In a Herculean effort, OttWatch community members crowdsourced the digitization of 2010 campaign finance returns for the City of Ottawa municipal election (all 4602 of them). This created a searchable database of individual and corporate donations.
Location data has now been added to most donation records, enabling a map output for search results. (The remaining 1000 donation records will require a more hands-on effort to catalogue). Two map options exist.
Heatmaps (see below) offer an overview of where a list of donations are coming from. The amount of donation is factored into the mapping (so a $750 donation is bigger than a $100 donation). Many donations also "glom" (actual technical term) together. The heatmap will show you where a candidates support comes from in a broad sense.
Placemarks offer exact details about individual donations, with pop-up windows showing the amount, donor name, and a link to the financial return image (the original crowdsourceing effort).
Without further ado, behold a comparison of Jim Watson and Larry O'Brien's support areas.
