New Map For Detroit Auction: Why Don’t We Own This?
At LOVELAND Technologies, our Detroit-focused internet startup, we’ve been working hard to develop powerful new kinds of interactive city maps (the working name of our mapping platform is Living In The Map). Last year we released a parcel-based map of Detroit with a swiss-army-knife-like set of features, experimenting with different ways to display data, and different features for commenting, posting photos and videos, creating location-based fundraisers, highlighting projects, and more.
Today we’re releasing a single-focus map built around the thousands of properties up for auction at the Wayne County Tax Foreclosure Auction happening in September. The map is called Why Don’t We Own This? and lives at whydontweownthis.com (you can also get there via wdwot.com for a shorter link, and will be building out a mobile phone version).
When you arrive on the site you’ll see a map of Detroit broken down by zip codes:
When you click a zip you’ll zoom in and see all the properties up for auction along with some basic information:
When you click a property you’ll zoom in all the way to a parcel-based map focused on the property, along with a Google Street View window, and as much data as we can find about the property:
Importantly, if you log into the map with a LOVELAND account or Facebook Connect, you can comment on or follow updates and conversations on specific properties or entire zip codes. At the same time as we’re visualizing the properties so people can easily see what’s happening in the city and in their neighborhoods, we’re also opening up communication channels, which we think is important and powerful for reasons we discuss on the WDWOT About page.
While no one can control auction outcomes, we believe that adding dialog and increasing transparency can help create healthier auction outcomes and help maximize local benefit. After all, if properties become more than price tags, if they can carry local histories and stories and desires, there’s a better chance for intelligent and welcomed reactivation.
Please have a look at whydontweownthis.com and let us know what you think. Please also spread word so people are aware of what’s up in the city and their neighborhoods, and can share what they know and what they want for these properties, if they want to.
Depending on what people think and how they use it, it’s also possible for us to update the map or specific properties with additional features (for one example, we can turn on “crowdfunding” tools if a property is clearly identified as something a neighborhood wants to make into a public space like a park or community center, and wants to raise funds to bid on and develop it with).
A couple of notes: We’ve independently built this map using publicly available information from Wayne County and the Detroit Residential Parcel Survey. Things change, and we can’t guarantee the accuracy of any information. If you see something wrong, please let us know and we’ll update it.
We’d like to thank our friends at Data Driven Detroit for their advice and assistance in helping keep things fresh, and the many people who’ve given feedback and supported our work along the way. As we move forward we want to continue creating innovative maps that not only empower people through information, but also through interaction that can accomplish real things in the real world and make the city a better place.
Thanks for reading, we hope you find this service useful, and we hope you’ll share your ideas for how we can get better and better at doing the most good. It’s all a work in progress.
