This week, using ArcGIS online, we created personalized maps that highlight campus buildings that we frequent the most. I picked out five buildings, and for each, I recorded it’s function (residential, academic, athletic), how often I visit that building in terms of number of days in a week, and their longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates. This collected data can all be seen organized in this google sheet.
I added blue gradient dots to the map to show the varying frequency at my chosen buildings, then also color coded them based on their functions. The polygon features of Anderson and LDC are colored purple to represent their academic function in my life, the yellow features Laird Stadium and Duerr Fields have athletic functions, and Jewett House is red for residential.
Overall, I enjoyed this mapping process because it made me realize that I favor only a few spaces on campus to spend my time in. This project also demonstrated the potential of the ArcGIS Online platform for DH work. This tool presents information super effectively and could be used for historical comparisons, environmental surveying, or other social projects that require mapping technology. I’ve used ArcGIS Pro in the past as well, and although I do think it’s a more powerful version, ArcGIS online is more accessible and its learning curve feels friendlier than ArcGIS Pro’s.
3 thoughts on “Lab 5: Personalized Mapping”
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Ian, your clear labelling system using colors to organize the function of each building is really well done. I also found that this project made me realize how narrow my path is each day! I found your discussion about the comparison between ArcGIS Pro and Online very interesting, as I only have experience with the latter.
Nice map! I really like how you used different colors for buildings. I also agree that ArcGIS has a lot of potential for different kinds of projects, thanks to its flexible and customizable tools. It was impressive how accessible it makes digital mapping for meaningful storytelling and visualizing everyday experiences.
There is a lot of power in the option for colors. I really like that you decided to assign colors for buildings based on function and dots based on frequency. It sort of lets you embed 2 pieces of information easily per location, and it’s better that way since the dots are able to be interacted with for further info. It is neat the sort of realizations we can make upon constructing maps specific to ourselves.