Refresh Baltimore Visualizes Data with Paul Smith and Everyblock

Refresh Baltimore presented another hit speaker last Thursday-- Paul Smith from Everyblock continued the top Baltimore tech discussion that was jump-started with the Baltimore's Civic Hack Day on Feb. 12. His presentation showed us how mapping and visualizations may be applied to the newly released Baltimore data.

The data repository, Open Baltimore, has created a feeding ground for programmers and designers alike. Paul Smith made this apparent with his playful investigation into the Charm City Circulator bus routes. He mapped the routes of the orange and purple bus lines overlaid on a map of the city. By breathing life into this data we were able catch glitchy nuances and morphing pathways that showed Baltimore city life in action.

Smith's relaxed and curious nature allowed for an open discussion regrading city mapping. I look forward to seeing Everyblock in Baltimore!


Here are some companies, programs, and services that were mentioned during the presentation:

Mindgrub
Fuses technology with a training development process to create rich applications that focus on the end user experience.

Everyblock
Track and discuss what’s new in your neighborhood.

Google Maps Static API
Lets you embed a Google Maps image on your webpage without requiring JavaScript or any dynamic page loading.

Quantum GIS
Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS).

Image Magick
A software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images. It can read and write images in a variety of formats (over 100).

Google Fusion Tables 
Upload small or large data sets from spreadsheets or CSV files. 

Yourreps.org 
Web app created by Paul Smith U.S. Congress, State Senate, House of Delegates, and City Council representatives.

See.Click.Fix
SeeClickFix encourages active citizenship, by offering a variety of platforms to report your concerns. Report issues through our website, mobile apps, widgets, and voice mail. 

Socrata
Programmers get immediate and uniform programmatic access to government datasets.