Cartography in Kansas presents unique challenges due to its vast rural areas and flat topography. Kansas is known for its widely stretched farmland, prairies, and plains, which create difficulties when mapping the state. The flat terrain makes it challenging to accurately depict elevation and relief on maps. Due to this, cartographers often use different techniques to represent these features through contour lines and shaded relief.

The development of rural areas in Kansas can also pose obstacles in cartography. Mapping these areas requires a lot of time and resources as every rural zone consists of unique features like farmland, soil type, and different biomes, that a cartographer has to consider. Furthermore, rural areas have limited infrastructure and can be sparsely populated compared to urban zones. Cartographers need to incorporate all these factors while mapping the state to create detailed maps that can be used for a variety of purposes, including agricultural planning and resource management.

Another unique challenge in mapping rural areas of Kansas is the lack of updated data. Some smaller towns or rural regions may not have received the same attention as big cities, and therefore their information might not be up-to-date. Cartographers thus need to use updated satellite images, census data, and other sources of information to make sure their maps are as accurate as possible. This can be a time-consuming process, but it is necessary to ensure that maps represent the state's geography and demographics. Mapping rural areas in Kansas presents unique cartographic challenges that require specialized methodologies and techniques to overcome.

Maps Tell the Stories: Kansas History Through Cartography

This collection of new and original maps reveals what skillful GIS mapping can do in enhancing collections of data and research. The following undergraduate projects on rural crime, ethnic settlements, charitable institutions, and lost communities of Kansas have taken data from various sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Historic GIS, Esri, and original research by Chapman Center interns and students. These projects have been gathered to created a collection of cartographic products aimed to gain a greater understanding of Kansas communities and enhance the historic research of the Chapman Center.