GEOLOOM
GEOLOOM
GEOLOOM is a digital mapping tool rooted in the idea that art and culture play a significant role in fostering the vitality of a place. GEOLOOM enhances awareness of Baltimore’s cultural landscape, giving users the ability to view data in a variety of ways. GEOLOOM aids cultural institutions, businesses, and elected officials by heightening their understanding of potential audiences throughout the city.
Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance—Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI) is a self-supported research unit at the University of Baltimore whose core mission is to provide open access to meaningful, reliable, and actionable data about, and for, Baltimore and its communities. As a data intermediary for Baltimore, BNIA-JFI acquires data from predominantly city and state government agencies and disseminates community level information to citywide organizations, neighborhoods, foundations, businesses, and universities to support and strengthen the principle and practice of well informed decision making for change toward strong neighborhoods, improved quality of life, and a thriving city.
Since 2002, BNIA-JFI had produced an annual report called Vital Signs that "take the pulse" of Baltimore's neighborhoods by measuring more than 100 quality of life indicators. Vital Signs helps community members, decision makers, and funders to measure progress towards meaningful, positive outcomes at the community level, and measure needs in specific and actionable ways. During a strategic planning process for the Vital Signs in 2012, increasing the availability of arts and cultural indicators became a key objective for future reports.
"As a local foundation, Robert W. Deutsch knows Baltimore and has partnerships with its myriad arts and culture entities as well as community-based organizations and stakeholders. As a member of GEOLOOM’s team from its conception to its fruition, Deutsch was able to help us determine how to design GEOLOOM in a way that would be applicable and actionable for all members of the Baltimore community." - Christine Hwang, Arts + Culture Fellow at the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance—Jacob France Institute
Find out more at their website.
Links:
BmoreArt: Visualizing and Valuing Baltimore's Art and Culture
University of Baltimore Magazine: Capturing the Limelight
Youtube: GEOLOOM