Progress:
So far, our group has been focusing mainly on gathering as many maps of the Arb as possible. As of right now, we have found 14 maps ranging from 1931 to 2016, using the online Arb collection. We talked to a research librarian who suggested that, if we wanted to map the Arb between the 1931 date and its creation, we could use written descriptions and create our own maps. However, since then we talked with Wei-hsin, who is going to Georeference 4 of our maps(in addition to one that has already been Georeferenced) , and we decided to trim down the overall map number in order to focus on creating 5 really good maps, rather than 14 rushed ones.
We are going to see Nancy, the Arb director, tomorrow, in hopes that we can get a little more information about important places in the Arb. We already have some information based on what can be found online about things like the Wind Turbines and Druid Circle, but we are hoping that Nancy will be able to give us new insights on these things.
Problems: Shannon hasn’t received a response to her water tower inquires, she’s kind of sad about it. Also, because georeferencing isn’t an easy or quick task, it’ll be awhile before we’ll be able to work on the maps in ArcGIS.
Tools and Techniques:
We are planning to use the new StoryMap tool on ArcGIS. We are also going to utilize the maps that Wei-hsin and her students are georeferencing.
Timeline of Deliverables:
Since by tomorrow we will have met with Nancy and completed the last of our research, we will hopefully begin to be able to start writing the informational blurbs that will go with each event and major location. Ideally, we would be able to have all the information ready to go in a Google doc so that it can be implemented into the map by early next week.
A lot of the mapping itself will only be able to be started once Wei-hsin and her workers finish Georeferencing the 4 maps we gave them. Regarding the technical side of things, since ArcGIS is getting easier to do and the StoryMap tool is pretty self explanatory, it should take roughly 8 hours to compile all of the information and post it onto a website.
Personal Blog Posts:
Emmy – http://moth-omen.net/uncategorized/hh-final-project-update/
Shannon- http://oshanno.com/uncategorized/arb-update/Kevin- http://thien-bui.com/hacking_humanity/
One reply on “Progress Update: Mapping the Arboretum”
Sounds like you all have made great progress. While using ArcGIS certainly gets easier, I would still allow a good amount of time to digitize features from the georeferenced maps once you have them, which can be quite time consuming. If you’re using StoryMaps, also make sure to be amassing plenty of visually compelling material to supplement the maps with imagery, video, etc. as you tell the story of the arb.