Weekly Blog Posts #8, 9 10!

Here are the last maps to find and post on your blog.

#8: Last week's task was to find an interactive Javascript map -- any topic. Think along the lines of Labs 9 and 10.

#9: This week's task is to find a graphic regarding the earthquake in Nepal. Can be static or interactive. It is always interesting to see maps that are produced on short turnaround!

#10: One last interactive or animated map that you find especially cool. Any topic. Any style. Just something you wish you'd made!

Critique Presentation Order

Mon April 27: Robert, Nicole, Katie, Daniel, Jose, Tom, Anuraag, Alfred, Alex, Brooke, John G., Matt B, Melanie  

Mon May 4th: Christina, John B., Garrett, Sean, Tim, Jon C., Homaira, Nathan, Ramzi, Brian, Kerry, Micah, Dai

Critique details in prior blog post. 

20 points for being at the lectern (getting feedback from the class)
40 points for 2+ comments on Mon 4-27
40 points for 2+ comments on Mon 5-4

You must present on your assigned day! You must show up! No makeups. 

Recent onlines maps

New xkcd comic: http://xkcd.com/1509/large/

What town matches my politics: http://www.claritycampaigns.com/townrank

Where men aren't working: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/12/upshot/where-men-arent-working-map.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=0#/11/42.1882951/-84.3407514

How non-employed Americans spend their work days (Males vs Females):  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/06/upshot/how-nonemployed-americans-spend-their-weekdays-men-vs-women.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=3

Most religious states in America:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/02/18/map-the-most-religious-states-in-america/?tid=trending_strip_4

Most liberal and conservative towns in each state:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/07/map-the-most-liberal-and-conservative-towns-in-each-state/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na

Best places in the world to visit while the dollar is strong: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/02/the-best-cheap-travel-deals-to-take-advantage-of-the-strong-dollar/?hpid=z1

Earthquake in Nepal: http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/nepal-earthquake/?hpid=z1

Not a map, but an interesting graphic (A Guide to Sweeteners):  http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/sweeteners-guide/?hpid=z4

da Labs!

Today is our last regular lab day. Starting next week we will shift into Final Project Critiques (see prior post). We still have 2 labs to work through: 9 and 10. Both are on Blackboard as a digital Word file for copy-pasting blocks of code. Both labs use the Leaflet map tiles as the basemap.

Lab 9 builds on Lab 8 by creating proportional symbols and a time slider bar for your location data.
Lab 10 uses a new dataset to illustrate a heatmap.

Strava, a running/biking site, has a good example heatmap that even lets you choose between three color ramps for the data: http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/

This site hold the example maps referred to in Labs 6-10: http://tabler.org/maps/

DUE DATES:
Lab 8 is due today.     You must finish 8 to do 9!
Lab 9 is due next Monday April 27th
Lab 10 is due Monday May 4th (last class before finals)

PRIOR LABS:
Final cutoff for Labs 1-5 is this Wednesday. If I cannot see it on your blog, you will receive a zero.

Labs 6 and 7: I know there are several students with issues for one or both of these labs. Matt and I are working on them and will help you get them active. I intend to finish grading these 2 labs by next Monday, April 27th. 

If you are behind, PLEASE get them done! There are no exams...these labs are your work this semester. We need to shift quickly into Final Projects!

Critiques

Starting next Monday April 27th we will begin the Final Project Critiques. Don't be intimidated by the name -- the Critiques are simply a time to get feedback on final projects. Each student will show their *in-progress* map to the class and use the time to get useful comments and suggestions. I do not expect you to be done with your map, but you need to be deep in production. 

I'd like you to have a minimum of 5 questions ready that you can propose to the class regarding your map. Questions can range from content (is this enough? too much?), to design (colors effective? are the buttons easy to find/use?), to visualization style (should this be animated temporally? do I need layers? would it help to add ___?), to....really, any question! It all depends on what you are crafting and what you've been pondering/exploring. Do invest some time in your class query -- you may get some fresh perspectives and ideas. 

Although you will sign up and present one day, you need to attend BOTH days so you can contribute to the discussions. The Critique is worth 100 points -- 20 for your time at the lecturn, and 40*2 for the comments and suggestions you offer your classmates. You have to show up (and talk!) to get points. A silent attendee only gets 5 of 40 points for a day. 

Critique days are below. 13 Students each day. Approximately 12 min each. We will sign up in class today. Again, the majority of the points come from the comments/ideas you give the other presenters.

Mon April 27: Robert, Nicole, Katie, Daniel, Jose, Tom, Anuraag, Alfred, (Alex, Brooke, John G., Matt B, Melanie)
Mon May 4th: Christina, John B., Garrett, Sean, Tim, Jon C., Homaira, Nathan, Ramzi, Brian, Kerry, Micah, Dai

***Class Cancelled Today — Monday, April 13***

I’m sorry but I do not feel well. Today’s plan was to turn in Lab 8 (Intro to Leaflet) and begin Lab 9 (building on Lab 8 to make a time-series proportional symbol map).

Lab 8’s due date has been shifted to next Monday, April 20th so you can make sure it is working. I’m concerned that the pdf I offered for copy-paste has hidden formatting issues near the end so I have uploaded a copy of the write-up to Blackboard that is a standard Word document. If you are experiencing issues, try swapping out your blocks of code. If you are still having issues, please let me know. 

I will send out Lab 9 later this morning. I will also extend the deadline so that you have 2 weeks to get it functional. It is more complicated, but the output is really very neat and worthwhile. 

Please help spread the news of today’s cancellation to your classmates. Thank you!

Weekly blog post #7: Panning and Zooming example

This week I want you to find a map that allows you to interact with the display through panning the image around and zooming in and out. Think along the lines of what you can do in Google Maps...but with a neat dataset. Can be any version/style of basemap (i.e. does not have to be Google Maps). This will partner up with what we are doing for Lab 8 today with Leaflet!

Data for Lab 7: Choropleth D3 map

Lab 7 asks you to use a pre-made VA population file called va.tsv. It can be found here: http://tabler.org/json/

Right-click on the va.tsv file and save to your machine or memory stick. Then upload it to your Mason webspace with the other files for Lab 7.

For extra credit, find your own data and use it in place of the va.tsv file. Follow instructions on page 1 of the writeup.