A few days ago, my best friend asked me to review her meeting minutes for the Jonesboro Urban Forestry Council. They were fantastic. This was just her first time being secretary and having to record minutes at a meeting, and she wanted to make sure she included all the necessary details.
I saw tree canopy cover was mentioned at the meeting, and the desire expressed to be able to know how these data have changed over time. So naturally, I could not help but insert myself. As a professional, there are a few things I consider myself notably skilled in. Though I know tons of people blow me out of the water when it comes to using GIS, I definitely don’t suck. And I know that I am light years ahead of the general public.
Not only that, it brings me so much joy. In fact, I had signed up for an online trial a week before my friend reached out to see how I could incorporate some of the tools into a blog I had secretly been working on for the past several weeks. And no, it’s not even this blog. I’ll talk about it more some other time.
Then, on Tuesday, I found out a neighbor’s home was about to be for sale. And let me tell you, I could not dream of a more ideal location than this one. A lot of that obviously has to do with the fact that I know all about the location and all the amenities surrounding this home. I know how close it is to my favorite gym. I know how close it is to my favorite parks. I know how close it is to my favorite grocery stores. And I know all about the neighboring properties, which makes me feel confident surrounding wooded for a long time to come.
That, of course, got me thinking about all the time I had to spend using all the tools at my disposal when searching for our current home. And I’m glad you admit, being new to the area, I didn’t even know to look for a lot of the data that I now know are available. Though my realtor had plenty of local knowledge and tried to convey that to me in words, it all kinda flew past me. I’m a visual person. I always have been. I still remember the anxiety that listening comprehension tests gave me in first grade.
Back to the point. All of that is to say, a culmination of things this week got me thinking about how it is such a shame that when you are buying a home, there are all of these resources out there with publicly available ones and just knowledge trapped inside, the mind of local experts – none of it is seemingly readily available to the homebuyer. And then I thought, you know what, why not? It wouldn’t be hard. Just no one has done it.
I guess this part is just going to end up being a teaser. Because if I don’t get it out there now, it won’t happen today. Creative time is over. It’s time to put on my mom hat and get my house ready for my best friend to visit tomorrow. So stay tuned!