What's your favorite color? (Exploring GIS with kids while home)

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03-23-2020 12:17 PM
Kylie
by Esri Regular Contributor
Esri Regular Contributor
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Like many of you, I'm currently working at home assisted by my children (7 and 4 years old). My oldest has had some GIS days in her classroom, but my little guy hasn't. So I was thinking of mapping things to do with them and approachable ways to even start talking about GIS. The result was some fun exploration of favorite color, and also wanting to see your favorite colors! So read our story map and add your favorite color to the map: 

ArcGIS StoryMaps > Mapping Favorite Color  

(Note: this might not be working well on all iPads right now... I'm looking into it)

When my kids first saw this story map, I had the favorites of some friends and family shown. My daughter's first observation was that so many people like blue. Ok, really that was second - first she wanted to know why I didn't include teal as a choice, and how, because of that, she wanted to pick two colors. So if you have two favorite colors, fill the survey out twice! And you can put your dot at your city, or state - don't feel you need to use your exact location - it's up to you exactly where you put your dot on the map.

As you read our story map, you'll find that we didn't just put our favorite colors on the map and look at colors other people like. We also did some analysis - first using a dashboard to see counts of the different colors, and how many people have added a color. And then we used hotspots to learn a bit more about the data (my son might have wondered off by that point, but my daughter wanted to play with the filters and see different datasets). 

I hope you enjoy our story map, and we'll check back to see what color is in the lead once you've added yours.

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About the Author
Our kids need GIS in their problem-solving toolboxes. I'm working to get digital maps into each K-12 classroom and the hands of each child. A long-time Esri employee, I've previously worked on Esri's mobile apps, focused on documentation and best practices. Out of the office I'm a runner often found on the trails or chasing my children.