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Tracey P. Lauriault, Sebastien Caquard, Christine Homuth, and Fraser Taylor (Carleton), 2009,  Pilot Cybercartographic Atlas of the Risk of Homelessness in Canada.  May 27 W36 Urban Geography II – Social Session Canadian Association of Geographers portion of the SSHCR Congress.

The Pilot Cybercartographic Atlas of the Risk of Homelessness renders in maps and interactive graphs well defined and accepted Canadian homelessness risk indicators. When these indicators are visualized in an engaging manner readers can more readily distinguish trends, patterns and issues that cannot be conveyed in static data tables. More importantly, they can influence public policy. The Atlas is a partnership project between the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC) at Carleton University and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Quality of Life Reporting System (QoLRS) in collaboration with the City of Toronto, the Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) and the City of Calgary. Atlas modules include the visualization of indicators across time at three scales: Canada, 23 municipalities and 3 featured cities/metropolitan areas. The City of Toronto provides data to show their aging social housing stock; poverty and the disproportionate spending on rent are explored in City of Calgary neighbourhoods while la CMM tells the story of social housing and housing affordability for lower-income renting populations. The presentation will discuss how the atlas was developed, data access restrictions and costs, the importance of innovative partnerships and collaborations with cities.