From Map to Mission: Build an Interactive GIS Experience in 90 Minutes
Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Intended Audience: GIS User, GIS Builder, GIS Developer, GIS Instructor, Student, Other
Abstract
You have the ingredients; now let’s cook up an engaging, place-based experience! Using maps, layers, local knowledge, community assets, spatial stories and platforms with gamification, this hands-on workshop will show you how to turn those resources into interactive experiences that encourage people to explore, learn and engage. Working in small groups, attendees will move from map to mission by identifying a target audience, choosing a community goal, selecting geographic assets, and transforming those assets into a short, location-based experience. Participants will explore how parks, trails, historic sites, public art, businesses, infrastructure, and everyday streetscapes can become stops in a scavenger hunt, educational trail, community challenge, tourism experience, or public-engagement activity. The workshop will introduce practical gamification techniques, including missions, clues, photo challenges, observation prompts, trivia, rewards, and progress-based activities. Attendees will also consider how GIS data can support experiences designed to increase downtown visitation, encourage trail use, teach local history, support environmental education, engage residents in planning, or create memorable GIS Day activities.See how location-based activities can encourage spatial thinking and help participants ask deeper questions about the places around them. Examples will include adventures created by notable geographer and educator Joseph Kerski. By the end of the session, each team will create and share an outline and framework they can adapt for their own community, agency, organization, classroom, or project. Participants will also have the option to receive complimentary access to eATLAS to build and test their prototype and/or future adventures.
Presenter
Kelly Kniewel
Director of Partnerships, eATLAS-Adventures To Go
Kelly Kniewel is Director of Partnerships at eATLAS – Adventures To Go, a location-based experience platform that helps destinations, museums, downtown districts, hotels, and other organizations turn places into interactive, app-guided Adventures. At the intersection of storytelling and place, Kelly helps partner organizations share their stories while increasing exploration, learning, and engagement. She had a key role in the development and launch of the popular Macombololy game, an immersive experience that shares the origins of the Monopoly game and its original creator, Lizzie Magie, and her hometown of Macomb, Illinois. Kelly also works with entities like Marriott, Match.com, Newberry Library, Museum of Illusions, and Millikin University to develop interactive, relational, cultural, educational, and economic-development experiences. In addition to her work with eATLAS, Kelly is a professional tour guide, travel host, and Choose Chicago Ambassador, giving her firsthand perspectives on how people experience cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and culture. She brings together tourism, placemaking, technology, and visitor engagement to help organizations think creatively about how physical places can become more interactive and meaningful. A self-described cartophile, Kelly is especially interested in how tools such as GIS and apps can utilize gamification, storytelling, and mobile technology to transition people from simply viewing information to actively exploring and participating in the world around them.