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Joyce Winslow
jwins@uoregon.edu

"Have fun and do good." With these words, Assistant Professor Marc Schlossberg sends his Applied GIS and Social Planning students out on their mission: to help a Eugene community improve its livability using personal digital assistants (PDAs) and ArcPad GIS mapping software.

So how did a University of Texas business major headed for a career in marketing end up in Eugene, teaching courses in Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon? A summer job with a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for inner city residents proved to be the catalyst for a sea change in Schlossberg's direction. After completing his business degree, he went on to serve in the Peace Corps, earn a Ph.D. in urban planning, and subsequently inspire students to make a difference in the world. Like a pebble tossed into a pond, the ripple effect of Schlossberg's experience is now quietly spreading in the form of grassroots movements across the globe.

Schlossberg may be an idealist, but he is an extremely practical one. Early on, he learned the value of developing solutions that work in the field, giving people the tools to analyze their particular needs and present the data effectively to city planners and engineers. His first exposure to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software was in graduate school, where he used it extensively to explore the disproportionate siting of toxic industries in poor, nonwhite neighborhoods. Later, while serving in the Peace Corps, he trained a Fijian student to map Fiji's census using GIS. In the decade since, that student, Inia Saula, has become one of the core public-sector GIS users in Fiji.

GIS produces color-coded maps and sophisticated statistical analyses that distill on-the-ground research into a compelling visual format that's easy to grasp. When ArcPad, a mobile version of GIS that runs on PDAs, was released a few years ago, Schlossberg saw the potential for giving students the kind of hands-on experience in field work that would serve them well in their careers. He also saw an opportunity to give people a practical tool for getting personally involved in improving the quality of life in their own communities. With the right tools and the motivation that naturally springs from having a say in their own destiny, communities could participate in shaping their environments--ultimately making streets safer for walking and biking, influencing school siting and transportation decisions, and generally making their neighborhoods more livable.

In 2003, Schlossberg developed the template for what is now his series of courses in applied GIS and social planning, and received a grant from the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium to purchase PDAs for student field work in local communities. The following year, he was awarded another grant to purchase PDAs, this one from the Williams Council, an internal UO fund for improving the quality of undergraduate education.

Schlossberg says his goal in these courses is "to challenge students to devise their own assessment questions, develop the technical tool, then try it out by conducting a walkability audit." In years past, his students developed different sorts of assessment tools, but having PDAs and mobile GIS software now gave them exciting new opportunities.

The west university neighborhood (WUN) was the first to benefit from the new technology. In the fall of 2004, Schlossberg's students collaborated with residents to use ArcPad GIS and PDAs to map the neighborhood and identify trouble spots. In this particular neighborhood, concerns included inadequate trash collection, park safety, and the need for improved housing standards.

The WUN student team consisted of 15 students, both graduate and undergraduates. The project not only gave students experience in dealing with real-world problems, but engaged them in an activity that had the potential to effect constructive community change.

WUN community members were equal partners in the project. Students collaborated with residents to design the questions for data collection, and GIS maps and analysis were shared at the end of the project. These maps could then be used by the neighborhood organization to support their proposals for change. Robert Stevens, one of the graduate students who participated in the project, summed up the practical benefits this way: "I…learned that what the residents really needed to make their efforts [at lobbying the city] successful was solid evidence, not simply verbal description."

The WUN Map Project was followed by the equally successful Crest Drive Community Mapping Project in 2006. The Crest Drive project focused on residents' concerns for the safety and walkability of their streets. In the year since the study's completion, the Crest Drive neighborhood continues to collaborate with the city of Eugene to redesign several of its roads. Kathy Saranpa, chair of the Crest Drive Citizens' Association, comments that the UO mapping project "was a valuable experience for the neighbors involved, and for those who make use of the maps. [The maps] have been used on several occasions, though it is too early to tell if they will have an effect on future walkability." Kathy goes on to say that when they "get into the nuts and bolts of design," the maps may very well play a significant role.

The virtue of the ArcPad/PDA method of data collection is that data entry error is reduced because it's entered directly in a GIS format. In addition, feedback is immediate: researchers can see the resulting maps and analysis as soon as data collection is complete. The maps, which are interactive (i.e., clicking on a specific area calls up relevant information about that portion of the map), are subsequently posted online for everyone's benefit.

Schlossberg's current project involving ArcPad GIS is a collaboration with the nonprofit National Center for Biking and Walking (NCBW). Schlossberg and GTF Jacob Callister are working with NCBW program director Gary MacFadden to develop a School Environment Assessment Tool (SEAT) that will enable communities all over the country to make their neighborhoods safer and more conducive to biking and walking to school. The goal is not only to promote street designs and school sitings that are user-friendly, but also to improve Americans' health by counteracting the increasing trend toward childhood obesity.

Although specific to each community, SEAT tools are being designed to be universally applicable. Thus far, Callister has conducted several neighborhood workshops in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and some in St. Paul, Minnesota. More are tentatively scheduled in Seattle. "We try to tailor the training to the specific location to help participants understand how their context relates to our questions. As Marc [Schlossberg] and I brainstorm, we would love to find a way to allow communities to create their own questions to be answered as they audit," Callister says.

As always, working closely with community members is essential in developing a simple, user-friendly tool. "The pilots we were able to do in Wisconsin and Minnesota were very helpful in understanding the user-friendliness of the instrument. We also received a lot of feedback on the questions we were asking," Callister says. Thus far, Callister reports that feedback from users has resulted in "an immensely simplified toolbar that limits options (and confusion and user error); we've also added elements that provide for greater detail in the street and intersection level."

Other questions arise as the project evolves. Are PDAs the most logical way to perpetuate a SEAT tool? Could the software be adapted to run on smart phones?

Because ArcPad GIS is a relatively new tool, Schlossberg and his team are discovering that they're often the first to push the software's potential as a mobile assessment tool with social implications. In a very real sense, they are pioneers.

Schlossberg sees their use of ArcPad GIS as "a catalyst for community organizing; it gives the community political power and the capacity for change." Technology alone can't solve the world's problems, but it can make a tangible difference…one neighborhood at a time.

More about neighborhood mapping projects:

1. Crest Drive Neighborhood: http://www.uoregon.edu/~crest/
2. West University Neighborhood (WUNMAP): http://www.uoregon.edu/~wunmap/
3. SEAT Project: http://www.uoregon.edu/~schlossb/arcpad/SEAT/
4. National Center for Biking and Walking: http://www.bikewalk.org/