Collecting & Mapping

Due: 2/21

What

Complete either tutorial 4 or 5, and complete the corresponding assignment:

Tutorial 4: Making Data from Field Observations

Create a vector dataset of point locations through field work using the GPS receiver of a cell phone. The points should represent the locations of some thing (object, phenomena, landmark) that you encounter in the immediate surroundings of your everyday life or significant points along some kind of path (route, invisible border, etc). Design a map using the dataset you created.

Note: you may not use maptiles (Stamen, Open Street Maps, XYZ Tiles) as the basemap for this assignment but must instead locate data to design your own basemap (or design your map in such a way that a basemap isn't necessary...). See suggestions below for places to look for basemap datasets for NYC, if you are not in NYC then look for similar open data portals for your municipality.

How

After you have a grasp on the process of setting up a form to collect data using Kobo Toolbox as outlined in tutorial 4:

• Decide on what you would like to collect data about. (Choose a location you can easily travel to and where you will feel comfortable being in public space.)
• Write out what information you would like to collect about each point location (these will become the fields in the attribute table of the new dataset you are creating)
• Design a form to collect point locations and each of the attribute fields you are interested in using the Kobo Toolbox website
• Go out into the world and collect your data. (Please observe social distancing & wear a mask).
• Export it as a CSV file, and create a map of it in QGIS

Requirements

• Collect ten to fifteen data points, or as many as is necessary to convey what you hope to show in your map.
• Design a map that uses a graphic/visual approach which is related in some way to the data it is depicting OR some aspect of the experience of collecting that data (draw on precedent projects !)
• In assembling data for your basemap you might look to:
  • DOITT NYC Planimetric Data
  • NYC Open Data, NYC Street Trees
  • NYC Open Data, NYC curblines
  • NYC Open Data homepage

Reference

For reference, look at the precedent projects we reviewed on the Miro board in Class 2.

Optional additional exercise

Use Field Papers to generate a paper atlas for the area where you are collecting data using Kobo Toolbox. While you are out in the field using your Kobo Toolbox data collection tool, record information about your topic using Field Papers as well.

Create two maps that speak to the different kinds of information that each approach allows you to gather.

Tutorial 5: Using Data for the US Census

Construct and map a metric you created using data from the US Census. In our tutorial, we created a sample size vs estimated population percentage using two different datasets, and mapped that result with graduated fill (this is called a Choropleth map). Please choose at least one additional dataset (or a different table from our demographic dataset we downloaded) from the US Census, and create a new metric that you can map using the same method. This does not have to be related to sample size in the way that we completed the tutorial. Feel free to construct an entirely different map using an entirely different geometry.

Note: you may not use maptiles (Stamen, Open Street Maps, XYZ Tiles) as the basemap for this assignment but must instead locate data to design your own basemap (or design your map in such a way that a basemap isn't necessary...). See suggestions above for places to look for basemap datasets for NYC, if you are not in NYC then look for similar open data portals for your municipality.

How

• Create a new metric that you can map using the same method as the tutorial with two datasets from the US Census, at least one of them must be new.
• Check the bottom of tutorial 5 under Challenge for a suggestion of some datasets that you might think to add.

Requirements

• The dataset that you add must be from the US census.
• As usual, add a two sentence summary of your map and argument to your pdf upload.
• Design a map that is visually clear and makes an argument that someone unaquanted with the data could see.
• Your map does not have to provide answers - but can rather ask more precise questions. Feel free to also zoom in a specific area if you think that that aids your argument.

Submission

Complete either tutorial 4 or 5, complete the corresponding assignment, and:

• Upload your designed map as a single pdf to Canvas (the PDF should include your 2 sentence summary on an additional page)
• Add your map to the Miro board