Mapping Extension Community and Economic Projects and News using Open Source Tools
1. Mapping Extension
Community and Economic
Projects and News using
Open Source Tools
Bailey Hanson, GIS Specialist
Christopher J Seeger, Associate Professor
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach,
Communities and Economic Development
2. Presentation Overview
This presentation previews how ISU Extension
to Communities and Economic Development is
utilizing open-source interactive mapping tools
to visualize the location of outreach projects
and corresponding news articles. The tool
provides an interactive search for articles by
location or keywords making it a valuable
resource for staff and administrators.
3. Presentation Outline
• Introduction of ISUEO CED and Geospatial
Technology Program
• Geospatial information to map
• Open Source
• Web Mapping Technologies
• Data Formats
• Demo Example
• Challenges
• Future Plans
4. Iowa State University
Extension and Outreach
Our core purpose is to engage citizens through research-
based educational programs. Extend the resources of Iowa
State University across the state.
Educational Areas
– 4-H Youth Development
– Agriculture and Natural
Resources
– Community and Economic
Development (CED)
– Human Sciences
– County Extension
5. ISUEO CED Geospatial
Technology Program
The Iowa State University
Geospatial Technology Program
partners with Extension to
Communities and Economic
Development to offer GIS training
and support to the public and ISU
staff, students and faculty as well
as a provide a variety of online
resources and consult on a
variety of geospatial projects.
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/gis
6. Geospatial Information for
Mapping Application
• Projects and trainings being reported in
out online reporting system
– Locations of trainings and projects
• Community Matters newsletter articles
with links to article
– Locations of article news
• CED Staff
– Locations of staff
7. Reporting System
• Reporting impacts - Administrative, legislative and
USDA purposes
– Some of this would be good information for the public
to see as well as our staff, not only administrative staff
• Each unit at ISU is responsible for managing their
own reporting system
– Unique needs for each unit
• Extension IT did not have the capacity (time) to
build the reporting system – used outside vendor
• Redevelopment of reporting system and creation
of an API to pull reported information
9. Reporting System Search
User Interface
• Search results gives
us table of information
– static results not easy
to quantify or analyze
• Lacks interactivity and
visualization
10. Community Matters
A quarterly publication for
Iowa leaders from
Extension and Outreach
Community and Economic
Development.
Database of all news
articles including article
and location information
along with a URL to the
article.
11. CED Staff Locations
• Database of CED Staff
with contact information,
area of expertise, and
location
• http://www.extension.iast
ate.edu/communities/ca
mpus-faculty-and-staff
– List of CED Staff
members
12. Need for a Tool
• Have multiple sources of information all a with
geospatial component
• Need a tool to capture that information and
present it in an visual and interactive way
• The merging of this data in a mapping application
will be useful to ISUEO staff and the general
public
– Identification of areas ISU CED resources are being
utilized or under utilized
– Identify locations of specific programs (search
functionality)
– Identify a specialist near you
– Identify projects/programming in/near your community
13. Open-Source Technology
• A development model that promotes a
universal access via free license to a
product’s design and redistribution of that
design, including subsequent
improvements to it by anyone.
– Customizable
– Free
– No licensing issues
– No max map views
14. Leaflet
• A modern open-source JavaScript Library
for developing mobile-friendly interactive
maps.
15. Leaflet
• Layer control
– Tile layers
– WMS layers
– GeoJSON layers
– Markers and vector
layers
• Customizable
popups
• Customizable icons
• Built for mobile
• Point clustering
• Lightweight
– Add-ons (Github)
– Esri-leaflet
16. Why Not Google Maps or
ESRI’s ArcGIS Online?
• Google Maps API
– Limits on map views and requests
– Limited to Google Maps for basemap tiles
• Iowa State University has a educational
license for the ArcGIS software suite.
– Covers education and research
– Outreach projects might not always have an
educational or research component
17. JSON
• JavaScript Object Notation, a
human-readable and compact
solution to representing a
complex data structure and
facilitates data-interchange
between systems.
• Array of objects with
name/value pairs
18. GeoJSON
• A JSON data format structure for
geographic data
• Points
• Lines
• Polygons
• Feature Collections
19. Data
• Database of field staff
• Database of Community Matters news
articles
• Reporting system API
• GeoJSON
– Iowa Counties
– Iowa Cities
– ISU Extension Regions
21. Issues
• In testing, we discovered that when there are
multiple features being mapped to the same
location, the markers are layered overtop of
each other making only the top marker or
feature clickable.
• When converting shapefile or excel tables to
GeoJSON we have to alter the GeoJSON to
have multiple properties for one location
rather than one property and location for
each feature.
22. Future Plans for Project
• Search bar
• Side bar
• Export of data
• Point Clustering
• Layers with population and demographic
information
• Query layers
– By location
– By date or time frame
– By program
26. Example
• CED staff works on Latino small business
development in a community
– Information about the work, impacts and location are
entered into the reporting system
– Go to the mapping application – information is
automatically pulled from the reporting system to the
map through the API
– Are programs happening in areas where there is a
large Latino population?
– Can the reported impacts actually be identified?
– Is there population increase or decrease in poverty
level since programs were implemented?
– Are specialized staff in the right location?
