Join us for GIS Day, a hands-on celebration of geography, mapping and geospatial technology. This year’s theme - Participatory Mapping - invites you to become an active contributor to real-world geographic data. Whether you’re a first-year student or an experienced mapper, you will discover how geospatial tools help us better understand our environment and community.

Activity 1: Map our campus vegetation with ArcGIS field maps
Help document the trees, shrubs and green spaces across campus using the ArcGIS Field Maps mobile app. Stop by our GIS Day station for a quick tutorial, then use your smartphone or tablet to record vegetation types, locations and conditions. As data flows in, watch our live campus vegetation map grow in real time! No prior GIS experience is required - just curiosity and a phone.

Activity 2: Georeference historic Sanborn Maps
Travel back in time by adding spatial data to Kent State’s collection of Ohio Sanborn Insurance Maps using AllMaps.org. These richly detailed maps, produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s, reveal building footprints, materials and local businesses in Ohio towns and cities. Once georeferenced, they can be layered onto modern maps to explore the evolution of homes, neighborhoods and commercial spaces.

Join us to learn, map and explore the power of place. Let’s put Kent State on the map – literally!