Undergraduates at Binghamton University may have more things to do off campus this semester, as a new detailed map of the City of Binghamton aims not only to help students navigate the unfamiliar area, but highlights activity within the city. The new resource, called the Action Atlas, was developed last year by former BU students and is now available for free on the Off Campus College Transit blue buses.
The Atlas is a comprehensive map of the City of Binghamton that shows the routes of various buses that run through the community, and also features local businesses and attractions that may interest students. The map was designed to increase the influence that students have on Binghamton’s economy by showing students different opportunities within the area.
‘We really want them (students) out in the community,’ Patrick Hart, co-founder of H2 Innovations ‘ the company that publishes the map, said. ‘Yeah, State Street is fun, but there’s so much more going on.’
This is H2 Innovations’ first project. The company was founded last September by Hart and fellow classmates Michael Mohr and Robert Correnti, with the intention of improving transportation by creating projects that will promote the knowledge and use of alternative energies.
Hart, who received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering last year from Binghamton University and is now pursuing his master’s degree in the same subject, explained that the idea for the Action Atlas stemmed from his and his co-founders’ own experiences as undergraduates when they moved off campus during their junior year.
‘There were certain events I never knew about before,’ Hart admitted.
Hart said he hadn’t known very much about the Binghamton community before he moved off campus, something which he and his partners hope to change for new and future students.
While researching and developing the project, the founders of H2 Innovations worked with Catalysts for Intellectual Capital 2020, a student-run organization whose primary goal is to strengthen connections between students and the local community, and City of Binghamton’s Economic Development Office.
‘They [the founders of H2 Innovations] were saying the reason students were not going into the city was that they didn’t know where anything was,’ said Merry Hart, director of Binghamton’s department of economic development. ‘I feel like it was a fret collaboration. They’ve come up with a very innovative solution.’
Correnti and Hart explained that both organizations were enthusiastic about the concept of the Action Atlas, especially with the opening of the Downtown Center this semester.
‘It makes our project a lot more relevant,’ Correnti, who graduated from BU last year and is now pursuing an MBA in business, said of BU’s new Downtown Center.
The Action Atlas is their first project, though both Hart and Correnti agree that they will work to expand both the company and the content and distribution of the map itself, adding in towns and areas such as Johnson City, Southside, Endicott and Vestal.
‘Anywhere that students don’t know about,’ Hart said. ‘There are so many opportunities out there.’