BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:nacis2026
X-WR-CALDESC:Event Calendar
METHOD:PUBLISH
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Sched.com NACIS 2026//EN
X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261020T230000Z
DTEND:20261021T010000Z
SUMMARY:Board Meeting I
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BUSINESS
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c339babbaa0a73de33dea9d78a2ea0ed
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/c339babbaa0a73de33dea9d78a2ea0ed
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T000000Z
DTEND:20261021T020000Z
SUMMARY:Tuesday Night Meetup
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3ed8f8d69f53b4aaddc982cb5a818ee1
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/3ed8f8d69f53b4aaddc982cb5a818ee1
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T130000Z
DTEND:20261021T230000Z
SUMMARY:Conference Registration
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:fcc4ccc2284bef95815082edf3092c7f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/fcc4ccc2284bef95815082edf3092c7f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T140000Z
DTEND:20261021T153000Z
SUMMARY:Practical Cartography Day: (How) can AI help us make better maps?
DESCRIPTION:Things I've Done with AI at Work Kate Leroux\, onX Everyone is talking about AI\, but it's not always clear what to use it for. This lightning talk is a quick tour of the ways I've used AI in my day-to-day work as a technical cartographer. I'll steer clear of AI hype or pessimism and just offer several real examples\, meant to spark ideas about how you might use AI for your own work. Spoiler alert: it's not doing the cartographic design or taking my job. If you're curious or even dubious about AI and haven't found your entry point yet\, this is for you. Is AI a capable interactive cartographer? Brandon Liu\, Protomaps LLC Map design is a difficult task demanding expertise across both design and engineering. Bespoke zoomable map design\, in particular\, has been limited to proprietary "Photoshop for maps" platforms or complex programming-based solutions like styling JSON. This presentation explores the use of coding agents like Claude Code as a primary interface for interactive map customization\, using the PMTiles and Protomaps Basemap projects as building blocks. The goal is not to make cartographers redundant or to homogenize interactive maps\, but to broaden the audience of potential mapmakers. Don't offload your brain: using AI tools to build geospatial apps without becoming a copy-paste automaton Lyzi Diamond So you have an idea for a cool mapping app\, and you want to build it quickly. This is a perfect time to use AI\, right? Tools like Claude Code and Cursor are popular because they allow you to turn ideas into working projects quickly. But as smart as the robots think they are\, YOU'RE the map expert\, and your knowledge is what's going to make the app shine. This talk walks through the process of building a geospatial web app using AI as your assistant rather than your boss. We'll cover agent skills\, prompt engineering\, and other tips and tricks to make sure you're joining forces with the AI\, not letting it take control. Some AI chat. A Canine Map Kenneth Field\, Esri Inc.. Cartography moves pretty fast. If we don’t stop to look around once in a while we might miss it. This talk was originally going to focus solely on the ICA Commission on Map Design’s experiment with AI mapping during 2026. But with everyone else and their pet dog talking about AI we might veer off-track a little. In fact\, dogs… let’s make a mappy Postcard of Canine Dotz for PCD. No dogs will be harmed in this talk\, and no AI will be abused either.
CATEGORIES:PRACTICAL CARTOGRAPHY DAY
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4ee754db200ab1ae52263506a05e32b2
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/4ee754db200ab1ae52263506a05e32b2
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T153000Z
DTEND:20261021T155500Z
SUMMARY:Morning Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:2b7fb9e83b2e0fe55e22ced1fcf9e4c2
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/2b7fb9e83b2e0fe55e22ced1fcf9e4c2
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T155500Z
DTEND:20261021T173000Z
SUMMARY:Practical Cartography Day: Design & Professional cartography
DESCRIPTION:Visualizing Global Climate Atlas Guo\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Climate maps are essential tools for understanding global climate patterns. Despite its limitations\, the Köppen-Geiger system remains the most widely used climate classification framework\, yet most maps present only the resulting categories\, condensing complex temperature and precipitation patterns into letter codes that can be difficult for non-specialists to interpret. Building on the conventional color scheme\, this project visualizes monthly temperature and precipitation patterns through climate glyphs on a 1-by-1-degree geographic grid\, accompanied by diagrams explaining how climate types are classified. The project includes a static reference poster and an interactive web map with responsive layouts\, offering a more accessible way to explore global climate diversity while supporting geography education\, public communication\, and academic reference. Tessellexicon: The Art of Blended Hexagonal Aggregations Matt Hampton\, Metro This presentation introduces Tessellexicon\, a series of eight maps built by spatially joining regional data to six hexagonal grids of varying cell size across the Portland\, Oregon metropolitan area\, then blending the resulting layers into single compositions. Rather than presenting each scale in isolation\, the work layers multiple hex resolutions within a single map\, using feature blending to let coarse and fine aggregations coexist and interact visually — treating scale itself as a compositional variable rather than a fixed technical choice. The project frames hexagonal binning as a kind of visual vocabulary: each grid size functions as a distinct "word" for describing the same underlying phenomenon\, and each blended composition becomes a sentence written in geometry rather than text. The eight resulting maps are less a finished statement than a set of working entries in a lexicon still being defined — testing where patterns hold steady across scales and where they dissolve or shift.This talk will cover the technical workflow for multiscale hex generation and spatial joins\, the design decisions behind blending layers for legibility and visual hierarchy\, and the broader argument for treating resolution and aggregation as artistic choices with cartographic consequences\, not just analytical ones. Revisiting Terrain Shader Tools Gene Trantham\, independent A handful of powerful terrain shading tools are available to the GIS cartographer wanting Blender-like effects -- but without having to move their data into Blender. These tools\, notably sky-model multi-directional shading\, are not used more widely because their configuration and execution is somewhat niche\, requiring a specialized external tool for configuration. In this short presentation\, a custom toolset will show a simplified and re-bundled interface to the algorithms underlying sky model and similar shading tools. This workflow consolidates to a single interface the sky-model configuration and execution without having to leave the GIS desktop. Relearning Cartogaphy Through Sculpture Cooper Price Penn State\, GeoGraphics Lab I took a sculpture class that reframed how I think about and apply cartographic design. This was my first time exploring design through a physical medium\, rather than a computer screen. Through tactile feedback\, it brought a new understanding of concepts that I thought I already knew\, like generalization\, scale\, and what a map can actually be and do. A type of understanding that I think is only possible through a tactile experience. I will show my process in creating sculptures that are mappy\, and share about how these sculptures have changed my thoughts on design. Revisting Color Robert Simmon\, Freelance Color is one of the fundamental tools for encoding information on maps. Yet using color in a way that conveys precision and maintains accuracy\, all while remaining accessible and aesthetically pleasing\, remains challenging. New research in perception suggests refinements to the use of color in cartography beyond the existing\, well-known recommendations. These include how people inherently perceive value\, the importance of nameable colors\, hidden advantages of the rainbow palette\, expanding usage of ‘divergent’ palettes\, and the semantics of color. By understanding these principles\, a cartographer can make design choices and employ color in ways that reinforce each other\, leading to maps that are clear\, effective\, readable\, and elegant. Where Are Your Best Clients? Making Spatial Analytics Accessible for Small Firms Eugenie Huang\, University of Wisconsin-Madison\; Reid Osborn\, (he/him)\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Internal data is one of the most precious resources an organization has\; how can small firms best use it? We propose a set of methods to integrate spatial data into organizational strategies (marketing\, outreach\, modeling)\, letting businesses and agencies alike build new insights into tackling old problems. Using a San Diego-b...
CATEGORIES:PRACTICAL CARTOGRAPHY DAY
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3af461345f964ff90c2911d96b0bf43c
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/3af461345f964ff90c2911d96b0bf43c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T173000Z
DTEND:20261021T190000Z
SUMMARY:PCD Lunch
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:LUNCH
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:b5f01d5e74b093439b249d600d67178c
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/b5f01d5e74b093439b249d600d67178c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T190000Z
DTEND:20261021T202000Z
SUMMARY:Practical Cartography Day: Tips & Tricks I
DESCRIPTION:Automating Map Production Using ArcPy Michael Cattell\, Pennsylvania Environmental Council Creating maps that cover dozens of geographies in different shapes and sizes is a critical function for large organizations. While it may seem daunting at first\, there are ways to break the process down to make it seem more manageable and approachable! In this talk\, I will demonstrate one workflow using ArcGIS Pro and its Python library\, ArcPy. This will include advantages\, useful considerations to optimize the workflow for your specific use case." Learn to write Arcade label expressions for cartography in ArcGIS Pro Edie Punt\, Esri Learn the basics of how to use the ArcGIS Arcade expression language with ArcGIS Pro to label your maps. Building Inclusive Web Maps Kitty Hurley\, Esri Learn about improvements to Esri's ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript Map components that strengthen support for inclusive information access. This presentation will demonstrate map navigation and data interactions using only a keyboard\, as well as new focus management for search result selections and status announcements for dynamic map interactions that communicate context to assistive technologies. You will gain practical strategies to improve your app's accessibility\, discoverability\, and usability for a more diverse audience. Analyze and Improve Drawing Performance in ArcGIS Pro Greg Lehner\, Esri\, Inc. The Analyze Map pane in ArcGIS Pro identifies drawing performance issues in maps and scenes. Learn how to use it to generate drawing metrics that detail how your map's content impacts performance and quality. The map analysis covers data source access\, unconverted or unindexed data\, symbology\, and label rendering. Each issue reported in the pane includes a thorough description and suggested solutions." Time series maps in Map Viewer Ian Youth\, Esri\; Kristian Ekenes I’ll demonstrate how to create time series visualizations in ArcGIS Online’s Map Viewer using the new time series configuration experience. This process involves mapping layer fields to date/time values that can be referenced by layer symbology\, popups\, and labels to visualize how a thematic attribute changes over time. I’ll summarize historic challenges with creating time series maps\, how to use the time slider to dynamically update layer symbology based on the map’s time\, and finish by showing how you can use Arcade to take these visualizations to the next level it both Map Viewer and custom web applications. Wait until you see how they labeled that map with ArcGIS Pro! Jesse Wickizer Cartographers know that labeling their maps can often be one of the more time-consuming parts of the process\, and automatic label engines such as Maplex in ArcGIS Pro can reduce some of that burden. I always encourage users to spend more time tinkering with and configuring label engine settings and let the label engine do more of the work. To that end\, I’ll highlight a variety of examples of advanced label styles and techniques to get the most out of the Maplex label engine.
CATEGORIES:PRACTICAL CARTOGRAPHY DAY
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a2e3abe739fda0176ce9c0903702a830
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/a2e3abe739fda0176ce9c0903702a830
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T202000Z
DTEND:20261021T204000Z
SUMMARY:Afternoon Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:08f6dda35ea6cc59e7121384c582acc8
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/08f6dda35ea6cc59e7121384c582acc8
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T204000Z
DTEND:20261021T220000Z
SUMMARY:Practical Cartography Day: Tips & Tricks II
DESCRIPTION:SpatialpIpe ADDA Youcef\, TECH SpatialPipe is an ETL platform built around a native C++ engine\, with a modern UI powered by Vue 3\, TypeScript\, Vite\, and Electron. The ambition is to build a serious open alternative to commercial ETL tools: fast\, transparent\, scalable\, and designed to last. Today\, the platform already integrates multiple data readers\, including OSM and WFS. The roadmap goes much further: GNSS PPP (Precise Point Positioning)\, photogrammetry workflows\, 3D reconstruction from imagery\, alignment with ground control points\, and more direct access to free APIs and public data sources. A lot of the ideas behind SpatialPipe are still missing from most ETL tools. That is also why C++ was chosen for the backend: to build on a strong foundation for performance\, scalability\, and long-term evolution from day one. Be A Legend\, or Maybe Just Make a Better One: Five Tips and Tricks for More Effective Map Legends Vicky Johnson-Dahl Break out of default mode and discover five ways to better integrate your legend into your map. In this lightning-fast talk we'll explore different methods and approaches for using the legend to enhance your cartographic storytelling skills. GLIDE: An Open Source Ecosystem for Interactive Web Mapping Applications Julio Perez\, Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing at University of Miami\; Chris Mader - Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing at University of Miami GLIDE (Geospatial Layered Information Display and Exploration) is an open-source ecosystem for building and deploying interactive web-based mapping applications. Built on SvelteKit\, Leaflet\, MapLibre\, and Apache Solr\, GLIDE supports dynamic bivariate rendering\, layered visualization\, and on-the-fly attribute searching within vector tiles. This session will provide an overview of the GLIDE architecture and include a live demonstration showing how the platform supports the rapid development of modern\, multi-tier mapping applications capable of rendering vector tiles\, raster datasets\, and other interactive mapping layers. The presentation will conclude with a complete web application demonstrating multiple rendered datasets and interactive mapping capabilities. How to create novel OSM-based maps more easily with Sourdough vector tiles Jake Low\, OpenStreetMap US Vector tiles power the zoomable interactive maps seen in many websites and apps. A vector tile schema defines what data is made available in these tiles\, and how it's organized. Sourdough (https://sourdough.osm.fyi/) is a new vector tile schema designed to make the wealth of data in OpenStreetMap more easily accessible to map makers. It differs from prior schemas by including far more data in each tile\, in order to support the widest possible range of cartographic expressions. Sourdough makes it easier to create novel maps that depict data which exists in OSM but isn't shown on most general-purpose basemaps. This talk will show you how you can use open-source\, browser-based tools to start creating your own maps with Sourdough tiles. Using Blender to make Big Maps of Small Places Maddy Grubb\, self employed Making a large-format map of a geographically small place means getting close\, really close. This talk walks through a Blender workflow for large-scale interpretive mapping using a historic district in the Tetons as a case study. I'll cover what I've learned about modeling a landscape beyond the scale at which data exists: using bump mapping to add texture\, integrating aerial imagery and LiDAR\, scattering vegetation across ecosystems\, and modeling historic buildings. I'll also share how I photographed the actual walls and chinking in the field and brought those textures directly into the map. The goal is to create a map that captures how a place feels and makes visitors want to get out and connect with the surrounding landscape. New Methods for Generating Vector Hachures Daniel P. Huffman\, somethingaboutmaps\; Andrew Tyrrell\, South Arrow Maps We'll share some new techniques for depicting terrain in a sketched style that's reminiscent of hachuring methods from centuries past. Taking only a DEM as an input\, a bit of GIS trickery can be used to automatically draw thousands of lines that illustrate major elevation features from a planimetric (top-down) view. With some additional work in Blender\, we can even draw a sketch our terrain from an oblique view\, all with minimal human effort. These methods unlock new styles for cartographers who don't want to do the painstaking work of manual terrain sketches.
CATEGORIES:PRACTICAL CARTOGRAPHY DAY
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4e67409d1af486cbf7ff4f297391d389
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/4e67409d1af486cbf7ff4f297391d389
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261021T233000Z
DTEND:20261022T010000Z
SUMMARY:KEYNOTE: The Fantasy Cartography of Karen Wynn Fonstad
DESCRIPTION:This keynote panel will celebrate the work and legacy of Karen Wynn Fonstad\, including The Atlas of Middle-Earth for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The panel will begin with short presentations from the distinguished guests listed below\, followed by questions from the moderator and audience. On Saturday\, there will be a field trip to the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee to view the maps in the collection. Panelists: Mark Fonstad Mark Fonstad is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Oregon. The son of cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad and geographer Todd Fonstad\, Mark specializes in the physical geography of rivers\, the fusion of physical geography with geographic information science\, geomorphology\, hydrology\, and remote sensing. He has a B.S. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin–Madison\, an M.A. in Geography from Ohio University\, and a Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University. Georgia Brown Georgia Brown is the Head of the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL). In her role\, she oversees operations of the AGSL in addition to ensuring access and preservation of the collection. She has published and presented in the fields of map library history\, cartographic literacy instruction\, and cartographic collection processing. Georgia has an MA in History and an MLIS both from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Sarah Schaefer Sarah C. Schaefer is Associate Professor of Art History and Director of the Emile H. Mathis Gallery at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She co-curated J. R. R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript at Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art (2022) and recently published “The Surveyor’s Eve: Tolkien\, Hugh Lofting\, and Creative Topography” in the academic journal Tolkien Studies. Judith Tyner Judith Tyner is professor emerita from California State University\, Long Beach where she taught cartography for 37 years. She is the author of 7 books on cartography including 3 that deal with women in cartography\, and numerous articles and papers.
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e1fabb6000a5133508231f334b70f38a
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/e1fabb6000a5133508231f334b70f38a
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T010000Z
DTEND:20261022T033000Z
SUMMARY:Welcome Reception & Map Gallery Opening
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e3b2bd6264bfebf78662949467970c00
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/e3b2bd6264bfebf78662949467970c00
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T130000Z
DTEND:20261022T230000Z
SUMMARY:Conference Registration
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:37e26868182800f7a14c7adbea776939
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/37e26868182800f7a14c7adbea776939
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T130000Z
DTEND:20261023T033000Z
SUMMARY:Map Gallery
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:45dd9d2e7f7d45e23779ff0e9b0be1e7
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/45dd9d2e7f7d45e23779ff0e9b0be1e7
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T133000Z
DTEND:20261022T140000Z
SUMMARY:NACIS 101
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:36cf56a109e1322c925b67977526a071
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/36cf56a109e1322c925b67977526a071
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T140000Z
DTEND:20261022T152000Z
SUMMARY:Cross-Cutting Crops and Culture: Coping with overlaps\, time\, and fuzzy boundaries in an ethnobotanical garden
DESCRIPTION:Cross-Cutting Crops and Culture: Coping with overlaps\, time\, and fuzzy boundaries in an ethnobotanical garden Catherine Callaway\, UC Berkeley This interactive session is a space to puzzle out the limits of language and spatial representation in a botanical garden’s ethnobotanical collection. Plants aren’t versed in borders\, and their diversity and distribution is such that overlapping geographic ranges and dispersal over time make it difficult to find intelligible yet true ways to represent the history of humans and our crop plants in a museum setting. Beginning with an overview of crop plants’ origins from around the world from an ethnobotanist’s perspective and transitioning into a small-group session of ideation and problem-solving\, we will tackle these problems from a cartographer’s perspective.
CATEGORIES:BIRDS OF FEATHER
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3eb049e6df4e109b30ce7218e42d0f89
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/3eb049e6df4e109b30ce7218e42d0f89
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T140000Z
DTEND:20261022T152000Z
SUMMARY:ACCESSIBLE
DESCRIPTION:Launching and Scaling Digital Map Accessibility for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Caroline Rose\, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Brandon Biggs\, XR Navigation The ground-breaking visual\, auditory\, and interactive text map of the Quaternary Geology of Wisconsin\, which we presented in draft form at NACIS 2025\, showed it is possible to make complex maps accessible. Now that the map has been released\, users can “hear” shapes\, understand topological relationships\, and access over 3000 features in 16 layers. Users can navigate the map via keyboard\, can access the geographic features using a screen reader\, and can tailor the settings to suit their own access needs. This talk will cover the process and roll-out of this highly complex\, accessible map and our ideas for how the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey will scale this work from one accessible map to other publications. Translating WCAG as Cartographers - A Framework for Visual Map Accessibility Jakob Ruffner\, Esri The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the baseline for the US' Title II/III amendment to the ADA. It requires that all State\, Federal\, and Private organizations provide accessible content. However\, it is unclear as to what exactly counts as adequate compliance\, especially true for map design\, whose cartography involves complicated visualization choices that don't fit into simple binaries. In this session\, we attempt to turn the often-vague language of WCAG into a relatable framework for us cartographers. Based on projects across many industries\, this interpretation allows us to make user-driven maps without over-simplifying them\, hinging on leveraging application UIs\, clear symbology\, and alternative access formats. Lights\, Camera\, Action: Putting Cartographic Accessibility on Film Jack Swab\, The University of Tennessee\, Knoxville Laura Zierer\, American Printing House for the Blind Cartographic accessibility for individuals with low vision or blindness is an important facet of cartographic design but can remain abstract in the cartography classroom. This talk explores the motivation behind and the production of a short film about cartographic accessibility. Made in collaboration with the American Printing House for the Blind and the University of Tennessee\, Knoxville\, we explore how we created this film and its impacts in a 100-level\, general education cartography class. Cartographic Accessibility at the American Printing House for the Blind Laura Zierer\, American Printing House for the Blind Jack Swab\, The University of Tennessee--Knoxville In this presentation\, we will screen a short film made in conjunction with the American Printing House for the Blind and the University of Tennessee\, Knoxville. The video highlights the American Printing House for the Blind’s cartographic efforts and the positive impact that their products have on increasing geographic and cartographic literacy for individuals with low vision or blindness.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:136923451c197a37645e3c4794c37f67
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/136923451c197a37645e3c4794c37f67
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T140000Z
DTEND:20261022T152000Z
SUMMARY:HANDMADE
DESCRIPTION:Getting Physical (with data): Crocheting Central Park Natalie Correa\, University of Wisconsin-Madison In this talk\, I discuss the challenges of planning and creating a crocheted map of Central Park in New York City. I outline planning considerations for the pattern\, the logistics of crocheting\, and the pressures of creating within a classroom environment. Along the way\, I discuss the larger implications of seemingly impractical creative cartographic pursuits. Watercolor Maps: the Long and Short of It Molly O’Halloran\, Molly O’Halloran\, Inc. A tale of two commissions: the year-plus creation of a visitor map for a California botanical garden\, and the less-than-a-week production of a map and illustrations for a travel article in T Magazine (New York Times). Contrasting these two projects illustrates how the custom watercolor process can be modified to meet vastly different timelines and approval approaches. Authenticity\, Tangibility\, and Sustainability in the GeoGraphics Lab Alicia Iverson\, Penn State Geography\, The GeoGraphics Lab Dr. Anthony C. Robinson\, Penn State Geography\, The GeoGraphics Lab The current generation of (novice) cartographers have a dizzying array of fantastic digital tools to pursue our craft. In the GeoGraphics Lab we have noticed the novelty and value associated with creating tangible maps on paper and other materials\, wrestling with their limitations\, and working collaboratively to develop authentic products. In this talk we highlight examples that show how tangible mapping has surprised and challenged us\, and we articulate a model for a university cartography lab experience that bolsters its own sustainability via the pursuit of authentic and tangible mapping. Oil Portraits and Sign Painting Dylan Moriarty\, The Washington Post Lessons learned from wading into oil portraits and sign painting.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c160bbda89621d9f3e85c57897fcde02
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/c160bbda89621d9f3e85c57897fcde02
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T140000Z
DTEND:20261022T152000Z
SUMMARY:HIDDEN
DESCRIPTION:Mapping New Deal Utopias: Dynamics of Neighborhood Mobility in Greendale\, Wisconsin Mia Nighgroh\, University of Tennessee Knoxville Utopian planned communities like Greendale\, WI were championed during the Roosevelt administration as part of the New Deal’s efforts to create model suburban communities and facilitate economic stability for low- and middle-income white families. Following the end of the New Deal\, the neighborhood transitioned from federal to private funding. Utopian communities like Greendale were designed to promote financial stability\, but the shifting economic landscape destabilized the geographic and social structure that had been established. This research examines the dynamics of mobility and sheds light on the migratory strategies residents used to navigate the economic precarity of structural change. Mapping What Was Hidden: A LiDAR Approach to Unmarked Graves and Land Justice Spenser Anderson Kristopher Smith\, Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Accurate methods for locating unmarked grave sites\, including ground penetration radar\, arborist analysis\, and walking sites\, are precise but resource intensive. Given the vast number of unmarked burial sites in the States\, faster and cheaper preliminary tools are needed. Using LiDAR data and historical records\, we have developed a Red-Green-Amber model that enables individuals\, organizations\, and researchers to screen large swaths of land and prioritize sites for further investigation\; thus\, improving the speed and reach of unmarked grave site identification. For communities navigating heirs' property disputes\, where unmarked graves can both evidence historical land use and complicate title resolution\, this tool aids in the fight for justice. The Geography of Prosperity Nina Feldman Motivf\, Web Cartographer Tova Perlman\, Motivf\, Data Scientist AJ Ashton\, Carotgrapher This presentation introduces the Geography of Prosperity Index\, a new framework for evaluating long-term urban success across 250 U.S. cities. Moving beyond traditional economic metrics\, the index integrates five dimensions: population renewal\, climate resilience\, automation readiness\, social cohesion\, and governance/foresight\, to assess future readiness. Geography of Prosperity Index results are visualized through an interactive map that reveals emerging patterns of opportunity and risk. The session will explore the methodology\, cartographic design choices\, and key spatial insights\, highlighting how mapping prosperity can better inform planners\, policymakers\, and investors about the evolving geography of the American Dream. Reconstructing a neighborhood through community mapping: Urban renewal in Warren\, Ohio Jennifer Mapes\, Kent State University More than 1\,000 U.S. cities lost whole neighborhoods to urban renewal in the 1950s-1970s. Records about the demographics and economics of these places are surprisingly hard to find. This paper describes efforts to document businesses\, and later individuals\, located in one of these neighborhoods. About 2\,784 people lived in The Flats in Warren\, Ohio in 1950 before the urban renewal area was identified in 1964. Our research shows that this was a racially integrated neighborhood and that displacements of urban renewal created a more segregated city. This research creates a framework for other small cities to document the individual- and neighborhood-level effects of this destructive policy. Rooted Out: Gender\, Hiring\, and Disappearance in the Robinson Cartographic Family Tree Helen Tosteson\, UW-Madison The Robinson academic family tree traces four generations of cartographic scholarship from a single root: Dr. Arthur Robinson. At UW-Madison\, this tree is prized. But a closer look at its branches reveals a striking pattern: women are dramatically underrepresented\, particularly as advisor nodes. I present a gendered analysis of the tree\, examining where women appear\, and where they disappear. Through generational counting and career tracing\, I argue that the academic leak occurs through differential hiring into research universities\, transitions into government and industry\, and in at least one case\, outright omission from the tree itself.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e82b702e8d81b4988d709938e2647a6c
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/e82b702e8d81b4988d709938e2647a6c
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T152000Z
DTEND:20261022T154000Z
SUMMARY:Morning Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:0ad2cdc69dd21af2d112fd96f65a6a43
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/0ad2cdc69dd21af2d112fd96f65a6a43
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T154000Z
DTEND:20261022T170000Z
SUMMARY:IDENTITY & COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
DESCRIPTION:See What We See: Community Co Produced Spatial Meaning in Lindsay Heights\, Milwaukee Dulmini Nadeesha Jayawardana This talk explores how residents of Lindsay Heights generated spatial knowledge through photovoice\, revealing layers of meaning not typically visible in conventional mapping. Through community led photography and storytelling\, participants articulated a spatial logic grounded in memory\, environmental care\, and collective resilience. These insights formed a layered\, conceptual map that visualizes lived experience as spatial data. The talk demonstrates how qualitative\, community generated meaning can be structured\, interpreted\, and integrated into cartographic practice\, expanding what mapping can hold. It offers a model for co produced spatial representation that deepens understanding of place in Milwaukee and beyond. Resurrecting Historical Geodata: A Vision-Language Model Approach to Integrating Property Assessment Records and Census Geographies Elizaveta (Liz) Lepikhova (She/They) Historical census records are essential for studying neighborhood change\, yet key housing-market indicators are largely unavailable before 1930. This presentation introduces a GeoAI workflow for transforming historical property assessment records into structured geospatial data using vision-language models (VLMs) and automated record linkage in R. Using Milwaukee tax assessment rolls\, we demonstrate how prompt engineering\, iterative refinement\, human validation\, and scripted matching improve the reliability of extracting\, linking\, and mapping historical property data. We then integrate these data with an existing archive of racially restrictive covenants to produce neighborhood-level cartographic visualizations for historical and social justice research. Using Maps To Expand Your Horizons And Identify Injustices H. Jiahong Pan (They/them) Maps influence my work. Growing up in San Francisco\, maps — particularly the ones at San Francisco Muni bus shelters — helped me discover that a world existed beyond my community and that there were stories that existed in those maps. Maps also helped me explain stories to people when I freelanced as a journalist\, including access to food in the Minneapolis neighborhood I live in. Participatory Mapping Beyond Representation Joy Ihuka Participatory mapping serves to incorporate local knowledge into environmental planning and climate adaptation. It involves translating lived experiences and environmental observations into formal cartographic and GIS systems\, impacting institutional decision-making. This talk reviews literature on participatory GIS\, critical cartography\, and community geography\, focusing on how technical standards and planning requirements affect the recognition of local knowledge. It examines how participatory mapping both supports and constrains community engagement\, addressing issues of representation and institutional incorporation. Examples from climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction illustrate tensions between local spatial knowledge and standardized mapping systems\, highlighting the negotiation of environmental knowledge in planning contexts.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5bcabcde0c3d0f05be1a8aef0a7122e3
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/5bcabcde0c3d0f05be1a8aef0a7122e3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T154000Z
DTEND:20261022T170000Z
SUMMARY:MULTISENSORY
DESCRIPTION:Audio Cartography: The New Frontier Brandon Biggs\, CEO of XR Navigation For thousands of years\, cartography has been either visual or tactile. We invite you to join us to learn how cartography can now extend to sound. Learn about auditory icons\, ways to hear shapes\, understand spatial relationships using your ears\, and listen to the world. Through real-world examples and live demonstrations\, attendees will experience how audio can communicate iconology\, distance\, direction\, topological relationships\, orientation\, and environmental context in ways traditional maps simply cannot. We’ll also discuss accessibility\, map design\, and why auditory cartography may fundamentally be a paradigm shift in cartography\, expand who maps are built for\, and how humans interact with space itself." Sound Cartography: Listening as a Cartographic Practice Nuzhat Tabassum Nawshin\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Cartography has long been treated as a visual medium\, but spatial experience is also shaped by listening\, movement\, and divided attention. In this talk\, I review selected strands of sound cartography\, from soundscape studies and sonification to audiovisual and locative audio mapping. I discuss how these approaches expand what maps can communicate about place\, narrative\, uncertainty\, and mobile spatial experience\, while revealing unresolved questions about design guidance\, evaluation\, and real-world use. I use these questions to consider how sound cartography might develop as a more experimental and inclusive practice. What does a smell look like? Considerations for olfactory cartography Jake Steinberg\, The Minnesota Star Tribune Most maps depict what our eyes can see and the ground we can feel under our feet. But what about the other senses? In this talk\, I will discuss a map I made for the Minnesota Star Tribune depicting the landscape of smells — or\, smellscape — of the Minnesota State Fair\, where the aroma of roasting corn is as prominent as any mountain. Depicting smells visually isn’t easy. I offer a whiff of what I learned from this olfactory cartographic challenge. Beyond Long-Form Cartographic Improvisation: Composition\, Columbaria\, Dance\, and a Return to the Atlas Eric Theise Since its 2022 Lisbon premiere I’ve given 50+ performances of A Synesthete’s Atlas across North America & Europe. Until 2026 these projected map manipulations were typically ~50 minute collaborations with improvising musicians recruited in cities I tour through. This talk discusses recent developments that break with this practice including: • commissioned\, composed works • site-specific performances • collaborations with choreographers • integration with movement sensors • breaking long-form improvisation into movements\, guided by structure &titles taken from atlases The talk includes extensive video documentation and is complemented by Saturday evening’s performance at Woodland Pattern (see Workshops/Field Trips). A Thousand Raves: Towards a Posthuman Cartography of Electronic Dance Music Culture Zach Thorpe\, UC Berkeley Conventional cartographic design often upholds subject-centered logics\, leading to maps that represent complex places as fixed spaces. How would one incorporate relationality and becoming within maps to open alternatives to this paradigm? This talk explores these possibilities by outlining how posthumanism can be used as a critical praxis for developing a theoretical foundation\, methodology and set of practical applications for a “posthuman cartography”. Using EDM/rave culture as an affective and technologically mediated site of mapping\, this research challenges cartographic humanism in favor of maps that attend to becoming rather than being\, culminating in an interactive posthuman map.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4204cff54be6270fffe7ce7698e82622
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/4204cff54be6270fffe7ce7698e82622
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T154000Z
DTEND:20261022T170000Z
SUMMARY:TRANSPORTATION\, NAVIGATION\, & WAYFINDING
DESCRIPTION:Wayfinding Maps for the Museum of Exploration Harrison Cole\, The National Geographic Society The National Geographic Museum of Exploration (MOE) relies on a variety of wayfinding maps to guide visitors to and throughout its space. And while wayfinding maps are indeed commonly referred to as “maps”\, they often call for unique design and production approaches\, distinct from\, for example\, a locator map on exhibit signage. My talk will explore the range of wayfinding maps created for the MOE\, and how they might differ from more conventional reference or thematic maps. Creative Cartography for Better Freight Planning Meg Fredericks\, CPCS Griffin Rock\, CPCS The freight planning industry in the United States has traditionally valued functional visuals above design-driven maps and data visualizations. In our work at CPCS\, we lean into setting ourselves apart by placing a higher value on cartographic design. Using static and interactive visualizations\, we’ve transformed complex and occasionally dry datasets into maps that tell a story\, influence policy decisions\, and appeal to broader audiences. We’ll provide examples of freight maps that won over our clients and were ultimately featured in public-facing reports. Leveling Up the Bus: Exploring Alternative Transit Cartographies Carlos Gonzalez\, Syracuse University US transportation mapping is notorious for prioritizing car infrastructure. To oppose this tendency\, I present alternative transportation maps for Syracuse\, NY that center transit. I start by altering traditional transportation mapping conventions to only show bus lines before adopting more creative styles that capture the emotional journey of transit\, a sense of space for bus lines\, and a sense of place for destinations. I then offer a map showcasing the absence of transit on a regionwide level. I conclude with future challenges and opportunities for transit cartography. Pixel by Pixel\, Map by Map: Designing a VR Environment to Study How We Navigate Differently Susannah Cox\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Bruno Wu\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Understanding how people navigate space requires tools capable of capturing the nuance of that process. This project developed an immersive VR environment in Unity for the Apple Vision Pro to study how adults with ADHD navigate compared to typically developing adults. Working on an emerging platform meant navigating a steep learning curve and solving unforeseen challenges along the way. This involved extensive trial and error\, requiring us to rebuild the experiment from a pre-existing study and implement creative solutions to ensure participant comfort. The result is a functional\, research-ready virtual environment for exploring how different people move through and make sense of their surroundings. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\, Pittsburgh District's New Schematic Map Erik Breedon\, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\, Pittsburgh District The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District manages federal water management and inland navigation projects in the upper Ohio River watershed. While not as dizzying as Pittsburgh's street network\, it's a difficult map to fit on a piece of paper. Acknowledging and inspired by 100 years of transit maps\, geographer Erik Breedon simplified the hydrography and dozens of civil works projects in the district's area of responsibility into efficient schematic maps. This visual-heavy presentation will explore the evolution of these map products and the cartographic design decisions made along the way.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:dbc6d5a2d6b56a7ecf3ca4a9de4c207b
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/dbc6d5a2d6b56a7ecf3ca4a9de4c207b
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T154000Z
DTEND:20261022T170000Z
SUMMARY:Commissioned v. Personal Mapping
DESCRIPTION:Commissioned v. Personal Mapping David Nuttall\, Artimaps\, LLC This discussion will look at the differences in data\, information\, and time related to personal projects versus commissioned maps. What are the considerations\, priorities\, time management\, and decisions that go into each and how can you juggle what you want to do (including intentionally donating your work) with what you might get paid to do! Applicable to freelance cartographers as well as people who want to create some maps on the side or anyone with an interesting mix of work and projects.
CATEGORIES:PANEL
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:ac85e52c71418090ea0f5eb95d2d607f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/ac85e52c71418090ea0f5eb95d2d607f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T170000Z
DTEND:20261022T190000Z
SUMMARY:Lunch & Business Meeting
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BUSINESS
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:2ca1500bbb7e7966602d0838f8cdfd34
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/2ca1500bbb7e7966602d0838f8cdfd34
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T190000Z
DTEND:20261022T204000Z
SUMMARY:raging against the machine
DESCRIPTION:raging against the machine Natalie Correa\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Raechel Portelli\, University of Illinois Alicia Iverson\, Penn State Generative AI tools can now produce maps in seconds. As automated workflows become the default path from data to map\, we question what the future of cartographic practice looks like. Drawing on humanistic geography\, feminist epistemology\, and critical cartography\, we will engage with creative and embodied methods—hand-drawn annotation\, fieldwork sketching\, tactile design\, participatory mapping—as ways to explore what is at stake when the cartographer’s body\, judgment\, and creative process are removed from the act of mapping. Through these non-digital methods and group discussion\, we will foreground positionality and make visible the interpretive labor algorithmic cartography tends to obscure.
CATEGORIES:BIRDS OF FEATHER
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:baa68f97b9812a201a4e5280f2f1684f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/baa68f97b9812a201a4e5280f2f1684f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T190000Z
DTEND:20261022T204000Z
SUMMARY:HISTORIES
DESCRIPTION:Crandall Cemetery: Mapping Culture\, Protection\, and Gullah/Geechee Resilience in Northeast Florida Glenda Simmons Jenkins\, Gullah Geechee Cultural Community Trust Kathie Carswell\, Gullah Geechee Cultural Community Trust Christopher Mader\, University of Miami IDSC Theresa Pinto\, P.E.E.R. Group At the turn of the Twentieth Century\, northeast Florida's formerly enslaved population increased as Gullah/Geechee Peoples from the coastal Carolinas and Georgia migrated into the region for railroad and timber jobs. They established communities\, inside now vanished tenant labor camps\, where they worshipped and buried their dead. Human burials remain on these Nassau County lands purchased and owned by a private\, multinational timber corporation. In 2022 the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Community Trust (GGCCT) began advocating for the protection of African American burials\, as development and climate change impacts threaten these sacred sites. GGCCT authored a management plan\, used historic documents to develop maps\, and conducted LIDAR analysis and drone mapping for Crandall Cemetery\, an environmentally sensitive site near the St. Marys River. The Foundational Cartography of Climate Change John Cloud\, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History\, Anthropology\, Arctic Studies Center Dr. Elisa Palomino (elisapalomino@hotmail.com) scholar of historic and contemporary boreal and arctic cultures\, Cuenca\, Spain All cartographers\, especially if working at global scales\, map climate change\, whether they realize it or not. Elisa Palomino and I propose a project linking two of the greatest cartographers of modernity. Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594)\, born into the depths of the Little Ice Age\, had access to historical records from the preceding Medieval Climate Anomaly\; he presented the Northwest Passage as though it were still open. Richard Edes Harrison (1901-1994) became an "accidental cartographer" on the eve of the Second World War. His novel azimuthal projections\, especially of boreal and arctic regions\, presented the Modern Climate Anomaly already underway\, before it was commonly realized. Enterprising Women: University Women\, Fundraising\, and Adventures in the Map Trade Christina Dando\, University of Nebraska Omaha In the late 1920s\, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) began a "Million Dollar Fellowship Fund" to create a scholarship endowment for women's graduate education. One of the activities that AAUW branches undertook to raise funds was the creation and sale of pictorial maps. The Hibbing Minnesota Branch created a historical map of "The Arrowhead\," published in 1929\, that was so successful that it is still available today. Using the Hibbing branch's records (meeting minutes\, letters\, newsletters\, sales logs)\, I examine the women's intentional engagement in the map trade to further women's higher education. How the Thirsty Have Fallen: A Look at the Changing Colorado Craft Brewing Industry Through Maps Kristopher Kuzera University of Denver For nearly half a century\, the Colorado Craft Beer Industry has seen incredible growth. However\, within the past decade\, the industry has seen substantial change where once successful organizations have closed their doors and new locations are becoming increasingly scarce. Numerous factors contribute to the recent shift in the once vibrant Colorado trade\, including changing consumption patterns\, economic stress\, ownership turnover\, and slow pandemic recovery. Although this research focuses on Colorado\, these patterns are largely universal around the United States. This paper will use mapping to explore how the industry in Colorado has reshaped in recent years\, from competition to collaboration\, from small community origins to nationwide accessibility and back again. We will look at spatial and temporal patterns of brewery distribution across different regions to see where the largest shifts are occurring and what impacts that might have. We celebrate diversity of ownership\, production\, and participation among women and members of minority communities\, which has changed the face of Colorado craft beer. The future of craft beer as a unique cultural experience in Colorado will be explored. The Mexico Valley After Conquest as Depicted by the “Map of Tenochtitlan” Fatima Koli Barnard College Gergely Baics\, Barnard College Caterina Pizzigoni\, Barnard College Ines Perez\, Barnard College What can a nearly 500 year old map reveal about a world transformed by conquest and its mapmakers? Created by Indigenous Nahua scholars\, the Map of Tenochtitlan (c. 1530s) offers a rare Indigenous view of Mexico City and the Valley of Mexico. Blending Nahua and European cartographic traditions\, it depicts interconnected urban and social worlds. While often studied as art\, we examine it from a spatial history lens. Georeferencing this map\, a challenge given its multiple scales\, reveals the mapmakers’ underlying visions and priorities. Digitizing and creating an archive of the map opens up the...
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:d150bca62ac0c287cce18ef368e1c5a2
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/d150bca62ac0c287cce18ef368e1c5a2
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T190000Z
DTEND:20261022T204000Z
SUMMARY:IDENTITY & COMMUNITY RESILIENCE II
DESCRIPTION:This year’s DEI-sponsored series centers on experiences of people engaging with communities and neighborhoods and working across diverse identities. Through their work\, our speakers use cartography in various ways to reveal meanings\, uncover memories\, illuminate injustices\, and envision different futures. Panelists: Dulmini Nadeesha Jayawardana Elizaveta (Liz) Lepikhova H. Jiahong Pan (They/them) Joy Ihuka
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:61bbe7cd56b17dc9049c1b0470fcdc67
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/61bbe7cd56b17dc9049c1b0470fcdc67
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T190000Z
DTEND:20261022T204000Z
SUMMARY:TOOLS & DATA
DESCRIPTION:Earthling Maps: A Locator Map Maker Beyond Web Mercator Brian T. Jacobs\, Habitable Worlds Earthling Maps is a new way for a broad audience to make locator maps\, whether local\, regional\, or planetary extents\, without compromising on cartographic principles. To achieve this\, the app uses a novel map renderer that automatically switches map projections appropriate to scale—far beyond Web Mercator and globes—with a fully labeled and highly customizable basemap out of the box. This talk will demo the app and discuss its design and development\, detailing the tech used to reproject global tilesets with custom projections in real time. The talk will also cover best practices for producing locator maps that embed and read well on small screens\, in emails\, browsers\, and video. From Open Source to Newsroom: Integrating a New Mapping System at Reuters Casey Miller\, Thomson Reuters Scott Reinhard\, scottmreinhard@gmail.com Bringing a new open-source mapping system into a large news organization takes more than good code. It takes translation between the people building infrastructure and the people making daily graphics. In this joint talk\, we'll share two sides of the adoption story at Reuters: the technical work of setting up the system and collaborating with newsroom engineers\, and the design work of wrapping it into reusable components for the graphics team. We'll cover the tradeoffs of developer-oriented tooling\, what it takes to get something actually used\, and lessons learned along the way. From Global Mapper to MAPublisher: A Production Cartography Workflow Oliver Normanton\, Avenza Systems Inc Rebecca Bennett Jessica Vachon Gabriel Demizio This talk presents a practical\, end-to-end workflow bridging Global Mapper and MAPublisher for professional map production. Topics include layer and attribute preparation in Global Mapper\, export strategies that carry styling directly into Illustrator\, and importing and refining that data in MAPublisher and Adobe Illustrator. The presentation also covers scripting and batch processing to automate repetitive preparation tasks. Rather than a rigid step-by-step process\, the presentation offers adaptable strategies that address common friction points in the pipeline\, giving professional cartographers practical tools for faster\, cleaner map production. Preserving the Legacy of USGS Topographic Maps Andrew Stauffer\, U.S. Geological Survey Elaine Guidero\, U.S. Geological Survey From hand-engraved copper plates to scribed mylar\, 1884–2006 USGS topographic maps were paper-based. USGS warehouses hold vast amounts of analog materials\, such as manuscripts and film negatives\, used to create these maps. Since 2009\, the fully digital US Topo maps are produced with GIS software. The 2022 release of topoBuilder enables users to create on-demand custom maps anywhere in the U.S. and its territories with the latest available data from The National Map. Despite the obsolescence of these historical mapping records after the digital transition\, we explore their value and efforts for long-term preservation in the National Archives. USGS OnDemand Topos: How Product Requirements Shape the Design of a Topographic Map Product Catalog Bethany Walker\, U.S. Geological Survey In 2022 the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Geospatial Program launched topoBuilder\, a web-based application which allows users to request and customize topographic maps\, referred to as OnDemand Topos. TopoBuilder initially offered a 1:24\,000-scale map\, called 7.5-Minute Topo. Today\, there are four product configurations available\, with scales ranging from 1:24\,000 to 1:250\,000. OnDemand Topos are designed using ArcGIS Pro and integrated into topoBuilder using Esri’s Topographic Production Service. This presentation overviews the OnDemand Topo design process and goals for future OnDemand Topo products.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5237e5d59c410063f331da01d1181c13
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/5237e5d59c410063f331da01d1181c13
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T204000Z
DTEND:20261022T210000Z
SUMMARY:Afternoon Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:00e268aeccb28c8b24b37e2c21ad4aa0
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/00e268aeccb28c8b24b37e2c21ad4aa0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T210000Z
DTEND:20261022T222000Z
SUMMARY:PERSONAL
DESCRIPTION:Creating a personal geospatial data history map Guthrie Alexander Most of us are sitting on a surprising amount of personal geospatial data: tracks from GPS watches and handhelds\, hiking\, biking\, and running routes\, the location history our phones collect (with and without our knowledge)\, and every geotagged photo we've ever taken. It all lives in different places\, in different services\, and in different formats. I'll walk through building a centralized repository for my own spatial data\, one that's accessible from anywhere\, takes minimal upkeep (hopefully)\, and serves as both a spatial memory and a motivator to get out and explore more. Sonoran Desert Journeys Joanne Coutts\, Independent Travel is a way of life in the Sonoran Desert. For centuries O’odham\, Piipaash\, and Quechan people have been guided through the desert by the locations of water sources and the shapes of the mountains. Today\, people immigrating to the U.S. also use mountains and water sources to guide their journeys through the desert. Sonoran Desert Journeys explores the connections between Indigenous routes of travel with migrant journeys and humanitarian aid stations\, and how O’odham song maps and place names support search and rescue and recovery for migrants who are disappeared in the desert. Cartography of "Our Neighborhood Walk": what can storymaps tell us about human-canine-environment interactions? Jonathan Nelson\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Alton L. Hipps\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Makinnley Tomberlin\, University of Wisconsin-Madison The “Our Neighborhood Walk” project explores how using personal geo-enabled tracking devices and interactive storymaps can advance understanding of the shared experiences and emotional connections between pet guardians and their companion dogs while walking together. We employ personal visual storytelling design techniques to unlock new insights into how humans and canines collectively and individually perceive elements of the built and natural environment. By cartographically recreating the dynamic\, co-constructed sense-of-place that evolves during a routine walk\, we aim to facilitate greater awareness of human-canine-environment interactions and prompt critical reflection on how to enhance those interactions in the future. Personal Mapping: Hand-drawn life stories David Nuttall This talk will dive into the details of a large commissioned map and how the customer homework (source data) leads to research and then hand-drawing a detailed map that includes so many aspects of their life yet feels like a cohesive real place. Stepping through the entire process including concept\, discussions\, planning\, layered feature drawing\, procrastination\, late additional feature adding\, and the nervousness of shipping a finished map. David will show progress images and demonstrate how personal details and non-map aspects can indeed be included in the landscape while getting a glimpse into his mind and thought process.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4ed849b8210198f5de8899df560241d6
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/4ed849b8210198f5de8899df560241d6
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T210000Z
DTEND:20261022T222000Z
SUMMARY:TOOLS & DATA II
DESCRIPTION:Unlocking Possibilities With Open Map Data Jessica Acosta Rodriguez\, Esri The future of open map data is supported by accessible\, interoperable\, high-quality datasets that fuel innovation and collaboration across industries and communities. As the demand for this data grows\, organizations like Esri are advancing this vision through partnerships with the Overture Maps Foundation. By integrating open data from different sources\, Overture delivers curated\, schema-consistent\, and quality-assured datasets\, offering a reliable foundation for GIS professionals. In this presentation\, you will learn how Esri is leveraging Overture’s data through different basemap products\, as well as how you can contribute and have access to this data —unlocking new possibilities for open\, creative\, and collaborative cartography. Spatially Optimized Parquet Matt George\, Esri Jeremy Bartley Parquet has become the standard for large-scale data analytics\, and with GeoParquet and native spatial types\, it's quickly becoming the core format for the next generation of spatial query engines. However\, visualizing this data on the web typically requires standing up servers in front of the data or converting to other formats like Vector Tiles. Come learn about the new open Spatially Optimized Parquet format\, which combines XZ spatial clustering with multiscale quantization. Web clients read Parquet files directly\, streaming datasets with billions of features on the web. galleryofpossibilities: A QGIS plugin for feminist map icons Meghan Kelly\, Syracuse University Feminist Mapping Collective at Syracuse University Map icons are tiny\, space saving symbols that embed meaning and locate people\, places\, and stories. Map icons\, however\, are not “one-size-fits-all” and they (along with their libraries) have been re-envisioned through a feminist lens. The galleryofpossibilities is a map icon digital library seeded by feminist map icons for the city of Boston designed during community-based workshops. Here\, the Feminist Mapping Collective officially launches the galleryofpossibilities as a publicly available QGIS plugin showcasing the tools’ features and functionality\, feminist development process\, research impacts\, and future extensions. You Already Know the Hard Part: Publishing Your Maps with MapLibre Stephanie May You already know the hard part of making a map. What's stopping you from building your own web maps is a handful of small\, learnable gaps\, the ones you keep meaning to get to. Right? Good news. This talk decodes the web mapping stack (data\, tiles\, styles\, hosting) and shows how MapLibre ties them together\, so the parts you already know can click into place. We'll make room for questions you've never found the right space to ask out loud. You'll leave with a galaxy brain\, ready to dust off an old project or start a new one. Curating the Pinhead map icon library Quincy Morgan\, Wayside Mapping Pinhead (https://pinhead.ink) is a next-generation collaborative library of thousands of public domain map icons. Seeded from common icon sources like Maki\, Temaki\, and NPS\, Pinhead brings a standard design language to classic pictograms while adding hundreds of newly drawn symbols and variants. This talk will cover the curation decisions behind the Pinhead library and show attendees how to use Pinhead in their own projects.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a9f79ebbb9eea59134805d8a4af14883
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/a9f79ebbb9eea59134805d8a4af14883
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T210000Z
DTEND:20261022T222000Z
SUMMARY:USER STUDIES
DESCRIPTION:What Do Young Adults Think About Mobile Thematic News Maps? Lily Houtman\, Penn State University Data journalism is one of the key ways the public encounters mobile thematic maps. There is emerging research on how to best design mobile maps for data journalism\, but most of these studies focus on the map producers rather than map audiences. Here\, I present the results from a series of focus groups to assess how audiences feel about a variety of design decisions. Specifically\, these focus groups consisted of young adults audiences\, due to concerns from data journalists that young people are not reading the news. Here\, I present a summary of audience opinions related to interactivity\, mobile design\, map personalization\, and thematic map type. Under Pressure: How Stress Impacts the Map User Bill Limpisathian\, NeuroCarto Research Group\, UW Cart Lab\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Brynn D. Patrello\, NeuroCarto Research Group\, UW Cart Lab\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Maps are often used in times of stress\, yet we know very little about how a user’s psychological state shapes their map use. To fix this\, we investigated how acute psychological stress influences cartographic interaction\, including task performance and map perceptions. We used the proven Maastricht Acute Stress Test to induce stress in map users and compared their performance to a non-stressed control group. In this talk\, we will discuss our findings and highlight what cartographers should do to cope with designing maps for stressful situations. Giving attention to ADHD in cartography and visualization: design guidelines informed by a review and user study Ab Mosca (they/them)\, Smith College Heather Rosenfeld (they/she)\, Smith College There has been surprisingly little research on the interplay between neurodivergence and usability of maps and general visualizations. This project begins to address this gap\, particularly focusing on people with ADHD. We reviewed extant academic and professional research and guidelines on accessible cartography and data visualization in terms of their applicability to ADHD map/visualization users. Informed by this and by preliminary interviews with ADHD folks\, we developed a user study. The study focuses on tactile mapping\, a technique primarily studied for its usefulness to blind and visually impaired communities\, but which we hypothesize also has promise for neuro-accessibility. Informed by our literature review and study results we present preliminary recommendations for ADHD-friendly map and visualization design. Trust in Maps: A mixed-methods cartographic user study Amelia Rudolph\, Pennsylvania State University Dr. Meghan Kelly\, Syracuse University Dr. Carolyn Fish\, University of Oregon User studies have emerged as a cartographic method particularly well-suited to analyze visual stimuli hosted online like digital and interactive maps. We ask: Does map trust vary between base map (i.e.\, vector-base maps and raster-base maps) and map types (e.g.\, reference maps and thematic maps)? We test these variables across two map locations resulting in a 2x2x2 between-subjects factorial study design. In our evaluation\, we expand Prestby’s (2024) quantitative MAPTRUST assessment by including supplemental qualitative questions. From our results\, we argue for continued evaluations of map trust through mixed methods approaches. Making vivid maps: Expressive Geovisualization for Representing Spatial Vulnerability Zhaoxu Sui\, GeoGraphics Lab\, Penn State Cartographic representations of spatial vulnerability are used to explain key challenges in environment and health. Vulnerability maps can help us understand threats to people and the environment. They are often used to drive decision-making to create effective interventions. In this paper\, we review existing approaches for static cartographic methods for representing vulnerability and we propose a new method called Expressive Geovisualization (EG) which employs visual representation methods that reflect the real-world context of thematic geospatial data. EG is designed to have visual impact that ensures vividness beyond traditional cartographic representation methods. We evaluate this new method through a user experiment comparing it with traditional approaches to characterize their potential utility and usability.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:4523b86adbce1753e8128b0d8e63904e
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/4523b86adbce1753e8128b0d8e63904e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T223000Z
DTEND:20261022T233000Z
SUMMARY:Fun Walk & Run
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:85d24c8f00d027dc3f89c6f678970ecf
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/85d24c8f00d027dc3f89c6f678970ecf
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T233000Z
DTEND:20261023T023000Z
SUMMARY:NACIS Night In
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:1ea44374509f0765756d37c5731c3e50
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/1ea44374509f0765756d37c5731c3e50
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261022T233000Z
DTEND:20261023T023000Z
SUMMARY:NACIS Night Out
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f823fa725afd27d4e511058e37741b8e
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/f823fa725afd27d4e511058e37741b8e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T130000Z
DTEND:20261023T220000Z
SUMMARY:Conference Registration
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:84505b509c2c7b51a691d69ee0a6570f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/84505b509c2c7b51a691d69ee0a6570f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T130000Z
DTEND:20261023T183000Z
SUMMARY:Map Gallery
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:afc4d6f8d46f199b6cda4e538ef23562
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/afc4d6f8d46f199b6cda4e538ef23562
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T140000Z
DTEND:20261023T152000Z
SUMMARY:FICTIONAL
DESCRIPTION:Mapping as Close Reading: Visualizing Abolition Geographies in Speculative Fiction brianna sas-pérez\, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee What if we use mapping\, not just text\, to represent findings from a close reading? I experiment with this methodological question through a counter-mapping of the Robledo neighborhood in Octavia Butler's (1993) Parable of the Sower. Thinking with abolition geography and Gilmore's "freedom as a place" (2017)\, I treat Butler's imagination and fictional worlds as cartographic data. Using layered\, hand-drawn mapping techniques\, I make visible how communities create safety through everyday spatial practice. Other Worlds Are Possible: Fantasy world building as the basis for imagining hopeful futures in the classroom Christopher Fowler\, Penn State University Students increasingly treat higher education as credentialing\, while the wider culture struggles to imagine futures meaningfully better than the present. This talk argues that cartographic world building — the disciplined invention of physical geographies\, climates\, hydrologies\, settlement systems\, and trade networks for places that do not exist — offers a generative response to both crises. Drawing on EART-H\, a procedurally modeled fantasy world built in R and deployed as an open Quarto book and tabletop campaign\, I show how making maps for impossible places trains students to treat institutions as contingent\, place-specific\, and genuinely revisable. Toward a Mapping of the Superhero Genre James Tyner\, Department of Geography\, Kent State University Metropolis. Gotham City. Hell’s Kitchen. Wakanda. For some people\, these places hold little or no meaning. But for those invested in the superhero genre\, these names conjure images of heroic exploits where superpowered characters do battle with other superpowered characters. Similar to other genre\, the superhero genre is intimately place bound and several characters manifest a profound place-attachment. In this presentation I provide some tentative first steps. First\, I provide a broad overview of maps in the superhero genre. Second\, I provide a framework for a narrative mapping of superhero narratives\, with special attention directed toward a mainstay of the genre\, that is the hero’s journey. Evaluating Research on the History of Maps in Mysteries Judith Tyner\, Professor emerita\, California State University\, Long Beach Maps have been included in mystery novels for over 100 years and yet there has been little analysis of them. Chapters in books on maps in literature often ignore mystery fiction or discuss one or two authors\, mostly from the ‘golden age’\; some articles list books that contain maps\, but there is no real history or analysis of the maps or even identification of their makers. Articles talk about which books contain maps\, and often equate floor plans with maps\, they do not discuss the style of the maps or their authors. In this presentation I look at the literature of maps in mystery fiction\, examine and evaluate this research.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:9f32ea77037de4a5b8e26cd10f3afa79
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/9f32ea77037de4a5b8e26cd10f3afa79
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T140000Z
DTEND:20261023T152000Z
SUMMARY:HAZARDS
DESCRIPTION:Should I stay or should I go? Encouraging early bushfire evacuation through fire spread prediction maps Amy Griffin\, RMIT University Chloe Begg\, Country Fire Authority Matt Blanc\, RMIT University Erica Kuligowski\, RMIT University Paula Dootson\, QUT University Angela Gardner\, Victorian Department of Education Bushfire is a significant hazard in Australia\, affecting much of the population. A policy of shared responsibility for protective action decision making between the government and residents means bushfire maps are a critical input into decision making. This presentation reports on the findings of a series of studies with end users that tested the efficacy and comprehensibility of bushfire spread predictions that were added to traditional bushfire warning maps in a simulated fire scenario. It reflects on the role of maps in the wider information ecosystem that residents use to understand emergency situations and the complexities of communicating what is known in situations that are often highly uncertain. Reimagining Heat: An experimental mapping of the Los Angeles heatscape Arfa Momin\, University of California\, Berkeley Advised by Clancy Wilmott (Assistant Professor in Critical Cartography at Berkeley Centre for New Media and Department of Geography) Heat is woven into many disciplines—climate\, energy\, public health\, ecology—and its effects are felt globally. Yet despite (and perhaps because) of this reach\, heat is often overlooked in critical geographic conversations. Heat is not simply a fixed reading on a thermometer\, but something relational\, emerging from encounters between atmospheres\, bodies\, and social circumstances. Conventional maps show where heat is\, but not how it is produced\, distributed and lived asymmetrically. This project asks what it would mean to make a map that reveals as heat does. Using Los Angeles as a case study\, I’ll present a digital 3D cartographic tool to visualize the unevenness of heat while attempting to push the representational limits of mapping itself. (Link to project: reimagine-heat.com) From Mandates to Maps: Leveraging GIS and Web Mapping to Communicate Locally Relevant Climate Risks and Inform Climate Change Adaptation Jonnell Robinson\, Syracuse University GIS-based spatial analysis and web mapping offer powerful tools for communicating climate hazards and risks to residents\, planners\, and policymakers. This presentation will demonstrate how we leveraged ArcGIS Online and StoryMaps to support the City of Syracuse’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment for New York State’s Climate Smart Communities Program. We used GIS to visualize climate data\, historical weather events\, community assets\, and vulnerable people and places to aid the city’s efforts to publicly communicate locally relevant climate change risks\, including increased extreme weather events\, flooding\, and heat. The maps reveal uneven geographies of climate risk vulnerability\, such as flood-prone neighborhoods\, aging infrastructure\, and socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods and present opportunities to empower residents and inform place-based policy interventions at the local scale. City and County of Denver’s Digital Storm Drainage Master Plan: Communicating Flood Risk through Interactive Web Mapping Josephine Sajbel\, Stantec This presentation highlights the transformation of a 230-page stormwater master plan into a GIS platform using ArcGIS Hub and ArcGIS Experience Builder. The project combined updated modeling\, GIS schema improvements\, and interactive web mapping to support both engineering analysis and public education. The platform includes flood risk mapping\, infrastructure improvement projects\, and document access tools designed for a wide range of users. Amidst balancing technical functionality with accessibility\, designing repeatable workflows\, and creating user-focused maps\, the SDMP aims to help the community to better understand flood risk and prioritize capital investments related to flood mitigation projects. .fillyay() or .fillnay()? Evaluating Weather Data Gap-Filling Strategies for Operational Fire Danger Modeling Tracy Tien\, Texas A&M Forest Service Data gaps from weather stations are inevitable and a common flare-up in fire weather modeling. This project develops a Google Cloud Platform framework that builds a historical ERA5 Land Hourly weather archive leveraging Google Earth Engine and BigQuery to gap-fill observations from weather stations. Five gap-filling methods were evaluated using the National Fire Danger Rating System python module\, across a sample of weather stations varying in data completeness\, climatology length\, and geography. Performance was validated against fire occurrence data\, and the results inform on-going enhancements to the operational fire danger products for the state of Texas.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e01143e966397012c66a5dcaa11aaed6
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/e01143e966397012c66a5dcaa11aaed6
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T140000Z
DTEND:20261023T152000Z
SUMMARY:POLITICAL
DESCRIPTION:Atlas de la Desaparición: Cartographic Experiments in Visualizing Uncertainty and Absence Bea Abbott\, University of Kentucky\, department of geography Oficina de Investigación Documental (OID) Atlas de la Desaparición is an investigation by a multidisciplinary collective of artists and researchers whose objective is to unravel histories of enforced disappearance from the Spanish Civil War and subsequent Francoist dictatorship that converge at 'El Valle de los Caídos' — a fascist monument and mass grave located 50 km northwest of Madrid. Since 2022\, this site-specific investigation has explored different methodologies for visualizing the complex dataset that corresponds to the more than 33\,000 people exhumed from 632 grave sites across Spain and reburied behind the monument’s walls between 1959 and 1983. This paper shares some of the cartographic approaches our collective has experimented with in trying to attend to and visualize uncertain\, erroneous\, and missing geographic data. Visualizing Conflict Landscapes: A Cartographic Approach to A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Population Vulnerability to Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso (2015–2025) Using GIS-Based Modeling. Harriet Morkor\, Quarshie University of Northern Iowa Samuel Nketia Boateng\, University of Cape Coast\, Cape Coast\, Ghana. Mohammed Sanda\, University of Florida. The Central Sahel has become one of West Africa's most dynamic conflict regions\, with Burkina Faso at the center of a crisis that links political instability\, violent events\, displacement\, and disruption of basic services. This study evaluates the spatio-temporal pattern of armed conflict in Burkina Faso\, quantifies population exposure to conflict-risk zones\, and assesses network-based accessibility to healthcare facilities between 2015 and 2025. ACLED conflict-event data were integrated with WorldPop gridded population estimates\, administrative boundaries\, health-facility locations\, and road network data in ArcGIS Pro. Standard deviational ellipses were used to trace conflict direction\, Global Moran's I and local cluster statistics were used to test spatial dependence\, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) was used to classify conflict intensity\, and network service areas were generated for 30-\, 60-\,and 120-minute travel-time thresholds. Results show that conflict events are spatially clustered rather than randomly distributed\, with persistent hotspots across the Sahel\, Nord\, Centre-Nord\, Est\, and Centre-Est regions. The directional analysis indicates a transition from early dispersed incidents to a northward concentration and later eastward diffusion. Population overlay results show that the number of people living in high-risk zones increased from 1.44 million in 2015 to 1.87 million in 2025\, while medium-risk zones held more than 8.19 million people by 2025. Accessibility results reveal important spatial inequalities: some central and western areas are linked to hospital catchments\, but large rural and peripheral areas\, especially in the Est and Sahel borderlands\, remain weakly served. The study demonstrates the value of integrating spatial statistics\, demographic exposure mapping\, and network analysis to support humanitarian planning and geographically targeted health-service interventions in conflict-affected settings. New Media Cartographies: Codes\, Grammars and Poetics in Collaborative Indigenous Web Mapping Clancy Wilmott\, University of California\, Berkeley Drawing together scholarship on Indigenous cartographies with theories of spatial new media\, this paper discusses the possibilities and pitfalls of web cartography in the depiction of indeterminate\, land-based and relational Indigenous spaces. It examines two separate collaborative projects - Mapping Genocide with the American Indian Cultural District\, in San Francisco and the Reexamining Our Past Initiative from the California State Parks - to discuss the ways in which web cartography\, in its specificity as an interactive non-linear media\, might extend or limit what Pearce and Louis (2008) have described as “Indigenous processual cartography” through the use of ergodic poetics\, cultural politics and technological ambiguity. A Geography of Violence: The Rapid Support Forces and A Modern Conception of Territoriality and Control Ethan Copeland\, University of Nebraska at Omaha The Rapid Support Forces (RSF)\, formed in the prelude and continuation of genocide in Sudan\, has been infamous in the news for its displays of wanton violence\, ethnocentrism\, and lack of administrative capacity. Most notably\, it has given rise to the pretense of alternative governance to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). On the ground\, it has continued to defy contemporary geography theory. Instead\, RSF authority is produced through infrastructural metrics: checkpoints\, convoy protection\, detention and elimination\, property seizure\, and selective access to trade allow for violence itself to become a spatial device. Through satellite imagery\, social media\, diaspora-centric...
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:fe3ed2cb8e708e751f3b1672423168af
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/fe3ed2cb8e708e751f3b1672423168af
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T140000Z
DTEND:20261023T152000Z
SUMMARY:Freelance and small business cartography roundtable
DESCRIPTION:Freelance and small business cartography roundtable Nat Case\, INCase\, LLC Daniel Huffman (they/them)\, somethingaboutmaps.com A perennial open-ended discussion for those interested in becoming (or growing) a cartography-based business. Daniel Huffman will share the results of his annual survey of freelance cartographers\, and Nat Case will share a brief outline of ""13 things I've learned about starting out as a freelance cartographer"" and then we open the floor to questions\, answers\, discussion\, performance art… whatever helps you make sense of the ever-changing world of the business of map-making.
CATEGORIES:PANEL
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:e9b36c5395b98719d581a41ddff129fa
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/e9b36c5395b98719d581a41ddff129fa
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T152000Z
DTEND:20261023T154000Z
SUMMARY:Morning Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:72b0e81352f665cec2336d1a4b9346de
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/72b0e81352f665cec2336d1a4b9346de
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T154000Z
DTEND:20261023T170000Z
SUMMARY:IMPRACTICAL
DESCRIPTION:Ribbon Maps: A brief talk on a lengthy format Aaron Koelker\, NYS Geospatial Services Bureau What is a ribbon map? Are they helpful on the go? Can you tie them in a bow? This talk may or may not answer these questions. I'll start with a brief overview of a niche map format\, including some past and present examples with (im)practical usage. Then I'll spend the rest of the talk running through some of my own ribbon maps I've made. The Sticky Notes We Needed Earlier - Because Mappers Need Pep Talks Too Rebecca Ramsey Every GIS professional has experienced staring at a map\, workflow\, or project while quietly wondering\, “Am I even good at this?” From newbie analysts to seasoned cartographers\, self-doubt and imposter syndrome can follow even the most accomplished professionals. This presentation takes inspiration from motivational sticky notes\, office posters\, and small reminders that help people keep going. Through humor\, relatable stories\, and encouraging takeaways\, attendees will leave with practical ways to build confidence\, support one another\, and remember that nobody becomes an expert without first making a few questionable maps along the way. Cartotopologies: Toward a Debris Cartography Alexis Wood\, University of California\, Berkeley Cartotopologies asks how cartography might register extraction not as event\, but as a spatial process whose effects endure\, accumulate\, and fold unevenly across a landscape. Reworking Mount Shasta’s contour lines into spatiotemporal rings (function analogously to tree rings)\, the project uses spatial reparameterization to redistribute uniform time through a differentiated space\, rendering events as topological inscription rather than a historical point. Drawing on critical cartography\, relational spatial theory\, and debates on abstraction\, the map treats landscape not as a stable surface to be represented\, but as something continually produced through accumulation and resistance. This presentation focuses on the project’s theoretical framework and the mathematical operations that structure its form. The world on a basketball Andy Woodruff\, Freelance cartographer In 2024 I collaborated with cartographer-turned-NBA-analyst Kirk Goldsberry to create a globe that doubles as a real\, court-ready basketball. The challenge: a standard basketball is divided into eight weirdly shaped panels\, not traditional globe gores. This short presentation will explain how I figured out the right map projections to use\, how we designed an appealing map on a bumpy basketball surface\, and how the right salesperson can turn a nice but simple map into a collector's item. We'll also see some potential future basketball globe designs. Human and Colloquial Scale in Digital Maps Jia Zhang\, Brennan Center for Justice and Columbia University I started thinking more about how to understand scale when my son asked how many seconds it was until the weekend. The length of one second was a tangible thing to a child\, equivalent to a tick tock sound he can make on his own. 5 minutes meant almost nothing. When tectonic plates move at the same speed as my fingernails grow\, it is not slow or fast\, it simply is. There is a long tradition of measuring things with ones’ own body\, at arms lengths\, by stride\, and Smoot. How do we make use of colloquial and biological units in digital maps? In this talk I present a series of interactive maps using alternative measurements to highlight intuitive and biological understandings of scale\, by football fields\, Eiffel towers\, giraffes\, and sleeps.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:5b82c4fa9e46252d155e83737f351c43
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/5b82c4fa9e46252d155e83737f351c43
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T154000Z
DTEND:20261023T170000Z
SUMMARY:PEDAGOGY
DESCRIPTION:A Guide to Mapping Small Joys Jessica Breen\, American University A small joy is anything that makes your day better: a good cup of coffee\, an unexpected meeting with a friend\, hearing a favorite song. "A Guide to Mapping Small Joys" is a zine-based mapping project that invites participants to notice these moments of joy in their daily lives and create a personal map\, or even atlas\, of where small joys occur for them. Intended as an analog\, affective mapping exercise to facilitate classroom conversations about place\, identity\, and representation\, this talk walks through the zine design\, the mapping activity\, and what some of the collected maps look like in practice. The K-12 Teacher Fellowship Model: Expanding Geographic Literacy and Outreach in Map Libraries Ryan Mattke\, University of Minnesota Libraries Learn how a K-12 Summer Teacher Fellowship\, launched in 2023\, is enhancing the relevance of map libraries and expanding geographic literacy. This presentation details the program's development and analyzes it alongside three comparable national initiatives. These four case studies reveal key elements for success\, offering a blueprint for similar outreach programs and strong justification for funding. See how a collaborative approach fosters a robust teacher-fellow community and positions map libraries as vital\, intersectional hubs—bridging the gap between extensive university research resources and the practical needs of K-12 educators. Building a Cartography Lab at an R2 University: Reflections from the JMU Map Lab Timothy Prestby\, James Madison University Several universities at very high research (R1) institutions (e.g.\, Penn State\, UW-Madison\, University of Oregon) have cartography labs. However\, such labs are not common at strong (R2) institutions. In this talk\, I introduce The James Madison University (JMU) Map Lab: an R2 cartography lab that aims to advance mapmaking as a tool for communication\, decision-making\, and community engagement. I reflect on the opportunities and challenges of launching and sustaining the JMU Map Lab within an R2 institutional context and conclude by considering what these reflections may mean for similar institutions. The data context gap in cartography textbooks and handbooks Ester Scheck\, TU Wien If "numbers don’t speak for themselves\," cartographers must understand the context of the data they use. Data is never neutral or objective\; it is shaped by social\, legal\, and technological conditions. I argue for "responsible data practices"- an intentional approach that considers the context in which data is produced and its impact on communities. However\, my research based on a qualitative content analysis of major cartography textbooks and handbooks points to a significant gap. These books primarily focus on the technical handling of data (e.g.\, data formats and classification) while overlooking data source issues and the data production context. My ongoing doctoral research aims to bridge this gap by developing methodologies to critically examine data context and inform critical map design.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:47d51e5cefbaf62cf7b83905452084d3
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/47d51e5cefbaf62cf7b83905452084d3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T154000Z
DTEND:20261023T170000Z
SUMMARY:WORKFLOWS
DESCRIPTION:Agentic mapping on the web Kristian Ekenes\, Esri In this talk I’ll provide an overview of how you can build web mapping applications that allow end users to explore\, and even create\, fully interactive web maps using a natural language interface. You’ll learn how AI components and agents empower map authors\, app developers\, and end users of web mapping applications to be more efficient in their workflows. I’ll summarize pros and cons of using AI to create web mapping applications and review what this means for the future of web mapping and why having a solid foundation of geographic and cartographic knowledge matters more now than ever. Collaborative Mapmaking at Audubon: From Story Through Design Julie Rossman\, National Audubon Society Ryan Hobbs\, National Audubon Society This session offers a look into how the Enterprise GIS and Design teams at the National Audubon Society collaborate with editors\, artists\, and editorial leadership to produce maps from early concept through final publication for Audubon Magazine. We'll walk through our end-to-end process: working with editors to understand the story a map needs to tell\, developing an art direction that serves the content\, hiring and guiding illustrators\, sourcing and visualizing data layers\, and navigating the messy reality of bringing it all together. We'll use a map created for a story about the ecological impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine as our central case study. A key theme is collaboration: how GIS sits at the intersection of data\, design\, editorial judgment\, and artistic vision\, and what it takes to make that intersection productive. We’ll close with additional examples—including maps on plastics in the ocean\, poaching in Cyprus\, and sage grouse habitat loss—and we’ll discuss lessons we've learned in fact-checking\, data sourcing\, and an honest look at what we'd do differently. Workflow Development When Designing Maps and Data Visualizations for Print Harman Singh\, Pennsylvania State University Fritz Kessler\, Pennsylvania State University This session explores the challenges faced when developing a design workflow for print visuals included in a book that takes a data-driven design and cartographic storytelling approach. Specifically\, this session draws on a book project that pieces together point data related to the U-boat campaign's geographic operations during World War II. Topics covered during this talk will include constraints and considerations for print design\, such as color\, scale\, and layout\; designing workflows across multiple software\, such as ArcGIS Pro\, R\, and Adobe Illustrator\; and discussion around the use of small multiples\, multivariate symbolism\, and statistical analysis. Hating on choropleths (but in a nicer way) Kelsey Taylor\, Stamen Design Eric Brelsford\, Stamen Design Choropleths are one of the most common types of maps clients ask us for at Stamen. In some cases\, they are a totally legitimate way to aggregate and visualize data. But\, in many cases\, they introduce major biases\, overemphasize certain types of areas\, or are tied to scales that are not appropriate for the data on the map. Cartographers often face a tradeoff between simplicity\, legibility\, and meaningfulness that make choropleths rank low on the list of enjoyable maps to make. In this talk\, we will focus on alternative approaches that we prefer (maps and otherwise!) and where we feel like they have been the most successful.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:63054a5837e2a5098319c662b1df323a
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/63054a5837e2a5098319c662b1df323a
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T154000Z
DTEND:20261023T170000Z
SUMMARY:Critically Engaged Cartographic AI
DESCRIPTION:Critically Engaged Cartographic AI - a panel of enthusiasts\, critics\, and practitioners Jim Thatcher\, Oregon State University Craig Dalton\, Hofstra University Anthony Robinson\, Penn State University Artificial Intelligence is both the technology and buzzword of the moment. Its impacts are being felt in acts as divergent as package sorting in dimly lit factories to bombing campaigns in active war zones. In each\, the role between human and machine\, between labor and commodity\, continues to be reshaped by an all consuming capital-infused technological push. Cartography is being reshaped by these forces and\, like many other areas of society\, has seen a rapid and often rabid disjuncture between enthusiastic\, wholesale embrace of AI and its integration into every facet of cartographic praxis and the full rejection of Cartographic AI as “slop.” This panel provides a more nuanced outlook on the matter - recognizing the inevitability of the technology\, but doing so thoughtfully and with intent. Bringing together a wide spectrum of scholars and practitioners with diverse views and engagements with AI\, we explore how cartographic praxis can be reshaped by thinking with AI rather than it thinking for cartographers.
CATEGORIES:PANEL
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a7fadc9f46dadfa0e24c1d77e7c4f4d8
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/a7fadc9f46dadfa0e24c1d77e7c4f4d8
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T170000Z
DTEND:20261023T190000Z
SUMMARY:Lunch Bunch
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:3e1c9b63e964f1225edef5cd9dfc4857
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/3e1c9b63e964f1225edef5cd9dfc4857
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T170000Z
DTEND:20261023T190000Z
SUMMARY:Lunch On Your Own
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:a54992bb15422d28de86dcdc958edd31
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/a54992bb15422d28de86dcdc958edd31
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T170000Z
DTEND:20261023T190000Z
SUMMARY:Board Meeting II
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BUSINESS
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:8ab7a4bca1f8bb195ff3570f95dff738
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/8ab7a4bca1f8bb195ff3570f95dff738
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T190000Z
DTEND:20261023T204000Z
SUMMARY:How Are Static Maps Actually Made? A Workflow-Based Discussion on Cartographic Practice and Education
DESCRIPTION:How Are Static Maps Actually Made? A Workflow-Based Discussion on Cartographic Practice and Education Yanbing Chen\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Alicia Cowart\, University of Wisconsin-Madison This Birds of a Feather session invites cartographers\, educators\, students to collectively unpack how static maps are created in current professional practice. The session begins with participants’ lived workflows: how they receive a mapping task\, gather and clean data\, choose tools\, move between GIS and graphic design software\, revise drafts\, respond to feedback\, prepare files for publication\, and evaluate the final map. Through a collaborative workflow-mapping and card-sorting activity\, participants will identify common stages in static map production\, document where key decisions happen\, and compare these stages with existing GIS&T Body of Knowledge components. Special attention will be given to tool-mediated decisions: for example\, what specific steps (generalization\, visual design etc.) occurs in ArcGIS Pro\, QGIS\, Mapshaper\, Adobe Illustrator\, scripting environments\, or through manual visual editing. The goal is to surface forms of practical cartographic knowledge that may be underrepresented in current cartography and GIS education\, and to discuss how curricula might better reflect contemporary static map production.
CATEGORIES:BIRDS OF FEATHER
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:b65b174bbc313cf439e2e99d8dac9534
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/b65b174bbc313cf439e2e99d8dac9534
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T190000Z
DTEND:20261023T204000Z
SUMMARY:AI
DESCRIPTION:AI\, Artistic Style\, and Intellectual Property: Legal and Ethical Boundaries in Modern Cartography Aileen Buckley\, Esri Pete Schreiber\, Esri The capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) to replicate artistic style is a hallmark of modern advances in deep learning\, machine learning\, and generative AI. But it also raises concerns about copying artistic style that predate AI and have long been relevant to cartographers and other artists. At the heart of this discussion is the argument that cartography = art = protectable copyright expression. Several legal principles are central to this discussion\, including the idea/expression dichotomy\, the protection of artistic forms\, the copyrightability of fact-based works\, and the copyrightability of “style.” In a world that is being scraped\, ingested\, and consumed by AI\, and AI increasingly automates map creation\, mimics styles\, and arranges facts in novel ways\, understanding these legal boundaries is essential for the ethical and innovative use of AI in cartography. Cartographic Frameworks Should Inform AI Best Practices Vanessa Knoppke-Wetzel\, Esri In our industry we should not ignore the unprecedented impact AI on the world at multiple scales\, such as environmental destruction and inaccurate code\, data\, maps\, and visualizations. Our existing cartographic frameworks and collective expertise can inform\, push\, and grow the industry and our work to ensure that if AI is part of our tools\, products\, software\, production methodology\, and/or more... we know that we are doing the most to have the least negative impact. Join my talk to learn how to start. I also hope this talk encourages us to come together and collectively improve AI best practices over time. GeoAI Embracing Place? Earth Embeddings and The Pitfall of Digital Placelessness Yue Lin\, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Bo Zhao\, University of Washington (not presenting) Earth embeddings\, learned as numerical vectors from Earth observation (EO) data\, are increasingly promoted as enabling GeoAI to embrace place by representing spatial complexity in dense\, multi-dimensional form. This paper questions the promise and argues that Earth embeddings embody a design paradox: their current modes can intensify what we term digital placelessness—the reduction of places to computable surfaces that sidelines relational\, social\, cultural\, and historical dimensions of place. Empirically\, we examine Google’s Satellite Embedding dataset in the San Diego-Tijuana border region\, where shared terrain and built form coexist with sharply different sovereignties\, regimes of exclusion\, and lived realities. We show how embedding-based similarity renders cross-border places "similar" by privileging EO-visible landscape while obscuring the political and experiential asymmetries. We further argue that embeddings add a post-visual layer of abstraction relative to satellite imagery and sensor measurements\, which can weaken interpretive accountability and constrain the shared representational ground often needed for community-engaged geographic inquiry. We conclude by outlining directions for re-situating Earth embeddings through boundary-setting\, plural representations\, and provenance-aware evaluation\, and we invite geographers to rethink what it would mean for GeoAI to embrace place without collapsing place into surface\, proxy\, and vector similarity. All you need are words: LLMs and the future of prompt-driven cartography Ian Muehlenhaus\, Esri Maps used to be expensive: technically\, temporally\, and institutionally. With large language models\, they’ve become incredibly cheap. This talk introduces “prompt cartography\,” where the cartographer shifts from map maker to map director – guiding expert assistants through iterative pipelines of data\, design\, and critique. Rather than replacing expertise\, this shift amplifies it\, demanding sharper judgment\, clearer intent\, and new forms of authorship and collaboration. I’ll outline emerging prompt-to-map workflows\, common failure modes\, and what this means in everyday practice\, teaching\, and for the future of the field. The goal isn’t to fear inevitable change\; it's to ensure today's cartographers help direct it. Can AI Reason with Cartographic Rules? A Framework for Evaluating LLM-Based Cartographic Decision-Making Shiyu Zhang\, University of Oregon Generative AI is increasingly being applied to cartographic tasks\, yet most current approaches treat map production as a pattern-matching task\, offering little insight into whether AI decision-making aligns with cartographic principles. This talk presents a framework for evaluating LLM-based cartographic decision-making. Using the International Specification for Orienteering Maps as an application domain\, the study designs a baseline cartographic agent with a traceable reasoning workflow. It then examines how different ways of organizing cartographic knowledge shape reasoning behavior and failure patterns.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:b0ecd425ad0dfcf81e97870e003f074f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/b0ecd425ad0dfcf81e97870e003f074f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T190000Z
DTEND:20261023T204000Z
SUMMARY:TERRAIN
DESCRIPTION:Antarctic Cartography: Mapping the End of the Earth at the Polar Geospatial Center Jesse Bakker\, Polar Geospatial Center\, University of Minnesota Captivated by the rugged and truly remote wilderness of Antarctica\, people have long attempted to capture this stark landscape in maps. Inaccessible\, ice-covered\, and largely distorted on most maps\, Antarctica presents unique challenges and constraints to cartographers. Here\, we showcase the visualization techniques\, incredible data\, and historical inspiration that map makers at the Polar Geospatial Center use to bring the frozen continent into view to support vital polar science. Wavelet-Based Texture Shading Leland Brown\, Instituto Superior Técnico\, Lisbon\, Portugal Texture shading is a terrain representation method that works effectively on both mountainous terrain and areas of low relief\, but until now it was not as well-suited for mixed terrain types. The original algorithm enhances small features based on horizontal width but does not consider the local ruggedness of the terrain. Ideally we could decompose the terrain into features of different sizes and adjust each based on both width and height. An updated texture shading algorithm approximates this intuition using a continuous wavelet transform. This process is initially available via a free online interface. A preview window allows adjusting the parameters of the algorithm to see their effects in real time before generating the final image. Multi-scale Shaded Relief and Surface Orientation Patrick Kennelly\, Central Oregon Community College Gene Trantham\, Independent While terrain representations show noticeable changes when mapped at various scales\, no studies to date have attempted to quantify and visualize the variations in relief shading values among scales. In this study\, we vary raster extent and grid cell resolution over a fixed extent to look at changes in the orientation of surface normal vectors and the variance of relief shading values. We use multi-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) designed for cartographic display at varying scales in two ways. In the first part\, four different resolutions of DEMs (1\, 5\, 15\, and 30-meter pixels) cover the same extent and are centered on the Gore Range of Colorado. In the second part\, the full extent of eight DEMs of varying resolution (1\, 5\, 15\, 30\, 90\, 250\, 500\, and 1\,000-meter pixels) are centered on the Gore Range and cover increasingly large portions of Colorado and the western United States. Our analysis visualizes and quantifies tonal variations a user experiences when zooming out on an interactive map from large to small scales. Resampling Relief: Evaluating Elevation and Hillshade Representation on Discrete Global Grids Emmanuel Stefanakis\, Department of Geomatics Engineering\, University of Calgary This study evaluates how Earth relief and terrain illumination can be represented on an ISEA3H discrete global grid system (DGGS)\, with emphasis on multi-resolution resampling. Using Alberta\, Canada\, as a testbed\, we examine diverse geomorphological settings\, including plains\, foothills\, river valleys\, and mountain/alpine terrain. Elevation and hillshade products are generated across successive DGGS resolution levels and compared with equivalent representations on regular rectangular grids. The analysis assesses preservation of landform structure\, shading continuity\, and visual legibility during scale transitions. Results inform cartographic generalization strategies for hexagonal global grids and support more effective terrain visualization in DGGS-based mapping environments. Mapping Alaska: New Maps of the Last Frontier Chaney Swiney\, Benchmark Maps/East View Geospatial Earlier this year\, Benchmark Maps released two new Alaskan titles: the 3rd edition of our Alaska Road & Recreation Atlas and a brand new folded Alaska Recreation Map. With enhanced terrain representation and updated land ownership data\, both products showcase a new-and-improved aesthetic. We’ll take a tour through the atlas and show how it’s changed over its first decade\, poring over the maps and highlighting the cartography that showcases these spectacular landscapes. Plus\, we’ll get into the details of building the folded map\, a companion product that relies heavily on the foundation laid by the atlas. How Scientists Map Ice: A Cartographic Content Analysis of Glacier Changes in Peer-Reviewed Literature Jasper Zhou\, University of Oregon Glacier change maps appear in peer-reviewed journals every year\, yet no one has systematically asked whether those maps actually communicate well. This study applies quantitative content analysis to a corpus of glacier retreat maps published between 2000 and 2025\, coding for symbology\, color\, temporal encoding\, and science communication quality. The goal is to characterize how glaciologists currently map retreat\, trace how design conventions have shifted over time\, and identify where scientific glacier cartography falls short of what we know abou...
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c8f451a6d1cc1ade05afb086ac9f1bf9
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/c8f451a6d1cc1ade05afb086ac9f1bf9
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T190000Z
DTEND:20261023T204000Z
SUMMARY:TRUTH & SOCIAL JUSTICE
DESCRIPTION:Law\, Organizing\, and Cartography Lucy Roberts-Widdison\, Harriet Tubman Fellow\, Coalition for Property Tax Justice Modern spatial data practices create\, perpetuate\, and exacerbate racial differences in housing outcomes. For example\, in the majority-Black city of Detroit\, 1 in 4 of the lowest value homes have been illegally foreclosed since 2009 because of spatial interpolation methods that ignore the majority of residential sales. In Milwaukee\, utility and zoning tickets similarly result in grim property foreclosure rates. This presentation explores the role cartographers can play in illuminating and dismantling racist policies\, drawing on the Institute for Law and Organizing’s decade of community organizing work in the City of Detroit and emerging work in Milwaukee. Building a document framework to support ethics in cartography Nat Case\, INCase\, LLC Chelsea Nestel\, University of Oregon Aileen Buckley\, ESRI The ICA Commission on Ethics in Cartography has been running a series of workshops this summer exploring the elements and framing of ethical codes that cartographers work with\, especially in map-centered organizations. The plan is to offer (1) a library of codes of ethics or conduct\, statements of principles\, or other documents that organize ethical guidelines\, (2) a structured list of topics that are already commonly raised\, or should be raised\, and (3) the range of types of documents and document structures and how they address the needs of their constituents. We'll outline what we've come up with so far and leave time for group feedback. Fractured Epistemologies/Cartographies of Disinformation Chelsea Nestel\, University of Oregon Carolyn Fish Kelly Bonnville-Sexton Sarah Haedrich Joy Ihuka Mason Leavitt Lauren Walker Jasper Zhou What’s real anyway? Does it seem like somehow it doesn’t matter anymore? Although we have always operated within and benefited from fractured epistemologies (knowledge systems)\, the world feels different now. A global pandemic\, dis/misinformation\, AI\, and social media exploit that we hold different truths\, approach the world from different perspectives\, and make different choices. Thus\, the connection of maps to reality has never been more unclear. This new world has cartographers in an identity crisis\, because cartography has focused on making maps that work. This research agenda presents challenges and opportunities resulting from the current epistemic fracturing. Map Meets Meme: Visualizing Geographic Ignorance in Trump-Era Cartographic Satire Raechel Portelli\, University of Illinois Antonio Smith\, Antonio Antoine Cartography What happens when "Map meets Meme" in today's U.S. political climate? I will present the results of a study on internet memes that pair maps with caricatures of U.S. President Donald Trump \, examining how these juxtapositions render geographic ignorance visible. I argue that these memes highlight Trump's own geopolitical ignorance\, but also of geographic ignorance of Americans more broadly. Combining concepts of viral maps (Robinson 2019) and strategic ignorance as a tool of the powerful (McGoey 2012). I conclude that these memes blur the distinction between personal and structural ignorance. Maps as a Site of Reproductive Justice Abby Whelan\, Syracuse University Maps and map-based dashboards have proliferated since the United States Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson decision\, which removed federal protections for the right to abortion. In this presentation\, I examine these maps as sites of reproductive injustice by illustrating the multi-scalar and intersecting impacts of uneven reproductive healthcare access on the experiences of birthing people and their right to have or not have a child. More specifically\, I use a content analysis to analyze a corpus of state and national maps and map-based dashboards. I unpack their data and design decisions that reinforce the political\, racial\, and economic forces which constrain the choices available to birthing people. I conclude by arguing for maps as sites for reproductive justice and offer best practices for future maps of reproductive experiences. I am not sure we are ever quite sufficiently surprised at our capacity to read maps. Mark Denil\, sui generis I am not sure we are ever quite sufficiently surprised at our capacity to read maps. This capacity is astonishing\, because a map is so completely and utterly artificial\, so contrived\, so distinct and detached from any direct relationship with that which it supposedly depicts\, as to be\, save for learned\, cultural conventions\, without connection to the world\, and certainly without intrinsic meaning. Our understanding of these learned\, cultural conventions rest upon maps we have seen\, and is actuated by means of aesthetic value judgments we make on the artifact in hand—before we can even begin to read the map.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:d86a3010f947950c8511a606f0d082db
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/d86a3010f947950c8511a606f0d082db
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T204000Z
DTEND:20261023T210000Z
SUMMARY:Afternoon Break
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BREAK
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:79a4a17def6fabd946f8bb54bb2cea00
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/79a4a17def6fabd946f8bb54bb2cea00
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T210000Z
DTEND:20261023T222000Z
SUMMARY:How to Map with Context: A Collaborative Exploration for Mapmakers
DESCRIPTION:How to Map with Context: A Collaborative Exploration for Mapmakers Ester Scheck\, TU Wien Meghan Kelly\, Syracuse University Just as every map is based on the mapmaker’s conscious and unconscious decisions\, every dataset – the basis of any map – is shaped by its production context. Understanding this context is essential for data analysis and visualization because data is never neutral or objective. So\, what can it look like to research and reflect on the dataset production context as part of the map-making workflow? In this co-creation session\, we will discuss and explore approaches to doing so by focusing on the perspectives of the participants\, of people making maps. Through interactive and creative methods\, we will brainstorm relevant aspects and prototype tools that focus on understanding and incorporating the context of data production into the map-making workflow. The session will foster exchange and learning from each other to strengthen responsible and ethical data practices in cartography. The work will be documented\, and the results will – in aggregated and anonymized form – contribute to Ester Scheck’s doctoral research.
CATEGORIES:BIRDS OF FEATHER
LOCATION:Commons
SEQUENCE:0
UID:60180725cc2ff7bec7a82d027cdbe655
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/60180725cc2ff7bec7a82d027cdbe655
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T210000Z
DTEND:20261023T222000Z
SUMMARY:ART & DESIGN
DESCRIPTION:The Joy of Color Elaine Guidero Jim Thatcher\, Oregon State University Have we hit the age of quiet luxury cartography? Maps praised as “tasteful” look like the Succession wardrobe. Subdued neutral tones code as sophistication and elegance in fashion and seemingly now cartography. Does Design-with-a-capital-D mean avoiding bold hues and high saturation? Color is an essential part of the zeitgeist and has deep ties to emotion and language—but perhaps we use these to limit ourselves. I will tease apart some of these connections\, with an eye to the ways class and race are contextualized in design\, and show the joy in exploring a wider color palette. Creating giant map images for the National Geographic Museum of Exploration Sam Guilford\, National Geographic Society As part of the redesign of the new National Geographic Museum of Exploration\, the NGS Geography & Mapping team created many maps for use in different contexts throughout the space. In this talk\, I’ll discuss the ideation\, research\, and production of some wall-sized satellite maps I created for an education exhibit. The exhibit illustrates geographic concepts such as place\, pattern\, and scale\, and my aim was to create accompanying map graphics that would be thematically illustrative and visually compelling. Curating and pulling together a museum is a dynamic and iterative process\, and I’ll show some of the steps that led to the pieces selected for the final exhibit. Not everything makes it through! Cartographic Interpretation of a Different Kind: Applying Museum Principles to Map Design Eric Johnson\, Library of Virginia/Compass & Quill Museum interpretation as a field is concerned with the art and science of connecting visitors to places and collections. There are striking resonances between the worlds of cartographic design and museum interpretation. Both focus on taking complex information and communicating it meaningfully to audiences in creative and compelling ways. Interpretation experts advance a series of formal professional principles—e.g. "Any interpretation [map] that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor [viewer] will be sterile.” In this session we will explore how these interpretive principles can help you frame afresh your approaches to your own cartographic work. It’s Alive! Using Art & Design to Spark Ideas for More Interesting Map Layouts Scott Schiller\, Maps by Scott\, Milwaukee A map has a variety of elements\, but the layout should be greater than the sum of its parts. The best maps don’t just visualize data\, they grab our attention\, communicate a story\, and evoke an emotion. Once you can identify what makes a map layout more meaningful\, you can be intentional about designing the overall composition\, and bring vitality to your layout. I will share ideas on how to activate your creativity\, such as type\, color\, balance\, space and graphics. If you’re curious how to energize your map layouts\, these tips can help! Animated Maps 101: How we use maps in motion to inform 8 million subscribers on YouTube Ryan Shields\, Newpress Every month\, millions of people come to YouTube to learn from four independent journalists about sports\, geopolitics\, OSINT investigations\, and pop culture. Maps and charts are often at the center of those stories. Here's a look behind the scenes at the tools and techniques our team of self-taught mappers use to create Emmy Award-winning maps that captivate millions.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 1
SEQUENCE:0
UID:545fffdc07434f1675ab99dbc85e0c18
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/545fffdc07434f1675ab99dbc85e0c18
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T210000Z
DTEND:20261023T222000Z
SUMMARY:ENVIRONMENTS & HEALTH
DESCRIPTION:A GeoAI Framework for Predictive Risk Monitoring of Electrical Substations and Energy Infrastructure Olalekan Alamoh\, Georgia State University This presentation introduces a geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) framework designed to support predictive monitoring of electrical substations and critical energy infrastructure. The approach integrates satellite imagery\, environmental data\, and spatial analysis to identify risks such as flooding\, extreme heat\, and vegetation encroachment before failures occur. By combining multiple data sources into a unified system\, the framework enables proactive decision-making and enhances infrastructure resilience. The presentation will highlight system design\, data integration\, and visualization through an interactive dashboard\, demonstrating how GeoAI can transform infrastructure management from reactive response to early risk detection. Maps going viral: learnings across public health cartography Eric Brelsford\, Stamen Design Kelsey Taylor\, Stamen Design Stamen has collaborated with several universities and NGOs in recent years on health-related cartography projects\, including WastewaterSCAN\, the UCSF Health Atlas\, the Duke SEED Atlas\, and more. By engaging directly with epidemiologists on these projects\, we have had the freedom to explore new concepts and ideas with the confidence that experts will ensure we are telling the right stories and portraying ongoing outbreaks accurately. Through these examples\, this talk will focus on patterns in the health mapping space\, how it differs from other types of cartography that we work on at Stamen\, and what we can apply to future public health-related projects. MadTrails: A public land management and trail accessibility tool Susannah C. Cox\, University of Wisconsin-Madison Alton L. Hipps\, University of Wisconsin–Madison Natalie Correa\, University of Wisconsin–Madison Jonathan K. Nelson\, University of Wisconsin–Madison We discuss the tool MadTrails\, a multi-application suite built on the ESRI ArcGIS Online environment for the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum. Built alongside community stakeholders\, MadTrails allows for online reporting of maintenance and access issues by Arboretum volunteers and the public to aid in better management of the arboretum space and increased access to communities with mobility difficulties. Additionally\, we include opportunities for direct mapping of accessibility issues. In this talk\, we will discuss the functionalities of MadTrails\, the stakeholder engagement process\, initial evaluation findings\, and future steps for the application. Communicating Healthcare Affordability Through Maps: A Visual Analytics Framework Using NHIS and MEPS Data Sandipta Khare\, Claremont Graduate University\, Ph.D. Student\, Information Systems and Technology Alexis Parker\, Claremont Graduate University Prof. Hengwei Zhang\, Claremont Graduate University Healthcare affordability can be understood through both barriers to obtaining care and financial burden after receiving care. This study uses two national public-use survey datasets\, the 2023 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2023 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)\, to examine these related dimensions. NHIS is used to analyze reported cost-related barriers to mental health counseling and therapy\, while MEPS is used to examine annual healthcare expenditure burden. Through regional mapping\, visual analytics\, and uncertainty-aware cartographic design\, the project demonstrates how public-use health survey data can be used to communicate healthcare affordability patterns responsibly while acknowledging geographic limitations. Network Ontologies for Disaster Management Tools: A Review of Cartographic Literature David Retchless\, Texas A&M University at Galveston Carolyn Fish\, University of Oregon Jim Thatcher\, Oregon State University Chad Giusti\, Oregon State University Conor Progin\, Oregon State University Courtney Thatcher We review cartographic literature for the network ontologies of disaster management tools\, identifying gaps and opportunities. Natural disasters disrupt flows of people\, energy\, information\, and other resources that are essential to modern systems. Cartographic tools for disaster management therefore frequently model and map these flows and associated networks. Understanding the network ontologies (implicit or explicit) that undergird these tools is essential to identifying their capacities and limitations. Differences in what counts as a node or edge – what features\, with what dimensionality and level of attribution – can be the difference between delivering life-saving insights into network function and missing key vulnerabilities.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 3
SEQUENCE:0
UID:c5b03946ac5f7342ed6753cd4c409998
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/c5b03946ac5f7342ed6753cd4c409998
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T210000Z
DTEND:20261023T222000Z
SUMMARY:SUSTAINABLE
DESCRIPTION:A Cartographic Analysis of Renewable Energy Maps Sarah Haedrich\, University of Oregon How is the development of renewable energy imagined? Where are renewable energy facilities actually located\, and how are those decisions made? What role do maps play in these development processes? In this presentation\, I will explore these questions through a case study of utility-scale solar and wind development in Oregon. I will present findings from a content analysis of maps depicting solar and wind development\, followed by preliminary findings from interviews with renewable energy development stakeholders. FERNS Pesticide Notification Web Map Development Joanna Merson\, University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab Erik Steiner\, University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab Mason Leavitt\, Beyond Toxics Michal Klopotowski\, University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab Oregon has one of the nation's most comprehensive public notification systems for planned pesticide applications on forestlands. However\, notifications are available as individual PDFs\, making access and geographic exploration difficult. In collaboration with Beyond Toxics\, an environmental justice nonprofit based in OR\, we developed an interactive map that makes pesticide notifications (2014-2024) easier to explore. The presentation focuses on design choices that improve access through interactive mapping\, filters\, and original source links while communicating data limitations. Public response has been mixed: supporters praise the map for increasing transparency and public access to environmental information\, Hidden Hybrids in the Huayhuash: Public/Private Property Mapping in Perú Timothy Norris\, University of Miami In 2002 the Cordilleras Huayhuash and Raura of the central Peruvian Andes were designated as the Zona Reservada Cordillera Huayhuash (ZRCH). Shortly after this state led initiative\, local communities leveraged novel private conservation frameworks to have their lands recognized as private conservation areas (PCAs). This hybrid public/private conservation strategy is remarkably successful to date. I tell a cartographic story of these efforts and argue that the benefits of the PCAs are hidden from the state and that the benefits of the ZRCH are hidden from the communities. These hidden benefits present an opportunity in which maps can reveal these emergent hybrid conceptions of property and the impact they have on the socionatural landscape. Mapping the Natlas: Cartography for Conservation in Vermont Bernadette Osborn\, Middlebury College As a geospatial intern with The Nature Conservancy in Vermont\, I designed 16 hiking maps for the "Natlas\," a collection of Natural Area maps built to serve hikers\, hunters\, stewardship staff\, and TNC as a whole. Using Google Earth Engine\, ArcGIS\, QGIS\, and Adobe Illustrator\, I created maps that layer natural communities\, topography\, and hydrology into clear\, field-ready references. This talk walks through my workflow\, from data processing to final design\, and the choices made to balance public accessibility with the technical needs of land stewards. I'll share lessons learned building multi-use conservation maps for a diverse\, non-cartographer audience. Natural areas cartography: If you like it\, should you put a ring on it? Jovian Sackett\, Southern Environmental Law Center While natural areas\, like wetlands\, rarely possess crisp boundaries\, legal determinations often require them. Wetlands are complex and dynamic systems\, regulated to varying degrees\, making them specifically challenging to represent. Cartography is a valuable communications tool for environmental advocacy and educational applications\, but a critical one for informing decision makers like judges\, legislators and environmental agency leaders on jurisdictional matters about wetlands areas. Cartographers must author maps that respect data limitations\, without leaving readers confused or misled. The balance lies somewhere between the unmistakable starkness of a bold\, singular line and the indecipherable haze of a gradient\, where clarity and complexity meet.
CATEGORIES:MAIN CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Room 2
SEQUENCE:0
UID:fe9aa7b54c3b4e4f76cf461187123f47
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/fe9aa7b54c3b4e4f76cf461187123f47
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T223000Z
DTEND:20261023T233000Z
SUMMARY:Cartographic Perspectives Board Meeting
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:BUSINESS
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:14e032ed1023b350548cb37b08278641
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/14e032ed1023b350548cb37b08278641
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261023T230000Z
DTEND:20261024T011500Z
SUMMARY:Banquet & Awards Presentation
DESCRIPTION:
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:6b5f47c2c8f79fe08b1d819108772f7f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/6b5f47c2c8f79fe08b1d819108772f7f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261024T011500Z
DTEND:20261024T030000Z
SUMMARY:GeoTrivia!
DESCRIPTION:GeoTrivia! Answer questions about global and cartographic factoids\, Milwaukee landmarks\, and NACIS lore. Whether you’re a trivia buff or just in it for the laughs\, bring your knowledge\, your curiosity\, and your competitive spirit! There is no advance sign-up. Just sit in teams of 4-6\, come up with a team name\, and be sure to recruit at least one new attendee to your team!
CATEGORIES:SOCIAL EVENT
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:371b2e30c3bceb95dc88aca92796ed2f
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/371b2e30c3bceb95dc88aca92796ed2f
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261024T150000Z
DTEND:20261024T170000Z
SUMMARY:Field Trip: American Geographical Society Library
DESCRIPTION:Visit one of the largest cartographic collections in the United States. The American Geographical Society Library is home to nearly 2 million objects ranging from maps\, atlases\, digital geospatial data\, globes\, and more. On this tour\, you will see a variety of maps from around the world and different time periods. On display will also be the legendary Karen Wynn Fonstad manuscript maps of fantastical worlds like the Atlas of Middle-Earth.
CATEGORIES:FIELD TRIP
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:8c4ee9de42f3b2e420ee7ce008abeea9
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/8c4ee9de42f3b2e420ee7ce008abeea9
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261024T150000Z
DTEND:20261024T170000Z
SUMMARY:Workshop: A Map for a Cat
DESCRIPTION:This is a creative activity for everyone\, including kids aged 12 and up. Frankly I think adults who never grew up are the best participants. You and a group of peers will be randomly assigned an animal. The objective of the activity is to use basic craft supplies to make a map of a common space as if one were that animal\, for other members of your species. What does a map for a mouse look like? A map for a pigeon? How will you get into character as a horse? This activity is fun\, quirky and a great opportunity to break out of your creative rut with a low-stakes project that you will absolutely finish in under an hour. It's also a reminder that cartography doesn't work without empathy. We have to understand our audiences and we get into trouble when we assume the audience is someone just like us. Andrew Middleton\, The Map Center
CATEGORIES:WORKSHOP
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:ee6e84e230d760f35077a2f972c16503
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/ee6e84e230d760f35077a2f972c16503
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261024T150000Z
DTEND:20261024T170000Z
SUMMARY:Workshop: Mapping Resistance from the Ground Up
DESCRIPTION:Join representatives of the Mapping Racism and Resistance Project for a hands-on workshop on designing community-based mapping applications. Contribute to our map of "History in Motion: Mapping Milwaukee Resistance"\, a community-generated map documenting places of BIPOC resistance\, or build a resistance map for your local community! We’ll answer your questions about community-engaged mapping projects and go over how to create a community-driven map using Survey123 and Experience Builder. You will gain experience designing questionnaires\, managing community submissions\, and conceptualizing places of resistance. An ArcGIS Online account is required. An interest in community-engaged mapping and public history is encouraged. Participants should bring a laptop with internet access. Participants are encouraged to download Survey123 Connect prior to the workshop to facilitate hands-on participation. No prior Survey123 experience is necessary. Elizaveta Lepikhova\, Mapping Racism and Resistance Project\, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chelsea Nestel\, David and Nancy Petrone GIS Librarian\, University of Oregon Anne Bonds\, Professor\, Department Chair\, Geography\; Affiliated Professor\, Urban Studies\; Affiliated Professor\, Sociology\, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
CATEGORIES:WORKSHOP
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f4ccc08cea8b8178561477509b66a42e
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/f4ccc08cea8b8178561477509b66a42e
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260912T154734Z
DTSTART:20261024T230000Z
DTEND:20261025T010000Z
SUMMARY:Field trip: A Synesthete's Atlas: Cartographic Improvisations
DESCRIPTION:Real time manipulation of projected\, digital maps in dialogue with composed & improvised music. A visual wash of street grids\, land masses\, water bodies\, & curiosities from built and natural environments. Sounds soothing & screeching. Orphaned labels & free-floating symbology. Auditory roundabouts & acoustic cul-de-sacs. Colors that clash\, calm\, & fade. Jittery zooms & journeys. Liminal drones. Glitchy artifacts from crowdsourced geographies. Theise\, who's performed across North America and Europe\, will perform solo & with a local improviser. The performance will occasionally introduce strobing effects that may affect photosensitive viewers. At Woodland Pattern\, a bookstore + arts & poetry hub at 347 E. Ward St\, Bay View: a 30-40 minute ride from the Hyatt by bus\, 15 minutes by ride-hail.
CATEGORIES:
LOCATION:TBA
SEQUENCE:0
UID:f7757eb3d22a7e68fbd7f8429bf821df
URL:http://nacis2026.sched.com/event/f7757eb3d22a7e68fbd7f8429bf821df
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
