By David Beers

On Nov. 26, about 20 representatives from a variety of town groups met at the Norfolk Hub for the first time to discuss creating interactive maps of the town for use by both residents and visitors. While many of the details have yet to be worked out, all the participants agreed it is a worthwhile pursuit to provide a centralized mapping resource for the town. The committee of the Mapping Resource Project includes Steve Melville, Libby Borden, Eliza Little and Bill Gridley.

Prior to this meeting, the Norfolk Foundation had recently purchased ArcView Geographic Information Software (GIS) and plans to have a computer at the Hub dedicated to making maps using this powerful software. The Norfolk Foundation will create the essential mapping base layers that will include air photos, topography, roads, trails, points of interest, businesses, parcel boundaries, soils, land cover, streams, wetlands and conserved property. With these base layers as a starting point, users will then be able to create, view and print custom maps.

The foundation hopes that this resource will be used by the town’s many organizations to easily make maps to facilitate their activities, and encourages anyone who would like to get involved with this work to contact the Hub. Organizations that could benefit include the Norfolk Land Trust, Botelle School, Norfolk Historical Society, Aton Forest, Norfolk Town Hall, Norfolk Fire Department and our commercial businesses. Eventually, the maps created will be put online (apps and websites) to help town visitors to navigate the many activities in town.

Discussion at the meeting quickly branched off into the myriad of potential maps that could be created. Examples included maps of best trails for different times of year, trails by type of activity, good roads for walking, historical landmarks, and maps of what our local businesses have to offer. Everyone and everything is located somewhere, which makes maps so useful.