Community Health and Resource Management (CHARM)

CHARM is a mapping application that gives local officials, stakeholders, and citizens the power to map and analyze growth with real-time feedback. When used with the weTable—a low cost, do-it-yourself, interactive tabletop approach for public engagement (instructions provided on the CHARM website)—it forms a powerful planning tool for engaging the public and gathering their values about the community’s future. The application is supported with a library of mapping data, including data on urbanization, storm surges, conservation, public facilities, and coastal resources. The CHARM application can leverage local community knowledge for better long-term planning along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

For GIS staff and planners who are interested in learning how to use CHARM, the development team offers "CHARM school"—a free, three-day training that teaches users how to design and create their own interactive mapping exercises and analyses through ArcGIS and CommunityViz software functionality.