Most of us think of maps as straightforward guides to getting from point A to point B. But the Squamish Community Mapping Group is pushing those boundaries to think about mapping and the nature of this community in new and fascinating ways.Joining more than 400 green mapping projects in 50 countries around the world, the local group has brought together individuals from almost every sector of interest in hopes of using maps to illuminate a variety of aspects of the community, ranging from historical landmarks and recreational opportunities to what people prize and what concerns them.Maps are a powerful way to engage people and get them talking about their communities, said group members Rebecca Bateman, Pam Gliatis and Doug Morrison."Mapping really just kind of adds a geospatial perspective or dimension to getting people to think about their community, because you put up a map and people just sort of gravitate to it," said Bateman, also a co-ordinator for the Social Planning Council.Like basic maps, green maps use sets of standardized symbols to guide people through an area, but their icons cover non-traditional elements such as hazards and challenges, social justice organizations and green businesses.The Squamish group hopes to raise awareness and educate themselves about disparate and under-served aspects of the local community, while creating a green map that can be sold during the Olympics, as well as a database of the social information collected that can be used in the future.The group, which has about 35 members on its listserve with a core of more active participants, has been operational for a year, discussing the shape of the project and collecting data at events such as the Downtown and Brackendale Community Forums in December and March.At the forums, participants were asked what they value in the community, what they feel is at risk and what actions need to be taken. The mapping group is working with the first two sets of answers and discussing how to best incorporate them into a map.That's partly why this will be a summer of action for the group. "We've done a lot of talking, networking, envisioning, but we're hoping this summer to get down to some nitty-gritty production, to start gathering data and putting it into some sort of database that will actually allow us to produce a map, a green map of Squamish," Gliatis said.The group is hiring a student mapping project worker for the summer, who Gliatis said will hopefully be able to advance the project's information-gathering, data storage and external communications. The position is co-funded by the Social Planning Council and a federal grant acquired by The Hotspot.Hoping to ensure the permanence of the project, the group needs a bigger number of active members and funding to cover costs such as the design and production of the map, possible permanent staffing and development of an information package about the project.Along the way, Morrison said, it's also important to keep the project's data stored in an accessible fashion, and to be compatible with technologies such as GPS and GIS that could be used for future maps. The District of Squamish, in particular its technological leader Garry Broeckling, has helped guide the mapping group on the technological side, Morrison said, and the district has equipment such as GPS recorders that the mappers can use to wander Squamish while recording and pinpointing information and locations.The group also hopes to do more with young people this summer, with events such as those GPS wanders, encouraging their involvement in mapping."Mapping is fun," Bateman said. "You get to go out and physically go to places, and make your own maps."
