Using MapMaker, sixth-grade students from Foulks Ranch Elementary School interactively explore and discover our world, finding places that mean something to them and examining these further. 

Visualization tools in both 2D and 3D help the students understand what it’s like to not just see a location but be in the location. 

With Census data from the Living Atlas, students can analyze demographics in their city, county, state and visualize the diversity of ethnic groups throughout the United States. 

Seeing the data on a map helps the students identify patterns, such as the more frequent areas in the world where hurricanes and cyclones form.  Using the legend, they can understand what to look for on a map, explore historical data and see the hurricane tracks, painting a picture that can lead to future discovery.