Aquarium Wins Award for Use of GIS to Tell Story of Endangered Fish

July 11, 2016

The Aquarium was recently honored with an award at the 2016 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California, for its steelhead story map. The award Esri presented to the Aquarium was in the category of best use in science, technology, and education in a story map and was part of the 2016 Esri Storytelling with Maps contest. “The Aquarium’s winning story map was created to connect its guests and the general public with its Southern California Steelhead exhibit and tell the story of steelhead, including their transition from rainbow trout to steelhead salmon. We also wanted to help make people aware of the challenges faced by this now vanishing species,” said Dr. Jennifer Lentz, Aquarium of the Pacific education coordinator.

The Aquarium uses Esri’s ArcGIS technology to connect its visitors to current marine and environmental science issues. These programs help guests construct an understanding of human relationships to environments and a changing global system. Ultimately, the Aquarium uses GIS as a tool to help fulfill the institution’s mission to instill a sense of wonder, respect, and stewardship for the Pacific Ocean, its inhabitants and ecosystems. Visit the Aquarium’s full collection of story maps.

“The awards identify the organizations and people who are using the power of geography to make our world a better place,” says Esri President Jack Dangermond. “At Esri, we are always deeply inspired by the passion and innovation of our users. They deserve recognition for their invaluable contributions to their communities and the continued evolution of geographic science.” In addition, the second edition of Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions was released at the conference. The book includes a chapter submitted by the Aquarium of the Pacific (Chapter 12 “More Than Maps: Connecting Aquarium Guests to Global Stories” by Jennifer Lentz, Emily Yam, Alie LeBeau, and David Bader).