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Blue Raster helps you tell your story through interactive
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Tag: environmental

Explore Natural Communities On Your Next Hike

Posted on by Christina Nordling

At the heart of Washington D.C. lies Rock Creek Park, America’s oldest and largest urban national park. Spanning 2,000 acres and encompassing the Georgetown Waterfront, Meridian Hill Park, and Thompson Boathouse, Rock Creek has been attracting visitors for decades. But with over 32 miles of paved and unpaved trails, historic sites, and much more, it can be difficult to figure out how to get the most out of your park visit.

To help with this challenge, NatureServe developed the Rock Creek Park Map Viewer. Built by Blue Raster, the interactive map acts as a field guide focused on highlighting the natural communities of Rock Creek. The Map Viewer arms park visitors with the knowledge and skills to “read” the natural landscape and hit the trails with a personalized hike route. Using the application’s “Build-a-hike” tool, users can create custom hikes and print reports on what they will see on the trail. Resource management specialists, park rangers, and interpretive staff also use the site to better manage natural areas and generate reports on areas of study.

Rock Creek Park Map Viewer

The Map Viewer is funded and supported by a partnership with the National Park Service. Currently released to highlight Rock Creek Park, the viewer is designed to easily expand to other locations across the country. Blue Raster built the Map Viewer using ArcGIS for Server and ArcGIS Desktop.

Visit the Rock Creek Park Map Viewer today.

 

Green Belt Movement Maps Progress of Community-Based Tree Planting in Kenya

Posted on by Jessica Viel

With the launch of their new website, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) is sharing the good news about forest restoration in Kenya using a new web mapping tool developed by Blue Raster.  The GBM Impact Map is an interactive application that charts the progress of GBM’s tree planting initiative, which mobilizes Kenyan communities to start tree nurseries and plant seedlings on public lands and degraded forest areas.  Since 1978, GBM has worked with communities to plant more than 47 million trees in Kenya to address environmental concerns regarding deforestation, soil erosion and lack of water.

The GBM Impact Map will help donors, volunteers and concerned citizens visualize the results of GBM’s tree planting initiative.  “Reliable location-specific data provided by the GBM web mapping application is vital in planning and monitoring the impact of our watershed-based projects.  The ability to map and track the projects on the ground ensures that we are effective and efficient in our work across Kenya and also that the impact of our work is measurable,” said Wanjira Mathai, International Director of the Green Belt Movement.

This application, built using ArcGIS Server API for JavaScript 2.8, enables anyone to view thousands of tree planting sites across Kenya including the number of trees planted and the planting date.  The interactive map also displays geolocated facts about the community-based tree nurseries that grow the seedlings including photos from Flickr of nurseries/planting sites.  In addition, users can observe the sites over dozens of different basemap themes.  To experience the GBM Impact Map, visit www.greenbeltmovement.org.

The Green Belt Movement Impact Map