A Roundup of GIS Day 2025
By Rebecca Seifried, Geospatial Information Librarian
Every November, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day is held across the globe to celebrate the technology and field of study behind everything from Google Maps to satellite systems that keep an eye on our weather. For GIS Day 2025, graduate students Sara Nusair ’30PhD (regional planning) and Ava Healy ’26MS (geography) teamed up with librarians Sarah Vitelli and me to organize a full day of activities that drew about 60 attendees from the Five Colleges and beyond.
Keynote speaker Garrett Dash Nelson, President and Head Curator at the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at Boston Public Library, kicked off the event with an engaging talk, “From Big Data to Big Evidence: Combining Ways of Knowing in Computer Cartography.” Blending the history of urban geography with recent advancements in “big data” mapping techniques, Nelson encouraged the audience to think creatively in their GIS work and explore new ways to pair historical maps with borndigital datasets, such as the Leventhal’s interactive tool, Atlascope Boston (atlascope.org).
Next up was our first-ever Faculty Slam, giving faculty and staff from across the Five Colleges five minutes and five slides to present a map that changed how they see the world. Participants shared a wide range of cartographic treasures, including a favorite childhood atlas, a tiny foldable Dymaxion map, hurricane tracking charts once mailed to Gulf Coast households, an interactive map made entirely of flower pots, and more.
Photo: The world on a Dymaxion projection, with 15° graticule. Imagery courtesy of NASA’s Earth Observatory, with modifications by Mapthematics LLC.
A returning favorite, the Silly Map Competition, drew a record-setting ten submissions from students and faculty vying for the coveted title of “silliest map” and an array of enviable prizes, including models of the earth 3D-printed by the Libraries’ very own Digital Media Lab. This year’s winner was an interactive web map designed by Arev Kaligian ’27MS (GIST) that mapped the locations of challenges from the beloved PBS Kids Go! series “Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman.”
To view the map, visit: bit.ly/ruffman
Photo: Winner of the 2025 Silly Map Competition “Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman Challenge Locations” by Arev Kaligian.
Other highlights of the event included a free pizza lunch sponsored by the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences; a humanitarian mapathon contributing new OpenStreetMap data for communities in Chad; and an informational session about the Esri Young Professionals Network for students curious about career paths in GIS.
We wrapped up the day with a Mappy Hour complete with a surprisingly intense round of map trivia. Teams of students and faculty went head-to-head, showing off their cartographic know-how and learning a few new facts along the way.
