LRA Crisis Tracker

LRA Crisis Tracker

This map immediately jumped out at me as a fantastic example of an engaging and valuable use of mapping. Although the image above may not be entirely appealing at first, the accompanying link above (LRA Crisis Tracker) takes the viewer to the map's source page, created by the collective efforts of Invisible Children and Resolve in order to document the movement and nature of attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), especially in the shown areas of Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. I find this map particularly fascinating because it is interactive as well as time-sensitive. You can select from options of "Crisis Type" to view in plotted map form where specific forms of events have occurred or to view it as a "heat map" to view the concentrations of occurrences. It's updated constantly based upon reports from the radio-network set up by the organizations in the area, but also allows you to scroll through the timeline to look at gathered data from any given period. This map simultaneously grants the public access to a statistical history of the conflict and a current update to remain informed.