Abstracts

Using GIS to Influence Social Policy: Poverty and Plenty in Saint John

This presentation will examine how GIS can successfully Influence Social Policy, by translating census data onto urban maps. The presenter will focus on Saint John, New Brunswick, whose inner-city has a high concentration of neighbourhood poverty. In late 2005, a major report, entitled Poverty and Plenty, highlighted the economic challenges facing Saint John's inner city. The report drew the attention of policy-makers in large part because GIS mapping highlighted the extent of the inequality between the inner-city and the region's outlying suburbs. This presentation will highlight some of the report's findings, and suggest ways in which geomatics professionals can work with social scientists to turn the 2006 Census into a powerful data set for policy change.