—Jonathan Benett, USDA - Food and Nutrition Service
In May 2010 the United States Department of Agriculture – Food and Nutrition Service launched a dynamic web based application to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly the Food Stamp Program) recipients find local stores that welcome this important nutrition assistance benefit. The SNAP Retailer Locator is a user-friendly web based application that provides easy access to the location of the nearest SNAP authorized stores. Users enter any full address, city and state, or zip code and get a list of the 10, 25, or 50 closest SNAP authorized retailers plotted on a map in either street or aerial view. The application currently maps more than 200,000 authorized retail locations including farmer's markets (more than any other on-line retail locator to date). Data is updated monthly and the site provides a method for retailers to report inaccurately mapped locations. The tool is hosted by Amazon on a cloud computing service under an agreement with our partner ESRI and was the first federal Geographic Information System (GIS) application hosted in this cloud. The SNAP Retailer Locator was officially launched to the public on May 19 via the following URL: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailerlocator.htm