Felt Maps for Urban Planners
Make an interactive and collaborative map in 7 steps.
I've been loving Felt lately because it's essentially Figjam for maps. ️I've made many maps over the past few years.¹ This is hands down the easiest way to make a simple interactive map with other people. And it's FREE!
While playing with it, I kept thinking about how other planners might like using it too. So I've put together a little walk-through for you with an example planning project. 😄
Example Bike & Pedestrian Improvement Project
I attended a community meeting for the Fox Hills bike & pedestrian improvement project a few months ago. Since the city is proposing many great ideas, I wanted to show my support as a resident.²
This project has many components, so I thought it would make a good example. With the original static low res map, it's hard to understand how all the pieces work together. So I figured the end product might also be helpful for my neighbors.
Here's a screenshot of what my final map looks like. Click on the link below to see the live map; some things look better when zoomed in. 🔎
Ok, let’s break down the steps to make this map.
Warning, lots of gifs ahead.
1. Add points for the different components 📌
Select the pushpin tool and click on the map where you want it to go. Once it's placed, you can change the name, description, icon, or add an image.
I've added pins for the speed bumps, signs, traffic circles, etc. If you already have a collection of locations (in a CSV or GeoJSON etc.), you could upload them all at once as a data layer. I don't have this data, so I just added them individually. But you can copy and paste points too, which makes it a little less tedious.
2. Draw Routes for Bike Infrastructure 🚲
Click on the little circle arrow to draw a route. It automatically follows the underlying street as you draw. Sometimes you have to click as you go so it doesn't get confused and try to go down the wrong road along the way.
Here I added the proposed bike lanes. You can also turn on the distance switch, showing you the distance of your route. If your route is not along an established road or path, you could use the marker to draw lines freehand.
3. Add some images to the map for more context 📷
Drag and drop any image directly onto the map, and it sticks to that spot. It looks small, but the image is still super crisp when you zoom in on the map.
I took screenshots of the Streetmix cross sections from the presentation and added them next to the relevant streets. Look at that sweet two-way cycle track!
4. Clip out the project area ✂️
Click on the scissors to clip out areas, based on how zoomed in you are. For instance, when zoomed in really close, you can select buildings, but if zoomed out further, it selects cities, etc.
I zoomed in to the neighborhood level to clip the Fox Hills neighborhood. You can draw a polygon directly on the map if your area isn't a standard geography.
5. Annotate the map with text and notes ✍️
Click on the Text or Note icons to add some words. The main difference between the two is the "text" is just the floating words while a "note" has a colored background, like a sticky note.
After adding a cute fox illustration (because it's Fox Hills, obviously), I added some text to include the source of the image. And then, I added a little note to provide details about the map.
6. Add links to external websites or docs 🔗
Click on the little link to add a URL so folks can get more information about your map. You can choose to show a preview of the link as well.
For more context, I've added a link to the presentation from the community meeting and Culver City's 2020 Bicycle & Pedestrian Action Plan.
7. Share the map ❤️
To share the map, click on "Share" in the top right and copy the link to send to someone or invite them via email.
You can adjust the options to let other folks edit the map in real-time or embed the map on another site. You can also export it as GeoJSON to bring into your other tools if needed, though I haven't tried this out yet.
When other people are on the map simultaneously, you'll see them at the top right and see their little cursor as they explore. And if they're logged into Felt, they can duplicate the map to edit independently.
Done! 🎉
If you missed the link earlier, check out the final map here! Zoom in and click on elements to check it out in more detail.
Lots of other features weren't included in this example. And some "advanced" things require using the advanced editor mode. But I think the stuff highlighted here should work for many use cases.
Hopefully, this gives you enough of an intro to feel comfortable trying it out yourself. I'd love to see the maps you all make. Also, let me know if you're interested in seeing more tutorials like this. It's fun putting these together. 😊
Notes:
[1] One of the things I learned in grad school was how to swear at ArcMap. Was it intentionally designed to make everything extra hard? In my grad program, we learned how to make maps using ArcMap, Illustrator, or Python. While these are super powerful, licenses for the first two are pricey, and the learning curve for all three can be steep for non-technical folks.
[2] It will be interesting to see what gets built. The project's budget is short by about $4.2M, but that's a topic for another time. 🤷♀
