Category Archives: mapping

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Black Boxes and GIS for Anthropological Research

  October 5, 2014 ,

In modern archaeological research, some portion of the research will take place in a Geographic Information System or GIS. Whether it’s fully integrated into the project both documenting and directing research, or utilized solely for the archiving of mapped data, there is a  GIS. The seeming precision of GIS mapped data, coupled with the ability to calculate complex spatial statistics for research and guidance results in a very friendly environment for black box fallacies. This is the problem of closed source, undocumented analytic software tools being used to conduct research. When a black box is used uncritically, without thought for research design and control the results of the research conducted with the black box can become suspect. Take for example, the issue of  analyzing site inter-visibility with a viewshed analysis. This is a common use of this GIS tool in landscape archaeology. By tracing lines of sight the software is able to create a binary map, where a pixel will be recorded as either visible or not visible. Commercial software package ArcMap from ESRI has one set of algorithms for this purpose. The most popular open source GIS, Qgis has a different set of very similar algorithms. The result is that with the same input parameters and data Qgis and ArcMap can produce slightly different binary maps of visibility. Because Qgis is open source, an interested party could very easily examine the source code responsible for the resultant visibility map. None of this is possible with a black box, whether … Continue reading

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“Will we be lost without paper maps in the digital age?”

  October 5, 2014 , ,

This week, the ArcGIS Online Outreach team started discussing its newest project -“Atlanta Mass Transit: Past, Present, Future.” This project is going to be using the Planning Atlanta collection to access past planning documents for Atlanta’s conversations surrounding transportation. With these documents we plan to make an ESRI Story Map that shows the plans through the decades. Given that the streetcar has raised the level of dialogue around transportation, we hope to contribute to the discussion through this publicly available, online map. While not all mapping is done on web based platforms, almost all map creation has been digital since the 1990’s. Not only has the way cartographers make maps changed, but technology has changed the way we view maps. What was previously printed off, hung on walls, and folded up to put in glove boxes is now contained on screens of varying sizes. Some digital maps are static, but they are becoming increasingly animated, interactive, and even 3D. So is the paper map becoming obsolete? According to Paul Hurst and Paul Clough from the the Royal School of Military Survey, argue that paper maps are still holding strong in the 21st century. In their article Will we be lost without paper maps in the digital age?  in the Journal of Information Science, they discuss their study which examines the the preferred mode of map consumption of experts and non-experts. An expert is someone who is a professional who has expansive experience in paper and digital map creation while a non-expert represents … Continue reading

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Information Design or Visualizing Information

  October 2, 2014 ,

Often we present statistical data not as exclusively the numbers themselves, but as a visualization of those numbers—as charts or graphs or tables or even pictures—giving the reader or viewer a better way to understand the meaning or impact of the information.  The goal in visualization of data is clarity of meaning, though it takes awareness and care not to distort or obscure the information.  Of course, as viewers and users of graphical representations, we also need to curb our natural impulse to find charts, graphs, and elaborate visualizations to be convincing just because of their form.  But, regardless of the potential drawbacks, visualizations can be excellent communication tools, and there are many great examples; here I share two from the nineteenth century that can still inform us today and give us ideas for our new digital tools. One famous 19th century example is the map John Snow created to show the pattern of deaths in a London cholera epidemic.  He discovered that largest number of deaths were of people drinking from a certain well on Broad Street and correctly confirmed that the disease was spread through water.  For more information about the cholera outbreak and Snow’s work see the article where I got the above information. Here’s his map, the visualization of the complicated problem he was trying to solve. “Snow-cholera-map-1” by John Snow. Published by C.F. Cheffins, Lith, Southhampton Buildings, London, England, 1854 in Snow, John. On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, 2nd Ed, John Churchill, New … Continue reading

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3D Reconstruction of 81 Decatur Street Project

  October 2, 2014 , , ,

Hey Guys! Just wanted to talk a little this week about the project some of the SIFs and I are working on! It’s been a rough week due to a stagnant cold that’s been ailing me, but we’ve managed to accumulate a lot of good data to throw at this project. What is it you ask? Well–every time you happen to walk by Classroom South on Decatur St, there is actually a rich history swept underneath the building that now stands there, namely 81 Theatre. It started as a Vaudeville stage and slowly evolved into a popular African American theatre in the 30s onward. The street was bustling with activity–pool halls, barber shops, clubs…it was an extension of the Auburn Avenue community’s spark. So our team wants to rebuild this block of Decatur St as an interactive environment–a game of sorts. If you’ve been reading my blog up until this point, you’ll know how into gamifying experiences I am. By adding a layer of engaging interactivity to this historical environment–we hope to promote education through engaging experiences that reflect what the different departments we represent do best: English and Literature, Anthropology, Geography, and Computer Science. It’s one thing to build a historically accurate 3D environment through maps and computing–it’s another thing entirely to fill it with narrative and meaningful culture that grabs attention and keeps it engaged. Can someone interact with this small microcosm and leave that interaction knowing more about the past than they realize? It’s hard to say, … Continue reading

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Food and the Power of Maps

  September 14, 2014

Urban Gardening, Food Deserts, and Mapping was the title of the presentation Nicole Ryerson and I gave during this week’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for CURVE. Nicole and I are both M.S. students in the department of Geosciences and, between the two of us, we have a diverse collection of original maps. These maps have been produced from the simplest of web mapping services to the heftiest spacial analyst desktop software. As we sat at Workstation II, there was a pleasantly consistent flow of curious administrators, librarians, faculty members, and students stopping by to ask us about our work. As we presented, we offered what I now reflect on to be a gracefully orchestrated dialogue:I would give a short overview of the different mapping tools that were used to make the maps surrounding food topics that we had on display and Nicole (who has constructed an awesome thesis surrounding urban agriculture in Atlanta) shared her wealth of knowledge surrounding food from “the plant to the policy.” Conversations around urban food are extremely “sexy” in research right now and, because these conversations lend themselves to spatial considerations, easily translate into related discussion around cartographic representations. Cartography is becoming increasingly accessible to non-experts with the advancement of technology. You can hardly search through a newsfeed on Facebook without seeing some colorful map of the US declaring each state’s allegiance to a certain product or habit. The one that I’ve seen most frequently is this one showing Facebook fans of the NFL. Both at my … Continue reading