Mars – Optimized Path of Curiosity
The Curiosity Rover is alone on the surface of Mars, but its teams here on Earth are helping it out every step of the way. Curiosity has different driving capabilities on different surfaces, and needs to pass by a variety of sites for thorough data collection. These maps show some optimized routes for the rover…
2007 Bolivian Floods – Directly Impacted Population
In 2007 and into 2008, heavy rains caused immense flooding throughout Bolivia. Below is a snapshot of a flooded part of the Rio Grande, which pinpoints how many people lived in in the direct path of the floods. Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:R%C3%ADo_Pira%C3%AD_-_Santa_Cruz_-_Bolivia.jpg
Wells in Pitkin County – Location Accuracy
There are a lot of wells in Pitkin County, and they are sorted by watershed. This analysis determined the depths of all the wells in relation to the Alluvial aquifer (the top formation) and found which wells are assigned to the wrong watersheds. The permit numbers indicate which wells are assigned to the wrong watersheds.…
Boulder Creek Watershed – Streams and Flow
The Boulder Creek Watershed contains many tributaries and streams that flow into Boulder Creek. The map below shows the watershed, with the two main towns marked and elevation displayed in color. The streams are shown in blue. This map was created using a few different GIS tools. The first step in defining the rivers and…
Changes in the Course of the Colorado River
In the summer of 2020, the Grizzly Creek Fire burned 32,621 acres of the Glenwood Canyon. I grew up in Glenwood Springs and now live in Boulder. I was among the last five civilians on the interstate when the fire started, and was forced to drive around the mountains to get back to school about…
Mt. Ranier – Let’s Not
A quick look at where would get destroyed if Mt. Ranier were to erupt, and what would destroy those areas. Mt. Ranier is a formidable volcano, and there is a lot of civilization near her. This map tracks where lahars are most likely to flow, as well as where large and small tephra would fall.…
Flooding in the Tillamook Watershed
This map aims to show who owns land in the most flood-prone areas of the Tillamook Watershed. It is clear from the map that most flooding happens on privately owned land that is not used for industrial purposes, something that makes sense when thinking about who is likely to own land near rivers and water.…
Maps of Portland
This map was an exercise in extracting, cleaning, and communicating the wealth of information found in geographic data files, including park boundaries and names, summit locations, elevations, and names, and river paths. It was important to display all these different things clearly and without obscuring any names or other information. This map shows the various…
Victoria Madden 
