By Stella Henretta

On Monday, Nov. 3, the John & Stella Graves Makerspace, located in the University of Maryland’s STEM Library, hosted the biannual AR Sandbox Competition, open to all UMD students–regardless of skill level or knowledge.

“The AR Sandbox is an interactive educational tool that teaches geographic, hydrologic and geologic concepts,” Taaja Blackburn, a Makerspace coordinator, said. “It blends augmented reality with a physical box filled with reflective white sand, and users can mold and explore 3D topographic features that are reflected in real time onto the sand’s surface.” 

The Sandbox borrowed its software and design from the University of California, Davis DataLab in 2019. The UMD Libraries’ Makerspace then created its own version of the Sandbox to provide a hands-on tool that transforms abstract scientific and geographical concepts into an immersive, interactive experience for students. Outside of the competition dates, the Makerspace also hosts demonstrations to teach students, faculty and staff about the AR Sandbox and its uses. 

Like much of the technology in the John & Stella Graves Makerspace, the AR Sandbox is a form of kinesthetic learning that encourages systems thinking, cause-and-effect reasoning and the development of spatial thinking skills. Tools like the AR Sandbox provide students with an opportunity to engage in interactive learning outside of the classroom. 

At least once every fall or spring semester, the UMD Libraries’ Geographic Information System and Data Services team promotes and hosts the AR Sandbox Competition to assist participants with the Sandbox and test students’ ability to use the tool.

“The AR Sandbox Competition is a chance for UMD students to familiarize themselves with the Sandbox and utilize their skills to recreate a 2D topographic map into a 3D model,” Blackburn said. “This Fall 2025 semester, participants were asked to recreate a map of Harpers Ferry. Entries were judged based on completeness, features placement, elevation accuracy and neatness.”

Sandbox coordinators hold an award ceremony after the competition to congratulate the winners and present their prizes. The highest-scoring participants will split a pool of $500 in gift cards, incentivizing students to engage in the competition. This semester’s AR Sandbox Competition award ceremony will take place on Nov. 19, which is nationally recognized as Geographic Information Systems Day or GIS Day.

Last spring’s winner, landscape architecture graduate student Artemis Maziarski, was tasked with topographically mapping a site along the Colorado River on the border of Arizona and California.

This year, Maziarski said that things looked a bit different. In addition to receiving knowledge of the specified site ahead of time, participants were given a full hour to complete their submission instead of the 30 minutes allotted last year. Students also received additional guidance and instruction on how they would like their map to be oriented in the AR Sandbox.

“Winning the competition last year boosted my confidence in my understanding and reading of topography maps, and my ability to translate the 2D map into a 3D landform,” Maziarski said. “[The competition] really made me appreciate all I have learned as a Master’s of Landscape Architecture student, which I was able to draw on in order to create a winning submission.”

Freshman mechanical engineering major Subhan Chaudhry participated in this year’s competition. Chaudhry had seen demonstrations of similar interactive workshops across the internet and wanted to explore how the AR Sandbox could be used to visualize real-world engineering principles.

“What I like about the Sandbox is that it’s really interactive and it helps students by making an abstract concept actually physical and tangible,” Chaudhry said. “Instead of just learning from diagrams or equations, you can physically shape and manipulate a surface to see real-time results.”

The AR Sandbox helps students to understand concepts relating to topography, as well as to physically recreate and understand the specifics of a distinct place. For students who prefer to learn with a hands-on approach, this makes 3D mapping much easier.

“I instantly understand a location where I can access a physical [3D] model much better compared to only seeing a 2D representation, or even a digital computer model for that matter,” Maziarski said. “The model being physically present and tangibly alterable makes an enormous difference.”

Simulations like the sandbox can help to bridge the gap between physical and digital learning, compared to mundane ways of learning, Chaudhry said.

“Tools like the sandbox help inspire curiosity and innovation, encouraging students to explore complex ideas through play and experimentation,” Chaudhry added. “Just remember that the Sandbox is designed for exploration, so there’s no ‘wrong’ way to use it. Try shaping the sand and just focus on how the projection reacts while letting your curiosity guide you.”

Blackburn hopes that once students are familiar with the Sandbox, they will think of it as an invaluable tool that can assist with their research and learning.

“We created the AR Sandbox Competition to promote and introduce students to technology they may not have access to elsewhere or didn’t know existed. The competition is sort of an incentive to get students into the Makerspace and interact with the Sandbox,” Blackburn said. “Hopefully, [students will] return and continue to use the Makerspace’s resources in the future.”

Maziarski believes that the AR Sandbox is a powerful tool that should be utilized and implemented into courses that cover an introduction to topographic mapping or grading and contours. After all, the Sandbox is just one more tool that UMD has at its disposal that empowers students to learn in ways that work best for them.

“The STEM Library Makerspace is a very welcoming environment, and it’s always cool to see what other people may have in the works of 3D printing,” Maziarski. “There’s always something interesting, creative and innovative going on there. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and don’t be afraid to not know what you’re doing – you will walk out [of the Makerspace] knowing what you are doing.”

Featured image: The AR Sandbox located in the University of Maryland’s STEM Library in William E. Kirwan Hall. Photo by Stella Henretta.