Public Laboratory for Open Technology & Science
Grassroots Mapping
Kite Photographed “Grassroots� Crop Marks of Roman Buildings, Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, Flickr, Paolo Opaxir, May 2008
Creating cheap open source aerial imagery and data for Community efforts to cleanup a polluted neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, USA
Bringing memories and fun back to civic data
Aerial: NYCDEP 1990, Sewage: Tom Giebel 2010
Manhattan
Manhattan
Historic Landfilled Tidal Marsh
The Canal Gowanus Watershed
“Sludgie” Superfund mascot: Anna Martin 2009
A Community Campaign in need of Grassroots Data to help with decisions and new ideas
Gowanus Canal Superfund Pollution Cleanup Site
Aerial Photos courtesy of Google Maps and Bing Aerials circa 2009 (?)
Peru We live in an age of amazing technological access but‌ Sometimes we want to know more .. So who do you call ..? USA
Unless stated otherwise, all photo credits are Grassrootsmapping.org, 2011
HELPING ANSWER THE QUESTION: HOW DO WE DO IT ? Creating a VISUAL record of Community activities
Exploring ways to make technology and science more accessible for local Community ideas
Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science
WWW.PUBLICLABORATORY.ORG
FOR THE GULF OIL SPILL … HELPING ANSWER THE QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENED?
FOR THE GULF OIL SPILL … KEEPING A PUBLIC RECORD: WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE ?
MAKING “HOW TO..” TOOLS AVAILABLE ONLINE … AND SETTING UP A MUTUAL LEARNING PROCESS
CONSTANTLY SEEKING IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS
Recycled Plastic Bottle Camera Stabilizer Rig Jen Hudon, 2010
Grassrootsmapping.Org discussion forums
Nat Fein, 1947, Central Park
Eymund Diegel (Proteus / Gowanus Canal Conservancy / Dredgers) with Canoers from Gowanus Dredgers, about to use balloons to take aerial photos of the Canal waters and edges. Photo credit: 2011 Mike Weiss, Brooklyn Eagle
BERGEN CREEK / BATTLE BRIDGE
Map: Susannah Drake, dlandstudio, 2010
PUBLIC PLACE PARK
SECOND STREET SPONGE PARK
SECOND AVE BIOSWALE BIOSWALE
BROUWERS BROUWERS BROOK / DEGRAW ST BIO SWALE FIRST STREET BASIN RESTORATION WHOLE FOODS PARK FOURTH STREET BASIN RESTORATION
OIL POLLUTION
The Gowanus Canal Conservancy
27 March 2011 Grassroots Mapping Kite Aerial
SECOND AVE STREET END SITE AERIAL SHOWING ILLEGAL MOTOR OIL SPILLS
Sites for which we we want aerial data :
URBAN WATER CYCLE IT RAINS
WATER GOES INTO PIPE
versus ECOLOGICAL WATER CYCLE EVAPORATION IT RAINS CONDENSATION SOME WATER GOES INTO PIPE
Water Sensitive Urban Design How can cheap High resolution aerials help ?
INFILTRATION
WE ARE LOOKING FOR GOOD INFILTRATION SITES
Being able to see the vegetation is important:
1766 Historical Watershed Modeling by Lucas Kronawitter, 2011 ArcHydro Watershed Flow Map by Eymund Diegel, 2010 Grass by Albrecht Durer, 1503
Whole Food Site
Trees like growing near buried old streams and survive best near “edges�
31 July 2011 Balloon Aerial
Winter Winter
www.gowanuscanalconservancy.org
CREATING A HISTORY
22 January 2011
Spring Spring
27 March 2011
Summer
21 July 2011
Capturing the 4 Seasons of the Canal’s first Green Infrastructure
ENCOURAGING DATA SHARING & BETTER IDEAS BETWEEN CITY, STATE, THE COMMUNITY & LOCAL INDUSTRY
www.gowanuscanalconservancy.org
MAINTAINING AN ONLINE RECORD OF HOW WE DO THINGS
Making the Canal fun while providing information about its water quality to the Community through free boats and education events
REACHING OUT
Come on down !
WHEN IT SUCKS, ADVERTISE IT
The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club www.gowanuscanal.org
Youth Programs
Pollution Monitoring
Media Outreach
Helping with Replanting Programs
Supporting Grassroots Mapping
Reconnecting with Urban Wildlife
Fun !
Historical Maps from the Hall of the Gowanus 1766
1639
1782
1836
1837
1844
1924
Proteus Gowanus acts as an interpreter of culture and place, deepening the community’s sense of context and connection
Scientific Samples & Data as Art
Katia Kelly, Pardon Me For Asking, 2011
The Star of the Gowanus
Superfund Manager Tsiamis
Bringing Memory Back to Space
Bess Adler, Brooklyn Paper, June 2011
Community Happenings
Education & Outreach
Proteus Gowanus Interdisciplinary Gallery & Reading Room www.proteusgowanus.org
The Canal is being given a fun new life by artists
Daniel Barry, New York Times, 2005 McCloskey, 1867
Historic Brouwer’s Mill Bridge Site: We want to keep a visual record as dredging and cleanup proceeds
Hall of the Gowanus area (Union Street Bridge) July 2011 Grassroots Mapping Balloon Photo
Aero Service Aerials, 1951
LANDFILLED DURING 1960’S BY TRUCKS COMING AT NIGHT FEDERAL CLEANUP INVESTIGATION FOUND TOXIC LEVELS OF MERCURY
Above: 1951 Aerial with Boats Below: 2011 View of Filled Basin
WILL NEED EXCAVATION
WHAT CAN WE FIND OUT ?
FIRST STREET BASIN SITE
Map: Bernard Ratzer,1766
Painting: Alonzo Chappel, Battle of Long Island, 1858
1766 stream overlay
COULD THIS SPRING STILL BE RUNNING ?
1766 stream
Birds and Fish as guides to where the clean water is for restoration opportunities
Heron photo: 2007 Bob Gusskind
Brouwers Brook Restoration (Degraw Street Bioswale) Mapping the historic streams of the Gowanus Canal Are there clues in the water’s color ?
D.I.Y Infrared Analysis
Whole Foods Site Infrared Photo Test
Exploring whether nutrient levels in water can be mapped INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS
But ..
Why was this outflow concealed ?
Heron photo: 2007 Bob Gusskind
Whole Food Site: Just an Experiment .. But raising questions..
Whole Food Parking Lot overlaid on 1766 Map showing potential streams
Wetlands that grew in holes where they were digging out toxic soil
? ?
How does the proposed parking stormwater management plan respond to local condition ?..
Is there an opportunity for better Green Stormwater Management Infrastructure ? Map: Whole Foods, BL Co, via Pardon Me For Asking, Katia Kelly, 2011
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF OUR CHALLENGES ?
Where did we screw up? What can we do better ?
Dredgers Wetland 2007 Bob Gusskind
NEED BETTER IMAGE QUALITY
Street runoff + local plants
Tidal site + intervention
3rd Ave & 3rd Street photo of Whole Foods site contaminated soil excavation pits showing brief reappearance of historic Denton Mills Pond: 2007 Bob Gusskind
WHERE TO FROM HERE ?
Dredgers
Ligia Cravo, 2011
Conservancy
Working with “we know where you are” technology
Eric Fisher, 2011
WHAT WILL BE THE NON TRADITIONAL DATA SOURCES OF THE FUTURE ? BLUE = PEOPLE USING PERSONAL MEDIA DEVICES AT FORMERLY ABANDONED CANAL SITES
Gina Wirth, 2011
IDEA: GEOTAGGED POLLUTION MONITORING & PLANT IMAGES THAT AUTOMATICALLY OVERLAY ON GRASSROOTS AERIALS