SHOWCASE your skills!
Showcase your GIS skills by entering the 2023 GIS Colorado Mapping Contest! The GISCO Mapping Contest will take place at the spring GIS Colorado quarterly meeting, which will be held May 18-19, 2023 in Grand Junction.
share your hard work!
We are excited to give you the opportunity to showcase your hard work and share it with GIS colleagues and professionals. Please look through these details about the contest. We look forward to your submission and can’t wait to see what you come up with! If you have questions, please email contest@giscolorado.org.
Sections
The 2023 Mapping Contest will be open to students only–no professional entries this time!
Student
Enrolled in or within one year post graduation from a certificate, undergraduate, or graduate program in GIS or related field.
If you enter the Mapping Contest and will also be an enrolled student during the Fall 2023 semester, please check out our Scholarship page! GISCO awards $4,000 for undergraduates and graduates every year, and you may use your Mapping Contest submission for the scholarship. However, for the scholarship applications, you will need to provide additional elements as well, so read the requirements closely. If you apply for the scholarship, you may use that essay for the Mapping Contest narrative (but not vice versa). If you have any questions, please email contest@giscolorado.org or scholarship@giscolorado.org.
Categories
There are three categories within each Section: Artistic, Maps, and Apps.
Submissions
If you have any questions, please email contest@giscolorado.org. Your submission should include a short paragraph describing your entry, including the purpose of the map, target audience, how it was created, and the reasons that prompted you to create the work. Include your name, email address, and title of the work. In the case of Apps category submissions, please provide the intended map platform (mobile, web, etc.) and url. For Student submissions, please provide your student status and grade level, and the name of the educational institution.
Voting
By submitting your entry to the GIS Colorado mapping contest you agree to have your work displayed in the GIS Colorado website and in a public space during the Spring GIS Colorado quarterly meeting, which will be held on May 18-19, 2023 in Grand Junction. If you cannot attend the meeting, please make arrangements for your work to be displayed and presented virtually if possible.
Voting will be conducted by a panel of judges. The winner will be announced at the end of the conference. There will be one winner for each category (Artistic, Maps, and Apps), with one People’s Choice winner.
aWARD ceremony
An award ceremony will be held at the end of the event to present the winners with certificates and awards. Awards will include prizes contributed by GISCO sponsors, exhibiting your work on the GIS Colorado website and social media channels, a GIS Colorado T-Shirt, a 1-year membership to GIS Colorado, and of course, cartographic bragging rights!
FINe print
Open to current paid GISCO members and students. It’s only $25/year. Follow the link above to become a GISCO member!
Entries must be submitted by midnight on April 21, 2023.
Entries may be submitted as an individual or as a group.
Entries will consist of original work, and references must be cited.
For submissions to be accepted in the Apps category, the content must be publicly accessible.
Entries are limited to one per person.
Judging Criteria
Maps and Artistic category
1. Content – Is the map informative, with reliable sources, and an appropriate use of grammar and spelling? Does it effectively target the intended audience?
2. Design/layout – Is the map well balanced, with a logical arrangement of elements?
3. Clarity – Is the content understandable, with a logical visual hierarchy and a clear message? Are fonts, text size, and labels configured in a way that is legible?
4. Appeal – Is there an effective use of symbology, geometry, labels, and color?
5. Originality – Is the map innovative, either in its subject matter or its application of visual graphics? Is the presentation unique?
Apps category
1. Content – Is the map informative, with reliable sources, and an appropriate use of grammar and spelling? Does it effectively target the intended audience?
2. Design/function – Is the map easy to use, with an effective use of interactive tools, and intuitive user interactions? Are pop-ups configured appropriately? Is the map compatible with its intended platform or device?
3. Clarity – Is the content understandable, with a logical visual hierarchy and a clear message? Are fonts, text size, and labels configured in a way that is legible?
4. Appeal – Is there an effective use of symbology, geometry, labels, and color?
5. Originality – Is the map innovative, either in its subject matter or its application of visual graphics? Is the presentation unique?
Judges
Our judges represent a wide variety of backgrounds, including education, software development, environmental science, public sector, and Esri.
Steven Hick, GISP
GIS Director and Professor of the Practice in Geographic Information Science, Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Denver
Steven Hick, GISP, is the GIS Director and Professor of the Practice in Geographic Information Science in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Denver. For over twenty-seven years Steven has been directing the Geographic Information Science academic and research facilities in the department. Steven is currently the Director of the GIS Certificate Program and the Master of Science degree program in Geographic Information Science at the University of Denver. He was instrumental in the creation of one of the nation’s first Master of Science degrees in Geographic Information Science. For nearly fifteen years, Steven taught crime mapping and analysis at the University of Denver in the Crime Mapping and Analysis program under the auspices of the US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. He continues to provide crime mapping and analysis technical assistance to law enforcement agencies across the country.
Shelby Hines
Senior Solution Engineer, Esri
Shelby is a Solution Engineer at Esri and supports Colorado and New Mexico local governments in applying GIS technology across domains. She brings 15 years of experience in GIS and emergency management and has a MS in GIS from the University of Denver.
Heidi Ragsdale, M.A.Ed
STEM and GIS Educator Professional Development Trainer at Grand Junction MakerSpace
With 20 years in public education, I have worked to blend STEM and GIS technologies, to support professional development for Earth-centered problem based learning. I enjoy GeoArt, all things geography, Astronomy, Environmental advocacy and outreach.
Seth Frame
GIS Supervisor/Analyst, Tyler Technologies
Raised in the Middle West, Seth Frame has over a decade of experience in GIS; most of that time has been spent in cultural resource management. In a previous life, he performed GIS services for archaeological companies in the intermountain West, he now lives in upstate New York where he is employed as a GIS Supervisor/Analyst for a software development company. Seth has a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from Colorado State University and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cartography and Web Mapping Masters program.
Sarah Marie Kelly
Teaching Assistant Professor, University of Colorado – Boulder
For nearly 5 years I have been sharing my love of maps and GIS with students at CU-Boulder. Prior to that, I spent more than a decade working as an environmental scientist focused on wetland ecology in the Southeast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest.
Mary Lackner, GISP, PMP
GIS and Technology Manager, Pitkin County, Colorado
Mary has spent the past 30 years working with GIS technology in the public sector. She is currently a technology manager at Pitkin County, CO where she works with people and processes and longs for the days when mapping was the focus of her position. Mary earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii, Manoa majoring in Resource Planning and a certificate in Marine Science and she obtained a master’s degree from UCLA in Urban Planning.
Prizes
Thanks to the generosity of many quality companies and individuals, we have some truly excellent prizes for the winners!
Thank you to the following!
