Each year the Portland Community College GIS club works on a group project. Planning for this project began in January 2020. It was originally intended to be a fun way students could share skills and work together. Unfortunately, with the arrival of COVID-19 in our community in March 2020, we were forced to adjust our vision of collecting data in groups, holding field trips to learn about murals, and conducting in-person training using mapping software as well as data collection and management techniques; to accommodate social distancing best practices as mandated by local and state government.

 

In spite of these historic obstacles, we were motivated to continue and create this resource. We held planning meetings and skills trainings remotely.To compile the data in the field, each team member who was willing and able used Esri’s ArcGIS Collector mobile app, while following social distancing guidelines. By using the Collector app, we shared a base map on our phones, and when we found a mural, we added it as a data point to the map, as well as any information we could see on the mural, such as the artist's name and the date the mural was painted. We then combined this geographic data with existing spreadsheet formats and independent research to form a full informational picture of each mural.  We’ve created an interactive map using ArcGIS Online (AGOL), plus a story map that shows where Portland’s murals are located, as well as information about each mural.

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The mural in the background is The Collector by Josh Keyes (2015).