Yesterday the Lt. Governor of Louisiana, Mitch Landrieu, wrote up why Google Street View is so important to New Orleans and its recovery on the Google Blog.
In this time of recovery and rebuilding, it is important that we share real images of life in Louisiana and on the Gulf Coast. As you explore the streets of New Orleans, you will discover a city marked by extremes. You will see some areas spared the worst of Katrina’s fury which have quickly recovered, and you will find other neighborhoods that remain flattened by the floodwaters that broke the levees. You will see that our residents call both FEMA trailers and antebellum mansions home.
I’ve been lucky enough to be involved on a couple projects with the New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC). Their idea is to bring “paper” and PDF maps to the internet so the community (both local and national). Together with Matt Priour (who has done some amazing work with the Google Maps API) we’ve been moving their data from their “classic” pre-Katrina mapping to a more interactive experience. The push is on this month to get more mapping online and the release of the Street View for NOLA should bring more opportunities to both tell the story of the recovery and help those who are living there gain access to city services.
I encourage everyone to download the The New Orleans Index Anniversary Edition: Three Years After Katrina available on the front page of the GNOCDC website. It will help put into perspective the recovery which is still going on 3 years after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. As the Google Street View shows (look at the Lower Ninth Ward for perspective), New Orleans is still fighting hard.
3 responses so far ↓
1
Indy
// Aug 7, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Interesting…
I just gave a lecture on critical GIS yesterday and when I caught this post, I revisited it today to ask students what they thought about this and privacy.
If you pan around the 9th ward, you will see numerous houses that still have spray painted markers indicating that they were searched for survivors/bodies. Try street view for 5210 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70117
Incidentally, I didn’t find any that were marked as having had bodies found inside (possibly masked by Google and it has been a few years since the event) but I only spent an hour panning around.
For those that don’t remember, the key to the spray painted markers are as follows:
Top = date
Right = presence of hazardous materials - downed electrical, gas leak, etc
Bottom = number of bodies
Left = team that checked
2
New Orleans Ladder
// Aug 7, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Hey thanks, James. We hung you onto today’s Ladder. That Street View just got solid here and oh what fun.
Really, your work has done so much to bring us all back home.
Thank you,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
3
ETConsultors | Software Libre | GIS
// Aug 12, 2008 at 5:40 am
Hi!
I’m very interested in GIS and all relationed about Google Maps.
Do you know if google street view has a public API?
Greetings.
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