THE LONG WALK ArcGIS and Harvard’s Center for Geographic Analysis help tell the story of an epic global adventure.

By A. J. Mangum

It’s the middle of the night in Eden Walk, an eight-year journalistic pro- Embracing a “slow journalism” ap- Baku, Azerbaijan. American journalist Paul ject in which he’s retracing—on foot—the proach—with narratives built on im- Salopek sits in his room in a cheap hotel— path of prehistoric human migration. In the promptu encounters and the quiet, daily a former shoe factory—where he’s at work process, he is writing about the people he lives of his subjects—Salopek produces on a story about his encounters with people meets and the cultures he experiences. articles and photography for the project’s along the contested border between South Salopek’s journey began in January 2013, website (www.outofedenwalk.com) and for Ossetia and the former Soviet Republic of in Ethiopia—widely considered by archae- National Geographic magazine. Geospatial Georgia. As 3:00 a.m. approaches, Salopek ologists to be modern humanity’s point data figures heavily in Salopek’s storytell- reconstructs a scene in which an old of origin—and has, thus far, taken him ing. Maps serve as illustrations for many woman passes him a bowl of food through north, across the Red Sea to the Arabian of his dispatches, while stand-alone maps the concertina wire marking the bound- Peninsula and into the Levant and the offer substantive sidebar material that ary separating Georgia and the breakaway Caucasus. From Azerbaijan, Salopek will puts his travels and experiences in a clear region. The simple tableau adds a layer of travel east, across Asia, then cross from geographic context, a narrative element what Salopek calls “human texture” to a Siberia to North America, and continue Salopek considers vital. piece set against a complex backdrop of south, ultimately arriving at the southern “This is a journey through four dimen- long-standing and violent conflict. tip of Chile, some 21,000 miles from his sions,” the journalist says, referring to both Salopek is three years into the Out of starting point in east Africa. the project’s historical emphasis and the

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timeline of his own journey on foot. “It and photography are intriguing, and Paul’s would be poorer if it lacked navigational writing style is incredible. With his ‘slow aids to the storytelling.” journalism’ element—inviting people to Mapping for the Out of Eden Walk is take an introspective look at the world— produced using the ArcGIS platform by [the Walk] is right on target with what CGA Harvard University’s Center for Geographic does: using maps to educate people.” Analysis (CGA), a service-oriented institu- CGA occupies a small set of ground-  Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul tion that promotes geospatial thinking floor offices in Harvard’s Knafel Building, a Salopek walks through Azerbaijan as part of and technology within the Harvard com- modern glass-and-terra-cotta structure a his eight-year, round-the-world adventure munity. Jeff Blossom, a senior GIS special- couple of blocks from the campus hub of retracing, step-by-step, on foot, the path of human migration. Photo by Rufat Gojayev, ist with CGA, serves as the project’s chief Harvard Yard. The center, which opened courtesy of Paul Salopek cartographer. in 2006, offers GIS consulting, training,  The Greatest Walk depicts the path of “Our mission is to support research and and tool development for the university’s prehistoric migration. Salopek will spend education that uses geographic informa- students, faculty, and staff. With a team of eight years retracing the 21,000-mile route tion,” Blossom says. “[The Out of Eden 10 full-time GIS specialists, CGA’s efforts from east Africa to the southern tip of South America. Photo courtesy of Harvard Walk] is education focused, with a great range from the creation of maps as instruc- University Center for Geographic Analysis deal of entertainment value. The maps tional aids to geospatial data management

esri.com Spring 2016 au 65 for research projects and grant proposals. by writers who’ve parachuted in,” he says.  The Donors’ Map recognizes supporters Salopek, a recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes “They strain credulity because they rely to the Out of Eden Walk’s Kickstarter campaign. Each supporter sponsors a mile for his work as a foreign correspondent, on easy tropes and assumptions, familiar of Salopek’s route. Map courtesy of Harvard was on the Cambridge, Massachusetts, conclusions, and metaphors. When you University Center for Geographic Analysis campus in 2012 as a Nieman Foundation walk through a community—as opposed to  Pomegranates for sale in Zaqatala, visiting fellow, finalizing plans for the Out zipping through it—telling details emerge Azerbaijan. Photo by Paul Salopek of Eden Walk, when he approached CGA that inform a deeper, broader picture.” staff about a potential support role for The journalist envisioned mapping as a the project. Blossom was intrigued with storytelling component on the Out of Eden the concept of the long-form, immersive Walk, Blossom recalls. Cartography would storytelling on which Salopek’s strategy offer not only a means of documenting a would center. route but also a tool for adding context to “It runs contrary to the way typical jour- Salopek’s work. nalism works,” Blossom says. “Typically In the partnership that’s developed, something happens, and journalists fly in, Salopek and Blossom communicate fre- cover it, and leave when it’s done. They get quently by phone and Skype, discussing a superficial view but not a deep under- ideas for thematic maps each time the jour- standing of what’s going on. This would be nalist transitions from one region to the an effort to extract deeper meaning of the next. Concepts can range from the deadly events going on in these places.” serious, such as the history of forced migra- Salopek characterizes the approach as tions in the Middle East, to the lightheart- one rooted in the pursuit of on-the-ground ed, even quirky—like the continually up- authenticity. “We’ve all read stories set in dated map detailing the many instances in different cultures that are clearly written which Salopek has been stopped by police.

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Other ideas come spontaneously, a reality maps he’s created for the project is its other back and forth through [the Levant] that Salopek embraces, given the ways in stagesetting graphic, The Greatest Walk, since Neanderthals and Homo sapiens first which geopolitical realities complicate a which illustrates the path of prehistoric met,” Blossom says. The result, a multime- global journey. human migration, set against an image dia effort called Turbulent Origins was cre- “Borders and politics are the biggest of the ground surface that would’ve been ated using ArcMap among other programs. obstacles to walking [around] the world,” exposed 70,000 to 100,000 years ago, an It illustrates “how civilizations have strug- Salopek says, “not predators or glaciers or effect Blossom achieved by using Esri’s ba- gled for territory, from Mesopotamian wars droughts as was the case with our ances- thymetry and topography layer to expose to current conflicts.” tors who first left Africa. I’ve been blown mapping of the earth’s terrain between Other thematic maps place Salopek’s way north into central Asia because of visa sea level and 100 meters below sea level. journey against the backdrop of a region’s delays. So be it. It’s part of the journey.” Subsequent storytelling maps detail spe- history. Blossom used ArcGIS Online to Blossom uses ArcGIS for Desktop, cific chapters of regional history on the Out create an interactive map of Saudi Arabia, ArcGIS Online, and Esri Story Map apps of Eden route. contrasting Salopek’s path through the to build thematic maps for the Out of “Paul wanted a map that told the story country with historic Muslim pilgrim- Eden Walk. Among the most prominent of how civilizations have been pushing each age routes and the campaigns of British

“Anyone with a computer and Internet access can make a map and tell a story.” Jeff Blossom, Harvard University Center for Geographic Analysis archaeologist and military officer T. E. “The biggest impact I see is the promo-  This Out of Eden Walk map is Lawrence, the famed Lawrence of Arabia. tion of the map as a way to tell stories,” more lighthearted and records the where Salopek was stopped by police The project’s financial supporters are Blossom says. “And that’s not just for GIS during his journey. Map used courtesy recognized in another of Blossom’s efforts. professionals. Anyone with a computer of Harvard University Center for The Out of Eden Walk has grant fund- and Internet access can make a map and Geographic Analysis ing from the John S. and James L. Knight tell a story.”  Syrian refugees line up for bread in Foundation, which supports journalism and Blossom’s work with the Out of Eden Antakya, Turkey. Photograph by Paul Salopek media innovations, but has also earned Walk has inspired him to create tutori- grassroots backing through a Kickstarter als on such topics as geotagging smart- campaign. Each donor can sponsor a mile phone photos and using a smartphone’s of Salopek’s route. Using ArcGIS Online, GPS functionality to create data for use Blossom created a donors’ map high- in story maps. These efforts are aimed at lighting sponsored sections of the walk. both professional journalists and amateur Segments are labeled with donors’ names. storytellers. Blossom’s other assignments from Such cartographic elements, Salopek Salopek have included maps examining the asserts, provide readers with the benefit of timeline of prehistoric human migration, greater context—geographic, geopolitical, the challenging topography of Ethiopia’s and historical—with the net effect of bring- Afar region, and the highlights of walking ing an audience closer to a journalist’s “[This] is an experiment to increase through such cities as Jerusalem; Tbilisi, subjects. Whether he’s writing about the mindshare online,” Salopek says, “not via Georgia; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. cultural importance of pilgrimage route the usual levers—clickbait, jellybean jour- From the perspective of GIS profes- sor the ways in which Somali piracy ham- nalism—but by trying to hook an audience sionals, Blossom says, the Out of Eden pers scientific research in the Indian Ocean, into longer-form, more immersive storytell- Walk has offered a powerful illustration of Salopek adds that a strengthened sense of ing. Things get more complex. And that’s the discipline’s utility as a journalistic tool. place provides a layer of storytelling that the way it should be.” The ability to link a story, an interview, or would be difficult to replicate without GIS a particular moment to a specific point on mapmaking tools. Geospatial angles, he About the Author the globe, he says, dramatically empowers finds, contribute to the complexity that A. J. Mangum is a writer and editor based storytellers. makes a story more compelling. in Colorado.

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Harvard’s GIS Hub: From Nowhere to Everywhere

Prior to the 2006 launch of Harvard University’s Center for professors coming to us for help with mapping and analysis,” Guan said. Geographic Analysis (CGA), on-campus GIS support was nearly “We joked that other departments needed us but just didn’t know it yet.” nonexistent, said Wendy Guan, the center’s executive director. Initial client interest, particularly from Harvard’s schools of The school has no geography departments, so when research or design, but also from the history, anthropology, sociology, and public teaching strategies called for the creation or analysis of geospatial health departments, soon led the center to broaden its services data, GIS tools and methodologies were mostly out of reach. beyond that simple help desk. Now staffed by 10 full-time GIS spe- In an effort to remedy this situation, Harvard’s Peter Bol, a profes- cialists and broadly employing the ArcGIS platform, CGA provides sor of East Asian languages and civilization and now a university project consultation, offers customized training for clients, and has vice provost, led two years of brainstorming sessions with senior created a number of on-campus GIS training courses on topics such faculty. The resultant consensus: Harvard needed an on-campus GIS as mapmaking, the use of ArcGIS Online, and—for graduate stu- institution. CGA was born. dents—the application of geospatial perspectives in critical think- “Our center approached its mission from a low-key service angle,” ing. The center’s on-campus client base has also expanded, reaching Guan said. “We didn’t open our doors and claim we were leading GIS beyond audiences in the humanities and social sciences. science or doing cutting-edge research. We started with a profes- “A few years in, the business school embraced us,” Guan said, sional staff of just three, all focused on providing service.” “and we’re now developing strong connections with the engineering CGA’s first project was modest but vital: the creation of a help desk school.” CGA is building its capacity for raster-based analysis and that would address clients’ questions about finding geospatial data, exploring 3D functions in ArcGIS Pro. conducting field surveys, structuring analyses protocols, designing While CGA serves the Harvard community, its products and tools maps, and otherwise incorporating GIS into academic work. are generally made available online at www.gis.harvard.edu and in- “In the beginning, we saw a flood of social scientists and humanities clude seminars, workshops, maps, and downloadable project data.

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