The Nanaimo Cultural Map is nearing completion.
Ross Collicutt, application analyst for the City of Nanaimo's IT department, said the colour-coded, searchable and categorized online visual representation of culture in Nanaimo has undergone a soft launch and all the bugs are currently being ironed out.
The map includes listings for artists, cultural industries, culinary arts and food, cultural organizations, cultural facilities, natural heritage, cultural heritage and sports.
“We're going through some testing right now, getting things up and running and making sure everything's working as we had hoped and as we had planned and to get the people currently on the map with their listings to login and make sure their information is current and up-to-date,” Collicutt said. “Part of the map is that it's got a login feature that anybody who's got a cultural organization, group or business of any kind that fits on the map, they can log in and if a listing is already on the map, they can claim it and update their information. If it doesn't exist on the map yet, they can create one and it will show on the map with a little map pin.”
Collicutt said testing is going smoothly, although there have been a few graphic tweaks, and he expects only minor adjustments will be need to be made.
“As I'm getting more and more feedback from the people who are using it, (there will be) just little things here and there to make it easier to use and putting as much information on it as I can for help, to make the process of signing up and creating listings much easier for everyone,” he said, adding that everyone that has provided feedback is interested in seeing where the project is going.
Collicutt estimates that the Nanaimo Cultural Map will be fully functional in a few weeks' time but an exact date has not been determined yet.
“It depends on how fast everyone signs up and updates their information. We're hoping that it's within the next few weeks and we'll definitely be sending out press releases and everything when it does,” he said.
The Nanaimo Cultural Map can be viewed at www.nanaimo.ca/PRC/CulturalMap.