Mapping Tucson One Mile at a Time: Professor Michael McKisson’s Quest to Bicycle Every Street Showcased on AZPM
Associate Professor of Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies Michael McKisson during one of his many bike rides in Tucson. Photo by Michael McKisson.
Most Tucsonans navigate only a fraction of the city’s streets in a lifetime. But Michael McKisson, associate professor of practice and director of undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona College of Information Science, is determined to do what few, if any, have accomplished: bike every one of them.
Michael McKisson in AZPM's studio. Photo by Sophia Hammer, courtesy AZPM.
The project, dubbed Every Street Tucson, is both a personal quest and a deeply professional one. As a visual journalist and FAA-certified drone operator, McKisson sees this endeavor as more than mileage. It’s data collection, storytelling and community engagement rolled into one.
“I realized I’d lived in this city I love for 36 years and yet seen so little of it,” McKisson says in a recent audio feature on AZPM’s Arizona Spotlight: “Going the distance!” “So I set out to ride every inch of every mile in Tucson—about 2,600 miles in total.”
As of this spring, he’s completed roughly 80% of the city’s streets—about 2,000 miles—and hopes to finish the remainder this summer. That final stretch will be the toughest yet: roads on the far east and south sides of Tucson, many of which lack bike lanes and require car trips just to reach a new starting point.
McKisson relies on digital tools like GPS tracking and Wandrer Earth—a mapping service that visualizes unexplored routes—to document his progress. The project isn’t just about checking streets off a map. It’s about uncovering the soul of the city, block by block.
All the streets Michael McKisson has biked in Tucson. Image courtesy Michael McKisson.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” McKisson says in the feature. “It might be a mural, a quiet park or the smell of someone’s breakfast wafting through the air. Riding a bike makes you notice things you’d never catch from a car.”
But it’s not without its hazards. He recounts close calls with inattentive drivers, and one memorable encounter involving five dogs on a single street. “I managed to escape, but just barely,” he says, laughing. “Let’s just say it keeps things interesting.”
His ultimate goal? A photo book capturing the textures and idiosyncrasies of Tucson, as seen through his lens—and occasionally, his drone’s. The drone, he says, offers a view “between the ground and satellite—a layer of the city most people never see.”
Tucson streets Michael McKisson still has to complete. Image courtesy Michael McKisson.
This blend of visual storytelling, geospatial awareness and immersive technology is emblematic of McKisson’s work at the College of Information Science. In the classroom, he trains students in uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) operation, product development and media entrepreneurship. Out in the field, he practices what he teaches—pushing the boundaries of how technology and journalism can intersect to tell richer, more human stories.
As McKisson pedals the final miles of his Tucson odyssey, he continues to model a philosophy at the heart of the college’s mission: informed exploration, innovative tools and storytelling that connects us to the communities we inhabit.
Learn more about Michael McKisson on his faculty page, and explore the other InfoSci faculty and research who go the distance in information science and beyond.