Blue Raster to create a story map to spread their message. According to APTA, public transit saw its highest ridership in 58 years at 10.8 billion trips, but the current federal funding bill is set to expire on May 31, 2015.

Although a long-term transportation bill is supported by the transportation industry in near unanimity, APTA wanted a way to connect their message with constituents and to broadcast it out to a wide audience.

The Stand Up 4 Transportation story map features first-person narratives describing how public transit is impacting people in all parts of the country and sectors of the economy. The story map strategically launched in coordination with national Stand Up For Transportation Day on April 9th, a keystone event for showing national bill support.

The map provides users with quick data visualization and offers information important at the community level including:

Transportation funding
Manufacturing Jobs
Rail and bus services

The ability to share the map on social media enabled APTA to amplify their message. Launching the application helped propel #SU4T on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. By using maps, APTA was able to show the scale and impact of public transit, in a new way that text could not.

View the Stand Up 4 Transportation story map and see for yourself how your story can get in front of Congress and decision makers.

Department of Education Open Data

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Christina Nordling

Did you know that websites you visit every day, such as weather.com, are powered by open data from government agencies? Large amounts of government data are available on sites like data.gov, but often organizations have difficulty finding the relevant datasets. Open data initiatives like MapED Open Data provide authoritative, ready-to-use data driving many private-sector applications on the web today.

Built by Blue Raster, the MapED Open Data site enables citizens to better discover, map, and download NCES and Census datasets in a user friendly way. GIS-users can download data in shapefiles and KMLs. Traditional download formats like excel spreadsheets are also supported. Additionally, developers can find datasets for their applications and access them with the Esri GeoServices REST Spec or GeoJSON.

The site features innovative data filtering and analytical mapping that is approachable by everyday users. Charting capabilities, histograms, and scatter plots can be embedded in other websites, applications, and tools.

The site currently features school, district, and state-level data, with additional datasets coming in the next few months. Visit the MapED Open Data site at data.deptofed.opendata.arcgis.com.

Posted in
Education
Federal

2015 Esri Partner Conference Award – Public Web Application

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Christina Nordling

Blue Raster has been chosen to receive the Public Web Application Award for the 2015 Esri Partner Conference. The award is given to a company who demonstrates outstanding and innovative uses of the Esri platform, taking geographic visualization to a higher level. Candidates for the award are nominated by Esri staff, and the selected winner is honored at the 2015 Esri Partner Conference, March 7-10.

Blue Raster’s winning application, Global Forest Watch Fires (GFW Fires), is part of the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch platform. Launched in July 2014, GFW Fires aims to promote access to information on forest and land fires in Southeast Asia. The fires, often set illegally to clear land for agriculture or used as a tool in conflict over land, produce a toxic haze that threatens human health, the economy, and the environment.

Efforts to stop the fires have been hampered by a lack of concrete evidence regarding who is responsible for starting them. Now, with GFW Fires, everyone from decision makers to local community members can pinpoint fires on company concessions- and use this information to take action. This application was built using Esri ArcGIS Server and Image Server Extension, and uses Digital Globe first look imagery along with the Twilio API for SMS, and includes webservices feeds from many sources including NASA, NOAA and others.

Visit GFW Fires, and learn more about the Global Forest Watch platform.

Posted in
News
Nonprofit/NGO

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