WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - February 8, 2011) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and FortiusOne, the leading location analysis software provider, today announced the launch of IssueMap, an online mapping site that enables citizens to quickly map data they care about and easily share it through social networks. IssueMap is as simple as "copy, paste, map." Users can go from a spreadsheet to a shareable map in less than 60 seconds.
The FCC and FortiusOne share a commitment to making public data sets more usable and valuable for all citizens. The Open Government Directive of 2009 brought about the release of massive amounts of tabular government data. Without a simple way to visualize and add context to this data, it has remained largely untapped by the public. IssueMap's intuitive mapping interface enables citizens and decision-makers alike to engage with this data for better understanding of the issues impacting their communities.
"IssueMap is a solution to a common problem in the private and public sectors -- developing easy-to-understand visuals to help explain complicated datasets," said Michael Byrne, the FCC's first Geographic Information Officer. "This partnership between the FCC and FortiusOne has produced a tool that will help decision-makers clearly see how policies and data affect communities, from the national level down to the Census block. IssueMap is powerful enough for heavy lifting and simple enough for anyone to use. We're thrilled with this product and excited to see how IssueMap is put to use."
Built on FortiusOne's GeoIQ, a user-friendly data management, visualization and analysis platform, IssueMap allows citizens to visualize data from the FCC, other government databases, and citizen-collected data. In just a few easy steps, users can upload spreadsheet data and create a map for sharing with their community members, policy makers and legislators. IssueMap enables citizens to see and act upon what is happening in their communities and across the country, building a more informed and empowered public.
"We built GeoIQ to enable non-technical users to easily make sense of data," said Sean Gorman, President and Founder of FortiusOne. "IssueMap capitalizes on those core capabilities, enabling citizens to bring greater awareness of important issues and prompt action."
For more information and to use IssueMap, visit http://issuemap.org. Also see a tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3RkrYOAOM
About FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.
About FortiusOne
FortiusOne provides location analytics software, GeoIQ, for real-time problem solving. GeoIQ is a complete data management, visualization, and analysis platform that enables intuitive exploration, sharing and collaboration around geospatial information. With GeoIQ, you can quickly and intuitively make intelligent, data-driven decisions with virtually no end-user training.
Contact Information:
Media Contacts
LaunchSquad for FortiusOne
Mike Farber or Anna Farnum
fortiusone [at] launchsquad [dot] com
617-945-1915
Dan McSwain
FCC
Dan.McSwain@fcc.gov
202-210-8753
