Geodata

Why maps matter

People used to use maps so they wouldn't get lost. But in recent years, access to the Global Positioning System and the proliferation of mobile technology have made paper-based maps almost irrelevant. Unless you're in uncharted territory, it's hard to get lost anymore. Basic geography is as easy as inputting an address and letting your mobile phone tell you how to get there.

And as mapping technology advances, it allows for far more than foolproof directions. Federal agencies now use geospatial data, geo-analytics and multi-layered maps for myriad purposes, including gathering intelligence, predicting disease outbreaks and sharing data pools with the public.

The allure of mapping lies in its intuitiveness. Even simple "dots on a map can be a powerful way to see trends in data," said Josh Campbell, geographic information system architect for the Humanitarian Information Unit at the State Department. "Maps are a compressed mechanism for storytelling."

Last year, Campbell's office created a series of maps to track the mass migration of Syrians displaced by the country's ongoing violence. The HIU team combined data from thousands of media and internal reports with commercial satellite imagery. Each map provided a geographical snapshot of a place. Together, they showed trends over time and revealed the areas with the most intense conflict.

"That visualization can simplify complex data relationships among variables," Campbell said. "It's one thing to read the information, but I think visualization is a powerful way to consume information that scales beyond reading."

That is perhaps the most important aspect of maps: They make for better decision-making.

The Federal Communications Commission used to convey policy changes through 1,000-page Microsoft Word documents, said Mike Byrne, geographic information officer at the FCC. Now the agency uses cartography to explain complicated policy subjects such as spectrum allocation.

Officials rely on a mixture of open-source and proprietary tools to do that, but the focus is on creating a product that users can easily understand, whether those users are federal decision-makers or members of the general public, Byrne said.

"The platform for us is the Internet," he added. "At FCC, we take really complicated things and display them so that anyone can understand what the high-level landscape view looks like."

'So much easier than words'

The ease with which maps can be created, shared, accessed and understood is why they are reaching the highest levels of decision-making in government. As the mapping technology improves, even Congress is getting into the act.

Legislative committees and even individual lawmakers are hiring GIS experts to make maps that inform and educate policy-makers or enhance decision-making regarding prospective legislation.

Cathy Cahill, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, started a stint as a congressional fellow with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in January. Within days, Cahill had produced her first map. It detailed the locations of various types of power plants across the country using open data from the Energy Information Administration.

Because Cahill knows Alaska well and because the committee includes Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), much of Cahill's work centers on her home state. One map she produced highlighted the costs remote Alaskan communities sometimes face due to the long distances petroleum must travel from refineries.

"Working with the Senate, we have incredible data from a bunch of agencies and beautiful maps and databases that I can pull from," she said.

However, she isn't staring into a desktop screen of Esri's ArcGIS on her own. She's working with and training committee staffers and sharing her GIS knowledge so that the mapping can continue after her 12-month fellowship is over -- something the legislators increasingly demand.

It's not uncommon to see Murkowski or Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) using maps on their mobile devices to explain policy or problems to peers or the citizens they serve. Wyden has gone as far as embedding maps in press releases dealing with Medicare reform.

"It's a very integrative process," Cahill said. "I'll show what data is available, and they'll say, 'We want it presented this way.' To present [it visually] is so much easier than words. You're setting up problems, putting topics they are interested in into a map where they can see it spatially and think about why those things occur and where."

The changing technology landscape

Geographers, GIS experts, coders and cartographers are sought-after professionals in the private sector and government alike. Producing high-quality, informative maps requires a complex skill set, but evolving tools, technologies and policies are simplifying certain aspects of map-making.