Alex Nelson, a UMD senior in Geography, Urban, Environment and Sustainability Studies (G.U.E.S.S.), as well as a GIS Technician at the Geographic Analysis Center (GAC), was recently honored with the 2017 Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Best Undergraduate Paper Award at its annual meeting in Bemidji (October 4-6).
Alex presented research entitled: “Mapping UMD: Creating a Transportation Network for an Indoor Environment”, were he used geospatial tools traditionally relegated to roads sidewalks, and railways to represent indoors spaces in order to examine the effects of distance on recycling and composting behavior on the UMD campus.
He believes that his method can be used to solve other problems across campus such as determining the location of the nearest gender inclusive restroom, or simply as a means for incoming students to navigate campus more effectively when they arrive.