General/Overview Vision of the Giant County Maps:
 The Giant County Maps & Timelines Project was undertaken to utilize two reliable and user-friendly teaching tools, with a twist, that introduce students, educators, business leaders, elected officials, and citizens to local county development. The traditional teaching and learning tools, maps and timelines, lead users into the 21 st
Centuries version of teaching and learning about the local community for better understanding, problem solving, and planning for the future. Aerial photography and satellite imagery provide just a taste of analyzing community resources from a different perspective … literally.
 Imagine a map of your county that measures, approximately, 10’x10’, is printed on vinyl, can move easily from place to place, is used to teach and to learn about your community, and creates a foundation upon which further understanding of your community, and its future, can grow.
 The map will be crisp enough to print on an approximate 10’x10’ vinyl sheet. As some counties are more vertical
(north/south) or horizontal (east/west), accommodations will be made by the printer to allow for a better product. For example, Vermillion County Indiana will print on an approximate 8’ wide by 12’ long vinyl sheet, or
Howard County Indiana will print on a 12’ wide by 8’ long vinyl sheet.
 Maps can print to the edge of the vinyl sheet, but we opt to allow for a small safe area (about 1”). The top margin should be 3”, which allows for a roll over and grommets – in order to hang the map if needed.
 Maps will include: o from the IndianaMap GIS - cities/towns and labels, hydrology and labels, green spaces and labels, latitude and longitude in lightly colored lines, shaded relief in background o from the Open Street Map GIS – roadways and labels (if road is 6” or more on the map software; based on 18,000 foot perspective) o title, latitude and longitude (subtle), scale in fraction and bar, North arrow, Planning Partners logos, and
Sponsor logos o a state county index map with the specific county indicated >> show “where” the county is located in the state o brief description about the county name o large-scale grid system: 1,2,3… A,B,C… linked to the latitude and longitude
Educators, Librarians, Students, and Giant County Map and Timeline Creators:
1) Remember, you are not alone in this process and effort!!! If you need to talk through the process and concerns, please, communicate with the GENI office at 317.274.8879/ geni@iupui.edu
or with Katie Springer at the IN
State Library at KSpringer@library.in.gov
.
2) Create a County Map & Timeline Team to help provide ideas and resource suggestions: county historian, County
Bicentennial Commission, librarians, museum/history specialists, economic development members, chamber of commerce members, surveyors, assessors, mayors… Many counties have (or are creating as part of bicentennial efforts) a county history/timeline.
3) For the giant map, as a starting point, you will receive a base-map (rough draft) with the items mentioned in the
“Maps will include:” segment above. Preview the county base-map, which will be delivered in a PDF format, to imagine the use of a giant county map and the additional mapped data possibilities.
4) Think of ways in which the Giant County Map could be utilized and discuss the possibilities with others in your community or on your Team. Investigate county history for items that should be included on the county timeline and/or on the county map: economic impacts, civics and leadership, human and physical geography, historic sites, key community figures, literature connections...

5) A County Timeline has a place to start utilizing the existing Harrison County Timeline. You can either edit the
Harrison County Timeline directly OR create a version of the timeline specific to the needs for your community.
6) HELP is available to determine “who” to communicate with on this project  Contact the GENI office at
317.274.8879/geni@iupui.edu
or the IN State Library, KSpringer@library.in.gov
for assistance.
7) Begin to search for potential local Sponsor Partners to print the County Map and Timeline and associated resources: $450.00. HELP is available! You do not have to do this alone  GENI can help with this outreach. A sample letter is available for you to tailor for specific requests, if needed.
8) Research the data that you would like to add to the County Map: location of historic sites, green spaces, trails…
Share with GIS Professional.
9) Share the County Timeline information with the GENI office.
10) Create a Curriculum Guide – if needed, which can be quick suggestions for “how” to use the County Map &
Timeline, suggested resources, and a few literature links. Share with the GENI office. Again, this can proceed as use of the map and timeline are implemented and ideas evolve.
11) Edit the County Map, Timeline, and Curriculum Guide.
12) Once the County Map and Timeline have been received, GENI will send a press release to local media outlets, community leaders (business, elected, surveyor/assessor, school boards, chambers of commerce…).
13) ENJOY your hard work and energy dedicated to making your community a better place!!!
General/Overview Process to create the Giant County Maps for GIS Specialists:
1) Indiana Geological Survey using ArcGIS 10.3; other GIS professionals using various versions of a GIS; need to create a way to marry the data in compatible formats.
2) Initially, Matt Johnson and Kevin Russell (both of the Indiana Geological Survey) will create county maps rough drafts and convert to a PDF, which will be uploaded to an IUBox account for preview by the County Planning
Team.
3) Once completed, the Giant County Maps will be available for use as a local resource in a GIS, AND they will be converted to a PDF. Both versions will be uploaded into an ArcGIS Online folder for everyone to utilize.
4) Point data would be the most acceptable with clean attributes
5) No raster datasets
6) Updated parks and open spaces if available with clean attributes
7) No polygon datasets covering entire county (demographics, etc)
8) School and Library points would be great for each county so we can have consistency between maps
Detailed Process to create the Giant County Maps:
1) Matt and Kevin developed a method to utilize Open Street Map data and combine it with IndianaMap data to create the Giant County Map base-map. From the Open Street Map data: roadways and labels that are 6” or longer from an 18,000 foot perspective in ArcGIS 10.0. From IndianaMap data: cities and towns and labels, water bodies and labels, green spaces and labels, lightly shaded relief in gray, and lightly colored latitude/longitude lines in ArcGIS 10.3. The GIS information from IndianaMap and from Open Street Map will merge; fonts will be uniform among layer groups; colors will be pleasing to the eye  and consistent.
2) Educators will collaborate with local GIS professionals to create additional county map layers that are thought to be of educational value: historic places, protected flora and fauna, agriculture, industry/economic development, unique physical features, or other easily mapped information. The map should be “timeless”: containing information that does not limit the map use in the near future: voting districts, religious regions, areas of

literacy, immigration … More “fixed” information that provides a foundation would be the best to place on the map: upon which more changeable information could be taught.
3) The mapped information should be reviewed for accuracy by the County Planning Team prior to being combined with the base-map.
4) On the local map, include appropriate local sponsor logos in a vector file format (.eps or .pdf) and/or printed titles – as dictated by the local sponsor.
5) The local map data will be combined with the base-map by the IGS specialist.
6) The final Giant County Map will be reviewed by all appropriate persons prior to print: local GIS professional, educator(s), Katie, Mike and others as needed. a.
Map looks good and contains desired information b.
Spelling is accurate c.
Appropriate local sponsor logos/names are on the map d.
Historic information about the county name is on the map e.
Title, orientation, scale, latitude/longitude, 123…/ABC… f.
Neighboring county names on the map
7) The final Giant County Timeline should be reviewed by appropriate persons to ensure accurate events, spelling, appropriate imagery, and local sponsors.
8) Once reviewed, the final Giant County Map will be uploaded to a shared ArcGIS On-Line folder.
9) The final Giant County Map will be converted to a PDF and sent to the printer with whom the Project is working.
10) The final Giant County Map & Timeline will be printed and will be mailed/delivered to the local county educator(s) or representative hosting the new legacy resource along with the following: a.
A county aerial photograph will be captured for print. Five color copies (8.5”x11”) will be printed and laminated for use in teaching and learning. b.
A Legend will be created utilizing accurate symbols. Ten color copies (8.5”x11”) will be printed and laminated for use in teaching and learning. c.
Larry Biehl and IndianaView will create a collection of satellite imagery for each county as the maps and timelines are created. Five color copies (8.5”x11”) will be printed and laminated for use in teaching and learning. The INView images may take a bit longer to receive as this is a very time-consuming activity with few people knowing how to undertake the process; includes a title with county name).