A geographic information system (GIS) was utilized to apply a modified DRASTIC method to the assessment of ground water contamination sensitivity in Goshen County, Wyoming. Several basic environmental characteristics, identified as influencing contaminant transport through the vadose zone to groundwater systems, were mapped, automated, and analyzed. These characteristics include: depth to groundwater, net recharge, hydrogeologic setting, vadose zone soil properties, land surface slope, and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Sensitivity ratings were developed for each parameter based on a combination of mathematical functions and the inherent capacity of each characteristic to influence transport of contaminants. A raster‐based overlay analysis was performed to derive a map that portrays cumulative aquifer sensitivity ratings across the county, providing a relative indication of groundwater vulnerability to contamination. A process‐based numerical model was used to simulate water flow and solute transport in the vadose zone and groundwater systems. The model incorporated soil and hydraulic properties produced with the GIS into the simulations. Numerical simulations described the time and spatial distributions of contaminants. Chemical mass stored in the soil and leaching out from the vadose zone were computed to characterize groundwater contamination. Groundwater sensitivity indexes, which were developed based on the numerical modeling results, were compared with the GIS sensitivity map and used to verify the reliability of the map.

Abstract:Storytelling is recognized as a valid and important method of communicating information and knowledge gleaned from volumes of ever-accumulating data. Practices of data-driven storytelling in journalism and geovisual analytics have contributed to the development of geovisual stories; also called story maps. The benefits of student-focused multi-thematic atlases and digital storytelling methods in education can also be realized in story maps. An online, interactive version of the original paper version of the Wyoming Student Atlas was developed using story mapping technology. Studies on best practices for data-driven storytelling and web map interaction were used to inform the transition of the atlas from a traditional paper format to a collection of story maps. Evaluation of the atlas story maps for educational purposes was conducted by observing students from multiple classrooms as they used the story maps in a lesson. The students and educators responded to a survey after using the story maps. Results of the survey show positive responses to the atlas story maps, including ease of use and preference over a traditional paper atlas. However, certain types of interaction with the map resulted in increased negative or uncertain responses from students concerning their perception of the atlas story maps.

In 2002, Wyoming became the first state to complete development of a statewide 1:24,000‐scale Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) under the new Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries. The product was developed through the coordinated efforts of numerous state, federal, and local entities both within Wyoming and in neighboring states. Development of a comprehensive, standardized hydrologic unit boundary dataset in a “headwaters” state such as Wyoming poses a number of unique challenges. This paper details the WBD's development in Wyoming, highlighting technical methodology development and interagency coordination strategies. Evolution of the WBD standard is reviewed, addressing inconsistencies between definitions for hydro‐logic units and “true” watershed delineations. While automated methods are improving, manual and semi‐automated techniques continue to serve as valuable approaches to hydrologic unit boundary delineation given the quality of digital terrain models and the multijurisdictional nature of watershed based management. This case study provides insight on future development and maintenance of the WBD within and across other states and regions of the country and on opportunities for linking the WBD to related water resource geospatial data products like the National Hydrography Dataset.

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The current GIS education framework has gaps, undervalued elements, and decentralized components that make it difficult to effectively relate, teach, learn, and assess learning key constructs within and across disciplines. Building upon critical synthesis, analysis, and extension of multidisciplinary literature, we develop a student‐centered framework that places the 2D learning GIS space within the broader 3D educational space defined by cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning. The modalities of GIS learning are discussed in the contexts of the “circle of GIS thinking,” “triangle of GIS practice,” and “triangle of affective GIS.” The framework suggests that well‐rounded GIS individuals possess hard and soft (non‐)geospatial knowledge, skills, and abilities gained through learning by thinking, doing, and feeling. It is coherent, intuitive, extensible, and in sync with modern GIS perspectives and knowledge, and multimodal ways of mastering this subject. We demonstrate how the framework informs design and content considerations for hybrid minds‐on, hands‐on, and “body‐on” classroom assessments that mirror the nature of GIS. We conclude that the framework shows considerable potential to facilitate consistent and persistent delivery of quality GIS education.

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Popular and professional interest in maps and map-making has never been greater. Despite this engagement, introductory skills courses in "map use" have largely disappeared in undergraduate geography and cartography programs at US universities, with research indicating that both map-use course enrollments and the existence of such courses themselves are on the decline. While the map-use course and its content may have been replaced by, repackaged as, or incorporated into an integrated geographical information systems-cartography-remote sensing foundations course, how do we ensure that an understanding of maps and their unique characteristics is not lost in the mix? This essay describes a recent course redesign experience incorporating information literacy, technology fluency, and spatial thinking principles to maintain map-use concepts, skills, and appreciation in an introductory geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) foundations course, meeting both GIS&T and general education curricular goals.

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