© Matthew Leigh Murray2Now, use a GIS to explore food insecurity and its connection to many other issues in the United States. Go tothe “Map the Meal Gap” online GIS If thehotlink does not work properly, copy the site address into your browser. If the map location has been moved, look for a link to it on the main page. This map is hosted by “Feeding America,” an organization that calls attention to hunger and related socio-economic disparities in the US.On your screen, yousee a map of the US showing data about food insecurity.•Play with the different view optionson the map and learn how to change the scale of the map and thekinds of information displayed. You can also choose between differentyears of data.Explore the various linkson the main page as well as at the Hunger Research tab at the bottom of the page.•As you mouse over the US map, you will see a pop-up window with a wealth of information about food insecurityfor each state.•Choose one state to explore in more detail and click on it. The map will change to a more detailed scale of your chosen state, showing the individual counties. You can now explore the differences between the counties in your chosen state, as you did for the entire US.In Part 1 of your exercise report, please respond to the following questions:1.What is “food insecurity?”2.What didyou observe about the general spatial patterns of food insecurity in the United States on the main map? Doparticular parts of the United States have more food insecurity than other part?What do you think about this?3.What state did you choose to examine?Why did you choose this state?4.What patterns did you detect in the “overall”and “child”food insecurity rates in the state?Are there differencesand/or similarities?5.In what way did the spatial patterns of food insecurity change in your state through time? What might these changes suggest in terms of food insecurity in your state?What do you think about this?Part 2—ESRI “Story Maps”TheAmerican mapping technology giant, ESRI(Environmental Systems Research Institute)in Redlands, CA, maintains a fascinating and dynamic site that hosts dozens of interactive online GIS called “story maps” because of the way that each GIS helps us to understand geographic relationships and to appreciate the importance of these relationships in our lives. Go to the ESRI Story Maps site:https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-storymaps/stories)and choose at least one “story map”toexplore.Look around the site for links tomore maps and map themes.InPart 2 of your report, respond to thefollowing promptsabout your chosen story map:1.What is the name of the map and who made it? What is the purpose of the map(that is, what is the “story”)?Why did you choose it?2.What kinds of information are combined in the GIS to tell this story?3.What did you learn from this GIS and what do you think about that information?
