Students compete in GIS Day contest using StoryMaps

walterpalladDecember 1, 2022

Cash Masse and Ewan Dennision won first place in the GIS Day StoryMap contest with their project entitled Bruce and Grey County. Screenshot.

Students across Grey and Bruce counties recently competed in a map-making competition using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to help solve local queries and showcase the area’s tourism hot-spots.

GIS is a scientific framework for gathering, analyzing and visualizing geographic data, often used to help make decisions.

These systems are used every day by mobile mapping services, telecom and network services, urban planners, transportation analysts, agriculture data analysts and disaster management agencies.

GIS Day is celebrated annually in November, and this year both Grey County and Bruce County collaborated to offer a contest for Grade 7 and 8 students at local schools.

The contest, sponsored by Esri Canada and Bruce Power, challenged students to answer one of two questions in the form of an ArcGIS StoryMap, produced using the cloud-based GIS platform ArcGIS Online.

With over 420 students from 17 classrooms at nine schools — five in the Bluewater District School Board and four in the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board — students worked in teams to collectively submit 98 StoryMaps for judging.

StoryMaps are a web-based application for users to share maps in a semi-narrative context with text interweaving with other multimedia content.

For example, one featured StoryMap on the ArcGIS website displays the density of different types of livestock worldwide.

In Grey-Bruce, Cash Masse and Ewan Dennison won first place in the GIS Day StoryMap contest with their project entitled “Bruce and Grey County”.

The duo’s interactive map allows the user to scroll down to find popular tourist locations in the two counties, and hover their cursor over waypoints pinned to a map that highlights hot spots like Southampton Beach or the Queens Bar and Grill in Port Elgin. The StoryMap also includes several photos taken by the students and links to relevant websites.

As the first-place winners, Masse and Dennison received an ArcGIS software license, mobile device charger, Bruce Power toque and a $50 Visa prepaid gift card.

Johnny Ballard and Ben Charbonneau won second place in the contest with their StoryMap “Welcome to Saugeen Shores”, which helps tourists navigate 15 tourist hot spots with interactive waypoints that include informative write-ups about each location.

As the prize for finishing second, Ballard and Charbonneau won an ArcGIS software license, a mobile device charger, and a $50 Visa prepaid card.

Olivia Abbot, Tatum Schmitt and Beckett Haugh finished in third place with their StoryMap “More Than Just a Town”, a tourism map featuring the many amenities and destinations in Saugeen Shores.

Staff from Bruce Power, the Municipality of Kincardine, the Town of Saugeen Shores, and Bruce and Grey Counties formed a Bruce-Grey GIS Day Organizing Committee and served as expert support for classrooms throughout the contest period and as judges.

“GIS is an important tool we use to make decisions, in business, in government, and for how we navigate our lives. Local students showcased just how powerful the GIS platform can be in helping to navigate changes in our local communities. Congratulations to all finalists,” said Justin Kraemer, GIS Coordinator at Bruce County and member of the Bruce-Grey GIS Day Organizing Committee. “Thank you to all teachers involved who welcomed GIS in classroom instruction, helping students build skills in mapping, data management and analysis. And thank you Mr. Cory Munro of Saugeen District Senior School for his tireless support in making the contest a reality.”

For a complete list of contest finalists and to view the StoryMaps visit Bruce County’s website and navigate to its news page.