The IT people over at Asheville City Hall have been busy lately. They’ve been working on beefing up the offerings at mapasheville, a cool city site that puts killer map info into a format that you can use. You can see a bird’s eye view of your back yard. You can measure distances if you’re a runner or a biker. You can check zoning designations and property tax information.
Now, there’s more.
First, with developmentmapper, you can keep up with key construction projects as they make their way through the city bureaucracy.
Want to keep an eye on that Meadow Road rezoning for the new animal shelter? It’s there. Want to know more about Asheville Mini Storage’s plans to add 35,000 square feet of storage space? It’s there. How about Plasticard Locktech’s nearly 10,000-square-foot expansion plans, or the latest on the Bohemian Hotel or Hotel Indigo.
It’s all there, just a click away.
Coming next is crimemapper, an online tool that will combine crime statistics with the city’s mapping information to allow users to map and track all sorts of crime trends in our community. The city will be looking for some beta testers in the near future. We’ll keep you up to date when it launches.
Happy surfing.
1 Comment
Problem with Development Mapper is that the city has been doing a very poor job of keeping it up-to-date. They did a great job for the first three weeks it was available, but it was hardly updated at all between March and September, though we didn’t miss much – only a couple projects by the name of "Ellington" and "Zona." And there’s still nothing up about "Horizons" on Merrimon or 919 Haywood or Montford Commons. All of the above will have a huge impact on their respective neighborhoods – and not a peep about them on what’s supposed to be a definitive citizens’ resource for developments projects in the works.
It has the potential to be a very powerful tool – but only if they keep it up-to-date.