Mapping Worldviews

Today we will create a collaborative map using Google My Maps - below are examples you can look at to see what can be done on this platform

To view a Google My Maps in Google Earth Web click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the legend on the left side and then click View map in Google Earth

Mapping Indigenous Places in Lawrence

Today we will Indigenize the map of Lawrence

We will make a Google My Maps as a group by adding content to the layer with each of your names. Work from the list below: for each topic find a location, add a marker, line, or polygon to the map; add a title, put information about the place in the description box along with links and photos to describe your experience in that place. You will add your perspectives to these places - please be respectful of the work of other students, this is a group project and everyone will be contributing their view point.

1. Mark a place where you have seen something interesting on the Kansas River in Lawrence (or nearby). What did you see? What effect did it have on you? How do you feel about the river?

2. Go to the Kanza Language map tour of the Kansas River (it may load slowly, be patient). Have you been to any of the places on this map? Add a marker to our group My Maps and tell us what your experience was at that location, and say something about the information you saw on the Kanza Language Map. Does this change your view of the river?

3. Find Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe (The Big Red Rock of the Kanza People) on the map (Hint: it is in Robinson Park). Have you ever driven or walked past it? Did you know what it was? Place a marker near it where you may have stood or walked and tell us about your feelings about Robinson Park and Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe after you have read the material on this website https://www.robinsonpark1929.com/

4. Where is the Haskell Medicine Wheel? Where were the Haskell wetlands? Where is the South Lawrence Traffic Way? Have you ever been there? What was the fight to save the Haskell wetlands and block the SLT all about? Have you been to the Baker Wetlands Discovery Center? Add markers and tell us about this part of Lawrence and how you might think differently about it when you learn about this history.

5. Have you attended pow-wows, art fairs, or cultural events that taught you about Native American cultures in Lawrence? Put a marker in the location and tell us about your experiences. Where is the Haskell Pow Wow grounds? If you have attended events there place a marker and tell us about it.

6. Find Billy Mills Middle School. What do you know about Billy Mills and his connection to KU and Haskell?

7. Find the KU Natural History Museum. Have you ever seen the display of the horse Comanche? How does the Natural History Museum display relate to Fort Riley, the 7th Infantry, George Armstrong Custer, and the history of tribes in Kansas and the Great Plains? Does knowing more about that change the way you feel about the display of the horse Comanche on our campus?

8. Go to https://native-land.ca/ to find out whose land KU was built on. Does it change the way you view the KU campus to know whose land you are on? Where are the tribes now? Place a marker on their reservations and tell us what you think about the displacement that resulted in the building of KU. Does KU have a Land Acknowledgement? https://nativesuccess.ku.edu/constructing-land-acknowledgements-kansas What do you think about the idea of KU having a campus-wide Land Acknowledgement?

9. Find the Reservations in Kansas. Have you ever been to one of the Tribal Nations in Kansas, or driven past them? What was your experience? Place a marker and tell us about it.

10. Add markers, lines and polygons to the map to share any other places in and near Lawrence that you know about which help us to see the presence of Indigenous People in our community and on the land we inhabit.

Here are some custom icons you can use to build your map layer

Indigenous mapping icons

Australian icons


You will need to sign into a Google Account - if you do not have one you can create one here

Go to the editable version of the Google My Map above by Clicking here to go to map

Next you will need to click on the blue sign in button in the upper right corner and sign into your Google Account before you can edit the map


Presentation view


When you first go to the map it will be in presentation mode and you will need to sign in to your Google Account to edit the map


Click Edit



This will take you to the Edit View

edit view


Look for the editing tools to begin your mapping


View in Google Earth Web



To view a Google My Maps in Google Earth Web click the map menu icon (the three dots at the top of the left sidebar) and click View in Google Earth

How to make your own Google My Maps