Part 1:
For the first chapter of my deep map I used the cascade story builder template available through ArcGIS. My objective was to illustrate the various waves of migration which have taken place in the town of Faribault from its settlement in the 19th century till today so I was initially going to build interactive maps in social explorer to display shifts in census data regarding the foreign-born population. I realized these maps requires much more contextualization in order to hold any larger meaning about Faribault so I decided to incorporate these social explorer maps into a larger cascade story. I attempted to provide an explanation of the respective political and economic factors which impacted these shifts in population in both the 19th century and modern context through background research, changing maps of Minnesota and graphs.
While I think I was able to present a more fluid narrative behind these population shifts than if I were to just upload the two interactive census maps, I struggled with the creation of these maps on social explorer. The web application was slightly glitchy and I struggled to visually highlight the contrast between different decades percentage or quantity of foreign-born individuals. Additionally, I would’ve liked to depict how the foreign-born population broke down along countries of origin to display how in the 19th century this foreign-born category was made up of various European immigrant groups while in the modern context this population’s places of origin are predominantly east African and Mexican. Due to the limitations of social explorer I was unable able to communicate this through my two interactive maps I created, which hindered the effectiveness of my mapping visuals within this first chapter.
Part 2:
For my second chapter I used the map journal builder function of ArcGIS to construct a deep map of Faribault’s downtown commercial district. Through this map, I wanted to capture how Faribault’s commercial remains impacted by its 19th century establishment as much of the infrastructure created during this early settlement still remains today. While these facades still stand, the businesses which now occupy these spaces in comparison to what first stood in the 19th century speaks to the changing nature of Faribault’s population. I chose to base my story around the changes of the landmarked commercial zone which is just one block of Central avenue between 2nd and 3rd street.
I initially wanted to do a side by side comparison of a few of these sites along central Avenue to clearly illustrate the contrasts between the 19th century business versus what occupies that space now. I attempted to put my information in an ArcGIS scroll map but quickly realized that mapping template had pretty strict limitations. I was able to create a scrolling display between the historic vs. modern map of Faribault but came to realize it would be difficult to set up a scrolling display of my multimedia and text within the same template. I moved over to map journal builder and found it much easier to toggle back and forth between maps and had greater control over how content was displayed. The map interface is not as fluid as I would want it to be as you can only scroll vertically instead of swiping back and forth horizontally as I had initially imagined. Additionally, there was very limited information on the modern buildings in Faribault which made the contrast slightly less robust than I had intended.
Part 3:
For chapter 3 I used google street tour to document a few Somali specific sites within Faribault. Through this map, I wanted to illustrate the presence of this Somali community within Faribault’s commercial area. I had initially intended on making a map which documented the sites which held importance for the Somali community in Faribault from the perspective of someone within that community. Yet due to time constraints and limited contacts within Faribault, I had to reorient my map from sites which held importance to Somali owned sites. I was excited about this chapter as there is little documentation of the Somali communities impact on the town of Faribault and I think deep maps can provide a space for the inclusion of new voices and perspectives. Also due to this limited online documentation of Somali sites and businesses and the minimal signage on the exterior of these buildings, it was difficult to find all of these sites and I recognize that there may very well be more that I am missing therefore this is is no way a finished project but rather an initial effort to draw attention to the presence of the Somali community within Faribault.
