The aim of this thesis is to develop a dynamic mapping system where a student can share his tour experiences during his/her study abroad program sponsored by San Diego State University, and structured at the Language Acquisition Resource Center. The tour experiences are called ‘stories’ which include pictures taken by the students at different places. These stories are then displayed on a template which is a web application created using ESRI`s story map template. The mapping system provides the facility to every user to upload stories, view or edit uploaded stories and view the dynamically updated Story Map. The pilot of mapping system was first implemented for the Study Abroad program in Florence of Summer 2015. The concept behind the project was a database that would be used to store the pictures and Comma Separated Value (.CSV) files, and would automatically be linked to the ESRI`s map. An account-based front-end is provided to every user to upload and manipulate his stories. The trouble shooting of the pilot occurred while the students were already in Florence, which resulted into two successful interventions, (I) reducing Admin intervention and (II) enabling successful completion of this component of the study abroad and improving the student feedback. A total of more than 250 stories by the students and instructor were uploaded during the Florence study abroad program. The mapping system provided a simplified and easy way to share study abroad experiences without the students needing ArcGIS logins or GIS experience.
