• ADVERTISEMENT

    How TileMill Is Mapping Support of the International Justice System

    by David Johnson
    July 19, 2012

    [Amnesty International’s](http://www.amnestyusa.org/) latest campaign features a map front and center. The [Campaign for Global Justice](http://demandjusticenow.org/), launched this week on [International Justice Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Day_for_International_Justice), which celebrates the creation of the International Criminal Court 10 years ago, asks people to demand justice for the victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The map, integrated on the [campaign homepage](http://demandjusticenow.org/), tells the story of where these crimes — and their perpetrators — are located as well as countries’ support of the international justice system and payment toward reparations.

    ![](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7592711096_5931d32280.jpg)

    ##Technology Tells Stories

    [Development Seed](http://developmentseed.org/) worked with Amnesty International’s team to design the map using our our open-source software [TileMill](http://tilemill.com), which we’ve written about [here before](http://184.73.194.104/idealab-mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=31&tag=tilemill). We trained their team on how to use TileMill and maps to tell the stories behind their future campaigns.

    [Demandjusticenow.org](http://demandjusticenow.org/) is a great examples of how maps can be powerful tools to tell stories. We designed these maps with a narrative goal in mind. We created built-in navigation, walking viewers through Amnesty’s current work around the world and individual countries’ support of the International Criminal Court — shown through map layers visualizing data on support of actions and justice. The final layer, shown below, highlights gaps in donations to fund reparations.

    ![](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8424/7594776320_bea6e22a5c.jpg)

    1. Call to Action

    The map also has a Twitter widget embedded so viewers can join the conversation and share the site — combining elements more typically seen in advocacy campaigns. Check out the [whole map](http://demandjusticenow.org/map/) to sign petitions demanding the arrest of [fugitives](http://demandjusticenow.org/fugitives/) and other opportunities to [demand justice](https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23demandjustice).

    1. Open-Source Mapping Tools

    Almost everything we used to create this site is open source and well-documented — making it easy to dive into map design and storytelling. As mentioned above, the maps were made using [TileMill](http://tilemill.com), and are hosted on [MapBox](http://mapbox.com). We used one of our open-source [map site templates](http://mapbox.com/map-sites) to quickly build a wrapper for the maps, and enhanced zooming with the lightweight JavaScript library [Easey](http://mapbox.com/easey/). The interactive map was then embedded as an iFrame within the larger campaign site.

    Documentation and how-to guides on all of these tools are available at [MapBox.com/help](http://mapbox.com/help/), and there’s a [support forum](http://support.mapbox.com/) you can hit up if you get stuck along the way.

    Tagged: Amnesty International data visualization map design mapping maps tilemill visualization

    Comments are closed.

  • ADVERTISEMENT
  • ADVERTISEMENT
  • Who We Are

    MediaShift is the premier destination for insight and analysis at the intersection of media and technology. The MediaShift network includes MediaShift, EducationShift, MetricShift and Idea Lab, as well as workshops and weekend hackathons, email newsletters, a weekly podcast and a series of DigitalEd online trainings.

    About MediaShift »
    Contact us »
    Sponsor MediaShift »
    MediaShift Newsletters »

    Follow us on Social Media

    @MediaShiftorg
    @Mediatwit
    @MediaShiftPod
    Facebook.com/MediaShift