Why It's Important
Digital mapping is a powerful tool for community economic development that helps visualize a community's strengths, assets, and challenges. By creating digital maps of community assets—such as local businesses, cultural sites, trails, and public facilities—communities can better promote these resources to residents and visitors, supporting local businesses and tourism. In the critical area of food security, mapping can identify where food is grown, sold, and needed, helping to build more resilient local food systems. According to Food Secure Canada, strengthening local food systems is a key part of building community resilience. This data-driven approach allows for better planning, more effective resource allocation, and improved service delivery, leading to a stronger, more self-sufficient local economy.
History
Community asset mapping has its roots in social work and community development practices of the mid-20th century, which used paper maps and pushpins. The advent of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the 1980s and 90s brought this work into the digital realm, but the technology was complex and expensive, largely limited to governments and universities. The real revolution came in the mid-2000s with the launch of Google Maps, which made digital mapping accessible to everyone. Today, a wide range of user-friendly, web-based tools allows small organizations and community groups to create their own sophisticated, interactive maps without needing specialized expertise.
Examples
The BC Food Security Gateway, managed by the Public Health Association of BC, provides an interactive map of food security initiatives across the province, helping to connect organizations and share resources.
The City of Vancouver has created a comprehensive online food asset map, showing residents where they can find community gardens, farmers' markets, food banks, and other community food resources.
Many conservation groups across Canada, such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada, use digital mapping extensively to identify and prioritize ecologically sensitive areas for protection.
Software and Tools
Google My Maps: A free, incredibly user-friendly tool that allows you to create custom maps by adding points, lines, and shapes. You can add photos and descriptions to each point and easily share the map or embed it in a website.
QGIS: A powerful, professional-grade, and completely free and open-source GIS software. It has a steeper learning curve but offers vastly more analytical capabilities for more advanced mapping projects.
ArcGIS Online: A web-based mapping platform from Esri, the industry leader in GIS. It has powerful features for creating interactive maps and "story maps." It is a paid service, but they often have programs for non-profits and educational use.
OpenStreetMap: A collaborative, open-source map of the world that anyone can edit (like Wikipedia for maps). Contributing data about your community's assets (like trails or public buildings) makes that data available for anyone to use.
GPS-enabled Mobile Apps (e.g., Avenza Maps, Gaia GPS): These apps allow users to collect geographic data in the field using their smartphones, which can then be uploaded to a central map. This is great for mapping trails or the locations of traditional plant harvesting areas.
AI Considerations
AI is beginning to be used in mapping to automate the process of identifying features from satellite imagery. For example, an AI model could be trained to automatically identify all the agricultural fields or greenhouses in a region from a recent satellite photo, saving a great deal of manual digitizing time. This can make creating a baseline map of food production assets much faster and more cost-effective. The primary risk is accuracy; the AI will make mistakes, and the results must be verified by a human with local knowledge (a process called "ground-truthing"). As always, privacy considerations are important when collecting and displaying data about private property or culturally sensitive sites. Do not use public AI tools to process any personal information (PII).
FAQ
GIS stands for Geographic Information System. It is a system designed to capture, store, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographic data.
No. A tool like Google My Maps is designed for beginners and allows you to create a high-quality custom map in less than an hour with no prior experience.
You can collect it yourself (e.g., walking a trail with a GPS app), use your own administrative records, or get it from open data portals, like those from the Government of Canada or your provincial government.
A story map is a web-based map that combines interactive maps with text, images, and multimedia content to tell a narrative story. They are a very engaging way to present geographic information.
You can use mapping techniques that obscure the exact location. For example, instead of mapping a precise point, you can map a larger general area (a "polygon") or use a mapping platform with secure access controls (like ArcGIS Online) to ensure only authorized individuals can see the sensitive data.
Pro Tips
Take part in participatory mapping projects to document cultural sites, food sources, and infrastructure. Learn how to use mapping software, collect and enter data, and protect sensitive locations through access controls. Applying these skills helps you contribute to planning for food sovereignty and emergency response, while strengthening your understanding of spatial data.
Checklist
External Resources
The Community-Based Mapping Network: A Canadian network that supports communities in using mapping and GIS for environmental and social purposes, with many useful resources.
The Canadian GIS & Geomatics Resources Page: A comprehensive directory of GIS data sources, tutorials, and news relevant to Canada.
PlanH: A B.C.-based program that supports local governments in creating healthier communities, with many resources on the intersection of planning, food security, and asset mapping.