Supporting our community partners and the maps they make
Working closely with local and global organizations spans the entirety of our work. We’re continuing to deepen those partnerships, providing technical guidance, promoting projects, hosting collaborative events, and contributing our volunteer time and donations. Learn more on our new Community page, we’d love to get in touch.
Many of the projects we support use maps to tell complex, powerful stories that challenge our perspective of the world. Here are some recent examples:
Amnesty International: Oil Spills Map
Super proud of the results of our latest #AmnestyDecoders project. See how 3,500 digital activists took on oil giants @Shell and @eni and exposed negligence in the Niger Delta --> https://t.co/KO9rO2BwYg https://t.co/bobR4uehbX
Amnesty International just published an amazing map of the Niger Delta, Africa’s most important oil-producing region, and now one of the most polluted places on earth. Shell and Eni, two of the biggest corporations working in the Niger Delta, say that most oil spills are caused by sabotage and theft. They also say they are doing all they can to prevent spills and clean them up. But these claims are often based on unreliable information, where many of the company reports conflict with those from communities and observers.
Through the Amnesty Decoders program, 3,500 human rights volunteers from around the world sifted through large databanks of pictures and scanned-documents from 2011 to 2017, freeing data on oil spills by digitizing and cataloging the information. Now all of this data is being mapped.
Mapbox volunteers Ann Millspaugh and Mal Wood-Santoro worked with the Amnesty Decoders team to build an interactive map that brings the data to life.
International Rescue Committee: Syria Crisis Map
The digital design team at the International Rescue Committee launched a new map feature on the IRC website to help communicate the multi-faceted crisis occurring across multiple regions of Syria. By combining data and location, the IRC’s new story maps draw readers closer to places that can feel removed and abstract.
Mapbox Studio allowed us to design an interactive web map that fit with our brand styles.We could intuitively manage complex layers of map data such as labels, borders, and regions. And with Mapbox GL JS we were able to create a rich map experience, highlighting key points as the reader moves through the map.” -Alexandra Nowacki and Paul Hiam, UX & Digital Designers at IRC
This is just the beginning of the project. IRC programmer Andrew Thornton has created a back-end content authoring interface to make it easy for IRC editors to add on-brand maps to stories using the IRC’s Drupal-based web content management system.
Washington, D.C.: Crime Cards
The full potential and power of data can come from letting people explore it themselves. This is the inspiration for Crime Cards, a living data dashboard that allows DC residents to browse and download police data on crime from across the District.
The design team at D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer chose a simple, “conversational” search interface that invites citizens to dig into the data behind the new headlines. Through Mapbox Cities, we continue to work with teams across the District government on open data initiatives.
Have a complex story to tell? Learn more about how the Community team is supporting positive impact projects. Explore our highlights from 2017.
Complex stories of positive change was originally published in Points of interest on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.