Mapping in Mexico
By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec
Spring break for 10 geography students meant examining drainage ditches and estimating the height of trees – hot, dry work all in the name of helping residents of Toluca, Mexico, develop a better city park.
CMU has a longstanding relationship with the faculty and leadership of the Toluca campus of the Higher Education and Technical Institute of Monterrey.
The geography project meant teaming up with the Toluca university’s urban design program to show students and faculty how a geographic information systems project can work.
Before the trip, the CMU students used satellite imagery to begin collecting data on the 250-acre park. The property was once part of a hacienda, and it contains an old horse stable, plant nursery, other random buildings, and old helipads.
The park across the street from the university is well-used, but it has only two official entrances, so it doesn’t offer easy access to the neighborhood.
Once the CMU students, led by professor David Patton, were in Mexico, they set about collecting more data – details the satellite imagery couldn’t provide – such as the location of picnic tables, playground equipment, holes in fences, and condition of pathways.
The Toluca area gets six months of nearly constant rain, so the park has lots of drainage ditches. The students examined and recorded the condition of all those.
They weren’t able to take their survey equipment into Mexico, so they borrowed some equipment from a neighboring state university and made do with other surveying techniques – for instance, determining the height of trees by measuring the sun’s angle.
“We learned to be flexible,” says Matt Comben.
On work days, they spent mornings collecting information in the park, which is four miles around the perimeter. They spent afternoons in the university classrooms talking with faculty and students and meeting with city officials.
“They worked very hard,” Patton says. “I was very pleased and proud of how they tackled the project.”
When they returned to CMU, they finished all the maps with the data they collected, then moved into analysis stage.
One group studied water flow and the manmade drains. Another group analyzed the human impact of the park. A third group studied accessibility to the park, and a fourth, vegetation.
All their information and findings went into a proposal for the Toluca city government to improve and preserve the park.
The students say they enjoyed using their skills and knowledge for a real-world task.
“We were able to apply what we know,” Jessica Watmore says. “We’re not usually able to do that in the classroom.”
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Students and faculty gather around satellite maps of the park in Toluca.
Jessica Watmore climbs a pyramid on a sightseeing trip.
Professor David Patton discusses a map of the park during class before the trip.
Students spent much of their time in Mexico collecting data in the park.
seeing the sights >
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