For the museum's Pacific Hall, set to reopen in the fall, Ms. Ide came up with the idea to put a large map on a new wood floor, inlaid with images of islands and letters in contrasting wood to draw visitors into the sweep of the original Pacific migration to Hawaii.

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Due to the large volume of data and detail in a traditional map pack, updates are usually done about twice a year, meaning high-construction areas can become terribly inaccurate before your maps company gives you a fresh edition.

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An 1836 map of the city shows several large islands in the middle of the river, Michigan's longest running 232 miles from the center of the state west to Lake Michigan.

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