Katy Prairie Preserve Interactive Map and Stories Design

LVBrown Studio developed an interactive online storytelling project for the Coastal Prairie Conservancy’s 19,000-acre Katy Prairie Preserve outside of Houston, Texas. The project included creating a custom GIS and vector-based map of the Katy Prairie Preserve, and telling stories showcasing the preserve’s history, ecology, and points of interest. Over the past 30 years, the land trust has stitched together a quilt of parcels in fee-simple and conservation easements to protect the rare coastal tallgrass prairie from Houston’s encroaching sprawl.

Project tasks included touring the preserve, interviewing staff, reviewing documents, developing themes and narrative copy, and identifying images for storytelling. Final map, narrative, and images are combined into a “hotspot” web application to enable visitors of the new Katy Prairie Preserve’s Visitor Center to interact with the stories on a large touchscreen display. The map is designed to be updated as the preserve grows and new projects or programs are added.