The Town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) is building on its suite of interactive maps to help keep the public informed.
According to Stephanie McPhie, GIS specialist with TBM, the latest addition to the town’s suite of interactive maps will focus on Short Term Accommodations (STA).
“We currently have a static PDF-map online and a list of all the licensed STA properties that we have, but we have to make these updates manually. So, we're working on creating an interactive map to make sure that information is always updated automatically,” McPhie said during a recent committee of the whole meeting.
“We will focus on including the location, the responsible persons and the contact information for all licensed STAs,” she added.
Most recently, TBM introduced an interactive map of the Thornbury Clarksburg Union Cemetery.
“This interactive map was created with the purpose of facilitating genealogical research and to assist families finding their loved ones,” McPhie explained.
“The search bar at the top allows users to look for a specific name or location, and it will give you up to 10 suggestions.”
The map breaks the cemetery grounds into six different sections and uses different colours to indicate the status of the plots.
“According to the Ontario Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, we can only show records that are 30 years older. So, if I go to a newer section, that information won’t be available yet,” McPhie explained, adding that the map can also be downloaded and printed for ease of access.
In addition, last year TBM created a COVID-19 Parks Map, which has been updated over the course of the pandemic to help maintain clarity as to what facilities are available for public use.
“As we all know, the COVID restrictions are constantly changing. And our team has created an interactive map to help the public view what parks and amenities are open or closed. We try our best to update this map as soon as there's an update from the province or the health unit with the direction from community services,” she explained.
TBM has also developed a Capital Projects and Development Activity map. The development activity map allows users to see project details, status, number of units under development, as well as contact information for the project.