Data Visualization: Readdressing the Past and Mapping Postcard Image Locations with ArcGIS Online

Members: Angelina Kong (Lenn), Yoel Klein, and Adam Cary-Swanson

Readdressing the Past

For our project, Readdressing the Past, we will dive deeper into the dataset we created from Carleton College’s Postcard Collection by giving the viewer a visual representation of the dataset through ArcGIS Online. We hope you enjoy!

Data:

The dataset that we gathered comes from Carleton College’s Archives, specifically, the Postcard Collection in the Digital Collections. The Postcard Collection is between the years 1900-1950. To evenly cover the years from the collection and make the dataset manageable, each of us focused on a separate decade and collected three postcards. In the dataset, we included estimated coordinates where the postcard image was taken, whether or not there were modifications made throughout the years, the names of these locations, a small description of the image, and three types of images. 

Tool: 

To represent everything in our dataset, we decided to use two data visualizations. One of them is ArcGIS Online to create a map of the locations where the postcard images were taken. The map included the location where the postcard image was taken, modifications, a description of the modifications done, and the name of the location at the time. 

Data Visualization: 

This map lets a viewer explore Carleton College through postcards. The map pinpoints the locations where the nine postcard images were taken at Carleton College. Additionally, this map shows how much the image captures in comparison to what is there now. These locations are color-coded as either red, yellow, or blue in three different groups to represent the modifications done over the years, with a description.

Style: 

As we continued to work on the map, we changed the base map to an imagery view to visualize the postcard’s location in the present day. As stated previously above, the postcards are split into three groups determined by their modification. ArcGIS Online automates the colors to be red, green, and blue. However, to help viewers with color-blindness, we changed the color green to yellow. These colors match the pinpoint icon and the sketched-out polygons used to highlight the perspective of what is seen in the photograph. While the map included the current name of the image that was photographed, we added a label of the names that were used at the time the photograph was taken, increased the size of the labels, and added a dark halo around them to make it more prominent. Lastly, we wanted to elaborate on what we meant by the modifications we described for each image, so we made a pop-up clarifying each modification.