Tag Archives: mapping

CKMS News -2026-01-14- One Million Neighbours WR launches their Neighbourhood services map

CKMS News -2026-01-14- One Million Neighbours launches their Neighbourhood services map

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON –
A new tool for assessing how levels of various services differ between neighbourhoods across Waterloo Region has launched by the One Million Neighbours WR coalition.  The first version of its Neighbourhood Services Map ranks each neighbourhood for access levels based on availability of transit, amount of green space, number of schools, libraries, and healthcare infrastructure, and how many community spaces exist.

A key feature of the map is that the calculations account for population, and as the number of residents that call Waterloo Region  home grows to over 1,000,000 in the coming decades, keeping track of the equity of resource distribution across communities as they grow will be key to understanding a neighbourhood’s needs.

This show features an interview with KW local Sam Nabi, the project coordinator of One Million Neighbours W, and a board member of Hold the Line WR. The map was created with open source data by Civic Tech WR volunteers who will update the data on the map “at least annually”. You can access the map from Connected KW‘s webpage.

CKMS News -2025-04-17- Local cycling route finder app rolls in with big update

CKMS News -2025-04-17- Local cycling route finder app rolls in with big update.

dan kellar
Waterloo, ON –
With the launch of “version 2” of the Cycling Guide, Mark Connolly told CKMS News that the app will find “the best available, low stress, cycling friendly routes available” to get a cyclist to a destination.  Connolly, who is the executive director of the not-for-profit Cycling Guide Foundation, and a programmer on the project spoke with CKMS News earlier this week.

Cycling Guide is a free app that uses data from the open-source Open Street Maps to create routes to a set destination that favours safe cycling infrastructure. The app will show a cyclist where they may encounter more stressful riding situations through a colour coded system, and allow a user to select the route that best fits their comfort levels.

Version 2 of the app still only provides routes in Waterloo Region and Guelph, but Connolly told CKMS News that it is beta testing in Ottawa, Sarnia-Lambton, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

CKMS News – “Love, Lax, and Land Back” an interview on the Indigenous Solidarity Day Unity Jam in Waterloo Park.

With the tagline “Love, Lax, and Land Back”, a Solidarity Day Unity Jam and Lacrosse game will take place in Waterloo park on June 21st. Taking place on the summer solstice and National Indigenous Solidarity Day, this free event seeks to celebrate solidarity and unity in honouring the Grand River, upholding Haudenosaunee rights and land stewardship in the Haldimand Tract, in which Waterloo Region was built.

This show features an interview with Protect The Tract organiser Courtney Skye. We spoke about the June 21st Solidarity Day Unity Jam and Lacrosse Game in Waterloo Park, the work of Protect The Tract, and the importance of honouring the treaty relationships which were a basis of sharing the land between settlers, the Haudenosaunee, and other Indigenous nations.

The free event has been put together in partnership with The Longhouse Hub, CAFKA, and O:se Kenhionhata:tie (also known as Land Back Camp), and features a friendly lacrosse game at 10am and musical performances and the Bead-The-Tract collaborative art and education project going from noon until 4pm.

For more info on Protect the Tract visit protectthetract.com, or find them on social media at @ProtectTheTract

This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, Heritage Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of this program on radiowaterloo.ca/news, and listen to all the LJI content at canada-info.ca.

If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca