Youth Treasure Hunt Using GIS: Creating a Mapping System for Analyzing Neighborhood Assets

Author: Yoh Kawano
Organization: UCLA Advanced Policy Institute

3250 Public Policy Building
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
USA

Phone: 310-825-5435
Fax: 310-206-9105
yohman@ucla.edu

We propose to create a new mapping application for the Internet: A.N.A. (Analyzing Neighborhood Assets), a project funded by Microsoft Corporation. A.N.A. is an idea for youth to do community asset mapping in a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood. The project is based on the metaphor of a "treasure hunt" with young people taking the role of "explorer" and staking a claim electronically to various "discoveries" in their neighborhood, thus generating an interactive map of the neighborhood. The map will be hosted alongside our landmark mapping project, Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles;  http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu