What are Maps? Why do they Matter? See what Map Man Says
In this playlist of 10 videos, plus 1 "outtake" (see if you can find it!), I created and wear a Map Man costume to explain some reasons why maps are fun, relevant to the 21st Century, and encourage you to use the ArcGIS system to use, create, and share your own maps!
The videos included in the playlist are:
- Maps Tell Stories
- Maps are Hi-Tech!
- Maps are key to 21st Century Decision Making
- Maps make you smarter!
- Maps are 2D, 3D, and 4D
- Maps are Fun
- Maps are Enterprise Assets
- Maps can be shared
- Maps can be crowdsourced
- Maps are for exploration.
One of my aims in the videos is to help people realize that maps are not just reference documents telling us where things are, but they are analytical tools helping us understand the whys of where. As an example, going beyond "where are the Rocky Mountains?" to "why does the conductivity and sulfates downstream from certain areas in the Rocky Mountains exhibit certain characteristic patterns?" Another aim is to point out that all of our key 21st Century challenges, from agriculture to climate, from the economy to energy, from water to health, from transportation to habitat, are spatial in nature, and as such they can be understood and solved using these maps powered by GIS (Geographic Information Systems). And in education, maps are fun to use and can even make you smarter!
Why the costume? Why not? As a geographer, I thought on one Halloween that it would be fun to be inside of a set of maps. And then I thought, "what better suit to don to make a set of videos than the map costume to get students' attention?"
Students, faculty, and others: I encourage you to use this ArcGIS system, including www.arcgis.com, story maps, field tools such as Survey123, dashboards, infographics, and more, to explore your community, your region, your country, and your world--and all that is in it. And then don't stop at exploration--use your newfound knowledge to take action and make the world a better place to be.
