With most major news outlets centered in cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto, it has become increasingly difficult to see what's really happening in the rest of North America. I believe that local news has the power to inform us about what people really need. Telling the stories of our fellow brethren is, in my opinion, far more important than latest political scandal or geopolitical sabre-rattling.
But I digress. Both the United States and Canada are insurmountably gigantic. To be able to capture news from all provinces, states and territories requires both time and dedication that many lack. With that in mind, I created a functional news map that lets you explore local news through an mapping interface.
Using Mapbox's ingenious "store locator" tool, we are able to create a system that is searchable by city, state, and province. Not only that, but the interface is usable on mobile devices and is easy to navigate. That being said, we are working on improvements to make the reading experience even more enjoyable.
The feeds were inserted into scrollable, user-friendly popups show you up to 50 news items at one time, meaning you can explore thousands of up-to-date news stories at one time. The feeds use XML and are sorted and filtered using Feed Informer.
Omniwire is a project I am particularly proud of because it required the manual unearthing of hundreds of news sources across the country. Instead of using conventional news APIs that prioritize mainstream news outlets, the custom feeds built for Omniwire focus only on local outlets, so that news of Tulsa comes from Tulsa and not some outside source.
With tools like these, it becomes clear that many of North America's most important problems are actually ones the general population may not be privy to. By tracking drug-related offences for example, we are able to uncover the emergence of a new opiate or prescription pill affecting people before it becomes a mainstream issue. On a lighter note, you can also find a lot of fascinating, uplifting stories about people making a difference in their community. We hope this newsmap can help you discover a side of Canada and the United States you may not have seen before.
See map below.