Community Projects

Community-Oriented GIS Solutions

Our lab empowers UConn communities and beyond to visualize and analyze spatial data for informed decision-making. Our GIS solutions — ranging from static maps and web maps to more complex data dashboards and mobile apps — enhance community users’ digital literacy, provide spatial evidence for policymaking, and foster sustainable community development.

This image is a logo for Love Your Block Hartford. It features a dark blue city skyline silhouette above the words “LOVE YOUR BLOCK” in bold blue text. Below that, a green semicircle and the word “HARTFORD” complete the circular emblem.

Love Your Block

Web Map (Beta)

The City of Hartford’s Love Your Block (LYB) program provides small grants to Hartford residents and institutions to beautify their neighborhoods.

Partners: UConn RRCRE & City of Hartford

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This image is a flat-style digital illustration showing people in a food pantry setting. In the foreground, a smartphone displays the “Windham, CT Food Access Map”, highlighting grocery and meal locations. Behind it, abstract blue-toned figures stand among shelves stocked with jars, cans, and boxes. A sign labeled “Windham.life” appears at the top right.

Windham Food App

Web Map

Windham.life is a USDA-funded GIS app visualizing community resources in Willimantic, Windham County, CT. The map is mobile-compatible.

Partner: UConn Nutritional Sciences

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This image is a flat-style digital illustration of a Gun Violence Data Dashboard. It includes a map of Connecticut marked with incident counts, a line graph showing trends in incidents per month, bar charts labeled “Victims’ Race,” and two pie charts representing demographic data.

CT Violent Mortality

Interactive Dashboard

The Connecticut Decedents of Violent Mortality Dashboard provides a comprehensive analysis of gun-related deaths across all towns in Connecticut.

Partner: UConn ARMS

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This image is a flat-style data visualization showing a map of the United States colored by population distribution, along with charts comparing male and female populations over time. The map uses shades of orange to represent population density across states, while the charts below illustrate demographic trends through lines and stacked bars labeled for male (green) and female (orange) populations..

Puerto Rican Viewer

Interactive Dashboard

The Puerto Rican Data Viewer is an interactive dashboard to visualize demographic, social, and economic data about Puerto Rican communities across the United States.

Partner: UConn El Instituto

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This image includes bold blue text “CT Summer Meals Program” centered on a light beige background. Below the text, there are simple illustrations of a blue milk carton and a red apple with a green leaf, representing healthy meals..

CT Summer Meals

Static Map

The project creates multiple thematic maps and performs a series of spatial analyses to evaluate the distribution, accessibility, and equity of the 2021 USDA Summer Meals Program in Connecticut.

Partner: UConn Rudd Center

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The image shows a map of Honduras on the left side, highlighting cities such as Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and La Ceiba. Overlaid on the right is the cover of the book Globalized Fruit, Local Entrepreneurs by Douglas Southgate and Lois Roberts, featuring a photo of a banana market scene with stacks of bananas and workers in front of a colonial-style building.

Maps of Latin America

Static Map

The project creates several custom area maps for the book Globalized Fruit, Local Entrepreneurs, providing visual context of local entrepreneurs engage with global markets.

Partner: Douglas Southgate (OSU)

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