What's in a Map? (an Introduction to GIS Technology and its Potential Applications in the Church)

View of the Roman Forum, Giovanni Paolo Panini (1692–1765). Wikipedia.org

Recently I had the opportunity to connect with a woman who works on historical landscape preservation in Rome; this brought me back to thoughts that I’ve had about not just the ecological potentials of the Good Land Project, but also the great potential of future collaborations that could relate to the historical preservation of Holy Sites and landmark pieces of ecclesiastical architecture and landscape design.

As I began to write about mapping historical landscapes, I realized that before I can enlighten my readers regarding the immense potential of landscape planning I also need to provide a basic introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology.

Don't let the technical sound of Geographic Information Systems intimidate you - GIS technology is actually quite simple, and it is incredibly interesting. If you have ever used Google Maps or Map Quest to locate where you are, or to find directions between two points, then you have already used a GIS.

An example of a gvSIG, open source GIS software. Vector data layers are being combined over raster satellite photos in this image. The left side shows where you can show or hide layers; these layers appearance can be edited and their information contents used in analyses, as well. source: "gvSIG 1.0," Emilio Gómez Fernández, Wikipedia.org

Maps can reveal routes for travel from one point to another in the landscape. Maps can also show the location of geographic features, such as a town, bedrock geology patterns, or national boundaries. In the twentieth century, a revolution in geographic sciences occurred with the emergence of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) computer technology. GIS technology provides a way to connect lists of information, like addresses and geographic points, using a computer program that builds a map based on this information. GIS technology made the static Cartesian map a thing of the past, and transformed the map into a dynamic tool for spatial analysis and a way to give vision to discrete data narratives about nations, cities, and homes. A GIS allows massive amounts of information to be overlaid, analyzed, and correlated based on its location in space. In fact, a GIS allows information about virtually any objects, to be geographically and temporally linked. For example,Geographic Information Systems can be employed to create a map that reveals where to send medical resources by connecting epidemiological data with village coordinates using a few simple commands. A GIS can indicate where there have been mass conversions to Catholicism. It could also reveal where Church lands are hosting rare habitats or playing crucial roles in landscape connectivity. All of this can be accomplished by connecting existing data sets with a map of Church lands. The possibilities for increasing our understanding of the Catholic Church’s spatial operations are numerous, and the potential impact of using this understanding for enhancing the lives of large numbers of people is enormous.

Layers of geographically related information stacked, source: Diane Quick, wikipedia

Maps are emerging as one of the most powerful tools of the twenty-first century, and the Church and her operations stand to benefit greatly from the creation of maps of Church lands. GIS software allows information to seamlessly flow between maps, graphs, and other forms of informational representation that can provide visual understandings of large quantities of information that might otherwise be challenging to verbally articulate and understand. In the past few years, the creation of a maps based on crowd-sourced information became possible. This allows mapping Catholic lands to become a global community effort. Maps can be automatically created with data collected by people pinging cell phone signals, by online surveys, and even by individuals simply drawing lines around their properties on a satellite picture. A Church map could be built and constantly edited by the communities within the Catholic Church and connected by a central database. Considering all these factors, making maps of Catholic lands using GIS technology is entirely feasible. Creating maps no longer requires the mapping missionaries of bygone eras. However, it can still be a service to use GIS technology to map new information about the "unmapped" world, and make new or improved data sets available for educational institutions, organizations, and governments.

Why is it called a Geographic Information System rather than a Map?

System is an appropriate word to describe how GIS works. A GIS is a system of tools and information; geospatial (geo - earth, spatial - pertaining to space) analysis involves coordinating and connecting information through a variety of programs or interfaces. There is no one correct way to use a GIS, regardless if you prefer simple coding in an IDE or using a model builder program. However, there are occasions that are more or less appropriate to use different components of a GIS. Working with Geographic Information Systems technology is comparable to creating complex musical tracks by looping and augmenting previously recorded audio tracks. The instruments (tools) can create raw code, AutoCAD documents, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Graphic images, etc. GIS Software is like the music mixer; it is what allows all of this information to be recombined and related to its geographic location on the Earth's surface.


Mapping Catholic lands presents an incredible opportunity to reveal a new understanding of the Church, and to explore how virtuous acts, like helping care for a neighborhood, can have a spatial component. It also presents an opportunity to use creative solutions to address pressing environmental concerns to potentially make a lasting impact on the course of climate change. Mapping could present a new way forward for the Church to become more ecologically and socially sustainable, and to use her resources to do good in even more effective ways.

Some Videos for individuals interested in learning more about GIS:

What is a GIS (from esri): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEaMzPo1Q7Q

TEDx Talk on GIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V_Mz7NDy3o

What is LiDAR? (really interesting!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYbhNSUnIdU

What is Raster and Vector data? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwcoZJagfQ

Author: Molly Burhans 
www.goodlandproject.org

Public Space Design: A Service to the Community

Paley Park, Credit: Wikipedia.org, user: Jim.henderson

"Given the interrelationship between living space and human behaviour, those who design buildings, neighbourhoods, public spaces and cities, ought to draw on the various disciplines which help us to understand people’s thought processes, symbolic language and ways of acting. It is not enough to seek the beauty of design. More precious still is the service we offer to another kind of beauty: people’s quality of life, their adaptation to the environment, encounter and mutual assistance. Here too, we see how important it is that urban planning always take into consideration the views of those who will live in these areas."

- His Holiness Pope Francis I,  Laudato Si’,  par. 150

We can all think of gadgets that are poorly designed; they just don't quite work like they are supposed to, or their functioning works but is terribly awkward. We can also think of great gadgets that work incredible well. These exceed our expectations while allowing us to fully do what they promise they will allow us to do. Public spaces are just like any gadget, tool, or device, in this sense--they can be well designed or poorly designed. They can be beautiful, and that is important, but they also need to be much more than optical delights. As Pope Francis says, "it is not enough to seek the beauty of design." Public spaces need to be in touch with the needs and wants of the users. Public spaces need to make room for encounters and activities of humans and creatures in that space; they need to allow users to become a cocreative part of a design that's essence, as public space, is defined by their activity in the space. A public space must be appropriately mindful of psychology, histories, ecology and predjudices that, when ignored, can make the public space feel exclusive or be out of touch with the people of the place. In order to design public spaces, we also must be moving towards a set goal for those spaces that centrally focuses on the users, human and animal alike. When this goal is ignored, the aesthetics stop interweaving with a design of integrity, and the space can easily be designed as a decontextualized carbon copy of another idealized form of "design," embodying a vogue aesthetic of the times, rather than, at its heart, working with new or desired aesthetic styles to become a space that serves those that make it a public space in the first place, the community of the area.


Author: Molly Burhans
www.goodlandproject.org

Witnessing Climate Change in the Sahel

The photo above is from Djangoula Kita in Mali. The most vulnerable of the world, like the residents of Djangoula Kita, are the people experiencing the largest effects of climate change--they have little to no option to technologically adapt in the face of a degrading ecosystem.

This past spring, Molly Burhans, GLP director, and Christopher Hendershot helped plan water infrastructure with the NGO, Mali Nyeta, in Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala, Mali, West Africa. Djangoula Kita is located in the Sahel region of Africa. According to USAID reports, USGS data, and interviews with village residents, the village has been experiencing significantly diminished rainy seasons for over two decades. They have no potable water in this village, except one drilled hand-pump well that reaches the aquifer 25m below the surface. Partially because of poor water quality, they have an infant mortality rate of 1/3. If the aquifer drops too much, that well will no longer be a viable source of water. Molly and Chris met the US Ambassador for Mali, Mary Beth Leonard, before working over-seas in this village. While discussing the environment she emphasized that increasing desertification in the region, as the Sahara encroaches from the north, is tied with social unrest. It is well documented that extremist militant groups, like Boko Haram, have increasingly more power over people as resources become scarce, and these groups become one of the few providers of resources. The ecological and the social are integrally connected--they must be considered together. Damage to the environment today, damages society tomorrow and vice versa. 

Author: Molly Burhans
www.goodlandproject.org

CO2: We Can Make a Big Difference.

One pressing message that can be inferred from the video below is that change that will effectively decrease CO2 concentrations needs to happen, now - we believe it still can, to a significant degree, and that a careful approach to the Church's land holdings could result in a globally positive impact on reducing CO2 concentrations.

In the face of climate change, we believe that it is essential for the Church’s large land holdings to be planned and managed in ways that can help decrease, or at least not contribute to, the effects of climate change. We are building mapping models and will be using spatial analysis techniques to make sure that changes on Catholic Church lands are optimized to have the greatest potential positive impact on local environmental and social factors. Analyses can reveal where small changes can make a big difference for the ecological integrity of a site or pressing social justice issues within an area. The analysis results will be presented as a series of environmental and social justice metrics and reveal how communities can best benefit from selections from a set of optimized design templates, land-use suggestions, and outreach opportunities. This will allow us to engage with Catholic communities and connect them with the resources and organizations that they need to work with to make the changes happen on site. 

Work, such as that accomplished by Project Drawdown, has highlighted the incredible efficacy, and necessity, of engaging land-based solutions to help to decrease overall CO2 levels. An ecological approach can not only help address pressing environmental concerns, such as CO2 levels; it can also help communities. Approaching the land with an ecological design foundation, we integrally value aesthetics and the social factors that create a space. We know that some sites can serve both people and the environment, without greatly compromising either the ecological integrity or the human experience of that area.

goodlandproject.org