The Indiana Green City Mapper targeted Bloomington and Indianapolis to start because both have data on green infrastructure, something that many smaller communities may not have, as well as data provided by partnership agencies. Staff photo by Rich Janzurak
Sarah Mincey, managing director, Environmental Resilience Institute. Photo by Eric Rudd, IU Communications
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It's hot and it may be getting warmer — but a current program developed at Indiana University may provide data to help Hoosier communities better prepare for and develop ways to mitigate increasing temperatures.
For the past three years, IU researchers have been developing a web-accessible program to help Hoosier communities gauge their green infrastructure, determine how it fits with the socio-economic structure of the area and identify ways to lessen the impacts of flooding and rising temperatures.
The Indiana Green City Mapper is a project of the Environmental Resilience Institute’s Urban Green Infrastructure Working Group. The program targeted Bloomington and Indianapolis to start because both have data on green infrastructure, something that many smaller communities may not have, as well as data provided by partnership agencies.
"Our goal was to try to develop a spatial data platform that can be used by researchers and municipalities to make sustainability plans," said Sarah Mincey, an associate clinical professor at IU and managing director of the Environmental Resilience Institute.
The compiled data details all urban green infrastructure in a community or a region. That includes the green spaces and resources, such as urban forests, green roofs and walls, rain gardens, storm water features, food gardens, parks, greenways and trails.
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