Sam Redmond
Colorado School of Mines

Mesas are distinctive geologic features and the namesake of Mesa County, Colorado, yet many remain relatively unknown due to their remote locations and lack of topographic prominence. While the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) serves as a primary reference for rural landmarks, it symbolizes expansive landforms as single coordinate points. Consequently, the true spatial extent of the 46 GNIS-named mesas within the county has historically been difficult to visualize and establish. To address this cartographic limitation, this project transitions these geographic features from abstract points to precise polygons. Using a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model blended with hillshade, the mesa boundaries were digitized based on consistent, predefined topographical definitions. This approach was refined by integrating 1950s-era USGS geologic maps and local knowledge from residents and fire crews. The resulting map visually captures the physical footprint of these landforms across the county’s varying terrain. Masking is used to highlight the mesas, complemented by a gradient color scheme and contour lines representing changes in elevation. To complete the design, a modified Mesa County logo was created to connect the county’s administrative identity and its geography. Finally, with annotations highlighting the unique environmental and cultural histories of some mesas, this project aims to be one of many maps that connect local residents to their public lands.

Brandon Boldt
Front Range Community College

This interactive Story Map presents a composite climate and wildfire risk assessment for 19 Colorado Grain Chain (CGC) member farms across three future time periods (2010–2039, 2040–2069, 2070–2099) under a moderate emissions scenario (RCP 4.5). Downscaled climate projections from the MACA v2 dataset were combined with USFS Wildfire Hazard Potential data to produce composite risk surfaces through weighted overlay and fuzzy gamma overlay methods in ArcGIS Pro. Farm-level risk scores were derived from zonal statistics within 5km buffers. Interactive visualizations — including a Leaflet raster map, Chart.js risk progression and component decomposition charts, and an ArcGIS Experience Builder — enable spatial and temporal exploration of results. Findings indicate all 19 farms reach High risk by late century, with Front Range farms diverging earliest due to elevated temperature and precipitation departure signals. No farms reach Very High risk under RCP 4.5. Interactive visualizations were developed with AI coding assistance (Anthropic Claude) and iteratively refined by the author. All GIS analysis, data processing, methodology, and narrative content are original student work.

References: MACA v2 — Abatzoglou & Brown (2012); USFS WHP — Scott et al. (2024), doi:10.2737/RDS-2020-0016-2; Colorado Grain Chain (coloradograinchain.com); US Census TIGER/Line 2023.

Seth Frame
GIS Supervisor/Analyst, Tyler Technologies

MUCHA Ado About Art Nouveau: Mapping Prague’s Architectural Elegance in the Spirit of Alphonse Mucha is a richly designed cartographic homage that documents the geographic distribution of Art Nouveau architecture across Prague while contextualizing the movement through the life and legacy of Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. The map serves both as a locational reference for significant Art Nouveau sites and as a cultural narrative connecting place, movement, and artistic identity. The central map plots numbered Art Nouveau landmarks across Prague’s historic districts — including Josefov, Nové Město, Vinohrady, and beyond — with particular attention to the New Jewish Cemetery and Olšany Cemeteries. A dual-axis timeline running along the right panel synchronizes key moments in Mucha’s biography with the construction dates of notable Art Nouveau buildings in Prague, revealing how the movement’s architectural arc closely paralleled his career. The visual design itself embodies its subject matter, employing Art Nouveau ornamentation, sinuous linework, and Mucha-inspired decorative framing throughout the layout. Sources: Location data from World Geodetic Datum; boundaries from CFGIS UW-Madison and World Countries (Generalized) via ArcGIS Online; typography, design, and ornamental elements by Seth Poirier. Portrait: Alphonse Mucha self-portrait (1907). Building dates and biographical information sourced from Alphonse Mucha reference materials and Wikimedia Commons.

Anna Riling
Four Corners Mapping

The purpose of this map is to make skiing at the Durango Nordic Club easier, clearer, and more enjoyable. The map is designed to be handled, folded, stuffed into pockets, and pulled out on the trail, with illustrated folding instructions that have a little fun with the reality of how paper maps are used outside. The goal was to create a winter-themed map that works for pre-trip planning, on-trail navigation, and on a mobile device. Created in ArcGIS Pro with highly customized cartographic touches, the map combines trail difficulty, mileage, route recommendations, amenities, and elevation profiles. A georeferenced digital version can be accessed through a QR code and used in Avenza Maps for on-trail navigation on a mobile device. A custom illustrated forest was built from thousands of individually symbolized trees with shadows, variation, and selective thinning, creating a rich winter atmosphere while preserving clarity and legibility. The project also included building an ArcGIS Field Maps workflow to update outdated trail data, ensuring the final map reflected current conditions. The result is a map designed not just to guide skiers, but to bring them into a wintery world and connect them to the landscape.

Alison DeGraff Ollivierre
Director of Cartography & GIS, Tombolo Maps & Design

To develop this map, I overlaid geospatial data on ash fall from the 2020/2021 La Soufrière volcanic eruption from the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal (which cited the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Centre) onto a detailed map of the island of Saint Vincent and provided additional context through a reference map, paragraph text, and a timeline. This map was originally created for the #30DayMapChallenge’s prompt “Fire” in November 2025 and minimally updated to submit to this map contest. NASA Disasters Mapping Portal source for ashfall, caldera, and hazard zones data. Base data originally acquired directly from The Nature Conservancy and considerable personal time invested into improving this data, including road, trails, rivers, coastline, and hillshade.

Jennifer Haller
GIS Coordinator, City of Lakewood

This map visualizes monthly reported observations of Broad-tailed and Rufous Hummingbirds across Colorado during the 2024 season, illustrating a recurring pattern driven by interspecies competition. As Rufous Hummingbirds enter Colorado during mid-to-late summer migration, reported Broad-tailed sightings decline, particularly during the peak overlap months of August and September. Research suggests this shift is driven by the Rufous Hummingbird’s highly aggressive territorial behavior, which frequently displaces less assertive species from contested spaces. The six-panel temporal series allows viewers to observe this displacement dynamic unfold month by month at a statewide scale. Occurrence data was sourced from GBIF and mapped in ArcGIS Pro. Sources: Camfield, A. F. (2006). Journal of Field Ornithology, 77(2), 120-125. GBIF Occurrence Downloads: https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.aa5j5n and https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ypwhq7

Josh Gasser
Asset Program Manager, Town of Castle Rock Public Works

The Safe Routes to School web application helps students and parents identify safer walking and biking routes to schools in Castle Rock. Designed to help families choose safer walking and biking routes to school, the application provides school-specific maps highlighting recommended routes and key pedestrian infrastructure. Users begin on an overview page displaying participating schools and can open individual maps focused on an age-appropriate walking distance from each school. Map extents are constrained by major roadway barriers to reflect realistic travel patterns. Within each map, users can explore recommended routes, pedestrian-activated beacons, crosswalks, school zones, and other relevant traffic infrastructure. Custom pop-ups explain the purpose of many safety features, and hyperlinks in the map surrounds lead to additional resources, including school websites and national Safe Routes to School organizations. Widgets allow users to locate a starting point, sketch potential paths, and print maps for offline use. The application was developed with accessibility standards in mind and includes optimized layouts for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices to ensure a consistent experience across platforms.

Dylan Nordeck
GIS Analyst, Jefferson County Parks & Open Space

The Jefferson County Parks & Open Space Explorer is an interactive web mapping application designed to improve public access to information about parks, trails, and recreational opportunities across Jefferson County, Colorado. Built using ArcGIS Experience Builder, the application consolidates information previously distributed across multiple dashboards and web tools into a single unified platform. The Explorer allows users to interactively explore parks and trail networks, discover recreational opportunities, and access detailed property information through a map-based interface. Users can filter parks by amenities and activities, view trail information, and explore supporting datasets such as wildlife interaction reports and trail profiles. The application draws from the Jefferson County Parks & Open Space enterprise GIS, including park boundaries, trail infrastructure, and recreation datasets maintained by the department. A key focus of the project was improving usability, accessibility, and long-term maintainability. The interface was designed with clear visual hierarchy, simplified cartographic styling, and responsive layouts to support both desktop and mobile users. By consolidating several legacy tools into a scalable platform, the Explorer demonstrates how modern web GIS can improve public engagement while providing a maintainable framework for future park information services.

Anna Riling
Four Corners Mapping

This StoryMap was created for the Yampa–White–Green Basin Roundtable to help residents, students, water users, and decision-makers understand how water moves through and is managed within one of Colorado’s last largely intact natural hydrograph basins. Its purpose is to make complex water systems approachable by connecting hydrology, geography, policy, and public participation in a single narrative experience. Built in ArcGIS StoryMaps using ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, Dashboards, and Instant Apps, the project combines custom cartography, animated water rights timelines, interactive dashboards, swipe maps, Nearby analysis tools, and Arcade-enhanced popups to translate technical water concepts into engaging visual learning tools. Static and interactive maps were intentionally balanced to improve usability and performance, while custom glossary features and clear visual hierarchy supported accessibility for nontechnical audiences. The StoryMap demonstrates how local water issues connect to the broader Colorado River Basin, explains concepts such as prior appropriation, water calls, and instream flow rights, and highlights the Basin Roundtable’s role in collaborative planning. The result is a durable public resource designed to support informed stewardship, civic participation, and long-term water resilience.

Nicole Pepper
Cartography Intern, Woodwell Climate Research Center

The StoryMap “What happens when salmon don’t return?” explores how salmon have long been essential to nutrition, culture, and community along Alaska’s Yukon River. But a combination of management and climate stressors has driven their populations into serious decline. A resulting ban on subsistence harvest has left Alaska Native communities without one of the most important fish in their diet and traditions: Chinook or “king” salmon. When fewer salmon return to the Yukon River, tribes, communities, and families suffer. As climate warming and bycatch wipe out salmon populations, Alaska Native communities believe the best course of action towards salmon success is Indigenous-informed management practices, not banning subsistence. For this interactive StoryMap, I completed basic geoprocessing and map layout design in ArcGIS Pro. Additional graphs were designed in R-Studio. Final styling was implemented in Adobe Illustrator using the MapPublisher plugin before designing the final layout in Esri StoryMap.

Lauren Tyler
GIS Administrator, Town of Mountain Village

Intended for use on a mobile device.

To complement the Town of Mountain Village’s new trail wayfinding sign program, this custom mobile wayfinding application was built to serve as the go-to digital navigation resource for visitors and residents alike. Developed entirely in-house using Esri ArcGIS Experience Builder and hosted on ArcGIS Online, the app consolidates six thematic map experiences into a single browser-based interface: hiking and biking trails, nordic skiing routes, disc golf, parking and transit, and plaza businesses. The goal was to create an intuitive, mobile-first tool that non-technical users can navigate confidently in the field – no app download required. Trail data including type, difficulty, and open/closed status are maintained and published directly by the Town of Mountain Village GIS Department, ensuring data stays current and authoritative. Business and amenity information is sourced from Town website and refreshed daily. The application uses the “My Location” widget to help users orient themselves on arrival.