Gamifying Place: Using GIS to Drive Exploration, Learning and Economic Activity
Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate
Intended Audience: GIS User, GIS Builder, GIS Developer, GIS Instructor, Student, Other
Abstract
We know Global Information Systems help communities and organizations share where things are and how they came to be. What happens when those assets are used to connect by helping to inspire, explore, learn, and participate? This session explores how gamification and location-based experiences can extend GIS beyond traditional maps and dashboards into active, place-based engagement. Using real-world examples, including Adventures created by geographer Joseph Kerski, attendees will see how familiar geographic features like parks, trails, historic sites, public art, businesses, infrastructure, and even ordinary streetscapes, can become the foundation for interactive challenges that encourage observation, discovery, and spatial thinking. The session will also examine how communities can use these experiences to support broader goals. A historic district can become a scavenger hunt. A downtown business corridor can become a game board. A park can become an environmental learning experience. A GIS Day activity can invite residents to investigate how their community works. By pairing geographic information with missions, questions, photo challenges, rewards, and other game mechanics, organizations can encourage people to spend more time in a place while learning more about it. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for identifying GIS assets, determining appropriate audiences and objectives, and transforming geographic information into experiences that support education, tourism, community engagement, placemaking, and local economic activity.
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. Sitting at the intersection of storytelling and place, Kelly assists partner organizations in sharing their own story, while increasing exploration, learning and engagement. She had a key role in the development of the popular Macombololy game, an interactive experience that shares the origins of the Monopoly game and its original creator, Lizzie Magie and her hometown of Macomb, Illinois. Kelly 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 a firsthand perspective 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. 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.