A case study approach in the role that maps can play in understanding and communicating urban issues.

1. Mapping Edmonton:
From Air Quality to
Place Names
Matthew Dance M.A.
@mattdance
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2. Outline
• Introduction
– My background and how I came to mapping as
part of my career.
• Mapping Cities
– Key concepts
– Maps: Volunteered Geographic Information.
– Maps: Open Data & Power.
• What roles do maps play?

3. Introduction:
Resume and Research

4. Resume
• BA Physical Geography (Queen’s ‘95)
• 7 years field experience - periglacial
geomorphology, hydrology, pedology
• 7 years in environmental policy (various
roles – 1° facilitation / mediation)
• 3 years to complete an MA in Human
Geography (UofA ’12)
• 12 years consulting on policy

5. Undergrad Research Map
Asthma and Air Quality
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6. M.A. Research
Social science – case study research.
1. How do you understand place?
2. How do you communicate that
understanding using emerging ‘novel’
tech?
3. Why?
4. What’s the gap between 1 & 2?

7. My lens
• Place based thinking - people are experts
of their geography.
• How do people understand place?
• How does place impact citizens (& vice
versa) - happiness, health, community,
family?
• What is the power dynamic between
citizens and local government around
place?
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8. Mental Maps

9. Narrative
There was a path in the woods there, and we call that
Moonies run because our teacher, Mr. Moonie, lived right
there. My friend played guitar and I played guitar, and we
used to take our amps, carry our amps across back and
forth across the river. At this point here right in the middle of
the bridge was we deemed that as perfectly half way, so we
would say, ‘Okay, I’ll meet you on the bridge’. But yeah, I
spent a lot of time down there, in Gold Bar.
Chris

10. Mental Maps
• Provide insight into what is important
• Demonstrate a range of perception.
– Why more detail in some areas, by some
people?
– Order of drawing - i.e. route first vs. river first?
– What is mapping and what is not mapped?
– What is said in relation to what is drawn?
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12. 12
Mapping Cities

13. Who cares? Why map cities?
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14. Key Concepts
• Crowdsourcing & Volunteered Geographic
Information
• Open Data (and FOIP as a tool!)
• Data visualization
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15. Crowdsourcing
.... the process of obtaining needed
services, ideas, or content by soliciting
contributions from a large group of
people, and especially from an online
community, rather than from traditional
employees or suppliers.
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16. Volunteered Geographic
Information (VGI)
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VGI refers to a range of activities where volunteers provide
some geographically referenced object to the Internet, such
as:
• Observational data (a Tweet that a tree is down in the
River Valley)
• A geotagging photograph (on Flickr or Instagram for
instance)
• GPS trace (a running route mapped with Strava)

17. Open Data
....can be freely used, re-used and
redistributed by anyone - subject only, at
most, to the requirement to attribute and
share alike.
Government held data such as the City of
Edmonton, Provence of Alberta and
Government of Canada.
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18. 18
Power - Citizen/Government

19. Volunteered Geographic
Information
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20. OpenStreetMap:
VGI Map Making
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21. Open Edmonton, Open Art
Context: Where are the public art
installations in Edmonton?
Questions:
How can we gather and map these art
installations?
Would crowdsourcing work?
By David Rauch (@davidwrauch) 21

22. Open Edmonton
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23. VGI Air Quality Sensor
Context: Emerging air quality monitoring
technology that is location (place) based.
Questions:
• Does it work?
• Data quality?
• Ease of use?
• Power dynamic?
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24. Crowdsourcing AQ
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25. Data quality?
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26. Open Data and Power
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27. Edmonton Bike/Pedestrian
Collisions
Context:
1. Bike Land Discussion
2. Open City / Open Data / Public
Engagement
Q: Where are people were getting hit by cars?
Official A: We don’t know & we can’t tell you.
Rebuttal: Bullshit.
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28. FOIP
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29. Edmonton Bike Collisions
Data FOIPed from City of Edmonton
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Map by Darcy Reynard
(@geodarcy)

30. Whyte Ave Data
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31. Downtown Land Use
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Context:
1. Bike Land Discussion
Q: How much space does car infrastructure occupy in the
downtown core?

32. 32

33. Calculated Land Use
• Surface Parking ~ 15%
• Roadways ~ 12%
• Total ~ 27%
• Buildings ~ 25%
• Parks ~ 6%
• Trees ~ 2800 individual trees and over 25
species. 33

34. Daylight Mill Creek
Context: Asked by Dr. Andrew Leach to build
a map within on-line discussions around
daylighting waterways.
With the construction of the adjacent LRT
there is the potential to reroute the Mill Creek
channel into its original channel.
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35. 35
1967 map of Mill Creek’s original channel.

36. Mill Creek looking south from the
North Saskatchewan River
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37. 37
Ground truthing elevations with a hand held
GPS (my iPhone with a GPS app)

38. 38

39. Naming Edmonton:
The Unmade Map
• Context: TRC, statements of reconciliation
made by Mayor Iveson.
• Questions:
– How many of Edmonton’s named places have
FNM names?
– Are those names geographically and culturally
relevant?
– What is the process of naming Edmonton, and
are FNM involved?
– Who cares?
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40. Edmonton FNM Place Names
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41. 41
First Nations &
Metis Names in Edmonton

42. 42
Inuit Place Names - Baffin Island

43. Names in Edmonton
• Edmonton has been occupied for the past
8000 years.
• Currently over 10 000 named places in
Edmonton.
• 128 are related to First Nations or Metis
• Much fewer are culturally relevant.
• Is this appropriate?
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44. Role of maps?
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45. What role can a map play?
• Policy
• Another way to view data.
• Communications tool.
• Engage citizens and give people a voice
• What else? 45

46. QUESTIONS?
matt dance | matt@matthewdance.ca | @mattdance
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