Civic Mapping or, in other words, mapping information for civic engagement, has taken quite an interesting turn in the last few years. Technology has become more accessible and data more available, but the essential difference is that there is a growing interest in using maps to display information.
Maps can be great aids to decision-making as we all know very well. They have been used many times throughout the history of humanity, and probably one of its most important elements is that maps give a spatial reference to information, giving decision-makers great insights. On that regard, with so much data available nowadays, the barrier to contextualize information spatially has diminished, and much more data can be put into a map.