Final Projects

Whew.
Here's my final project tracing how members of the 2007 World Series Red Sox got to be world champs. Enjoy!


Just for fun:
Here's a really interesting visualization of how the Red Sox won the AL East that year too.

Lab 6

Here is my link for Lab 6.

Lab 5: A Work In Progress

My lab 5 is definitely still a work in progress. I still want to tweek the graphics and base map a bit, although I am happy with my army icons. I used AI to illustrate the basemap, which accordingto adobe should transfer over without a problem--but alas, it crashes flash everytime. So, in the next week in addition to adding what we need to for Lab 6 the basics of my map need to be spruced up. I am also going to change the timeline around because I think 12sec=1 day is a bit slow, but where I have it now is too fast.
I also have had to sidestep the instructions because I don't have CS4, so I don't have the fancy motion editor like in the SOP.
I foresee myself spending a fair amount of time on this over spring break--in order to get results I am happy with.

Democratic Elections: Lab 4

Lab 4
In this lab we created a "faux-GIS" interface that allows a user to layer different versions of a map and information on top of one another. This lab was particulary difficult, although the importance of accuracy when naming layers/symbols is continually stressed. The most challenging part is getting the action script written correctly. I wish that I had been able to insert text boxes or roll over boxes for each year that would contain general election information (canidates and winner). I struggled with this for a while, but with limited knowledge of action script I couldn't incoorperate this without applying the 20% alpha to the text box/information graphic while allowing the check box to turn this information on and off with the map.

Cardinals: Journey to the Super Bowl

Here's a revised version of lab 2...Lab 3with a timeline of the weeks of football played. I think I finally getting the hang of flash, action scripting and understanding how it works. More than making the timeline, fixing what was wrong with my lab 2 took me the most time.

Lab 2...Finally.

Here's my lab 2!

The Reshaping of America

Richard Florida's article, "The Reshaping of America", which addresses the current economic crisis and how it affects different geographies. Accompanying this article is an interactive map which illustrate economic changes and patterns in different regions through the form of patents, income, and population throughout history. Not only is it a great example of a timeline map, but also demonstrates the importance of economic geography and regional studies in our current economic crisis.

Weekly Map

This map is an animation displaying the imperial history of the Middle East. Its a good example because it shows a progression through time as well as showing the location of important events in history.

Time Space Map

So, I think this is a awesome map...
This map links pictures, videos, and new stories throughout inauguration day with the location and time of where they occurred. Washington Post has dubbed it a 'Time Space Map,' and it allows you to navigate through the day by sliding a bar at the bottom to see what was happening at each hour. The inauguration version also shows where Barack Obama was at each hour. The Post has also produced time space maps from election day and a daily version for world events.

Final Project

For more information:

• USPTO Online Database: used to collect the data on patents and their corresponding invention and assignment states.
  
• US Census Regions Map: provides a simple map of how the US Census regions are divided.
• USPTO General Information Concerning Patents: Answers basic questions about patents including defining patent assignment, patent laws, and how patents are awarded.
  
• An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Intellectual Property: an article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, which offers a good overview to how the patenting system promotes innovation.
  
• The Geographic Sources of Innovation: an article by Richard Florida from the Annals of American Geographers which, in part, details why innovation is important and what factors promote a successful innovative economy.
  

Lab 10

Lab 9: Web vs. Print

Here's the image for my Lab 9 map. In printing at home on a color jet the colors came out great, except for the fact it created a couple of arbitrary lines that split the color in the background. There was a line at the bottom, on one side a darker shade of the green and on the other a lighter. In my AI document there was nothing that I could find to explain this. I think that the darker color was the actual fill of my background. Aside from that, the printed copy looked great--actually, I was very surprised that they came out as I had envisioned and as the digital copy looked. I was very happy with the color ramping--I choosing the colors I did because I wanted to not only make the larger percentages stand out, but also the lower values, because they are just as significant within my data set. I also printed out the image in the lab using the color laser jet printer, in which the colors came out dramatically different. They were much, much darker and muted than they are in the digital copy giving the map an entirely different feel.

Housing in MD

Here's my image for Lab 8:

Choropleth Maps & Classification Schemes

Here are my two choropleth maps: one classified into quintiles, the other equal interval. Unfortuetly, visually there didn't seem to be much of a difference in these two classification schemes, and I presumed there would be. Looking at the raw data, the second lowest class in equal interval has 4 more states in this than quintiles. If the data had been more varied this would make a large difference; sending states into other classes, and changing the overall visual appearance of the map. If I had chosen 3 or 4 classification schemes instead I think that the difference in the two schemes would have been more apparent. In retrospect, I would have choosen a fewer number of classes.

Choropleth Maps

This is a map I found on CNN, showing how much fundraising was done in each state throughout the country in the 2008 Presidential Election and Primaries. I thought it was neat because you can also look at each county in each state and sort by every candidate to see exactly how much was raised. Not only is it a great example of a choropleth map, but also a great interactive map that allows you to store and show a large amount of data. Check out the site where I found this map to see the full extent: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/map/

Dots!

I completely forgot to post Lab 6 last Thursday, but here it is:

Overall, I am really happy with the way it turned out. I wished that I had had a base map without county lines so that I could have made the county boundaries a lighter gray and the state outline black. Other than that it was just tedious creating and placing all of the dots.

Lab 5: VA, DC, MD

Dot Density Map Examples

Here are 2 dot density maps from one of my classes lectures. They're obviously not PC (note the date of the census) but they are pretty classic examples of dot density maps.

A Cool *Historical* Map of Virginia, Maryland, DC (and Delaware too!)

Here is a cool map I found of MD, VA, DC, and DE. The full title is: Map of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Exhibiting the Post Offices, Post Roads, Canals, Rail Roads, &c. By David H. Burr. (Late Topographer to the Post Office.) Geographer to the House of Representatives of the U.S. John Arrowsmith. Entered ... July 10th, 1839, by David H. Burr ... District of Columbia.



I know the image is small, but if you go here you can see it and it enables you to zoom in and see the great detail and artistic discipline that went into creating this map.

Lab 4 Type