2024 IMAGIN Map Gallery
A collection of maps submitted to participate in the 2024 IMAGIN Map Gallery.
As mapping has evolved from paper maps and posters, IMAGIN strives to keep our map gallery alive. In many different forms, IMAGIN has tried to run map gallery's at our annual conference. As maps have moved to a more digital medium, it has been increasingly difficult to assemble a physical map gallery. This year IMAGIN wanted to incorporate all types of maps and still have a physical map gallery at our conference.
Map gallery participants were asked to plan to print and bring their map to the conference for display. If a submission was for an online application (Story Map, Hub Site, Dashboard, Instant App, Experience, Web Application), creators were asked to bring a poster or printed display of reasonable size for display on an easel. The poster/display should include a QR Code that links to the digital platform.
Map Gallery features four categories:
- Best Cartographic Design
- voted on by IMAGIN Awards Team
- Best Analytic Presentation
- voted on by IMAGIN Awards Team
- Best Storytelling (including but not limited to Story Maps)
- voted on by IMAGIN Awards Team
- People's Choice (based on IMAGIN membership and conference attendee voting)
People's Choice voting is split into two map types: Digital Application and Paper/Printed Map. Map type is stated in each map slide.
Submitter: Brad Carone - Genesee County Road Commission
Map/Application Name: Genesee County Road Commission (GCRC) GIS Hub
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: A centralized location for GCRC's interactive maps, apps, & data. Used by the public, employees, contractors, designers, etc. Within the hub, I have built a way to report road problems. This includes updating the resident via automatic email when the request has been updated/completed. The GCRC Hub works best on PC but does works perfectly fine on mobile. I am a one man team, so everything you see was created by one person.
Submitter: Isaiah Hageman - Calvin University
Map/Application Name: Economic Specialization Categories in Non-Metropolitan Counties of Iowa
Map Type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: This is a map of Iowa's Economic Specialization Categories in Non-Metropolitan counties. The data is sourced from the US Census Bureau and the map was created in ArcGIS Pro.
Submitter: Kevin S. Fox - The Geographical Imaginations Expedition & Institute
Map/Application Name: Zihuantanejo
Map Type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: The map titled "Zihuatanejo" connects the viewer to the pop culture reference from the film "The Shawshank Redemption." This film, renowned for its exploration of hope, freedom, and redemption, uses Zihuatanejo—a small, idyllic fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico—as a symbol of ultimate freedom and peace, a place where the main character Andy Dufresne dreams of escaping to throughout the story.In "The Shawshank Redemption," Zihuatanejo represents more than just a geographical location; it embodies the idea of a personal paradise or a haven from the struggles and injustices of the world, especially the harsh reality of prison life that Andy endures. It's where Andy envisions a life of freedom, far removed from the confines of Shawshank, and where he plans to start anew after his daring escape. This vision of Zihuatanejo fuels not only Andy's hope but also inspires his friend Red, the film's narrator, who grapples with his own concepts of hope and redemption throughout the film.The minimalist map captures this essence by stripping away the complexities of a standard map, focusing instead on evoking the symbolism and emotional weight Zihuatanejo carries in the film. By presenting Zihuatanejo in such a manner, the map draws attention to its significance as more than a place but as a pivotal element in the narrative arc of hope and redemption. This artistic choice underscores the power of simplicity in conveying deep meanings and connections to broader themes and narratives in pop culture.Critically, while the minimalist design effectively highlights Zihuatanejo's symbolic importance, it might also obscure the rich cultural and geographical context of the actual location. For viewers unfamiliar with "The Shawshank Redemption" or the real Zihuatanejo, the map's abstract nature may not provide enough information to fully appreciate the depth of its reference. Nevertheless, for fans of the film, the minimalist approach serves as a powerful reminder of the story's emotional core, encapsulated in the dream of a peaceful life beyond the prison walls.In conclusion, this is meant to be a thought-provoking piece that adeptly ties to "The Shawshank Redemption's" themes of hope and freedom. It serves both as a homage to the film and as a creative exploration of how minimalism can capture and convey the essence of a place imbued with deep narrative significance.
Submitter(s): Kelsey Maas & Megha Bamola - Historic Designation Advisory Board
Map/Application Name: Detroit's Eight Mile / Wyoming Neighborhood: Stories Untold
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: Detroit's Eight Mile / Wyoming neighborhood is the oldest Black neighborhood in Northwest Detroit. The neighborhood signified a starting point for many working-class Black Detroiters; one of homeownership, hopeful revitalization, and a sense of community. Numerous resources remain in the community that highlight significant moments in African American and Civil Rights history. We invite you to explore these sites with us and learn more about the people and places of Eight Mile / Wyoming!This Story Map was a part of the Eight Mile/Wyoming Intensive-Level Survey project and was supported in part by an Underrepresented Communities grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service.
Submitter(s): Alex B. Hill & Eric Lau - DETROITography
Map/Application Name: Detroit neighborhoods mapping tool
Map type: Digital Application
Description: This site is a tool for community building. Community groups can use this site to collect responses from as many residents and community members as possible. Data is a powerful tool to advocate for the changes that community groups want to see. The tool allows you to name and map neighborhoods however you’d like. The tool then analyzes responses against the boundary lines that the Department of Neighborhoods use as well as calculates how well all community submissions match up (or how much do you agree with your neighbors).
Submitter: Jason E. VanHorn- Calvin University
Map/Application Name: Population Map of Michigan 2022
Map Type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: A population map of Michigan in the historic cartographic style of geographer Dr. Guy-Harold Smith.
Submitter: Jason E. VanHorn - Calvin University
Map/Application Name: Best Site for New Hospital?
Map type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: Using Network Analyst in ArcGIS Pro, this map shows the results of location-allocation modelling to determine the best place to put a new hospital in west Michigan.
Zach Chamberlin & Emily Kirkpatrick - State of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, & Energy (EGLE)
Map/Application Name: Shifting Sands: Michigan's Critical Dune Areas
Map type: Digital Application
Description:The Michigan's Critical Dune Area story map was created as a public outreach tool to increase general awareness of the Critical Dune Area (CDA) regulatory program and the management challenges these unique areas face. The story map begins with a history of the CDA program including the need for protection and the legislation that created the CDAs. The story then follows the three main statute criteria used in permit decisions through the CDAs: Diversity, Quality, and Functions. The Diversity section explores the diverse landscapes of the CDA and how these landscapes give rise to diverse natural communities. Included here is a map tour exploring a CDA in each of the 19 counties that contain a CDA and information on how we can protect diversity. The Quality section builds on natural communities by introducing threatened and endangered species and the importance of native species in the CDA. The biggest threat to CDA Quality are invasive species. This section explores some common invasive species and provides users with information on how to identify and report invasive species. The section concludes with protecting Quality and links to a publication on designing homes in the CDA to preserve quality. The Functions section, focuses on the shoreline. A major function of the CDA is to act as a sand reservoir, to be eroded during high water and built up during low water. The diversity and quality of the CDA rely on the constant flow of sand. The Function's section touches on more technical subjects like beach profile response to storm waves and the littoral system. The biggest threat to this function is shoreline armoring. We provide information on the unintended consequences of shoreline armoring and suggest home relocation as an alternative. The story concludes with a futures section in which we describe our vision, values, and mission along with providing additional information on how the public can get involved in protecting the critical dunes.
Submitter: Yanyun Li - City of Detroit Department of Public Works
Map/Application Name: Detroit Road Jurisdiction Map
Map type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: The jurisdiction map of Detroit delineates city, county, and MDOT territories. City-owned roads include city minor and city major. MDOT's highways serve as vital conduits linking Detroit to broader networks. This map will serve as a valuable tool for promoting efficient city right-of-way governance, fostering collaboration, and guiding urban development.
Submitter: Alex Biles - Cass County
Map/Application Name: Cass County
Map type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: A 2024 map of Cass County, Michigan, showing township and municipal boundaries, as well as wetlands, tribal lands, DNR lands, administrative buildings, and bodies of water.
Submitter(s): Yanyun Li, Jered Dean, Houjon Ding, Raven Wright - City of Detroit
Map/Application Name: City of Detroit: Street and Alley Vacations
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: This layer indicates all streets and alleys vacated 'Outright' and vacated with conversion to utility easement in the City of Detroit. This layer is updated regularly.
Submitter: Brad Carone - Genesee County Road Commission
Map/Application Name: Space Race Moon Landings
Map type: Digital Application
Description: Moon Scene showing successful landings by USA & USSR during the space race. Works best on Desktop or PC.
Submitter(s): Steven Wiltse, Martin Denicolo, Zachary Manning, Kevin Zhang, Tess Parr - City of Detroit
Map/Application Name: Traffic Crashes
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: The City of Detroit has launched its Open Data Portal Analytics initiative in order to increase public access and understanding to valuable data and information that is posted on the Open Data Portal as raw datasets.To that end, the Traffic Crashes dashboard was built to visualize 267,078 traffic crashes that occurred in the city of Detroit from 2011 to 2022. The dashboard's visual elements include a heatmap of traffic crashes with top 10 intersections, a highlight table of crashes by time and day of the week, and a histogram of crashes by type.Users can apply filters on the dashboard to explore deeper trends in the data. Drill-downs include the road jurisdiction, modes involved (e.g. automobile, pedestrian, bicycle, etc.), most severe injury to occur, circumstances involved in the crash (alcohol/drug use, red light running, speeding, etc.), and conditions at the time of the crash (rain/wet, snow/ice, dark-unlighted, etc.). The filters dynamically change all the elements on the dashboard, including written descriptions.The Traffic Crashes dashboard was built in Tableau Desktop and embedded in an ArcGIS Experience Builder application.
Submitter: Chad Misiuk - Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG)
Map/Application Name: Southeast Michigan Crash Locations
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: The Crash Locations mapping application gives communities and counties the ability to visualize crashes and injuries in the Southeast Michigan region. Users can filter data by community, crash type, year, key factors, severity, and more.
Submitter: Matt Malone - City of Farmington Hills
Map/Application Name: Art on the Grand 2024
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: The Art on the Grand Festival takes place every summer in downtown Farmington and is one of the largest juried art shows in Michigan. The City of Farmington Hills Cultural Arts Division provided data to create a new Experience Builder-based application for this year's event. The app has numerous features to help visitors and vendors alike as they roam the art fair, including website links to nearly 100 artists; searchable artist names; and a unique art filter to let the visitor choose one or several available art forms.
Submitter: Troy Rosencrants - University of Michigan-Flint
Map/Application Name: Genesee County Commissioner District Profiles
Map Type: Digital Application
Description: In a partnership with Genesee County and the University of Michigan-Flint, county commissioner district profiles were created to give an idea of who and what are located within each commissioner district. There are a series of pages showcasing a variety of information. Data includes census demographics, jobs and workers information, school district information, and economic data. These profiles are designed to give commissioners, county employees, policy makers and more the ability to understand the populations that live within Genesee County.
Submitter: Sandon Lettieri - Livingston County
Map/Application Name: Michigan Fast Foodie Roulette
Map Type: Paper/Printed Map
Description: Poster containing 35 maps of Michigan highlighting locations of 35 different quick service style restaurants ranging from burger joints, sandwich shops, taco joints, coffee/bakery, pizza, chicken focused chain, and of course Panda Express.
Submitter: Jon Merrick - Eaton County
Map/Application Name: A Tale of Two Counties
Map Type: Paper/Printed Map
Description:
