We’re Not Always In GIS Mode … We Also Paint Murals!

Vol. 3 Issue 3
June 2008

Gloria Gaynor once sang "I Will Survive!" (careful - links in this intro have music attached). We all know the tune ... we've all sung it at the top of our lungs at one point -- don't lie, we know you've done it. Well... some of us have survived a few events these past few months. Not only a heat wave at the beginning of June that stunned us all; a snow storm in the middle of May in Denver; a few canceled planes; being re-routed to Los Angeles from Denver to get back to Philly; and making an emergency landing because of a medical emergency on board. So after "surviving", we're just happy to enjoy a few heavenly days. And thank goodness we've been working on great projects for the Philadelphia Police Department, Committee of 70, and the City of Ashville, among others. We've even helped paint a mural! Welcome to another edition of the Azavea Journal.

"...what fun to be changing gears to play with brushes and paint with passers-by, local children and artists!"

Robert, Michael and other volunteers help paint the Du Bois mural on 6th & South Streets.

Philadelphia has been called America’s “City of Murals”. The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (MAP) started in 1984 as a component of the Anti-Graffiti Network. Since then, the Mural Arts Program has produced over 2,700 murals throughout Philadelphia. So when Amy Hillier, Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning in the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, and Project Director for the “Mapping the Du Bois Philadelphia Negro” project told us that MAP was dedicating a mural to the South Philly historically black fire station, Engine 11, and to the legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois in that neighborhood, we jumped – Robert, Michael and his girlfriend on their bikes, and I…on the bandwagon…(I don’t bike) – to give a hand to the dozens of volunteers who helped paint the mural.

After playing with ESRI’s ArcGIS Server and WebADF to build the “Mapping the Du Bois Philadelphia Negro” application, what fun to be changing gears to play with brushes and paint with passers-by, local children and artists!

For more information on the “Mapping Du Bois Philadelphia Negro”, visit: http://www.azavea.com/newsletter/v3i2/Azavea_Journal_Vol3_Issue2_April.html