The Healthy Nashville Leadership Council (HNLC) and the National Center for Community Mapping at Meharry conducted community asset mapping for food accessibility in North Nashville in April 2023. The goal was to identify any provider related to food, including community gardens, and develop a policy impact based on data analysis. The community mapping approach is a more comprehensive way to understand food access disparities in North Nashville, compared to relying solely on the Food Desert Locator by the USDA.

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In 2020, Nashville experienced severe tornado damage that affected many individual properties. An initial survey was conducted to assess the damage at the property level by Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)-Nashville, and Metro Planning Department. After three years, Members from Meharry and other local communities performed visual assessments of the recorded damaged properties to evaluate the recovery process. The resulting photos and new variables will be added to the interactive mapping site.

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Amidst the challenging circumstances of COVID-19, this project was undertaken to facilitate access to Social Services Resources and Organizations in Nashville, TN. Our aim is to provide the public with seamless access to essential resources through their smartphones during the pandemic. Notably, this allows individuals to easily search for the specific resources they require.

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Dr. Paul Juarez and Dr. Wansoo Im, along with Meharry Public Health graduate students, conducted a Community Participatory Mapping Project with Creswell Middle School and Haynes Middle School in Nashville. The objective was to engage the community in identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding sites to control the spread of the Zika Virus in North Nashville/Davidson County. The project involved training 6th-8th grade students to use the Mappler mobile application for mapping potential mosquito breeding areas around their schools. Through this initiative, students gained knowledge about data gathering, data analysis, and the transmission of the Zika virus. 

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On September 10, 2011, Dr. Im and Franklin High School students surveyed the areas around Pine Grove Elementary to assess the cleanliness and walkability of the routes to school. The students documented the quality and safety of the sidewalks and crosswalks with notes and photographs. The students made sure to record the presence of litter and the locations of garbage/recycling bins using smartphones. The information that was collected was added to interactive maps generated by Dr. Im's project. 

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In 2005, Dr. Wansoo Im visited Manhattan with a plan to address the lack of public restrooms using Google Maps. Along with his Rutgers student assistant, they embarked on mapping available toilets in Manhattan through their website www.nyrestroom.com. They explored various locations, including Penn Station and the American Museum of Natural History, documenting restroom details and taking pictures. Im's project aimed to create a community-based map of restrooms to help residents and tourists find facilities easily. The expedition proved insightful, despite challenges in ensuring real-time information availability. Nowadays, there is more accessibility with the modernization of smartphones and applications.

New Yorker Article |  Project Link

IMNashville is a web portal is dedicated to creating an interactive, user friendly, portal that

uses web-enabled geographic information system technology to integrate county-level,

socio-economic, demographic and health outcomes data, with tools to integrate and analyze

the information. This website seeks to promote public participatory geographic information

systems (PPGIS) as a process of engaging academic and community partners in the

development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of health disparities research.

In conjunction with a content management system, the application was designed using

Google Maps API as well as MapServer and Apache server, MySQL database, PHP, HTML

and JavaScript.

The Mississippi River Trail interactive map was developed to enhance the MRT trail

experience by mapping trails along the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River,

running from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, is an important natural resource in the

United States. Stretching along the river are 3,000 miles of on-road bikeways and

pedestrian and bicycle pathways, which promote recreational enjoyment, health,

conservation, and tourism development opportunities for the surrounding

communities. This interactive mapping tool is one of the most successful interactive

maps developed by Dr. Im and is used by community members in the area

to access and upload information and photos to promote use and engagement of this

natural resource. 

The interactive maps can be accessed through the Mississippi

River Trail website at http://www.mississippirivertrail.org/ and a direct link to the

interactive maps can be accessed through http://www.imtrails.com/mrt/

Puget Soundkeeper Alliance has unveiled a new interactive mapsite to allow the public to

view these water quality and habitat concerns throughout the Puget Sound region.

Created in partnership with Vertices, LLC of New Brunswick, NJ, the How Clean Is Your

Water? interactive mapping tool allows users to see water pollution sources, water quality

assessments, critical habitats and impacts to other natural resources.