Category Archives: Story Map

Mapping Masterminds Competition Results are in!

By Announcement, Geography Awareness Week, Map, Mapping Mastermind Contest, Story Map, , , , ,

Congratulations to the winners of our GIS Day Mapping Masterminds Competition – Atlas Chenxiao Guo and Trenton Major!

Mapping Masterminds logo (a brain with the ISU watertower and clocktower)


Please check out the Mapping Masterminds Gallery and Competition Showcase website to view all the submissions from both the 2024 and 2023 mapping competitions.

  • Winner of the Map Category – Mapping My Biking Journey with Distance of Distinct Traveled Paths
    Created by Atlas Chenxiao Guo from University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Map Description: This map shows all my biking tracks, including the majority in the US and few Chinese cities. All the circled track maps have the same scale. Each path is counted only once in the distance calculation. For more information Click Here!
This map shows all my biking tracks, including the majority in the US and few Chinese cities. All the circled track maps have the same scale. Each path is counted only once in the distance calculation.
Mapping My Biking Journey with Distance of Distinct Traveled Paths
Software/Materials Used: ArcGIS Pro; Adobe Illustrator
  • Winner of the StoryMap Category – Iowa Freedom Rock Tour
    Created by Trenton Major, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Iowa State University
    StoryMap Description: This Story Map displays the locations of Iowa’s Freedom Rocks and scenic routes. It is designed to help users navigate the Freedom Rock Tour within the state of Iowa.
This Story Map displays the locations of Iowa's Freedom Rocks and scenic routes. It is designed to help users navigate the Freedom Rock Tour within the state of Iowa.
Iowa Freedom Rock Tour
Software/Materials Used: ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS StoryMaps

Thank you again to everyone who participated in this year’s competition!

GIS Day Image with colorful background. Text says," GIS Day: INSPIRE THE WORLD WITH GIS."

Now is the time to register for a hands-on, engaging, geospatial workshop for K-12 Teachers

By Announcement, Dear Teachers, Education, Event, Iowa Geographic Map Server, Lesson Plan, OpenStreetMap, Outreach, Resource, Story Map, , , , , , , , ,

Register Now!

The ISU GIS Facility will be hosting the 3rd annual geospatial summer workshop for K-12 teachers and pre-service teachers in Ames, Iowa on July 17 – 18, 2024. This workshop will show many geospatial tools and applications from the Esri ecosystem as well as Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, AmericaView, and others. Teachers will get to see a variety of map tools and exercises that they can bring into current lessons. We will explore resources available at local, state, and national levels. Each participant will make a StoryMap to use in their classroom. Teachers can sign up for graduate or continuing education credit. Please email Amy Logan with any questions.


Register Now!

Happy Thanksgiving! Two maps showing the hubs of dinner staples

By Article, Story Map, , , , , , , , ,

This week as you gather with family and friends for a nice holiday meal take a minute to think the people who grew or produced your food and about all the places different staples come from. Below are two maps, “Where does Thanksgiving Dinner Grow?” created by Linda Zellmer and “Mapping the Thanksgiving Harvest” by David Asbury. Click on the map images below to explore the maps.

Linda Zellmer, a Government Information & Data Services Librarian at Western Illinois University has a series of maps showing the states with the high production of Thanksgiving staples using 2017 data. Linda created maps for the staples data over the course of a 20 year period (1997-2017). For her GIS data, maps, and a Thanksgiving meal poster visit: http://faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html

David Asbury, a member of the Esri StoryMaps Team, created this map series which shows production of staples at the county level using 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture data.

Iowa Map Contest – Tell Your Stories, Spread the Word

By Activity, Education, Event, Iowa Map Contest, Iowa Student Map Contest, Story Map, , , , ,

Here’s a great opportunity for Iowa students in grades 4-12. The Iowa Map Contest is an ArcGIS Online Story Map competition for students to tell Iowa stories. Each school can submit up to five entries. Entries are due Monday, May 8, 2023. For more information about the Iowa Map Contest, visit the contest website: https://sites.google.com/site/iowamapcontest/.

World Water Day 2023 – How are you using your resource?

By Announcement, Event, Lesson Plan, Story Map, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Water: A Global Resource is an ArcGIS StoryMap, developed by Mary Schorse and Tracy DeLiberty (DelawareView), designed to give you background on what we mean by 'water resources.'
A StoryMap developed by Mary Schorse and Tracy DeLiberty (DelawareView)

Have you ever thought about how much water it takes to make a pair of jeans? To produce a pound of corn? Or to make a car? What if you had a limited amount of water and had to decide how to “spend” your precious resource? Water: A Global Resource is an ArcGIS StoryMap, developed by Mary Schorse and Tracy DeLiberty (DelawareView), is designed to give you background on what we mean by ‘water resources.’ The lessons are also designed to stimulate your thinking about how we use, protect and monitor this precious, limited natural resource.

Water: A Global Resource is an ArcGIS StoryMap, developed by Mary Schorse and Tracy DeLiberty (DelawareView), designed to give you background on what we mean by 'water resources.'
Screen shot from the Water: A Global Resource StoryMap

Resource Links:

Schorse, M. and T. DeLiberty. 2022. Water: A Global Resource StoryMap (Middle School Lessons) – https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/af7e043b7a104858a300c08ed2ead7c7

Schorse, M. and T. DeLiberty. 2022. Water: Today and for the Future StoryMap (Elementary Lessons) – https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5940fb947ae54b06ac7a184ab42b7dbd

A Story Map Celebrating Black History And Iowa History Months

By Article, Black History Month, Iowa History Month, Story Map, , , , , , , , , ,

February was Black History Month and March is Iowa History Month (as well as Women’s History Month).

Points of Interest – Finding Dubuque ArcGIS Story Map

Image from Story Map

We are highlighting a map that celebrates Black Iowans in Dubuque, Iowa. Last fall, the City of Dubuque produced an ArcGIS Story Map called Finding Dubuque: Uncovering Dubuque’s Black Heritage. This Story Map shares stories of some of Dubuque’s early black residents and their contributions to the community as well as those of today. The Story Map also includes challenging parts of Dubuque’s past including redlining of insurance maps, real estate covenants restricting the tenure of black residents to certain land parcels and stories of the Ku Klux Klan in Dubuque.

Take time to learn more about the history of Black Iowans in Dubuque.

https://arcg.is/1benbi









Ready for the holidays? Do you know holiday trivia?

By Activity, Education, Game, Story Map, , , , ,

Test your holiday geography trivia with Esri’s Holiday Grab Bag Treasure Hunt. Questions range from holiday movie trivia to the origins of festive holiday plants and questions about the great elf himself. Challenge your family and friends and perhaps learn some new facts along the way! Enjoy this festive geographic treasure hunt!

Mappy holidays!

How are you celebrating the Landsat’s Golden Jubilee?

By #Time Lapse Tuesday, Activity, Announcement, Education, Environmental Change, Event, Imagery, Landsat, Landsat Golden Jubilee, NASA, Observation, Outreach, Remote Sensing, Resource, Story Map, USGS, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
This image is from the Camp Landsat website: https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/outreach/camp-landsat/

To celebrate the Landsat Golden Jubilee, consider taking a virtual visit to Camp Landsat! This summer Camp Landsat is celebrating this exciting anniversary with 5 weeks of programming, celebrating the 5 decades of Landsat’s continuous mission. This week the theme is People and Places.

Enjoy and explore many activities from Camp Landsat including:

Graphic from GLOBE Program Website: https://observer.globe.gov/do-globe-observer/challenges/land-cover-challenge-2022

Stay Cool and Keep Observing!

Celebrating 50 years of Landsat Earth Observation!

By Announcement, Education, Imagery, Landsat, Landsat Golden Jubilee, NASA, Observation, Outreach, Story Map, USGS, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, July 23, 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of the USGS/NASA Landsat earth observing satellite mission. With the launch in 1972, Landsat has continued its earth observation mission and become the longest continuous earth observing satellite.

July 1972 – Landsat 1 Launch: This image is from the NASA website: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/images/history/July1972.html

Enjoy this video recalling the launch and explaining the beginning of the earth observing satellite mission, Landsat 9 – Part 1: Getting off The Ground: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlRf17Egexo.

Keep Observing!