Social Change Online (SCO) is an Internet technology company based in Sydney, Australia. The company's mission is to develop solutions to help create a better world.

A new way of viewing the world

80% of all data has a geographic component. Being able to view complex and disparate information in a new way can very powerful.

In the mid 1990s Social Change Online's Rob Atkinson designed one of the world's first web mapping services for the UK Friends of the Earth. Using vast amounts of data acquired with Freedom of Information actions, it allowed people around the country to drill down into a map of their suburb, to see where polluting factories were located. They could then compare the pollution licenses with the actual pollution outputs. It was shocking. Suddenly people could see the impact of minimal policing of these licenses.

WebMapping gave new power to the sharing of knowledge. In 2000 Social Change Online was part of the team that developed a pilot flood management web mapping project for the US Army Corp of Engineers and the US EPA. It integrated everything from static road and town maps to dynamic water flow data into a single application. Engineers, town planners and others could see better what was happening in their area. All this, with source data remaining on servers anywhere from Washington DC to Amsterdam.

Social Change Online has now completed many more such ground-breaking projects.

Social Change Online has had many years advising OpenGIS technical committees on data interoperability. We have an insiders knowledge of where the spatial data industry is going, and how best your organisation can exploit it.

This has been recognised by various US agencies who have contracted contract Social Change Online.

For these agencies Social Change Online has developed flood-plain management portals and emergency services decision support systems, all of which are accessible through the internet.

© Social Change Online, Australia
webmap@socialchange.net