WWBPA-West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance

This site tries to promote greater access to  walkways and bike lanes for pedestrians and bike riders. It provides this particular bevy of people with accessible locations to bike and walk by coming up with proposals for the current West Windsor mayor, Shing-Fu Hsueh, on the placement of sidewalks, bike pathways, and other pedestrian roads. Not only do these proposals promote accessibility, but also more security for bike riders and pedestrians. By bringing forth these ideas, traffic can be decreased. In order to have for fulfillment of these goals, the program is offering many volunteer opportunities to the community to fund raise for these projects. GIS4KIDS has contributed to the effort by offering its Mappler application and the WWBPA can take advantage of Mappler’s utilities to improve people’s lives by helping them to find the locations that are available for bike riding and walking.
-jocelyn
http://www.wwbpa.org

Geocaching

It is quite interesting to use GIS as a way to have fun. GIS4KIDS utilizes Global Mapping Positioning System utility- Mappler to help the community. Around the world, many people actually use GIS in a games like scavenger hunting, also known as, geocaching. A geocacher will hide a container, containing a prize (can be of menial value to something valuable) at a specific location. This player will jot down the cache’s coordinates and the details of its location. The person will then input this information on a website. Other Geocachers will obtain the coordinates from the site and will search for the treasure using GPS utilities. Those who finally find the cache input their experiences online. Although, the caches are often of menial value, the experience is quite valuable. It’s the most exhilarating moment of their lives!
From this interesting discovery, I personally think that maybe, schools can have this geocaching scavenger hunt in activities for the students. Not only do the students have fun but also they can obtain more knowledge by utilizing the GPS utilities to gain an understanding of their surroundings and geography.
-jocelyn

Background

GIS4KIDS is a group of people who put time and effort into improving the community. It aims to allow community members to interact with each other in different projects. We hope that people in the community will get involved with GIS4KIDS projects by helping to gather information to place in the databases for each of these community interactive projects. GIS4KIDS also looks forward to having schools and other academic programs utilize the Mappler application in their curriculum. Thank you for sparing your time to view the summaries below. After reading GIS4Kids’ contributions below, I hope that you will be interested in participating in its effort.
-Jocelyn

Montgomery Township-Interactive Maps for Kids

This website allows kids to interact with the Mappler Application by inputting special locations in Montgomery Township. These locations include historic sites, top 10 Businesses, Roads, Railroads, Streams, Pathways, Schools, Buildings, airport, Parks & Golf Courses. Kids become more familiar with the icons and geography in Montgomery Township. This not only sharpens their skills in using internet applications but also their skills in locating places and in history.
-jocelyn

http://www.gismap.us/mtkid/

Community Mapping -Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina

This is similar to the project below . However, it is managed by high school students who seek an IT career in the future. Specific locations are inputted in this Mappler utility and are described in detail. These places are also the locations where people from our community often go to. This program not only serves as a special project for these students, but also serves as a convenience for those who have arrived in this area with no knowledge of where to go.
-jocelyn

http://www.communitymap.net/charlotte/

Mapping Communities (For K-12 School Districts)-Bernard Township Public Schools, NJ

http://www.communitymap.net/bernards/

Bernard Township has created a community mapping project that provides information on specific locations visited daily by people in our community. Many schools have participated in collecting and presenting useful information. The names and addresses of locations are given, as well as general information and comments from online users. We hope to increase the amount of data by increasing the participation of community members.

-Jocelyn

Bernards TWP GIS Technology in Science-Deer Populations & Impact: Project Deer Spotter

http://www.communitymap.net/deer/bernards/

The Bernard school district has its students be the deer spotters. Whenever the students spot deer, they input description on the deer they have spotted. As the students from the science department get involved in this project, they are able to find the impact of geography on this particular mammal. Students are required to draw inferences from their observations. By studying the deer population in Bernard Township, they draw conclusions between the deer’s interaction w/ the environment,and why from the accidents, hunts, and food supply of the deer population.

-jocelyn

“Upstream, Downstream Summer Camp”-Meadowlands Environment Center

 

 

http://www.mappler.com/streamcamp

In the Upstream, Downstream Summer Camp at the Meadowlands Environment center has the juvenile participants input journal entries of the streams present near DeKorte Park, Hanensack River (downriver), and Ramapo River (upriver). From their experience in the pontoon boats along these rivers, the kids are required to post photos and journal entries of the specific waters they were in. Meadowlands Environment Center utilizes the GIS application, Mappler to display its’ participants contributions in particular waters near the Meadowlands Environment Center.

-jocelyn

Chatham High School-Water Quality Project

http://www.communitymap.net/chatham/

The students from Chatham High School have assessed the water quality of the streams in their community. The streams include the waters that flow into the Passaic River and the Great Swamp National Wildlife refuge. GIS4KIDS’ created this website in order to delineate the significance of the local watershed’s health by exposing the society of the conditions of Chatham’s waters. Students are spread across Chatham to test the waters at certain points. The viewer can see the recent student’s reports available on this site. This will allow viewers to see the present state of Chatham’s waters. The following list of items are also included in the specific water site: conductivity (uS/cm), flow (cfs), turbidity (NTU), PH Level, dissolved O2 (mg/L), Air Temp (F), Dew Point (F), Barometic Pressure (Hg), Water Temp (F), BOD (mg/L), Nitrate-N (mg/L), Nitrite-N (mg/L), TKN (mg/L), Ortho Phosphate (mg/L), Total Phosphate (mg/L), and TSS (mg/L).

-jocelyn

Alcohol Availability on College Campuses-Rutgers, College Avenue Campus

 http://www.ilovegeography.net/alcohol/

This project serves to provide what places are available for alcohol on the Rutgers College Avenue Campus. In addition to the locations, it serves to show the many DUIs that occur around the campus to give awareness to students. Corresponding to the DUI locations are the city name, crash code, intersection, time, total killed and injured, and pedestrian killed and injured provided in this site.

 -jocelyn