Author: MicahWilli

Hickory Hills Campground

July 29, 2021

A friend of mine owns a campground. Just east of Eureka it is bordered by Panther Creek along US Route 24. Well you can’t really see it from 24 unless you know where to look. At any rate they needed an updated map and to be able to print copies without restriction. See the map they previously had was done by a printing company and was bound by copyright restrictions because of the advertisements.

They contacted me and asked if I could help them. Of course. They’re good people.

Because of these same restrictions, I couldn’t scan the old map to use as a guide for heads up digitizing. That didn’t matter anyway because the county had great 2019 imagery for me to digitize on. I made roads, sites, outlined buildings, recreation areas, and trails. I did grab some data from the state for waterways and the lakes.

It was cathartic to be making a map again, like really making a map from scratch. Of course I couldn’t go crazy with cartographic license because my friend/client wanted specific colors and points of interest to align with the old map. People get used to what they know, you know? But since I essentially made it into a GIS, changing symbology is no sweat. I used ArcGIS Pro for the project. it probably took 15-20 hours in total.

I recommended a printer. Here is a PDF of the Map. Do me a favor and Visit Hickory Hills Campground sometime.

Above is should be a working application hosted on ArcGIS Online. Here is the link if is is not working.

Happy camping!

Springboard Market

June 6, 2019

Urban Acres is a non-profit organization that promotes healthy growth (literally) in the Near north side of Peoria, Illinois. Their community garden is a place to meet and learn for people of all ethnicities and diversities.

Furthering this ideal, the organization has recently purchased a building in the neighborhood with hopes and dreams of converting it into a start-up incubator called Springboard Market.

In order to receive grant monies and achieve these dreams, a demographic study needed to definitively show the obvious income disparity and food desert of the area surrounding the new HQ building.

These reports divide the area within 10-20-30 minute walk to the building. More study to come on the accessibility of healthy food options for residents. It’s a great initiative to be associated with!

We also created a 34″ x 44″ wall map for our friends to look at when planning this grassroots revitalization project.

Fieldcrest CUSD

June 6, 2019

“As a favor to a friend” Isn’t that how all these things start out?
The Illinois State Board of Education has long since stopped making school districts maps for each district. So, when a retiring superintendent asked for an updated map for the new incoming administrator, there are not a lot of options. Definitely nothing that a struggling rural school district could actually pay for.

The request actually came by way of ILGISA, our state GIS association, of which I am on the board. I snatched it up as a first pass for this newly formed non profit organization, also, the Fieldcrest High School principal is a good friend of mine…kind of a ‘small world’ thing.

It looks a lot like the ISBE map from 2003, which should be taken as a cartographic compliment. In total, I probably spent 5 hours on it, but don’t exactly know. How refreshing.

Later, I made this Map. It is focused and zoomed in on just Fieldcrest:

If you look close on the PDF (linked from the image above) you can see the micro$oft building footprint layer.

Unofficial Rogue Mapping

March 11, 2019

The following are GIS/Mapping projects that I have worked on previous to the incorporation of Rogue Mapping.

I have always had a strong desire to ‘Do’ GIS for those who cannot or don’t know how. These projects were pro-bono for friends or friends of friends.

Intersection of This and That

So, Townships. There are a lot of them in Illinois. To boot, there are TWO delineations of EACH ONE. One is the geographic boundary based on a Township and Range system, the other is the political boundary, which is…. political.

A friend needed to know the difference of these two boundaries in the most complex county in Illinois: Cook.

First of all it took a bit to explain exactly what and why this is. Then I created a map (I so wanted it to be an app) to show the difference. There is a lot going on and lots of boundaries to delineate with roads & whatnot. It is a complicated subject, I hope the result was useful.

Santa Council

Every year in December, a group of local politicians and business leaders volunteer a day to drive around and hand out Christmas presents to less fortunate kids. It covers +250 families, +600 children both inside and outside the city. This project wasn’t for the organizations or businesses, I was working to help an old friend organize the routes and geocode drop-off locations.

This is a small subset of the Volunteer’s route for the day.

Kennel Lake

A Local Sportsman’s Club in the area needed a new parcel map. Here is one version of it.

Side note, I have about 65 Sub-Centimeter GPS points that I haven’t put on this map sitting in a shapefile. I should really finish this project, Sorry Nathan.

BBQ – U

This was an easy & simple map but it was fun. There is a national certification to become a judge for BBQ competitions, these cities have them available. This map was made to justify one in Peoria. Hope I get some BBQ out of it.

Locations show Judge Class location cities.

IPDPL

A demographic review of the population within the libraries district is important to understand the patrons served. The IPDPL has assumed a growing population for the last few decades. Based on population projections district staff has operated under the assumption that they serve over 21,000 patrons. 

Seeing that the district is comprised of a very specific set of township county subdivisions, population estimates are fairly easily attainable. According to Esri Inc. demographic data models and availability the IPDPL serves an estimated population of 22,392 in 2017 (Esri). This coordinates surprisingly well with the library director’s assumptions and corroborates planning for future expansion. This is part of a larger study.

There are other projects, I either didn’t keep them or cannot remember them.

I like the idea that from now on these types of projects will have a logo on them.