New Interactive Online Green Map Helps Users Plot Capital Region Assets

The just-released Capital Area Green Map has been years in the making. One of its founders, LeRoy Harvey, intends it will never be completed.
 
His vision is that the online collection, based on a content management system (CMS) featuring user-originated Google Maps, will continue to grow as people from many sites add unlimited material.

“This is an example of how electronic tools can bring us together,” Harvey says. 

As it is today, the map is an assortment of many maps, featuring dozens of destinations in the Capital region. Maps cover such categories as gardens and habitat demonstration sites, trails and bike routes, renewable energy sites, health and exercise centers, to name just a few.

Suppose you want to find a recycling center. You can go to the “Recycling Centers” map, locate your house, and see which center is closest. It may be that another community’s center is closer to you than your own community’s. You can go to the closest one and save resources, Harvey says.

If you want to plan a bicycle ride, you can go to the “Trails and Bike Routes” map, and plan a trip. With the Google Map features, you can chart your map and print it out.

But Harvey envisions people will add more maps to fit their own needs, like the route of a neighborhood garden tour or home tour. A tutorial on the website shows how to make a map with points of interest highlighted.

Harvey will assist, or even implement a map on request. Links and photos could be added, as well as brief videos.

“We’ve provided the tools for people to use their creativity to increase community awareness and enhance their appreciation for where they live,” he says.

Harvey is the coordinator of the project, based on the Tri-county Green Map originally coordinated by Gayle Miller and the Regional Recycling Coordinating Committee. The cities, counties, and townships in the Capital region have contributed as well as the Ingham County Health Department and the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Source: LeRoy Harvey, Capital Area Green Map

Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.