The Providence Plan was founded in 1992 as a joint venture of the City of Providence, the State of Rhode Island, the academic community, and the private sector. Among its many projects, "The Mapper" is an Internet Map Server which began as a way to identify citizens without adequate access to medical services. It has grown in scope to become a resource not just for Providence but for the entire state.

The ProvPlan Mapper contains very detailed information, primarily social in nature. One can compare infants born under 2500 grams to mothers less than 20 years old to flood zones to liqour stores to arts districts to home foreclosures to violent crime by neighborhood. Whew!

The primary Mapper seems to address nature as a human created condition. It attempts to deal with the stuff we've put around us. It does not include overlays of plant species, animal habitats, sewage infrastructures, or soil conditions. However, there is a few project specific maps including a coyote study, a wind speed mapper, and an Urban Land Reform program with restricted use. These are not available within the primary site..

This is an excellent model of what online spatial applications can be. Simple but engaging. It includes analytical tools (measurment, buffer, selection, hotlinking, etc.) and a wide variety of datasets.

inability to upload additional data files

nature is relegated to specific projects outside the main window of consideration.

minimal analytic tools