Since 2013, my role as digital cartographer for the Out of Eden Walk has expanded from mapping Paul Salopek’s footsteps and other walk-related themes into educating and mentoring future cartographers. Educators rarely get the opportunity to teach students who range from middle school to the Ph.D. level, but cartography offers the opportunity for anyone to “think geographically” and explain our world visually through maps.
Samantha Carr created a richly detailed story map on the theme of human migration.
Enter Samantha Carr, an undergraduate at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, who is concentrating in urban systems with specializations in geographic information systems, spatial statistics, and urban policy development. We were fortunate to have Samantha join us at the Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) at Harvard University for the summers of 2019 and 2020 as part of the National Science Foundation undergraduate research experience program. During this time, Samantha contributed several CGA projects involving geographic analysis and mapping, including processing data for the Out of Eden Walk. This exposure inspired her to take a deeper look into the theme of human migration through the lens of cartography.
As Carr writes: “I was inspired by Salopek’s project to commence my own investigation into contemporary human migration trends from a mapping/cartographic perspective, with the goal of visualizing human mobility and analyzing its implications both regionally and globally.”
Samantha’s effort grew into a research project involving both qualitative and quantitative analysis, elegantly explained with methodology and mapping techniques presented in an online story format that combines maps, images, and narrative text.
Her investigation is multiscale: first examining migration trends globally, then zooming into Myanmar/Bangladesh to analyze the Rohingya refugee emergency. Using open data from sources such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), WorldPop, and OpenStreetMap, Carr mapped aspects of the crisis in exquisite detail, including displaying scorched villages in Myanmar that were epicenters for mass migration, as well as prospective destinations at UNHCR-established refugee camps in Bangladesh. Combining these maps with qualitative reports, she went one step further, creating “prospective migrant paths” for displaced Rohingya migrants.
Samantha Carr created a richly detailed story map on the theme of human migration.
Enter Samantha Carr, an undergraduate at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, who is concentrating in urban systems with specializations in geographic information systems, spatial statistics, and urban policy development. We were fortunate to have Samantha join us at the Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) at Harvard University for the summers of 2019 and 2020 as part of the National Science Foundation undergraduate research experience program. During this time, Samantha contributed several CGA projects involving geographic analysis and mapping, including processing data for the Out of Eden Walk. This exposure inspired her to take a deeper look into the theme of human migration through the lens of cartography.
As Carr writes: “I was inspired by Salopek’s project to commence my own investigation into contemporary human migration trends from a mapping/cartographic perspective, with the goal of visualizing human mobility and analyzing its implications both regionally and globally.”
Samantha’s effort grew into a research project involving both qualitative and quantitative analysis, elegantly explained with methodology and mapping techniques presented in an online story format that combines maps, images, and narrative text.
Her investigation is multiscale: first examining migration trends globally, then zooming into Myanmar/Bangladesh to analyze the Rohingya refugee emergency. Using open data from sources such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), WorldPop, and OpenStreetMap, Carr mapped aspects of the crisis in exquisite detail, including displaying scorched villages in Myanmar that were epicenters for mass migration, as well as prospective destinations at UNHCR-established refugee camps in Bangladesh. Combining these maps with qualitative reports, she went one step further, creating “prospective migrant paths” for displaced Rohingya migrants.
MAP BY SAMANTHA CARR AND ESRI. MAP MAY NOT REFLECT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S CURRENT MAP POLICY.
This process of using existing geospatial data to produce new information—new ways of understanding and visualizing phenomena such as human migration—is the quintessential goal of geospatial analysis, and Samantha’s work aptly embodies this. Without further ado, please enjoy yet another cartographic offspring of the walk: “A Human Approach to Human Migration-Cartographic Renderings and Ruminations,” by Samantha Carr.
