Update 11/14/2022
100 points
Assign: Monday, November 14
Presentation of completed Web stuff: Wednesday, December 7
Due: Tuesday, Dec. 13 @ Noon
Final Project Evaluation
Lab 10 is the final evaluation of your lab project and builds upon the beloved Mid-semester Evaluation (Lab 6).You will address issues we have covered since the mid-project evaluation and assess your course project. In addition, you will create a helpful hint for solving problems encountered during the completion of your project that will be incorporated in the WWW lab exercises for future (grateful!) generations of Geography 112 students. Finally, you will get the chance to offer some constructive criticism about the form and content of this course.
The Details:Note: The suggested amount that you write on each of the questions below is assuming double-spaced pages.
Please copy and paste the first part of the questions from this page into a Google Doc of this evaluation so I know which question you are answering.
You don’t have to include your answers to the questions you answered in the last evaluation in this final evaluation.
1. Making Maps is Hard
(already answered in Mid-Project Evaluation)
2. Summary of Course Project
(already answered in Mid-Project Evaluation)
3. Why are you Making Your Map?
(already answered in Mid-Project Evaluation)
4. Collect Appropriate Data
(already answered in Mid-Project Evaluation)
5. Constructing the Map
5a. to 5c (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation)
5d. 1 Page: Review chapter 7 in Making Maps (3rd ed.) and the ideas of Figure-Ground and Visual Hierarchy. Please construct a list of all visual elements on your WWW map page (including maps and all the WWW elements, including the background color!) ranked from most important (high on the intellectual hierarchy) to least important (low on the intellectual hierarchy). How have you graphically symbolized these elements? Does the visual hierarchy in your current WWW pages and map match the intellectual hierarchy? Are some elements higher or lower in the visual hierarchy than they should be? Suggest a change to your web pages and map based on intellectual and visual hierarchies.
5e. 1 Page: There are many choices for classifying your data (the number of classes and classification schemes), as discussed in chapter 8 of Making Maps (3rd ed.). Detail how you have gone about classifying your data for your population change maps. Explain why the classification scheme you chose (natural breaks, quantiles, equal intervals, etc.) is likely the most appropriate scheme. Why might it be important, for people viewing and using your WWW site to see several animated maps on your final WWW pages, each classified differently?
5f. Map design issues: In the previous evaluation, you related several general map design issues from the lectures and readings to your project. Additional map design issues concerning color and type have been discussed since the last evaluation:
- 1/2 Page: Review the Symbolization chapter and, in particular, pages 218-227 in Making Maps (3rd ed.). State briefly the differences between the graduated color (choropleth), graduated symbol, and dot maps. Explain a beneficial characteristic and drawback of each. This short blurb would be neat to include on your animated maps page for your viewers. Do it dolly!
- One Page: Discuss two issues related to Color and Cartography that have informed the use of color in your maps and WWW pages. Refer to the chapter on color in Making Maps (3rd ed.).
5g. Lab 8: Animation consisted of a series of steps to get your maps out of ArcGIS and into a format appropriate for animation on the WWW.
- 1/2 Page: Describe any problems you had creating the animations. How did you solve these problems? Was the software to blame, or operator error? If operator error, what specifically could you do to avoid such problems in the future (with GIS or any software)?
- 1/2 Page: It is common, in mapping and GIS, to have to transfer maps from one digital file format to another. One characteristic of the course project has been moving from file to file and software to software. Describe the set-up and export of your maps to YouTube (or whatever format you chose) and embedding them in your web pages. Discuss any problems you had and how you solved them. Take a look at your embedded videos. Describe a benefit and disadvantage of animated maps as videos.
5h. Lab 8: Animation helped you create a series of animated videos of your mapped Census data.
- 1/2 Page: Do you see any patterns in your animations? Describe the pattern and see if you can explain why the pattern exists. Would a series of static maps, all together on one web page, (“small multiples”) be as effective?
5i. Lab 9: ArcGIS Online had you transfer your ArcGIS Pro data to ArcGIS Online, then create another version of an animated map.
- 1/2 Page: Describe how the process from Pro to Online went, and any issues you encountered and how you fixed them.
- 1/2 Page: Contrast the animation (apps) created in ArcGIS Online to the video animation you created in ArcGIS Pro. Any benefits or disadvantages of these two different approaches? Any thoughts on the differences in the software?
6. Evaluation
6a. (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation, but revisit)
6b. (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation)
6c. Once again, update your project documentation on your class blog. Make sure there is a blog entry for each lab. Please make sure all links work (not long URLs pasted into the blog entry) and that all relevant information (such as questions I asked you to answer in each lab) is on the blog.
6d. (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation)
6e. (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation)
6f. (already answered in Mid-Project evaluation)
6g. General Evaluation questions: Two to Three Pages: Think back over the entire project process you have engaged in over the semester – including locating data and processing it, learning HTML, learning basic GIS and mapping functions, graphic file exchange, animation, HTML again, then ArcGIS Online.
- What about ArcGIS Online? We did a bit early in the semester, then came back and used it with our data from ArcGIS Pro. There are still technical limits to what ArcGIS Online can do. But it also has many other capabilities, including the easy creation of online map apps. Given your limited experience with ArcGIS Online (and slightly more experience with ArcGIS Pro): should future classes keep about the same balance, stress ArcGIS Pro more, or stress ArcGIS Online more?
- Reflect on the inclusion of broader issues in the class via the DMT readings and discussions: Did we spend enough time on them, too much time on them, or not enough time on them compared to the technical process? Which was your favorite? Why? Which was the worst? Why?
- Describe your personal development over the semester in the course. Has your comfort with computer hardware and software changed? Have you gained any particular skills you think might be valuable? Do you feel as if you know more about mapping and GIS concepts? Coping with technology and software? Were there any impediments to your work in the class? Was the pace and level of work ok, too slow, too fast?
7. Helpful Hint
1/2 page of HTML code: You have encountered problems throughout your project. Please create a “helpful hint” based on your experiences this semester, which can be incorporated into revised versions of the WWW lab materials for this course. Look at Lab 5: Data Processing, Part 2 for an example of how I incorporated some “helpful hints” (from students in previous semesters) to deal with common problems that arose in completing a particular exercise. Script a similar hint for any exercise (excluding the two evaluations). The hints should describe how to solve the problem in a step-by-step manner. They may also be cool things you figured out how to do in ArcGIS or with HTML or whatever. Please script your hint in HTML. Include it in this evaluation, and send me the code (in an email or as an attached HTML file). I can then just cut and paste the hint into the course materials.
8. Course Grade
Please suggest the letter grade you think you deserve for this course. Be realistic. Consider the amount of effort you put into the course, how much you learned, your attendance, your ability to get exercises completed on time, the quality of your evaluations (Labs 7 and 10), and the quality of your final project. I reserve the right to adjust this grade (up or down, or even sideways).