Three from UB Win National Recognition for Creating Online Cultural Map of Baltimore
June 28, 2018
Contact: Office of Government and Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
Three University of Baltimore scholars are sharing in a national award for a collaboratve project to create the GEOLOOM co>map, an online, interactive map of Baltimore City featuring arts and culture information along with community indicators such as census demographics, children and family health, and crime and safety data. The Association of Public Data Users has given the project its 2018 APDU Data Viz Award, in the category of Research and Students. It will be presented during the association's annual conference on July 17-18 in Arlington, Va.
The three UB scholars are Christine Hwang, research assistant in the Jacob France Institute, part of the University's Merrick School of Business; Seema Iyer, director of the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance in the JFI; and T.J. O'Donnell, assistant professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design. Their work on the GEOLOOM project was completed with the support of Stephen Ansari of Blue Rasters.
The GEOLOOM co>map tool adds cultural data that is a vital but often missing element in conversations about neighborhoods. The GEOLOOM co>map is rooted in the idea that arts and culture play a significant role in fostering the vitality of a place. Neighborhood-based arts and cultural activity can have an impact on residents' attachment to their community, the overall economic conditions in their neighborhood, and the quality of life for the entire city.
Learn more about the GEOLOOM co>map and the APDU Data Viz Awards.
Learn more about the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-JFI.