GIS4043: Participation Assignment #2, Week 3

The group project recently completed was designed to expose students to the ways in which GIS is used in different kinds of industries. The group to which I belonged focused on the use of GIS in government. In smaller groups, some members produced a list of available GIS jobs in various governments while others wrote a summary of the group's objectives which was then added to the UWF GIS Group #2 ~ Government's Map Gallery created by the group leader. To the Map Gallery each group member added a map which shows the location of the case study which that member chose to summarize.

The map I contributed to the government group's Map Gallery shows the location of the city of Alexandria, Virginia.  Alexandria is the site of the case study "Alexandria, Virginia Gets Serious about Park and Play Space Improvements" which I summarized for an individual assignment. The case study revolved around the goal of combating childhood obesity by determining where play spaces needed to be added or improved to ensure that every young child in Alexandria would have access to an adequate play area.

This group project enabled students to have the experience of working together toward a common goal by dividing a project into parts.

GIS3015 Module 10 Lab: Flow Line Mapping

Mapping with flow lines provides a very simple graphic illustration of geographical movement of some phenomena. In this module a flow map was created to show the origins of and number of persons coming from other regions and obtaining legal permanent United States resident status. A choropleth map of the United States was created to show the percentage of immigrants to each of the fifty states. The graphic representations were based on fiscal year 2007 statistics obtained from the US Department of Homeland Security. Flow lines on flow maps must be hand drawn due to their individual and unique nature. Because of this, Adobe Illustrator was used exclusively to create the flow map.

preliminary sketch - horizontal

Far more than any other map created to date, this flow map took the most preparation to determine the best layout before even starting Adobe Illustrator. First in the process was sketching out two possibilities ~ a horizontal format and a vertical format, each one showing the location of the continents with flow line placement, location of the choropleth map and the legend. For each map a list of pros and cons was also created. The horizontal format allowed plenty of room to place the US in the center with the regions placed around the US with large flow lines directed to it. The horizontal layout seemed less busy, was very clear, and required shorter flow lines. The cons of the horizontal layout were that the regions were not viewed in their normal relationships to each other, and the map was very US-centric giving the impression that the US is of greater importance than the rest of the world. Although the purpose and focus of the map is to show immigration to the US from all other regions, the US-centric format was rejected eventually. On the other hand, the vertical format kept the US and the other regions of the world in their proper relationships, and the US was kept at the same scale as the other countries. 

preliminary sketch - vertical

Negative aspects of this format were that the flow line showing immigration from other parts of North America to the US was split and had to be joined near the arrowhead, and either the South American flow line had to cross the flow line coming from the region of Mexico/Central America or it would have to be placed in the already congested area of the east coast. That would be dealt with later, as this still seemed like the better layout choice.

The next step in the flow map-making process was to print out a preliminary layout for a working sketch. This involved placing the world map and choropleth map in an AI document and printing it out.

working sketch

Questions, notes, ideas, RGB colors for matching purposes, additions/deletions, and information that came up in discussion board postings as well as the flow lines were marked on this map or the initial hand-drawn sketch. This provided a way to keep all the necessary information and lab requirements organized and to minimize the possibility of leaving information out unintentionally. It was also a way to think out different ways of presenting the information prior to committing to making changes in Illustrator. With flow lines sized proportionally and matching the regions by color, the resultant map provides an easy to interpret comparison of immigration from different regions of the world. For specific immigration numbers, viewers can consult the chart included in the map. Ideally this chart would have included the color and size of flow line attributed to each region, but time constraints and other obligations precluded that this time.

Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent
U.S. Resident Status (By Region of Birth, FY 2007)

Choropleth colors were chosen to match the color of North America in the flow map. Normally the bar scale for a map would be placed lower than the legend of the map, but in this particular case it was placed closer to the map for ease of use. The orange color scheme of the choropleth map and the legend along with the size of the rectangles in the legend attract one’s attention directly to the legend from the choropleth map, so it still appears to rank higher visually if not physically.

While some aspects of using AI are becoming familiar, there is so much more to learn. Creating the flow lines was extremely difficult with each one requiring several attempts. Applying some of the special effects to the flow lines changed either the color, length or position of the flow lines with the longer lines impacted more severely than shorter lines. Because of this, only drop shadow was applied to the lines, and that had to be adjusted where the lines come together at the east coast of the US. Some workarounds for the other issues may be discovered with more practice. Throughout this map-making exercise, numerous copies of the map were saved at different stages to provide backup in case a special effect could not be undone for some reason. This exercise exemplified the extensive capabilities of Adobe Illustrator for creating or enhancing maps.

GIS4043 Week 11: Vector Analysis 2

The lab exercise this week introduced students to the types and methods of creating buffer zones, ArcPy scripting, and overlay operations. After preliminary practice exercises, these were utilized in the creation of a map of sites within a national forest which would be suitable for future development as campgrounds. Buffers were created around roads, lakes and rivers and then the union tool was used to filter out sites which did not fit established proximity criteria. The erase tool then was used to remove areas which met the proximity criteria but were within conservation areas which needed to be avoided. The result was numerous sites which did meet the criteria.  Because of the newness of these techniques, frequent “Save As” of the map provided intermediate progress points from which I could resume work if I ever ended up at a point of no return which would require starting over.

Several different basemaps were tried and deemed unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. Finally, a topo map was chosen for the basemap so that planners reviewing the sites would have the maximum amount of information in a minimal package. Having topography at hand would enable reviewers to determine suitability of the potential sites relative to the terrain with just a quick glance.

DeSoto National Forest: Potential Campground Sites

A map such as this would give forest planners a starting point for the development of a new campground. If the different sites had been classified according to acreage, planners would be able to compare areas and eliminate those which are too small. This also could be accomplished to a degree just by visual inspection of the map. Reviewing the map on a topographical basemap would enable planners to further determine which sites are reasonably level in general for tents or trailers and which sites are suitable given the river/road relationships. With the possibilities narrowed down by the use of a GIS product, planners would spend their time efficiently going into the field to review the physical sites to determine which site or sites would be best suited for development of a new campground.

Although I love camping in national forests, I probably won’t be visiting this future campground. Mississippi state troopers and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a certain matter of signage, so I’m boycotting the state until I recoup my costs. Although they won monetarily, I won on the matter of principle as the Mississippi state traffic engineer personally confirmed my interpretation of the signage. Life is good. Let’s go camping.

GIS3015 Module 9 Lab: Isarithmic Mapping

Utilizing contours formed by connecting points of equal values, isarithmic maps are useful for illustrating continuous data such as elevation and topography, barometric pressure, and precipitation. This module’s exercise focused on the average annual precipitation of Washington State and involved the completion of two isarithmic maps, one symbolized with the continuous tone method and the other symbolized with hypsometric tints.

As seen in the first map, the continuous tone technique is a proportionate tonal representation of each surface point’s value. Because this results in a gradual change in color with changes in quantity, distinguishing between quantities can be difficult when trying to relate the values in the legend with distinct locations on the map. That is why I chose to provide contour lines on this type of map. Contour lines provide “break points” in precipitation amounts relative to the legend.

Map 1: Continuous Tone Isarithmic Map
Average Annual Precipitation: Washington State (1981 - 2010)

Hypsometric tints were used for the second map. Hypsometric tinting has discrete breaks between ranges of values. The abrupt changes of color enable a viewer to more easily distinguish the differences between values. Unlike continuous tone maps, maps with hypsometric tinting can be used easily without contour lines. Creating the map from the data involved converting the raster data to integers and then manually forming classes to symbolize.

Map 2: Hypsometric Tints Isarithmic Map
Average Annual Precipitation: Washington State (1981 - 2010)

For both of these precipitation maps I selected a vertical-format legend for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that precipitation is a "vertical" measurement of volume (imagine a rain gauge) with values increasing toward the top. The other reason is that greater precipitation generally is associated with higher elevations. A vertical format legend echoes those relationships (lower/dryer, higher/wetter). Deciding which legend format to use was definitely the easier part of implementing it. Trying to remember where and how to change the symbology and format ended up being a bit time-consuming due to minimal experience.  I’m glad to say that that is improving with every lab exercise.  With their use of hillshading effect and vibrant color ramps, these maps rank among my favorites to create so far.

GIS3015 Module 8 Lab: Proportional Symbol Mapping

The Proportional Symbol Mapping lab walked students through the development of two maps about wine consumption in Europe utilizing proportional symbols. The first map used data for all of Europe with a couple of exceptions and was created after joining the data from Excel with the shapefile in ArcMap. The second map built on the same information, but focused on only seven western Europe nations. Completing the exercise included combining the geographical features of several countries into one feature for each of those countries by the use of the Dissolve tool in Geoprocessing, reprojecting the shapefile, and then adding the wine consumption data. The consumption data was reviewed for discrepancies or omissions that might cause issues, and then was saved as a .csv before it was added to ArcMap through Joins and Relates. After viewing results of using the data as received from the Wine Institute, the quantities were then reduced using the third root with the field calculator in the attribute table and then used for the map. Initially I preferred the open look of hollow symbols for these results, but eventually decided to go with filled circles. I'm still on the fence about both options. What I knew unquestionably from the beginning was that I would use wine-based colors for the maps, reflecting one of my favorites ~ Cabernet Sauvignon. (Initially I had selected the hollow circles to enable the countries' borders to remain visible, and also to give a nod to another European favorite, Champagne.) Unaware at the start that a legend was deliberately not part of this lab, I have a gaping space on my first map and a bit of a queasy feeling about turning in an incomplete map. I stayed true to the instructions for the lab, but I'll fess up to spending some time trying to figure out how to produce a legend for this type of map. That will have to wait for a future project! This first map was completed exclusively in ArcMap.

Wine Consumption in Europe ~ 2010

The second map was begun in ArcMap and completed in Adobe Illustrator. I'll confess right here that I am so looking forward to the day when Illustrator actually feels like an efficient pathway to an awesome map. For now, I spend a lot of time consulting resources and wandering around the menus. The symbolization was a lot of fun, combining the circles and wine bottles and adding labels. Unfortunately, something which I still have not identified (but probably having to do with manipulating files in directory in preparation for uploading), caused all my wine bottles to disappear from the face of my map after I had exported a jpeg. I couldn't figure out where they went or how to get them back, so that part of my .ai document had to be redone. Another thing that was a bit frustrating was having a color scheme started in ArcMap and then opening the exported file in Illustrator to find significant color differences.  The worst was discovering that the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean were lavender instead of the blue I had selected.  Maybe it has been an especially cold year in that region as well, but I changed the color rather than retain the lavender look.

Wine Consumption in Western Europe ~ 2010

With the information shown directly below each country's name, I think the second map is easier to read and use. However, that type of symbology does take up a lot of space, so it wouldn't be appropriate for maps with a lot of data. Now that this project is finished, I do believe I'll go relax with a nice red.

GIS4043 Weeks 7 & 8: GIS Data Search

A subtitle for this lab's project very well could have been "Comprehensiveness". Everything that has been learned to date was put into action, often multiple times, during this lab. Developing a set of maps about one county in Florida which included multiple layers covering everything from general map features (roads, cities, boundaries, water forms) to more specialized environmental topics (in this case invasive plant locations and Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas) was the goal.  To complete the required series of maps, multiple data sites were accessed in the quest for needed data.  This was the most time-consuming portion of the lab because the data files had to be compared against each other for coverage and date in order to find the most complete and recent information.  Many more files than were needed had been viewed in the map itself to visually compare coverage, looking for gaps or overlaps to ensure the most efficient but complete coverage. This was especially the case with the public land layer.  During this process was when I really learned to pay close attention to the details in the metadata to avoid spending time downloading files that would not be helpful.

Map 1 ~ Lake County, Florida: Cities, Roads, Elevation, Aerial

Something that sped up the creation of the map set to cover all the topics was using the same general format between all three maps.  By planning ahead and keeping the main data frame, the locator map, and some essential elements in the same location in the map, I could just duplicate the original map layout for each of the remaining maps. This gave me a jump start on the other maps, and allowed me to make changes to the rest of the layers and map elements easily.  From the map user’s perspective, the same general layout provides a sense of cohesiveness which enables efficient referencing between each of the maps.

The first map provided the general information for the map series.  It included the major roads (labeled), cities and towns (labeled), elevation data, and one aerial photo.  Because of its significant difference from other roads in the area, Florida’s Turnpike was given its own label and symbology in order to stand out.

Map 2 ~ Surface Water, Public Land, and Invasive Plants
 of Lake County, Florida

For purposes of clarity, the aerial photo, elevation data, road names, and city names were eliminated from the remaining two maps. Surface water and public lands were featured on the second map along the locations of invasive plants. Showing these all on the same map seemed important because of the management involved with minimizing the spread of invasive plants.  Retaining the roads and cities in this map is also significant in that the locations of these are likely linked to the spread of invasive plants.  Note the location of invasive plants in the southwest portion of the county.  With other sources of information, this very straight diagonal line is easily identified as the Van Fleet State Trail, a rails-to-trails path. Some relation between the former railroad grade and the spread of invasive plants is very probable.

Map 3 ~ Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas
 of Lake County, Florida

The third map shows the Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas (SHCA), ranked by priority. Showing the surface water and public land layers in this map helps the map user see potential connections between SHCA and water bodies or public lands.  Placing the surface water layer below the SHCA layer ensured that habitats which are water-based would show in their entirety rather than being overlaid by the edge of the water body itself. Retaining the roads layer helps the map user stay oriented with respect to location of the SHCA.

This lab took quite a bit of time to complete, but it was a very practical and pertinent exercise.  I can't wait until the technical aspects of ArcMap become second nature to me and I can allow additional time for experimenting with the  more artistic aspects of map-making!

Reflections: Montessori Education & GIS

In recognition of Montessori Education Week this week, I have taken the liberty to share some reflections on how different aspects of the Montessori Method of Education prepare a child for the future study and use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  The Montessori Method of Education has been in use for well over 100 years.  Maria Montessori recognized the enormous capacity of the young child to absorb information of all kinds, and the methods and materials which she developed were based on her observations of children.  With 20 years of Montessori experience myself, most as a certified Montessori teacher at the Early Childhood and Elementary levels, I have had ample opportunity to see these materials and methods in action.  While by no means a complete study, the following aspects of the Montessori method of education prepare a child for a future GIS career.

In the Language area of an Early Childhood (3-6 year olds) Montessori Classroom are exercises which develop a child's reading, penmanship, and creative writing skills.  Pre-reading work there includes activities which Montessorians refer to as "Spatial Relations", i.e. how objects are located with respect to each other.  In the academic world this lays the foundation for understanding prepositions as part of grammar studies, and, in the world of GIS, prepares one for understanding the function and operation of layers and graphics placement in map-making.  Other pre-reading exercises include "Parts to Whole", "Whole to Parts", and "Figure-Ground" which develop a child's visual discrimination in picture formation, scenes, and association, all of which would be beneficial while creating a map. Sequencing work in the Language area develops the skill of determining which comes first, next, and last which is similar to determining layer order while creating a map in a GIS or graphics software. Categorizing is introduced at the pre-reading level as well with exercises that emphasize what is alike or different.  Learning to compare and sort based on similarities and differences is beneficial for categorizing or grouping data later.  These exercises would also develop attention to detail for noticing subtle differences between the names of coordinate systems which may be similar.

The Sensorial area of a Montessori classroom contains materials which lead into the study of Mathematics.  Sensorial materials help a child develop discriminating skills using all of the senses.  Visual comparisons include large/small, thick/thin, tall/short, and greater than/less than, usually by degrees of 10 (preparation for the decimal system, think metric!).  These comparisons are helpful in determining or selecting line width, typography, etc. in mapmaking.

  

 Color Box 3
image source: http://www.nienhuis.com/ 

Colors are also compared with the children working up to grading (lightest to darkest or darkest to lightest) shades of 9 different colors in Color Box 3, a perfect preparation for selecting colors to use in a map.  It's a bit like a choropleth map in a box.

 Geometric Solids
image source: http://www.nienhuis.com/ 

Also in the Sensorial area of an Early Childhood Montessori classroom are the geometric solids.  With these the children learn the names (sphere, ellipsoid, ovoid, etc.) and different properties of solids. Learning the names and properties of solids in the Early Childhood Montessori environment and expanding that study in the Lower and Upper Elementary Montessori classrooms enables a child to be familiar with these terms relative to discussions of datums and coordinate systems in GIS.

Geometric Cabinet

image source: http://www.absorbentminds.co.uk

After the introduction of Geometric Solids, children are given lessons with the Geometric Cabinet which houses the plane figures.  Using these two activities, a child learns the relationship between the geometric shapes (2-dimensional figures) and the Geometric Solids (3-dimensional), just like relating a 2D paper model (a map) to a 3D object (the world).

Puzzle Map
image source: http://www.nienhuis.com/ 

Expanding into the Cultural area to continue studying the relationship between 3D objects and 2D figures, a child in an Early Childhood Montessori classroom has the opportunity to work with puzzle maps.   After an introduction to the globe, children begin with a planisphere (and yes, we use that term with the children) map of the world and then progress through maps of individual continents (each country represented by a separate puzzle piece, the knob of which is located at the country's capital) before working with maps of individual countries (with the puzzle piece knob located at each state's or province's capital).  When placing a puzzle map on a work rug to use, the children orient the top of the map (North) to the actual direction of North in the classroom.

Pin Maps
image source: http://www.nienhuis.com/ 

In the Lower and Upper Elementary Montessori classrooms, the students continue to build on this geographic knowledge by placing labeled pin flags into special pin maps to label major political and geographic features (capitals, major cities, land and water forms).  These practices are valuable in increasing a child's knowledge of geographical locations throughout the world, a plus for using Geographic Information Systems. Montessori students also learn about latitude and longitude with materials specifically designed to make that abstract concept more concrete. By the time a child leaves the elementary or secondary Montessori environment, a solid background in Geography has been established. The student is familiar with countries and their locations in the world, often recognizing the country simply by its shape.

In the Practical Life area of an Early Childhood Montessori classroom, children not only hone their skills for becoming independent, but they also use materials specifically designed to increase their concentration, organization, and coordination.  The materials are laid out in a prescribed manner to emphasize the left to right and top to bottom orientation used in our culture for reading and writing.  Effective maps created with a GIS or graphic software are also laid out in this manner, prioritizing more important information with its placement near the top of a map and facilitating a left to right movement through information.

Many Early Childhood Montessori materials are self-correcting, i.e. the design of the material reveals error that needs to be corrected.  A child using the material can see an issue and correct it without relying on someone else to point it out.  This leads to the development of independent work habits including self-checking and editing skills that would help a GIS specialist proof work prior to submittal.

Golden Beads
image source: http://www.montessorialbum.com

Geometry concepts introduced in the Early Childhood environment are continued and expanded upon at the Elementary level.  The golden bead materials which the children started using when they were 3 years old to learn Mathematics concepts and operations are also used at the Elementary Level to introduce geometry concepts.  A unit (single bead) represents a point, a ten (bar) represents a line, and a hundred (square) represents a polygon. Sounds quite similar to the terms GIS specialists use for spatial features (point, line, area/polygon), doesn't it? Additionally, a thousand (cube) in the golden bead material would represent a volume value to a GIS specialist.

Beginning at the Lower Elementary level, etymology is a regular part of the Montessori curriculum. Throughout the different subject areas, the students learn the roots of words which can then be applied to decipher unknown words.  For instance, learning at a geography lesson that "geography" comes from the Greek words for "earth" and "writing" would help determine that "geodesy", "geometry", and "geoid" must also have something to do with the earth.

Throughout Montessori classrooms, from Early Childhood through Elementary and into secondary levels, students are provided the environment and support that they need to become independent as well as cooperative learners.  By choosing their own work and managing their time effectively, they develop appropriate work habits, time management skills, and critical thinking skills.  Critical thinking skills will be important in critiquing GIS work later (Does this make sense?  Is this the best method of data classification for this particular situation? and so on.)  The independent as well as cooperative learning that is fostered in a Montessori setting (non-competitive by plan) is a preparation for someone to work independently on a GIS project as well as cooperatively on a group GIS project.

With Montessori materials and methods from Early Childhood throughout Elementary school and into the secondary level, children are regularly exposed to materials, methods, and concepts that will help them thrive in a future Geographic Information Systems environment, if they so choose.