Lab director Jim Meacham hopes the Clatsop Plains project will be another award winner for the Infographics team. He's entering it in the next Environmental Systems Research Institute's International User Conference. Integration is the key to creating useful maps, says Meacham. We use a whole variety of mapping software tools to solve mapping problems. For example, the campus map involved people from facilities and architecture who may use it to focus in on buildings slated for remodeling or repairs.
Information is added in layers, allowing users to zoom in from broad topics to specific details.
The tools make it relatively easy to visualize and analyze complex data. The lab employs ten to twelve students at a time and relies on grants and outside contract work to fund projects. Projects cover a wide range, from public service-oriented work, such as the official state highway map, to scholarly research. On one project, Meacham teamed up with Esther Jacobson, a professor in the Department of Art History, to illustrate her research on petroglyphic images in ancient Mongolia. It is a way of giving physical form to complexities of thousands of years and many cultural issues.