Im Do Hyeok, a master's student in the Eco Network & Dynamic Science Lab (NDSLab) of the Department of Forest and Environmental Systems at Korea University, won the first prize in the 2024 Map Contest, “Young Map Champion,” hosted by ESRI, and the 2024 Young Scholar Award (YSA), a global GIS talent award. 

The ESRI Map Contest is held annually to foster GIS talent, and this year's contest was aimed at drawing insights into current issues and responses, prevention and solutions, utilizing ESRI's ArcGIS technology. With support from ESRI, Im will be invited to represent Korea at the 2024 Esri International User Conference, the world's largest GIS conference, scheduled for July in San Diego, USA.

He presented his ArcGIS StoryMaps entry, “Fire Risk Prediction and Firefighting Optimization in Seoul,” in English, and was well-received by the judges for his use of various Esri WebGIS platforms and his proposal for prediction and prevention based on data analytics, which were the evaluation criteria for the contest.

“This is a competition that I have been aiming for since I was an undergraduate student when I was first introduced to GIS, and it is meaningful to win this award after two years of research experience,” said Im. “I will use this award as a springboard to interact with GIS analysts from around the world and acquire the latest technologies and new inspiration at the User Conference in July.”