Imagine Your IdeaMAKE YOUR TOOLTell Your Story

www.publiclab.org

publiclab.org

Google Earth Outreach earth.google.com/outreach

aerial mapping

balloon mapping

camera

Helium-

filled weath

er balloo

n

Creative Commons Share Back with Attribution for the collaborative production of knowledge

simple noise monitor

kite mapping

kite-making worksho

pcame

ra

Kite

SEEING THINGS BETTER

examplesGowanus canal, NY

Helping to set up a cleanup process – but where ?

Gowanus Canal Sewage: gets a million gallons a day …

Gowanus Low Altitude Mapping Program

15 DECEMBER 2012 BALLOON AERIAL

GOWANUS CANAL MAPPING OF SEWAGE PLUMES FROM HURRICANE SANDY DAMAGE

15 DECEMBER 2012 BALLOON AERIAL

GOWANUS CANAL MAPPING OF FRESH WATER INFLOWS FROM HISTORIC SPRINGS INTO SEWAGE CONTAMINATED WATERS

Unmapped spring discovered

LOCAL CITIZEN PHOTOGRAPHY

2008 State Photo Program

2011 Citizen Kite Photo Program

IMPROVING PUBLIC DATA &CREATING TOOLS FOR LOCAL INSIGHT

CAN WE MAP ALL THE OLD GHOST STREAMS AND CREEKS ?

THESE CAN HELP DIVERT RAINWATER OUT OF SEWERS AND REDUCE SEWER OVERFLOW POLLUTION

Looking for Solutions to the Problem…

First Street BasinAs seen from canoe

1766 Freeke’s Mill Building

Potential Spring

This is a publicRight of Way:Could this stream be restored for the new park ?

Why are plants in concrete cracks growing so well ? Is the spring still running ?

July 2011 Balloon PhotoCIVIC DATA THAT ASKS QUESTIONS

Grassroots Mapping – finding things that matter to YOU

1766

CAN OLD MAPS HELP US UNDERSTAND OUR GRASSROOTS AERIAL PHOTOS ?

FIRST STREET

BASIN

EXISTING SPRING

1766 stream

FIRSTSTREETBASIN

GOWANUS CANAL(SALTY WATER)

COLONIAL MILL NEEDING FRESH WATER

Origin

al T

idal

Dam

OLD 1766 MAP OVERLAID ON “DO IT YOURSELF” 2011 BALLOON AERIAL SHOWS US WHAT IS GOING ON

Surviving stream is now argument

for 5th Street Basin Greenway

& Park Restoration

The Revolution in our Back Yard

Battle of Brooklyn: 27 August 1776

Alonzo Chappel, 1858

Delaware Regiment fighting in Battle of Brooklyn, painting by Domenick D’Andrea, Corbis Archives

1776 – Soldiers died and were buried here

Where are the Buried Bodies ?

Helping people tell their story

Bob Furman,local historian

The OVER MY DEAD BODY BALLOON MAPPING EXPEDITION comparing notes with local Brooklyn authorities on how much space would be needed to bury 256 bodies

Pic by Dan Phiffer, 7 July 2012

How much space would bodies take ?

Where could bones have survived ?

PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN MARYLANDER SITE WERE EXCAVATED IN 2009, AND THIS AREA STUDIED BY ARCHEOLOGICAL TEAMS – BUT NOTHING FOUND – WOULD WE HAVE MORE LUCK WITH SOUTHERN PORTION ?

1957 Columbia University Archeological Study Area( nothing found )

8 TH STREET

THIR

D A

VE

9 TH STREET

FOURT

H A

VE

Microsoft Bing Aerials, circa 2010

1998 Bona Fide Oil Archeological Study Area

2012 Over My Dead Body Balloon Mapping Site NEVER EXCAVATED…

1947 Robert Moses Historical Park Proposal Area

1890s Discovery of 30 bodies by Contractor Ryan - location unclear

The 7 July 2012 Balloon Photographs show an interesting pattern of cracks running on a north south axis. Military burials typically had bodies facing the rising sun. Cracks match proportions of burial trenches described by by 1956 Archeological Survey.

2010 NYC LIDAR 3D Topographic Model of Slab half inch “bumps” on slab

examplesJerusalem, Israel

“…aerial photographs do not speak for themselves. And in particular those made by communities. Exactly like any other form of photography aerial images are ground for interpretation, rather than for objective decoding.”

- Hagit Keysar, 2013

other examples

mapping a park

mapping

forest damag

e

mapping a demonstra

tion

mapknitter.org

DIY manifesto• DIY = empowerment & sense of ownership• DIY = independence• DIY = creativity• DIY = understanding of things and taking

charge• DIY = the right to choose• DIY transforms consumers into contributors• DIY is saves you money!

Nat Fein, 1947, Central Park

SMALL DATA vs BIG DATAReconnecting the State

with it’s Citizen Knowledge

TELLING THE LOCAL STORY

A very special thank you to all the wonderful staff and volunteers at IFJ

A big thank you to all of you - now masters in DIY kite mapping and who endured the cold and wet kite mapping intro

Thank you to PublicLab.org community for their work and open source materials, many of them included in this presentation

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