For this week’s lab, I made a campus map that shows my most frequently visited building on campus: goodhue hall, weitz, cmc, gould library and olin hall. This is the spreadsheet that contains data(name, function, latitude, longitude and address) for each location.
Campus Map:
In the process of creating this project, I initially decided to showcase the attribute “number of visits per week” on the map. By using the radius of a circle at each position, viewers can easily discern which place I have visited most frequently. Meanwhile, I retained the color of the circle to indicate the function of the respective buildings. In addition to that, I utilized the feature layer tool to delineate the area of each building and used labels to display the names of the buildings.
After completing this lab, I have a better understanding of the basic logic behind mapping for DH projects. I find it to be a very straightforward way of presenting information to viewers, especially when they are not seeking exact data values but are interested in the relationships between them. In this simple project, I was able to transform information from a spreadsheet into a labeled map. Such data are challenging to process by just looking at them in a spreadsheet. For instance, I cannot easily discern how the buildings are situated and their distances apart by merely examining latitude and longitude coordinates, even though they contain the desired information. By visually representing each piece of information on the map, it becomes clear to viewers that the Weitz Center is actually quite distant from Goodhue Hall, and CMC is almost right next to the library, etc. Visualizing location-related data in this way helps me comprehend the information as a whole and arrive at my own understanding of the dataset. I believe this is one of the major benefits, or you could say necessities, of using labeled maps in DH projects.
I find the ArcGIS platform useful in many ways. It is evident that it is a powerful tool, as it can create multiple layers on top of the map and accept input from various data types and sources. Moreover, it is very convenient for online collaboration among a group of people. This feature makes it an excellent tool for DH projects, which often rely heavily on collaborative efforts.
2 thoughts on “Lab week 5”
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This a well-thought-out project. I liked how you chose to display the information in this post so it’s easier for viewers to discern where you visit most of the time. It’s a very deliberate decision used to create a narrative story just by looking at the map. being able to visualize spatial data points is so important in finding trends and telling stories within Digital Humanities. Fantastic and well-thought-out post!
I share the sentiment that web mapping is a very useful tool to visualize geospatial data, especially when the data itself is difficult to decipher. I also think you made a really interesting point when you said that viewers tend to want to know the relationship between the data and not exact values. Oftentimes, I tend to get overwhelmed with large data sets, so having a visual representation is very helpful for the process of dissecting that data and it’s meaning.