OSU graduate team partners with Wooster to build interactive economic mapping tool

Ohio State University is working to help Wooster map out its economy. OSU's graduate student team is presently at work creating an application the community can update in the years ahead that will evaluate the costs and revenues resulting across different neighborhoods and regions of the community, allowing the public to visualize how the community's finances work.

At an upcoming public meeting, the team is looking to the community's stakeholders and residents to provide a better understanding of needs to refine this tool. The meeting will take place Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 6:30 p.m. inside Council Chambers at Wooster City Hall, 538 N. Market St.

A light meal with Jersey Mike's sandwiches and other refreshments will be provided for all in attendance. It is not required, but RSVPs to Jmillea@woosteroh.com are encouraged to ensure enough refreshments are available.

Starting at 6:30 p.m., eight members of the OSU graduate team will present initial findings from recent interviews and research. Participants will then break out into small groups to explore new data and review examples of how to build a better tool to explore Wooster's and Wayne County's economy by land use.

Following this, the team will have the final details and input needed to begin finalizing the framework for the local online mapping tools. The actual creation of the tool will then take place over the next several weeks.