NACIS 2024

Mount St. Helens Historic Topography Project
Joe Bard, U.S. Geological Survey
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980, dramatically changed the mountain and the areas adjacent to the volcano. Since the eruption, the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) has been documenting the topographic changes of the volcano to build a catalog of elevation datasets. Recently, this work has focused on developing DEMs from historic topographic maps. In 2022, CVO formed a co-op with the Portland Community College GIS program to engage students in this effort. In this talk, we will detail the project, our progress to date, and hear from students who have co-authored these products.

Challenging White Innocence Through an Atlas of US National Landmarks
Alethea Steingisser, Erik Steiner, Laura Pulido, Sophia Ford & Jenna Witzleben, University of Oregon
The InfoGraphics Lab is working on a new atlas – Monumental Denial: U.S. Cultural Memory and White Innocence – that explores how the more than 2,400 United States National Historic Landmarks (NHL) systematize and reflect embedded cultural narratives of white supremacy and colonialization. Through maps, data graphics, photographs, and topical essays, the atlas reveals how NHLs reinforce white innocence and deny the cultural memory of marginalized people. From the official site nomination materials to the formal public messaging at the sites, more than 90% of NHLs fail to acknowledge the racially-based events, people, and processes that are key to understanding the importance of the sites in the context of U.S. history.

Making Maps More Accessible at the U.S. National Park Service
Jake Coolidge, U.S. National Park Service / Colorado State University
As a consensus around best practices for accessible interactive maps emerges, it’s up to cartographers like myself, working with the US National Park Service, to apply these best practices. I’ll review the guidance we followed, how we tested our current maps for accessibility, made plans to address numerous issues, and began the process of remediating existing maps. This long-overdue work remains in the initial stages and is ongoing. I aim to emphasize that no matter how large and daunting the task may seem, it is possible to build partnerships and make real progress toward maps that work better for everyone.

The Junk Consortium: Cartography and World-Building
Jeffrey Linn, Conspiracy of Cartographers
As part of the Junk Consortium, I collaborated with faculty to teach world-building to students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The Consortium is a group of 15 universities, led by production designer Alex McDowell, imagining far-future societies built on the detritus of our current world. Alex has designed a framework for fictional societies--using mandalas to envision rich cultures--integrating politics, economy, philosophy, and environment. With a map of the world as the foundation, richly imagined societies can be created. I will present the techniques I use for creating fictional geographies, Alex's techniques for world-building, and the societies imagined by students based on these techniques and my maps.