{"id":2164,"date":"2026-04-16T15:08:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/?p=2164"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:22:28","slug":"walking-mapping-reimagine-furmans-campus-with-a-new-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/walking-mapping-reimagine-furmans-campus-with-a-new-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking & Mapping: Reimagine Furman\u2019s Campus with a New Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our campus closely resembles a maze. After attending Furman for about 4 years now, I still discover new paths to get to where I need to be simply by living in different residential buildings every year. Just by seeing how many paths you can take from North Village to the Physical Activities Center (PAC) or the number of sidewalks found between the Earle Health Center and Furman Hall, I\u2019m sure having all the campus routes on one platform will make a big difference to all guests who visit our beautiful campus. This is where my fellowship comes in!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My name is Vanessa Amasi, I am a senior and will be completing my undergraduate studies in Sustainability Sciences this May. Additionally, I am an international student from Tanzania with interests in urban sustainability and sustainable built environments. During my time at Furman, I gained exposure to concepts related to urban planning, mapping, and GIS. As a result, I was inspired to apply for the campus map fellowship because it allowed me to strengthen my skills in geospatial analysis and problem solving with sustainability principles.<\/p>\n

\"A

A section of Furman\u2019s Campus Map\u00a0showing The Dining Hall (DH), Clark Murphy\u00a0Residential\u00a0Building, Earle Health Center,\u00a0Furman Admissions\/Welcome Center\u00a0& McAlister Circle.\u00a0The yellow lines\u00a0show the\u00a0sidewalks between these buildings.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many students\u00a0frequently\u00a0use the\u00a0routes\u00a0they\u00a0are familiar with to get across campus.\u00a0Here are\u00a0a few\u00a0trends that students follow to get to their next destination:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Cutting through academic buildings<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Walking\u00a0or\u00a0biking on many of the sidewalks\u00a0and bike trails<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Driving down the paved roads (Furman trolley, personal vehicles, etc.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    While this strategy is helpful\u00a0for\u00a0a large portion\u00a0of our student body,\u00a0the Furman community will benefit\u00a0even\u00a0more\u00a0by\u00a0having\u00a0directions\u00a0and\u00a0other\u00a0user-friendly\u00a0features\u00a0on\u00a0the campus map.\u00a0This will not only make Furman more walkable\u00a0and\u00a0bikeable, but also more accommodating\u00a0and versatile!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The campus map fellowship was designed to evaluate our current campus map and create solutions that fill existing gaps. Ultimately, our goal is to create new features that can calculate distances, find convenient routes to take, and direct you to different places around Furman. By doing so, our campus map will no longer just show you where things can be found, it will also direct you there and highlight other features you can find along the way for your convenience. By elevating the guest\u2019s experience, we can meet the needs of those seeking accommodations with navigating campus, trying out new fitness trails, or calculating the fastest route to arrive early to an 8:30 am lecture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"brick

    An image taken while walking to record existing sidewalks on Furman\u2019s Campus.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Last fall, we began mapping through fieldwork. Our team walked through and recorded all the trails behind the Chapel, Timmons arena, and the Football stadium. We recorded additional outdoor trails and sidewalks using satellite imagery. After completing our data collection, we added both new and existing trails as data for our basemap database. Further into the year, we began processing all data using GIS and programming tools to create a foundation for future collaborations on our research. Given our progress thus far, we look forward to sharing these results as a resource for other departments or student groups who are interested in on our research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As a part of our collaboration strategy, the applied research team is\u00a0working\u00a0together with students from\u00a0the new GIS club\u00a0to reimagine\u00a0the new map for\u00a0our\u00a0campus.\u00a0I really enjoy\u00a0this\u00a0part of my work\u00a0because\u00a0this\u00a0fellowship has fostered\u00a0meaningful\u00a0collaboration\u00a0with other students\u00a0who share\u00a0similar interests.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>If you are more curious about this fellowship, keep an eye out for more campus map updates. Furthermore, if you are a student interested in getting involved with our work, you should definitely consider joining the GIS club next year!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Our campus closely resembles a maze. After attending Furman for about 4 years now, I still discover new paths to get to where I need to be simply by living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[15,14],"class_list":["post-2164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-blog","tag-furman-innovation-lab","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2164"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2167,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions\/2167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/shi-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}