On August 14th, we had a great exchange and presentation, with each of these participants - David Afable - Diana Chang - Andrew Fenster - Camille Heyboer - Morgan Leykam - demonstrating how their Green Map was created and how it worked. It was exciting to see how much was accomplished!

Along with students in the Red Hook Green Map project, Jordan Pender and Sarit Platkin presented the night before with Congresswoman Nydia Velaquez and other officials and parents in attendance in Brooklyn. Here are links to the interactive Open Green Maps they created:

Red Hook Brooklyn

Northeast Permaculture & Urban Eco Agriculture

Syracuse University Area

Utica NY

Joining the internship event were Green Map staff, who took part in the training sessions as well as the season's end review.

More about this program and its diverse outcomes will be added here soon. If you would like to know more about the resources and outcomes available, click GreenMap.org/youth and explore adaptable tools, videos and media resources, and a wide rage of youth-authored Green Maps.

Camille Heyboer

Hello everyone,

I spent this week put some final touches on my map and taking the final pictures of Green sites. I have finished the hard copy of my green map, and I will work in the next couple of days to upload it onto the computer. Once that is done, I hope to also include the pictures that I have taken of the green sites into the map. I have also began to organize the pictures that I took this week into a slideshow for the presentation on Friday. I have drafted a short press release for my Green Map, however I am not yet satisfied with it, so I plan to rewrite it and hopefully finish it this week. I will see you all on Friday!

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. I was so busy with my work. So far I have finished the map of my school campus. It came out pretty nice. Thanks Andrew and Carlos for helping me installing the greenmap icon fonts. With this tool I am able to evaluate the places in Harlem.

I am really hoping that I can take a trip to Harlem this week when I get a day off. Right now I am aggregating more city blocks surrounding my school campus so the students are able to identify some places that provide good stuff.

Camille Heyboer

Hi everyone!

I did much of my work this week on Open Green Map. Up until this week, I had been slowly adding sites to my OGM, but I spent a lot of time this week adding to my OGM all the sites that are on my Green Map. I also did a little bit more field work this week, taking pictures of the green sites on my map that I will be organizing into a slideshow. I have also begun work on the key for my map. Conveniently, I have typed up many of the descriptions for the sites on my OGM, so it is simply a matter formating them to be used for the map key.

Morgan Leykam

Hey Guys! I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been up to a lot since then.

Right now, I'm in Syracuse doing some "field work," taking pictures, talking to people, etc. I never knew how beautiful my campus could be in the summer time and the weather has been great. Anyways, I've been taking pictures of my sites. For most of them, I want an exterior and interior view so people can get a sense of what the place looks like from the inside and how to spot it on the street. For the place that aren't conveniently located by foot, I've been calling store managers to get a sense of what the place is like, what services they offer, etc. I've been asking if they'd like to advertise on the map as well and I think I have a few takers.

As for the design, I've been sketching up a storm, trying to get the right color scheme. SU building have this create color palatte of brick/red and stone/gray that I think I want to mimmick. I also discovered our library's map room to find an atlas with a skeleton map I can use.

Is there an application to add events onto the OGM?

Camille Heyboer

Hi everyone!

So after giving up on my original idea last week, things have been going much better. I had a base map, and I have finished adding icons from all of my sites. I now want to transfer the map to the computer. I am also creating a key for the map, with all of the sites, their secondary icons, and more information about each of the sites. I am hoping to visit some of the sites this week to collect more detailed information about some of them. That is pretty much all I managed to get done this week, as posting all of the sites took a bit of time. I hope everyone's map is going well!

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! I went to the meeting on Friday and it went great. I got many ideas from Andrew and know that I have so many things to think about. First, it's the way that the pamphlet opens. Second, the places that I want to include in the map. Third, the printing issue, I am still not sure if I can get to print out the maps in my school.

So far I have finished the map of the campus. Furthermore, I have to decide the boundary where I want the map to extend.

Next thing I want to do is to take a trip to Harlem which I never had a chance to. I am hoping that I can really accomplish this this week.

Camille Heyboer

So, I learned this week of my complete incompetence as far as computers go, and thus I am changing up my map idea a little bit. I have a base map now, and instead of placing my sites on the map on the computer, I am going to do it by hand. It means that I wasted a bit of time trying to make my map on the computer work, but I think the end product will make the extra time worth it.

This week, I took pictures at another 1/3 of my sites, and also wrote more in-depth descriptions for these sites. I have all of my sites plotted on a preliminary map, I just need now to transfer them onto my actual map. I'm hoping to get at least halfway done with this transfer this week, as well as finishing up my photos.

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. So far I got the map of my school campus and begin to color in with the microsoft paint. I also have researched the rewiews of the places about the neighborhood. Sadly, I couldn't explore about Harlem last week because I was extremely busy with my current job so hopefully I will go there this week .

By Friday, I should have the complete layout of the map with the colors in them and a list of locations that I want to indicate on the map.

David Afable

Hey everyone! This past week went well. I was able to contact my boss at the arboretum and she was more than willing to distribute my map to visitors. She's very supportive, so I'm glad I thought to ask her about it.

Other than that I've made some changes to my map. I've decided to change some colors, and am continuing to add more sites. I plan to start actually constructing the other components of my map (i.e. putting in pictures and the area descriptions) this week.

I look forward to the meeting coming up this week!

Camille Heyboer

Hi everyone!

So this week was actually a very productive week for me. I finally overcame my computer difficulties and managed to get set up on Green Map and Open Green Map. I had a bit of trouble getting some of the files to open on the very outdated programs on my computer, but I managed in the end. I have been able to replace the generic icons I was using before with the Green Map icons, which has really put me in a good position as far as getting the map done.

The sun also decided to shine in upstate NY this week, so I managed to get some pictures taken. I spent about 4 hours on Thursday driving around taking pictures at the Green Map sites in my area. I also typed up short information sheets for all the businesses that I visited, with a little bit of information about Green Map in general and specifically about the focus of the Utica Green Map. I got about 35 photos taken, but it took a long time because the sites are pretty far about. I'm hoping for another nice day this week to finish up the picture taking. I'm going to include the pictures in the media section on Green Map and probably also make the pictures into a powerpoint. I hope its going well for everyone else!

Morgan Leykam

Hey ya'll.  I finally figured out how to start my OGM (thanks to Wendy and Andrew- Thank You so much!).  I've added a couple of sites, only the ones I've already been to so I can add a short description about them.  When I actually get up to Syracuse, I'll be able to add more sites and make sure the ones I have on my to-do list are legit.  I'll probably be up there by the 18th or 19th.  Until then, I'll continue with my OGM and designs for the print-out map.

Andrew or Wendy, when is the best time to ask you about the printing process? like, where I would need to get it printed, what are the size confinements, etc.  I'm pretty sure I want it to fit in your pocket, but not sure about how it's going to fold yet.  I also made contact with a woman at the Syracuse University Office of Student Affairs who is very interested in having my map apart of freshman orientation materials.  I would love to have students sign up to be apart of CSAs would don't have a car to go to the supermarket, or for them to buy a bike instead of taking the bus everywhere.  I'd like to start good habits from the beginning.  But I don't just want freshman to get the map, but upper class men too.  I'll have to brainstorm with my contact about that.

So, a lot of good things are happening this week!  I hope everyone else is doing well too.  

David Afable

Hey guys, hope everyone's had a good week. Last week was hectic for me, so I wasn't able to accomplish much, unfortunately. I did manage to start plotting my sites onto my map and have chosen to add a couple more to my already "finalized" list.

This week, I'll have a lot more free time now that one of my jobs has ended, so hopefully I'll be able to focus on this project more and get a lot of it done. I have yet to contact my boss who runs the arboretum I worked at, but i'll get around to it soon.

Other than that, I just hope I can finish the ap soon and see what my final project looks like! Have a great week everyone!

Camille Heyboer

To begin, I would like to wish everyone a happy 4th of July, and apologize for the slight delay in my post. Last week was again one of bad weather in upstate NY, so most of my work was again done inside.

This week, I finalized the list of sites that I need to go take photos of, as well as decided what Green Map icons will apply to each site. I have plotted about half of them on my map, as well as included a description, phone number, email, etc. I decided last week that I should include the public transportation into my map, because many of the youth that this map is targeted at drive places, when they could in reality use the bus system. It will not only show youth that the transportation is available, but I think that including it in my Green Map will show youth how practical the bus system can be. In the description of each of the sites on my Green Map, I am going to include bus directions from the main bus hub to the site.

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello everyone! Happy belated 4th of July and hoping everyone had a great time with family and friends. So far I was pretty busy with my work because of the holiday. I have tried to download the Green Map Icons font and I still have problems downloading the program. Please help ><.

Sadly, I didn't accomplish the goals I set up last week. So on Monday and Friday, I will spend my time listing out all the local businesses, recrational centers, healthy eating places, etc.; and then place the Green Map Icons that represent this places. In a meantime, I will come up with the reviews for each of these places so they provide helpful information to the map users.

As soon as I get everything started, I will post the update on this blog. Hopefully everything will get rolling.

Again, good luck everyone.

Morgan Leykam

Hey everyone! I started a Syracuse map on the OGM system, but I'm having some problems updating it. I can't log back in because it says my log-in information is invalid. Andrew and I are in communication about it, so hopefully we can get it figured out. Otherwise, I've spoken with a few of the sites that I usually frequent when I'm at school, asking them if they know of any other sites I could add. It's been really helpful, but I can't wait for my lease to start so I can get up there!

I've been thinking more and more about how I want my map to be received by my audience when it's finished. I would really like the university to make it apart of their orientation materials and for professors and RA's to promote it. My freshman year, to encourage students to get out, support downtown business owners, and take advantage of Syracuse's cultural sites, everyone was given a credit card with $25 or $50 dollars on it (I can't remember). As you can imagine, no one used it for that. I think a Green Map is a great way to alert students of great places that support the the enviornment too. My next mission is to find out who I should contact about map circulation. Maybe I could just promote it myself and go from class to class and start a buzz, we'll see. I'm also trying to figure out how to make this map apart of my senior project. I want to make an argument for local action effectiveness for sure, but how I'm going to develop that idea I'm not sure. We'll see what happens!

Diana Chang/Harlem/untitled

Hello, hoping everyone had a great week. I couldn't go to Harlem because it was Father's Day last week and I couldn't request for a day off. So I figured that it would be more convenient to use googlemap to list out all the local markets, healthy dining restaurants, recreational parks around the area. then I will search the reviews for each of these locations.

I also figured out to how make the map by using microsoft word and paint. so I am trying to create the map as identical as the google map but with different lineweights, and colors.

Again, I attended the Diabetes Prevention Workshop (5 sessions). I spoke with the director of the program and she is willing to give me more information and the social, economical, and political factos that may involve in this disease.

I had an idea about making a series of video clips that gives the youtube viewers healthy wellness tips. Unfortunately, I don't have enough people to help me with the videos. And without a cameraman, it will be hard to emit the message.

Hopefully next week I will visit Harlem one day and have my map constructed .

David Afable

Hey all, this week has been crazy. I was really busy, but I managed to get some work done on my map, especially yesterday and today, which I managed to get off from work. Unfortunately none of the businesses I emailed replied to my survey, so I had to resort to phone calls. I managed to get some information on some of the places that I want to include on my map. So far I have 11 sites that I want to include, and a couple more that I haven't been able to research yet. I'm still deciding on whether I want to print my map or not.

I've also decided on the shot from Google Maps that I want to use on the map and have made a list of the Green Map Icons that I want to use.

One of my jobs has me working at one of the arboretums that I want to include on my map. The main office at the top of the hill has a room full of animals that parents love to bring their children to. Even during the week there have been 2-3 visitors a day. I plan to introduce my map concept to my boss, and hopefully she'll be willing to hold and distribute the maps to the families. Seeing as my map is family oriented, this will be a big step and a deciding factor on whether I will print my maps or not.

This week I plan to begin the construction of my map. I'll be less busy than last week so I have some time set aside for the project.

Also, I requested Green Maps on facebook at the beginning of the week and no reply! :-( Anyway, have a great week everyone!

Camille Heyboer

Hello Everyone,

After finally finishing final exams this week, I was able to focus my attention on my Green Map. As my Green Map is youth-focused, I have been talking to my friends and classmates about sites that they know about. I have spent my time this week researching these sites and plotting them on Google Earth. As of now, I am just using placemarks to mark these sites, however it appears that Google Earth will allow me to incorporate the Green Map Icons into my map, as well as take screenshots that could eventually be put together into a single image for a website.

During the summer in Utica, we have "Utica Monday Nites" every Monday. This year they are incorporating "Green Days" to inform the community about environmentally friendly activities and products in our area. Since Utica Monday Nite is youth-friendly, and now has a degree of focus on environmental sustainability, I am going to include the schedule for Utica Monday Nite, as well as the various event sites, into my map. Upon researching Utica Monday Nite, I came across a business fair type event that is going to occur in a town near mine in September. I plan to contact the organizer and see if it would be possible for Utica's Green Map to be introduced at this time.

I have also decided that I will organize the sites on my map not only by the proper Green Map icon name, but also by different labels such as "Things to do, places to eat, etc." I think that this will make the map more youth-friendly, because it organizes the information in a really simple way.

I only really have a question about Open Green Map. For Organization and related information, should we just put "Green Map Internship" or something of the sort? Thanks.

- Camille

Diana Chang

Hello everyone! It has been a long week with the lousy weather. Last Monday, I attended the CUNY diabetes workshop (a program that teaches people to prevent diabetes). I received a lot of helpful information that can contribute to my greenmap. For example, the accessibility to health food and local gyms can influence one's lifestyle. If there are only fast food restaurants around the neighborhood, the people would dine in all the times. Consequently, these people would develop bad lifestyle and become obessed.

I have also tried to create a map by using Excel. Unfortunately it only showed the general outline of the map of New York State. I might try to use "Paint" or "Corel" to make the map.

In addition, I requested my school for a map of the campus so it allows me to determine where to put the green map icons on. I plan on taking a field trip to Harlem to explore the "healthy spots." I might consider of making a series of video clips, "Harlem's Healthy Monday," and post them on youtube. These videos can provide wellness tips to the people who live in a community that lacks of healthy meals, fitness, etc.

Good luck on everyone's project!

Morgan Leykam

Green Map Location: Syracuse, NY

Green Map Title/Focus: A Green Life for the College Student with No Green

Hey Everyone!  This past week, I've actually been doing quite a bit of green research: preparing for my Green Map field work, blogging for this cool new website called music quench (musicquench.com), writing about what people in the music industry are doing to make the world a little greener, and offering quasi-expert advice to my step-mom about putting a compost in our backyard.

So far, I've made a working list of sites I want to include on my map that I'll go and visit once I get up to Syracuse.  Keeping in mind my audience of mostly low-income college students or families in the community, I want to highlight places that won't brake the bank, but will give people a healthier, more sustainable choice to their everyday purchases or activities.  Often the most defeating feeling when having no money is a feeling of being stuck, being dependent on someone else, or not feeling like you have a choice.  Until the U.S. government imposes a cap and trade policy on industrial pollution and supports more local, organic farmers, alternative energies and healthy food will continue to be just out of reach for struggling middle class families.  If one night you go out to eat at a restaurant that is completely powered by wind (Empire Brewing Company) instead of a chain restaurant, you can feel better about that one choice, and every little choice we make adds up.  

I'm also experimenting with different styles for the map design.  I really want it to reflect the heart and soul of Syracuse so the culture comes alive on paper.  I'll post those once they're finished.  I know I really want a list of upcoming green events in Syracuse on the back of the map, as well as short descriptions of each site so there is room for the map's evolution in the future.  This will ensure the map stays current and fresh with all the new local businesses that pop up.  I also want to list businesses in the area that hire entry-level employees to work on green projects so community members can get into the lucrative business and college grads can snag an internship for the summer.

I don't know if everyone has cable or not, but there's a new channel on TV (I think Discovery owns it) called planet green and there are some great shows on it about the newest green technologies and ways to renovate your home sustainably.  Enjoy!

David Afable

Hey everyone! It's been a long week for me, both with the starting of my 2 summer jobs and with my preparation for my green map (as well as a trip to six flags). This week I comprised a complete list of the locations I want on my map, including all the parks, reservations, farmer's markets, and potential green businesses. I wrote up all the little captions I want for each location as well.

For the green businesses I've written up a survey of 6 questions which will help me determine which on my list I can consider to be green. One question focuses on whether the business would be willing to carry a printed version of the map. This will help me determine if I'll end up printing my map or not. I've emailed the survey to all the businesses on my list that have emails, and will hand deliver to those that do not this week.

I'm highly considering doing a printed map, something like a smaller version of the Stockholm map that we saw, I found that really cool. The artwork and style on that map makes me want to make mine "artsy" as well.

The research is going well, and the project is getting more exciting as I await for the first reply to my survey. I hope the project is going well for everyone else!

Camille Heyboer

During my past week, most of my work on my Green Map has been limited to researching sites. I had been hoping to be able to visit some of these sites already, however the poor weather, as well as my lack of a driver's license, have limited me to computer research. This preemptive research will actually be helpful, I believe, because when the weather improves I will be able to plan in advance that sites that I want to visit. I have also been able to collect information such as address, phone number, and entry fee (if any).

As I have been researching sites for my Green Map, I actually thought of a different angle for my map. It still fits with my theme, which will be a youth map, but instead of only focusing on the sustainable things that youth can do in their community, I want to also focus on the how teens can help make their community more sustainable. Because of that I will also be including sites where youth can volunteer and improve their community. I have also been thinking of working with the refugee center in my town on this project. Utica has a large population of Bosnian refugees and, because they are such a substantial part of the community in Utica, I want to make sure I keep the refugee center in mind while I am working on my map.

As well as researching sites for my Green Map, I have been searching for a mapping program that would allow me to do a printable map in addition to a map on the computer. In the past week I have begun to work with Google Earth, which has allowed me to place and label sites. I am just going to have to see if I can incorporate the Green Map symbols into the program.

Green Map Project Idea Summaries for 2009 Interns!- MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED IN THE COMING WEEKS AS MORE INTERNS GET INVOLVED!

Diana

Diana plans to create a Green Map of Harlem that will focus on mapping healthy dining institutions, farmers’ markets, parks, recreation centers, etc. to improve people's lifestyle in order to prevent obesity and other related diseases such as diabetes. Her target audience will include the entire age span of Harlem.


Morgan

Morgan plans to make a Green Map of her school community in Syracuse, NY (S.U.) with the goal of making Syracuse’s inhabitants (old and young) aware of the great local businesses, natural and cultural sites right in their neighborhood. Her Green Map will serve to educate new and old members of the community on sustainable living and community organizing, and focus on how they can get involved in the “greening” of their city.

David

David plans to make a Green Map of his hometown in Millburn/Short Hills, NJ that will focus on local parks and trails for outdoor recreation. His target audience will include families of young children and younger generations.

Camille

Camille plans to create a Green Map of the ‘Greater Utica Area’ focusing on sites that will help youth live a more sustainable lifestyle. She plans to not only include healthy and organic restaurants but to also focus on healthy activities for youth such as places that provide music and other youth recreational/art activities and also local environmental organizations.

Diana Chang

Dear Wendy and Andrew,

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to enhance people's livestyle through the Green Maps.

The following is my brainstorming for the map.

-Target Neighborhood: Harlem (Since Harlem is such a big region, can I focus on a small portion of it?)
-Map Theme: to improve people's lifestyle in order to prevent obesity and other related diseases such as diabetes.
-Map Outline: I will contact my school, local markets, dining restaurants, the recreation centers, and others places to examine whether they are good or bad for people's health.
-Brief Timeline for mapping process:
June 15-17: Get the City Campus Map
June 18-20: Learn and begin how to create a map on Excel
June 23: Visit Harlem to find out the areas that might spread out the epidemic of obesity.
June 29-30: Do some brainstorming
July 1-5: Begin building the map
July 6-17: Do more research and sometimes go to Green Map headquarter to get
some help.
July 24: Hopefully can be printed out and go over it with the Green Map
-Map Type: Print and video.
-Target Audience: students, policy makers, and people who live in this community.

Morgan Leykam

Green Map Location: Syracuse, NY

Green Map Title/Focus: A Green Life for the College Student with No Green

First, I'd like to say thanks to Andrew, Wendy and all the Green Maps staff for giving us a wonderful training session.  I had a great time!  And to the other interns, it was great to meet you.

I've decided to make a map of my school community: Syracuse University.  There's a green monster rumbling in upstate New York (what with its copious amounts of local farmers and untapped wind potential) and Syracuse University is beginning to entice it out of its cave.  SU is utilizing its brain power and clout to encourage students and professors to live healthier, more sustainable lives, while stimulating to the local economy and providing jobs in research institutes and building projects.  However, many students and members of the community are unaware of the great local businesses, natural and cultural sites right in their neighborhood.  My Green Map of Syracuse is my way of educating new and old members of the community on sustainable living, community organizing, and building something we can be proud of.  This Green Map will be my way of giving back and utilizing my education to benefit the city of Syracuse.  

After all, I love SU  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCospv-sIo

SECOND INTERN TRAINING SESSION!

So far, the dates are tentatively June 29-30th for the second training session. If we have too many conflicts, we can switch the training session to July 8-9th.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: A summary of last week and what's in store for the future

This past week, on June 10th-11th, Green Map System held our first intern training session for a Summer 2009 Internship Program that focuses on youth creating themed Green Maps of their home neighborhoods while also contributing to multimedia resources for future mapmakers.

The training session was a success- see photos from the session below. Also, feel free to check up on this blog intermittently to read about progress from our interns who are currently working on their themed Green Maps of their respective communities.

*This is only a SUMMER 2009 program for now, so please do not send inquiries about interning in the Fall or beyond.

We will be holding A SECOND INTERN TRAINING SESSION sometime within the next few weeks. Please email intern@greenmap.org if you are interested in getting involved or attending.

Pictures from Intern Training Session (June 10th-11th, 2009)

A snapshot of the June 10th-11th Intern Training Session at Green Map System, NYC!

From Left to Right: Jordan Pender, Andrew Fenster, Camille Heyboer, Diana Chang, David Afable, Morgan Leykam, Sarit Platkin.



A snapshot of the intern training session, during the PowerPoint presentation that served to familiarize interns with the educational and multimedia resources of GMS and OGM.

Weekly Blog Updates!

FORMAT FOR POSTING ON THIS BLOG:

Weekly Blog Updates!


Name:
Green Map Location:
Green Map Title/Focus: