Category Archives: Atlanta connections

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The Transit City

  October 5, 2014 , ,

Known as the southern commercial railway hub and also for it’s urban sprawl, Atlanta is in constant movement within the city and throughout the metro area.  Originally not the capital of Georgia, Atlanta was the center for rail traffic for the entire southeast.  As industry grew within the city, other, more public transit, emerged and connected industry workers with the various industrial centers, students with large universities, and residents to use for personal transit. What resulted was a large and intricate trolley car line that connected the city, at one time having over 200 miles of  tract-  a system any metropolis would be proud of.  However, the early 1900’s introduced the age of the automobile and our emergence of the sprawling metropolis we see today. The trolley lines were dug up, or paved over, to create an autocentric city dependent on individual transit. The reason I bring up this part of Atlanta history, is that this week I was added to a workgroup that will focus on the progression, regression and reintroduction of public transit in Atlanta.  A small group of us SIF’s will be creating a storymap (curious?) to conceptualize the evolution of our transit system through a spatial and historic lens. With the shift to more sustainable systems, urban centers are creating more vibrant and efficient public transit systems, and Atlanta is no exception.  Between the beltline, the “new” streetcar development, and talks of expanding MARTA to other metro cities, Atlanta is attempting to establish a more connected … Continue reading

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“Will we be lost without paper maps in the digital age?”

  October 5, 2014 , ,

This week, the ArcGIS Online Outreach team started discussing its newest project -“Atlanta Mass Transit: Past, Present, Future.” This project is going to be using the Planning Atlanta collection to access past planning documents for Atlanta’s conversations surrounding transportation. With these documents we plan to make an ESRI Story Map that shows the plans through the decades. Given that the streetcar has raised the level of dialogue around transportation, we hope to contribute to the discussion through this publicly available, online map. While not all mapping is done on web based platforms, almost all map creation has been digital since the 1990’s. Not only has the way cartographers make maps changed, but technology has changed the way we view maps. What was previously printed off, hung on walls, and folded up to put in glove boxes is now contained on screens of varying sizes. Some digital maps are static, but they are becoming increasingly animated, interactive, and even 3D. So is the paper map becoming obsolete? According to Paul Hurst and Paul Clough from the the Royal School of Military Survey, argue that paper maps are still holding strong in the 21st century. In their article Will we be lost without paper maps in the digital age?  in the Journal of Information Science, they discuss their study which examines the the preferred mode of map consumption of experts and non-experts. An expert is someone who is a professional who has expansive experience in paper and digital map creation while a non-expert represents … Continue reading

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3D Reconstruction of 81 Decatur Street Project

  October 2, 2014 , , ,

Hey Guys! Just wanted to talk a little this week about the project some of the SIFs and I are working on! It’s been a rough week due to a stagnant cold that’s been ailing me, but we’ve managed to accumulate a lot of good data to throw at this project. What is it you ask? Well–every time you happen to walk by Classroom South on Decatur St, there is actually a rich history swept underneath the building that now stands there, namely 81 Theatre. It started as a Vaudeville stage and slowly evolved into a popular African American theatre in the 30s onward. The street was bustling with activity–pool halls, barber shops, clubs…it was an extension of the Auburn Avenue community’s spark. So our team wants to rebuild this block of Decatur St as an interactive environment–a game of sorts. If you’ve been reading my blog up until this point, you’ll know how into gamifying experiences I am. By adding a layer of engaging interactivity to this historical environment–we hope to promote education through engaging experiences that reflect what the different departments we represent do best: English and Literature, Anthropology, Geography, and Computer Science. It’s one thing to build a historically accurate 3D environment through maps and computing–it’s another thing entirely to fill it with narrative and meaningful culture that grabs attention and keeps it engaged. Can someone interact with this small microcosm and leave that interaction knowing more about the past than they realize? It’s hard to say, … Continue reading

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Gather Around the Medicine Wheel

  September 28, 2014 ,

This week I have spent much of my time as a party planner for various events happening this month.  I was wondering how and why I find myself in this role so frequently, and I think it has much to do with my background as a geoscientist.  I know that might not sound very intuitive, geosciences and party planning, but when you think of the skill set (spatial thinkers that love spreadsheets) it kind of makes sense.  Couple my love for data sets and organization and my background in restaurants and bartending and you have yourself the ideal planner. One event that I am currently working on is closely linked with my thesis research and personal passion for urban agriculture in Atlanta:   This event is an important stepping stone to sustain a vibrant garden in southwest Atlanta and grow awareness around the value and possibilities these types of sites can have around the city.  Additionally, this group, along with others, will be coming to GSU once a month for a Farmer’s Market.  GSU’s Office of Sustainability and I are working in concert with many passionate student groups and departments to hopefully create a monthly (eventually weekly) market on campus that will connect GSU with the surrounding communities, while also providing local, nutritious food options for a urban campus that is surrounded primarily by less than healthy restaurant options.  This market shows the power of collaboration on campus and the determination of many invested folks to insist on more from … Continue reading

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Update on the SIF Outreach Project

  September 25, 2014 ,

After meeting with my group this past Thursday, we came up with some ideas to help more students and faculty become more aware of the different kinds of technology platforms available to them here at GSU. One idea was creating an app or adding to the current GSU app for that matter, in which we can have plot point of the different technology locations available to us on campus. When the plot point is clicked, it would show the location, address, pictures of the space, a telephone number to contact the space and person in charge, and possibly a short video showing the usage of the space as a whole. As today’s world is swallowed into technology, having this app will be quite helpful especially on the go. Mentioned above was the idea of having videos of each space and we discussed the time frame per video and where it can be shown, in places like the Recreation center or Langdale, basically any place on campus with a TV. Also, we can put up flyer in individual classrooms, the library, the Recreation Center, Student Center, and other heavy populated places on campus to direct the students and faculty to the specific platforms to be able to watch these promotional videos for these places. The SIF Outreach Project is looking to aim to target one space at a time and the first one on our list is the Digital Aquarium in the Student Center, so we shall see how things go! … Continue reading