As a general education course with a focus in GIScience technology, the goal of this project is to
provide you with a skill of using a variety of geospatial technologies. Different from a social
science course (which may focus on writing a report), this course focuses on practicing your
hands-on capability. This project can help you interact with some introductory geospatial
technologies that will prepare you for higher-level geospatial technology courses.
In order to provide some flexibility, I have provided you with Two project options. Both of these
two options are in the book chapters that we have not covered yet. Each of the option covers
slightly different angle of geospatial techniques. You are free to choose either one to suit your
interest. I will briefly go over each of the options below for your reference.
Option 1: Creating a Map Tour/Classic Story Map 100 points
Important Note: this option entails issue of copyright. Read through carefully to decide whether
this option is suitable for you!
In option 1, you will be creating a Classic Story Map using the resources available on Esri’s
website. If you read book chapter 15, a Story Map is a web-based application including photo,
video, and descriptive texts to locations on a map to help convey a certain story or information to
the user. While there are multiple types of story maps, this option requires you to construct a
type of classic story map called Map Tour.
To get started, open your web browser and go to:
https://storymaps-classic.arcgis.com/en/gallery/#s=30&md=storymaps-apps:map-tour
This website contains many different examples of Map Tour in a wide variety of topics. Go
through some of them to explore what a Map Tour looks like, how people use it to communicate,
and how powerful and fun Esri Story Map are!
For example, by selecting “Washington D.C., The Livable City Beyond the National Mall” (search if
you do not see it), this story map shows a bike tour of D.C. by clicking on the photos at the
bottom and the locations automatically shown on the map with a focus on the city of D.C.
If you are interested in having a campus tour, there is an example called “Esri Campus Tour” that
walks you through the company of Esri. You can apply the same idea to UConn campus if you
have enough available photos taken by yourself.
Some Map Tour ideas for projects include the following:
• A tour of your city’s historical markers
• A tour of landmarks in a local park
• A tour of monuments in a national park
• A tour of local historical statues
• A tour of picturesque places on a tropical island
• A tour of historic bridges in your local region
• A tour of places to visit in your hometown
• A tour of the top 10 birding locations in your region
• A tour of scenic locations in another country
• A tour of historic locations in your county
• A tour of haunted sites in your county
• A tour of the 18 holes of golf at a local course
• A tour of waterfalls in your local region
• A tour of famous locations at a tourist destination
One issue to consider for this option is the copyright. Map Tour will require you upload your
photos onto online image sharing service called Flickr. Therefore, if you do not have photos
available that taken by you during your previous travel, trip, hike, or any other outdoor
activities, you should consider either switch to project option 2 or take some photos. Do Not
download images and photos from the website! If you want to take some photos, make sure
wear a mask and stay safe. I suggest you go around your local area to make sure safety is
guaranteed.
Before beginning work on the computer part of the Map Tour, you should first select a topic
and decide what text descriptions, photos and videos you want to include in relation to that
topic. For almost every project, the most difficult part is the beginning that takes the most of
your time. You should also take an additional photo to use as an introduction to your Map
Tour—this will be the first image people see when they open your Map Tour. For this project
option, a minimum of 7 unique sites (photos or videos) should be included. Your final project
should contain at least 8 photos or videos (the first page plus 7 other).
Your photos should be landscape (not portrait) for the best appearance. After you have your
photos and you’re satisfied with them, you’re ready to actually make the Map Tour itself.
Open your web browser and go to:
http://storymaps-classic.arcgis.com/en/app-list/
choose the first “A Sequence of Place-enabled Photos or Videos” for Story Map Tour.
There are many links for you to explore. First click “Overview” to learn more about Map Tour. When you
feel ready and confident, click “Tutorial” to follow the steps to start building your Map Tour!
You will need to create an ArcGIS free account to begin.
After you finish your Map Tour, make sure copy your URL and submit to HuskyCT for grading.
Project option 1 is ideal for students who are willing to share personal travel, trip and other outdoor
stories by using geospatial technology.
Recommend reading: Book chapter 15
Submission:
Due Date: Dec. 19 Saturday 11:59 PM
Copy your Map Tour URL and paste into the text submission box in HuskyCT.
Option 2: ArcGIS Online 100 points
ArcGIS Online is an easy-use, highly accessible and cloud-based online geospatial tool
developed by ESRI using the concept of web GIS. We do not use ArcGIS Map or Pro in this class.
However, ArcGIS Online is a great alternative that provides a similar interface with basic
mapping and analysis functions. Look at page 541 or chapter 15 “What Is ArcGIS Online” in your
textbook to learn more about ArcGIS Online. Esri Story Map is built based on ArcGIS Online,
when you publish your story maps, it uses the platform of ArcGIS online.
For option 2, we will be using the lab 15.1 to develop your own project. Refer to chapter 15,
read and learn about the background and knowledge of current geospatial technologies in the
cloud. Then go to page 558 or 15.1 Geospatial Lab Application “Creating Web Maps and Web
Apps with ArcGIS Online”, go through each step as a regular assignment. I have uploaded the
data used for this project.
Important Note: The two datasets are both in zip format. Do Not unzip either of them. As the
book indicates, add the data to ArcGIS online directly as a zip format.
Option 2 is ideal for students who want to get an experience in ArcGIS software (different from
QGIS) without installing anything. ArcGIS online is a great preparation for ArcGIS Map and Pro,
and has immense potential in the future.
Recommend reading: chapter 15