Mary Foos

Digital Mapping:

Digital Mapping is described as the process in which a collection of data is formatted in to a visual image.

The point of digital mapping is to produce visual maps that give an accurate representation of a certain area on a map. They use details to point out important parts such as cities, roads, and other important pieces. Digital Maps add details and use special technology to make a visual image of a particular map.

[Some Examples of Digital maps:]

• Interactive Mapping
• Story Maps

Why Use Story Maps?

Story maps allows you to present a set of photos or videos along with captions, linked to an interactive map. It's made for walking tours or any sequence of places you’d like users to follow in order.

Story Maps:

I would describe story maps as a visual presentation of a map that follows a story line.

The actually definition of a story map is described as a platform that allows people to tell a certain story of a specific place or historical event based on a geographical context.

My Experience:

I have explored and created my own story map with Storymaps.org.

It was an interesting experience. I learned that digital mapping takes a lot of editing and experimenting with different tools. There wasn't a single slide where I knew exactly what to do, nor one that I didn't have to go back and edit a few times. Digital mapping can be a very useful tool because it allows people to tell a story as well as showing a visual. Before starting my own story map I took the time to look in to some examples of some to get a general idea of how I wanted to do my own. The ones I enjoyed watching were "An Atlas of Electricity", and "1FrameForNature".

1. I first picked which layout I liked, and then began creating my story.
2. Once I had the slide, I would zoom in to the location I wanted my slide to take place at.
3. I would put the marker there, and then pick an icon to point out where I was talking specifically. I would pick the icon that I found most associated with the occasion of the context.
4. I would then type my story with the text box feature. I would pick the color and the outline of the text box as well.
5. After I finished the text box I would add a picture to the slide as well by clicking on the image feature and entering the URL of the picture I wanted to add.
6. After I finished a slide I would go over it and make sure it looked the way I wanted it to, and then I would save it.
7. Once I saved one, i would then add another slide and just repeat the process.

[Although StoryMaps does not yet have the feature to embed your map into a blog, you can still easily view my story map by clicking the "My Story" above!

Once the map comes up, just click the play button.

To go from slide to slide, you can click the right and left arrows. The map will navigate back and forth between the states. ]