March 2023 Summaries

The text highlights various projects utilizing geographic information system (GIS) tools, specifically QGIS and Felt, to create informative maps for different purposes. It describes an origin-destination flow map visualizing corn shipments from Ukraine to countries involved in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a map showing direct flights from San Francisco International Airport, a creative map illustrating gray whale migration with an ocean-focused design, and a map depicting the top crops in each California county based on acreage. Each project showcases the combination of QGIS for data processing and analysis with Felt for styling and sharing, demonstrating the synergy between desktop GIS capabilities and modern web-based collaboration tools. The projects emphasize the ease and effectiveness of using these tools to convey complex spatial information and encourage further exploration and sharing of maps online.

The text discusses various projects utilizing QGIS and Felt, emphasizing their capabilities in creating engaging and informative maps. It highlights the creation of a flow map for the Black Sea Grain Initiative showing corn shipments from Ukraine, a visualization of direct flights from San Francisco International Airport, a creatively designed map about gray whale migration, and a depiction of top crops in California counties. Each project demonstrates unique techniques such as vector joins, great circles, buffering, and data merging, showcasing QGIS's analytical power and Felt's user-friendly sharing and styling features. The text illustrates how QGIS's robust data processing complements Felt's collaborative platform, enabling users to efficiently design and disseminate maps that reveal complex patterns and narratives.

QGIS and Felt are being used by diverse teams in fields like planning, tech, and environmental sciences to combine the analytical power of desktop GIS with the ease of web-based collaboration. Felt supports QGIS as its first flagship-level sustaining member, facilitating expert map-makers who rely on various tools to enhance workflow efficiency. QGIS offers professional data handling and processing capabilities with plugins for creating interactive maps, but it lacks features for sharing, permissions, and feedback. Felt addresses these gaps by providing browser-based collaboration, cloud storage, and team-based data management, similar to tools like Google Docs and Figma, thus revolutionizing map work by making QGIS maps and analysis more accessible across organizations.

Teams from diverse fields such as planning, technology, and environmental sciences are utilizing the combination of QGIS and Felt to harness the analytical power of desktop GIS and the collaborative ease of web-based tools. QGIS, known for its robust data handling and processing capabilities, is effectively paired with Felt's features for team collaboration, including browser-based interaction, cloud storage, and data libraries with permissions, akin to tools like Google Docs and Figma. While QGIS allows for the creation and manipulation of datasets with various plugins, it lacks the collaborative sharing and feedback channels that Felt provides. By supporting the QGIS organization as a flagship-level sustaining member, Felt is enhancing the accessibility and functionality of QGIS maps and analyses, thereby revolutionizing how teams work with spatial data across organizations.

Westchester Land Trust, owning over 1,000 acres in New York, utilizes maps to share information about hiking-accessible preserves and undisturbed conservation easements, while various individuals have created diverse maps for different purposes. These include highlighting Boston buildings by construction year, global battery gigafactories, Bath's traffic-free neighborhoods, Monterey County's paramedic coverage areas, and Alameda County's parcel assessment densities. Other maps focus on Mumbai bookshops with walking routes to train stations, affordable housing development in Toronto, whale strandings on the East Coast, and high-altitude aerial object sightings. A new Slack group encourages map creators to share their work on Felt, with the best maps to be featured later.

Westchester Land Trust, which owns over 1,000 acres in New York, has created a map of its preserves and conservation easements, showcasing areas open for hiking and those kept undisturbed. Various individuals have developed maps for different purposes, such as Chris Amico's map of Boston buildings colored by year of construction, David's map of global battery gigafactories, and Adam's depiction of Bath's neighborhoods with limited vehicular traffic. Other notable maps include Jared's Monterey County System Status Plan for paramedics, Jeff's Alameda County parcel assessment density, and Mumbai Paused's map of Mumbai bookshops with walking routes. Additional projects feature Lanrick's mapping of affordable housing proposals in Toronto, Stephen Stirling's investigation into East Coast whale strandings, and David's map of high-altitude object incidents. Felt encourages users to share their maps in a Slack group, promising to highlight outstanding contributions.