Data-Driven Storytelling

Katie Gaut started Blue Water GIS about ten years ago and was later joined by her husband, Mark Thompson, to tell compelling stories using data and beautiful maps. Together, they created  Okavango Explore , winner of the natural and physical science category in the 2022 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition.

With a background in GIS, marine biology, and water resources, Katie really wanted to find a way to work for herself and be more selective in the stories she told and the people she worked with. Since that time, her work has evolved into a family business.

"It was kind of an evolution. My husband, Mark, started working part-time with me about five years ago. Testing the waters to see if he enjoyed the work and we could work together full-time. We’ve been working together full-time for a little over three years now."

Katie and her husband are based out of Bellingham, Washington, USA, but they're able to travel three or four months out of the year and work remotely.

"In the summertime, we often work from our little sailboat. We have a lot of freedom that way." 

They're both biologists and have a strong understanding of data, science and communication. Katie focuses more on the data, and Mark on the storytelling and communication.

"We make a great team."

How did you first come to combine storytelling with GIS and spatial analysis?

We found this niche working with small non-profits and other conservation groups that usually have a great story to tell, but not necessarily a large budget or a GIS professional on staff. We were able to fill that gap, and it’s just my husband and I, so we can work one-on-one with our clients. It’s just us working with these groups whose work we truly believe in and whose stories we want to tell. And with me focusing on the data side and him on the writing, it works well.

How did you find out about the competition and what motivated you to participate in it?

We’ve been involved with Esri and ArcGIS StoryMaps almost since they started a decade ago. We’ve been aware of the competition through the years, but in the past the work we had in each particular year didn’t fit with the theme. This year we knew we really had an outstanding story that a wide audience would appreciate. Who’s not interested in beautiful pictures of African fauna and cutting-edge research technology? It’s a natural fit. 

What would you say Okavango Explore is really about?

Okavango Explore is about EarthViews, 360-degree imagery technology, and the idea of conserving and understanding waterways.  It’s a novel approach of bringing 360-degree cameras down waterways and capturing this high-level baseline photography data at a really fine scale. That was one major objective. At a higher level, this story is also about the conservation of one of the most unique and biologically important places on Earth and how we can succeed along with the local users of the landscape at preserving the richness of this place.  

Once you had your idea for Okavango Explore, how did you bring it to life? What did your storytelling process looking like and how did you make decisions about narrative, visuals, and design?

We were lucky to have this stockpile of incredible still photography from The Wild Bird Trust team and the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project. We also had access to the  audio  of natural soundscapes that those teams have collected over the years. By combining those amazing photos, audio, and EarthViews’ 360-degree imagery exploration tools, it was easy to build around that rich media for this story. We didn’t have as much spatial data for this particular story, so we leaned heavier into the narrative and media. 

How did ArcGIS StoryMaps allow you to tell your story in a way traditional methodologies could not?

It gets back to the data we had and the ease with which we were able to embed so many different elements. That is really the key with ArcGIS StoryMaps. We were able to get the audio in there and set the stage for the actual tour itself. Again, the visuals we had to work with were amazing and really allowed for a lot of creative trial and error as we moved the story components around, especially early in the development phase.

We are very grateful for the ArcGIS StoryMaps design platform. It makes it really easy and efficient to share different mockup ideas with clients and stakeholders. Of course, the ability to seamlessly  embed maps and dashboards  is critical to what we do in being able to show the geospatial component as well.  

What was your favorite feature in the ArcGIS StoryMaps builder to work with?

We’ve been having fun with  map tours  lately and all the different configuration options. I feel like you can have multiple map tours in a single story and with the click of a button change the style and layout and really be able to do a lot of creative things with them. There’s a lot of potential to pack tons of information into a smaller unit so it doesn’t feel as bulky as it would if it were all laid out in a scrolling platform.  

What was the biggest challenge in your storytelling process? 

As with many things in life,  laying the foundation  is always the hardest challenge—deciding for this particular story how we could present the 360-degree EarthViews imagery exploration tool as a backdrop to the bigger story of conservation in Okavango. It took some time, but I think we teased it out and were able to meld both the EarthViews toolset and the bigger story of conservation work going on in the Okavango.  

What advice would you give to other storytellers?

The best advice is to go out and find a story or a group you really believe in and that needs their story to be told. Even if it’s pro bono. For this project, EarthViews actually approached us to do it. They had a very small budget to work with, but we believed in this story and were blown away by the Okavango Delta and all the conservation work that is being done. We really built the story semi-pro bono because we believed in it.  

When you’re lying awake at night anxious for the alarm to go off so you can get back into your story, that’s really the energy you need to come up with your most  creative ideas  and also make a story people are going to want to read.  

Is there anything else you’d like to share about Okavango Explore?

We just really wanting to highlight EarthViews and their next projects in Lake Tahoe and the Puget Sound area demonstrating how this technology captures really fine-scale imagery of waterways. Their tools show the amazing benefits of restoration and change over time at a scale that’s just never really been able to be documented before. I believe in their work and really hope this success in the ArcGIS StoryMaps competition, which was their win as much as ours, helps them further their work as well. 

What are some other projects you’re excited about incorporating ArcGIS StoryMaps into?

My husband is way into wildlife tracking, so you’ll be seeing a story related to that with CyberTracker and Tracker Certification North America coming out in the next couple months. We’re both very excited about that.

We’re also diving into a big project that has to do with King County (Seattle) and the complexity of their 50-year storm water planning.

Lastly, we’re actually working on a project based in Bellingham, Washington, USA, right now. Again, related to water resources and salmon restoration and looking at predictions of water use in 2070. We’re working to tell the story of how our communities can come up with potential solutions to deal with the more extreme floods in the winter and drought in the summer. It’s scary business, but I think an amazingly important story to tell.