Maps and GIS Assistant projects: fall and spring updates

By: Tara Anthony

Maps and GIS Assistant Projects: Fall and Spring Updates

The Maps and GIS Assistants of the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information focused on the following collaborative ArcGIS Online StoryMap projects during the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters. Maps and GIS Assistants contributing to these projects included Ishaan Anavkar, Zhaogeng Ding, Jamie Friedken, Nicholas Friedken, Katie Giesa, Milan Liu, Daniel Valadas, Brittany Waltemate, and Thomas Whalon.

Office of Strategic Services (OSS) World War II Maps Project: These print maps in the collection were scanned previously, which were used in this project focused on georeferencing and digitizing content. This collection includes an international focus and represents multiple geospatial themes. This project was both an exercise for Maps and GIS Assistants to become more familiar with the process of georeferencing and digitizing, but also the process of creating ArcGIS online layers and a collective ArcGIS Online StoryMap. Example themes of OSS World War II maps include agricultural, transportation, and military topics.  See this page for more information on the project.

World War II OSS Maps StoryMap title page

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks Project: This project focused on 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the Penn State Libraries’ Digital Collection as the source of geospatial information for the creation of an ArcGIS StoryMap using a newer interface. This project focused on the newer functionality built into ArcGIS StoryMaps including the creation of a guided tour and functionality for scrolling media and text content. Maps and GIS Assistants chose landmarks and buildings of interest to highlight from these Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps to learn more about features of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and the setting of Altoona, Pennsylvania in the 1909 timeframe. See this page for more information on the project.

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks StoryMap title page

Historic Altoona, Pennsylvania Landmarks StoryMap title page