The Hunker Tour

Henry Hunker's field trip - Time and change

Hunker's Bio

On November 3, 1956, Prof. Henry L. Hunker, professor of geography at The Ohio State University, led a group of professional geographers from around the country on a tour of "Urban-Industrial Columbus, Ohio." At the time, Prof. Hunker's own research and a set of his informal notes provided the narrative for the tour. He was to conduct many such tours in the years to come. In 2000, Prof. Hunker's notes from the original tour in 1956 tour along with an updated commentary on changes that have occurred between 1956 and 1999, were published in Columbus, Ohio "A Personal Geography"

The Tour

screen Prof. Hunker's original tour narrative and updates have now been turned into a 'virtual tour' in an interactive mapping environment (Google Earth). Ola Ahlqvist, professor of geography, and undergraduate students from his Numerical Cartography class have created the first-of-its-kind virtual tour of professor Hunker's ground breaking research into the development of "Urban-Industrial Columbus, Ohio." This virtual tour includes prof. Hunker's original tour notes (in italics) and his updated commentary from 1999 (non italics) - -but with a twist. Students have included additional points of interest, images, sound, video clips and internet links, taking full advantage of the new interactive environment. We hope that you will enjoy this rich 50+ year perspective on Columbus.

To take the tour, click here.

NOTE: Once Google Earth launches, click the link: "Time and Change - Virtual Field Trip of Columbus" (see image below).
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From the Chair

Professor Ahlqvist has helped students translate one of the treasures of our department into modern form. The new 'accessible' virtual tour is based on the life long commitment of Dr. Henry Hunker (Emeritus Professor) to the city he knows and has studied so well for many decades. Henry was pleased to hear of this when I called to tell him of the student project. Although the new technology is far removed from the real city tour that many of us have enjoyed with Professor Hunker, the new virtual tour captures admirably the spirit and texture of the city and reflects the text from the accompanying book written by Professor Hunker. It is a commendable effort, and one that speaks well for the vitality of our discipline's contribution to urban studies." Morton O'Kelly, Chair, Department of Geography

The Virtual Tour Project Team:

Project lead: Ola Ahlqvist, Assistant Professor of geography
Students: Ann Dennewitz, Michael Kurey, Chibuzor Chiazor, Anthony Cuevas, Stephen Hale, Anthony Hill, Adam House, Jared Kendrick, Douglas Kroonvandiest, Timothy Krugh, Francios Lamini, Luciano Landaburu, Donna Lee, Ryan Oiler, Jeffrey Olson, William Pierce, Chris Robbins, Justin Rowell, Azher Salikuddin, and Joshua Stockdale.
Web design support: Phil Birnie, web manager, department of geography

If you are interested in the class project and the development process, click here.

Required software :

Google Earth v4.3 or higher.