the pressing question of audience

Many of the ideas delineated below are definitely good points.

However, I feel that the most important question at this point, the one that we probably need to answer before we decide anything else is 

who is this map for?

the database resource

If we are aiming to create The Cambridge Media Map or The Central Square Media Map [a la Brisbane], the focus should be on users who are looking for simply a database resource.  Users in terms of...people who will go to the map if they need 'a comprehensive guide to Media and Creative Industries'  such as 'students, job seekers, potential investors and industry professionals...'  [BMM website].

the socio-cultural-economic study

I think lana/trevor's idea of going beyond simply plotting media locations and trying to map out their sources and relationships is fascinating.  Instead of mere one-dimensional points, I am envisioning us striving towards a two-dimensional web of a much larger exchange of goods+services within Central Square: we would select several media spots as 'hubs,' and extend branches out to portray their relationships.  To find all of this data, this project would then definitely become more of an in-depth cultural research study, which not only would require basic information and statistics, but also extensive site visits, interviewing, consistent communication/interaction with certain businesses, etc.  If we were to pursue this, we might want to consider constraining the scope of 'goods+services' that we are mapping out from the central hub.  As trevor commented, 'where they eat, where they go out, where they get coffee...' -- if we don't categorize this end of it, we might end up researching 'where they shop, where they get gas, where they like to sing on the street, where they buy post-it notes...' without an end in sight.

the public service

this approach would obviously cater towards a potential partnership between us and the governor's office.  if this is the case, i would imagine that this media map would have company profiles, economic data, and contact information [at the very least] in an attractive bundle.  would the governor want us to provide the raw data from Cambridge/Central Square so that his office could then extrapolate more data and make conclusions about Massachusetts as a whole?  Or would we be expected to draw conclusions ourselves and identify possible trends within Massachusetts' creative sector?

overall, i do think we need to fill in the PURPOSE? question mark of our project [read: pin our audience down] so we have a specific goal before we tackle any other details.