Skillman resident creates app to help people find African American historic sites
Kevin Burkman has created a new app to help people find out information about African American historic sites, museums, and more.
Burkman, a geographic information analyst who lives in Skillman and serves as a trustee for the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, developed the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum’s mapping application to increase public awareness of the role of African Americans in U.S. culture and history.
He was recently awarded second place for the best web mapping application in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s 2018 mapping contest for his efforts.
Nearly 300 hundred sites have been verified for the app, mostly along the Interstate 95 corridor from Portland, Maine to Richmond, Virginia. Dozens of websites from organizations and government agencies were used to gather the data. The sites have been organized into major categories, including historic sites, cemeteries and churches, museums, memorials, monuments, and sites of cultural and academic importance.
For more information or to use the interactive map, visit www.sourland.org/ssaam.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.