USING STORY MAPS TO SHARE GEOHERITAGE AND CONNECT WITH COMMUNITIES

A story map is a web application that integrates narrative and visual geographic components, typically by using a web page to tell a story about a map or using maps to tell a story. In 2015, the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) began developing story maps to create virtual geologic field trips for state geologic and geoheritage sites. The project’s original aim was to create accessible online publications for a lay audience.

During the first story map project, a geologic guide to Cove Spring Park in Frankfort, Ky., an organic collaboration emerged between park administrators and KGS staff. Inspired by the process, the park leadership commissioned numbered plaques that correspond to stops in the story map. In this instance, mobile users could follow the story map as they toured the park. However, this application requires cell phone service and is not applicable at many significant sites. In our subsequent work, KGS found that users often use the story map to supplement their experience away from the site and while engaging, interactive components are less important than factors like historical and geological significance.

More recently, KGS produced a story map about the geoheritage of Camp Nelson National Monument, a major training site for the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. The relationship between KGS authors and the park staff generated momentum for future geologic research, as the story map increased the visibility of the park with the geology community and showcased geoheritage and African American history in Kentucky among geologists.

These two experiences, along with countless other story map-related connections, demonstrate how the benefits of story mapping in geology reach beyond a single publication. Collaborating with community stakeholders brought about new avenues for geologic research and strengthened the relationships between the Survey and local community partnerships. KGS has formally published seven geoheritage story maps and is receiving community-generated requests for new maps based on the popularity of the publications.