kCarterGeog

Final!

2009-05-07T07:23:00.000-04:00

Lab 10

2009-04-09T12:05:00.005-04:00

Thought I'd knock this one out early, so I could focus on studying for the test this weekend :)

Picture 1 - Pre-tsunami

Picture 2 - Post-tsunami

(click on "view image" to see the full-sized version)

Lab 9

2009-04-09T03:19:00.003-04:00

Link to teh kmz.

Oh Wow I get a picture to post this week!!?

These posts just keep getting later in the day, until they're actually earlier in the day.

Lab 8

2009-04-02T02:07:00.000-04:00

Link to Lab 8.

I'm tired.

Link of a Week

2009-04-02T01:51:00.001-04:00

Strange Maps

Mostly static, but all awesome.

Lab 7

2009-03-26T11:48:00.001-04:00

Lab 7 here

Going to edit this post later...

Link of the Week

2009-03-24T21:25:00.001-04:00

Antipodal Map. This is nifty.

Lab 6

2009-03-19T17:12:00.004-04:00

Here's what I have so far.

Very much still a work in progress, but at least my shape tween is working without holes appearing in the color or lines moving across it. It still looks a bit sloppy though...

Also, I tried to slow my infantry units down, and they looked slower when I tested the file in Flash, but now they somehow look even faster (I think they're still the same speed)

So I made a splash screen, it's going to look prettier for lab 7 I promise, but I was having some serious issues with it. I created it in a separate scene (scene 2) since I couldn't figure out how to add it to the first few frames without making my layers with motion tweens FREAK OUT. Anyway, what I wound up doing was linking to scene 2 in frame 1 of scene 1 (stay with me here), then linking scene 2 back to frame 2 of scene 1.

I fixed the title to make it readable and added a few map markers. At the very least I'll pull a pretty map out of this in the end.

Objects That Morph

2009-03-16T23:35:00.003-04:00

A morphed object is a blend between two different objects; it could be defined as the hybrid of two objects, but for the purposes of digital cartography an object that morphs is one that transforms into a different object. In Adobe Flash, this morphing effect is called shape tweening.
When I first heard the words "object that morphs", my first thought was of those commercials I used to see where people kept morphing into each other, with an effect sort of like this (no political assertions intended). Of course, cartographers are often going for a different effect, but such a morph is possible (and easy!) in Flash.
Like motion tweening, shape tweening is a change made to an object during its appearance in a movie. While motion tweening changes an object's position in the image, shape tweening changes (surprise!) the shape of the object itself, morphing it into a different object. The possibilities with this tool are great, it's especially useful for maps that must convey change over time (like lab 6)!

Shape Tweening: A Handholder's Guide

This is a step-by-step illustrated walkthrough of how to achieve shape tweening in Flash. It explains what shape tweening is and has instructions on how to morph text, bitmap images, and basic shapes. It doesn't get more basic than this, and morphing text and bitmap images might be a fancy trick to learn for one's final project...
I know that this isn't an example of a map, but it is an example of certain types of shape tweening, and certainly does give one creative ideas.

Alexander the Great's Empire

In this map, the arrow is an example of an object that morphs. The arrow grows larger with each passing frame. This map shows the route of Alexander the Great at his peak, until his death. This is also an example of basic shape morphing, while the simplest it can be utilized quite elegantly.
Note: I picked this map from a list of many, these maps are mostly all about layering though (source).

The Imperial History of the Middle East

Ok, so we've seen maps from this site in class, but we didn't discuss the elements of morphing in this one. This map is a terrific example of shape tweening, the way a circle starts out in the center of a territory and fills out the shape of the land. It's a very elegant (if slow) map, concentrating more on style than useful information, but doesn't it impress? It's an impact map.

City of Baghdad CE 750-1400

White represents officially settled areas, red is settlements and blue is abandonment. This map is another fantastic example of shape tweening (using basic shapes as in the map above) but does so in a dynamic and intuitive manner that shows the certain years when settlement boomed, and the years when growth slowed to a crawl. Once again, shape tweening saved the day on a map that had to convey time.

As for tips on the matter, the only problem with shape tweening that I've had is biting off more than I can chew. It's easy to get carried away with all the possibilities this tool has, and I found myself trying to accomplish too great a task for the time at hand. Also, don't micromanage. Motion and shape tweening were designed to be intuitive and easy to use, Flash knows what it's doing.

In summation, morphing objects is a unique ability that has given digital maps an indisputable advantage over static images. They can accurately portray events over a timeline in a clear and aesthetically pleasing manner, as seen in the examples above. The ability to morph an object in an easy, straightforward manner (like in Flash) nurtures creativity, the only lesson one needs is the basics.

Lab #5

2009-02-26T16:49:00.003-05:00

Here it be

I wasn't sure how to gracefully implement the play and pause buttons, they work pretty intuitively so I didn't think a legend for them was necessary. Also, are the graphics supposed to loop? I think it's pretty nifty.

Yes yes my link of the week is going to be after I finished the lab, whoops :x

Lab #4

2009-02-24T15:37:00.003-05:00

Lab 4 here!

This lab was INFURIATING. No matter how many times I messed with certain states, you simply COULD NOT SET THE FILL TO BLANK. In my 1992 map, New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut are white, and I tried everything I vaguely knew how to do to try to set the fill accordingly but noooo.
There are a few other errors with the fills of states (like Tennessee >_<)
Also, when I set North Carolina's fill, Rhode Island would randomly pop up in the middle of the state. Anyone else have that problem? I thought that was awfully weird.

But! My checkboxes work perfectly, the western and southern states (you know, the ones that didn't change their votes much) look appropriate, all my action scripts worked perfectly the first time I tried to implement them. Awesome.

Now I guess I should go get to work on my Objects that Morph post...

Map of the Week! (4)

2009-02-20T16:56:00.002-05:00

I know this is right after my last map post, but this one is to accompany lab 4.
So I just found this map, on my bank's website! It's cute and well organized, reader friendly, and professional. I was actually a little surprised.

Map of the Week (3)

2009-02-19T15:20:00.002-05:00

Just a basic zoom map of Afghanistan. But National Geographic did it, so you know it's top notch...

Lab 3!

2009-02-18T18:38:00.000-05:00

Lab 3 here!

Ugh that was tedious, I had to move my forward and backward buttons, therefore needing to go back and redo all their action scripts.

My text that says "Superbowl" is supposed to be a button, I have no idea why it doesn't work as I made it the same way as all the other buttons (expanded the "hit" field for it) but to no avail. D:

Everything else works nicely.

Lab #2

2009-02-05T20:16:00.003-05:00

Here it is! Ta Da!.

I was having trouble with my website before, I found a much better walkthrough for setting up Mason webspace, check it out if you're having any trouble.

Link of the week (2)

2009-02-05T17:17:00.004-05:00

On this website there's a simple map of the world that you can click and drag to see the breakup of Pangaea, programmed in about 8 lines of Javascript (see the source code).

http://www.scotese.com/pangeanim.htm

I know it's not Flash, but it's a similar concept and shows a good crude interactive map that gets its point across.

Lab #1

2009-02-05T17:12:00.001-05:00

Thanks for waiting! Here it is.

I've really gotten too attached to the black background thing. I just really prefer it for digital viewing, easier to read, easier on the eyes. Lab 2 on the way shortly.

First Blog of the Spring Semester

2009-01-22T11:34:00.005-05:00

I didn't know that the route of the President from his inaugural speech to the white house was planned out on a giant 3D map, did you?

2005 Route

2009 Route

While not digitally interactive, I'd say this may qualify as an interactive map, at least on a basic level.

Final Project!

2008-12-10T22:40:00.004-05:00

So, it's not quite as fancy as some of the examples but here she is. I wound up using a different source (a private survey) to make this map because bee farmers are seriously freaked out about reporting how many of their bees have died. Because of this fact, this map is actually under exaggerated. Five links!

First link: my data source! Turns out farmers don't want to report their bee losses because it could negatively impact both their reputation and sales, even if only a general region of a state is identified.

Second link: an article I stumbled on looking for data. This is a dual tale, telling the story of a bee farmer who loans out his bees in California and the tale of how serious the situation will be if this bee shortage continues. It also really puts a face on this disaster.

Third link: some informative information on CCD, because I didn't know what it was either.

Fourth link: a cute site managed by the Department of Agriculture. They round up lots of relevant scientific articles from various sources and you can wander through them at your leisure.

And finally Fifth link: Simpsons did it! A small article on the episode the Simpsons (recently) dedicated to bee population decline and CCD.

Lab 10: It's over!

2008-11-20T02:38:00.003-05:00

There she is! I think my mapping skills have come along nicely since when I first started out. Though after awhile those green dollar sign started looking like little trogdors running across my screen...

Map of the Week (map 8)

2008-11-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Here's a funky bivariate map that I probably wouldn't have thought of on my own. The whole "approximate distance from the river" thing definitely skews this graph to make the midwest look like a festering cesspool of West Nile. Or maybe it is? I dig the 3D element to this map, though.

Lab 9

2008-11-13T02:57:00.002-05:00

Here it is! So... a few issues. FOR SOME INCREDIBLY INFURIATING REASON the gradient affected the color of my map, though that's never happened before... the layer containing the gradient was beneath the layer containing the states, I dunno what the issue was. I improved the map from lab 7, minimized white space, corrected scales and what not. I also made this map an (almost) perfect square, as per the instructions.

(serious compare and contrast below)

The map printed certainly gave a different image than this map, developed for web display. For one, the printed map barely shows the yellow gradient at all, though unfortunately this might also be due to the low ink in my cartridge...
I do think that the printed image has a very nice contrast between the classes, and that both maps are easy to read. I thought and rethought the elimination of the legend/AL/HI boxes, finally deciding that my map looked best without them and that my scales were lined up well enough to be intuitive. Naturally there was some pixilation/distortion of my printed map that make it look less professional than the web display, but such issues could be easily fixed via higher resolutions and a better printer.

Lab 8

2008-11-11T00:35:00.002-05:00

Behold! Lab 8! I know my title is a little boring but I worked really hard to make this map pretty. I made sure the scale was correct this time and all my houses are PERFECT. ugh that took awhile. Also some nice figure/ground interplay and playing around with fonts. yay it's ovar! Oh wait, I waited till today to finish this lab so there's another one due Thursday >_<

Map o the week coming soon, probably a double post...

Map of the week (map 7)

2008-11-10T11:33:00.003-05:00

While everyone else was looking for maps of the 2008 election, I stumbled on this map of the so-called "purple America" of 2004. For one, the sheer amount of data I see here is staggering, it must have taken weeks of data collecting to find it all for EACH county in the entire United States. Second, the red to blue gradient they developed for this map was really clever. Their point was to show that America is growing more and more moderate, and throughout the midwest and east coast one can really see that. This map was highly informative but also highly stylized, with ALL the emphasis on the map, and a small and minimal title and legend. I likey.

Lab 8 coming soon!

Map of the Week (map 6)

2008-11-03T10:41:00.002-05:00

Here's a rather informative proportional symbol map. It's also a good example of how hard a map can be to read when there's too much similarity in the figure/ground. I did like the way the cartographer chose to display the data, though. The yellow is a striking color and the circles are intuitive and easy to read. However, the way he had to pull out the data for the middle eastern countries makes the map look too cluttered.

Lab 7

2008-10-29T23:23:00.002-04:00

Though natural breaks are said to be intuitive, I found the equal interval map (above) to be the most aesthetically pleasing. This map really highlights the center of America, where people travel the least for their work. Also more highlighted is our own east coast/northeast, where people travel the farthest for their jobs, likely because suburban living is a requirement instead of a choice for most city workers. Illinois sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the more relaxed Midwest, but then I remembered Chicago is there... oh, how one city can throw off data. It's no coincidence that the states with the largest cities have the most commuters... LA, NY, Chicago... you know how it is.

Map of the Week (map 5)

2008-10-27T23:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun chloropleth map of the currency used in "Old Europe", approximately 1500-1780AD. This map doesn't even need a legend!

Lab 6

2008-10-23T11:01:00.004-04:00

Here's lab 6. Obviously the green didn't show up in the printouts, but I thought it was appropriate. There are 1981 dots total.

Also, the sample map had a scale at the bottom but our instructions didn't say to include it... hopefully it's ok that I left it out.

Any considerations I should take for improving future labs? Since we only this week received previous graded labs, I didn't know things like... don't name your labs "Lab ___". I tried to improve the figure/ground dynamic and added a gradient to the figure as well... I thought it gave the map a nice 3D polish. Also messed with some fonts.

Map of the week (map 4)

2008-10-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

Here's a dot map that might become a familiar sight for some. This is a map of foreclosures in northern Minneapolis and it just looks like google maps, but I find the striking red color, the clustering of foreclosures, and the unique balloon shape to make this an effective map. I'm mildly shocked, my eyes are immediately drawn to the area of attention, and while this isn't a good thematic map it sure gets a point across.

Lab 5

2008-10-08T15:21:00.002-04:00

Self-explanatory lab 5 post. ta da!

Map o the week (map 3)

2008-10-05T02:29:00.000-04:00

Figured I'd make this my map o the week, it's a neat Seismic map that constantly updates. Clearly outlined are the tectonic plates (imagine that). The actual website is even more neat.

Lab 4

2008-09-26T17:13:00.003-04:00

It's looking pretty spiffy, if I may say so myself.

Map 1 AND 2 ?!

2008-09-25T00:23:00.004-04:00

Ah... so if this is for week 1 then I am extremely late with it, but... here it is!

So, back in the day I was super into astronomy, and I still find sky maps particularly unique. Most maps show some kind of area, but because the position of stars relies on time most sky maps are basically a map of time, which hurts my brain a little when I think too much about it. This sky map shows the northern sky in spring, and as far as sky maps go it's pretty easy for average joes to understand. Since the position of the stars depends not just on the month, but on the very time of night makes exact maps difficult, one must envision how this would all look standing on ground. This exact map is only valid at certain times of the evening throughout spring. For example, if at 9pm in late May you look up, the constellation Virgo should be rising and the star Arcturus should be the most visible in the sky.

And since I'm already running late with map 2, this be a double post.

While I'm being a space fiend, here's a map that's of proportions we can't even fathom. This map is actually my desktop background right now... I find it informative and illuminating. Unspectacularly highlighted is our Sun, located in the measly little Orion Spur, barely an arm of this galaxy. And our Milky Way is over 100,000 light years across! Travel at the speed of light for 100,000 years... and you'll just barely get past one galaxy.

Ah, but if I drone on too much this may get boring. New map next week, and I'll be all caught up!

Lab 3

2008-09-25T00:04:00.003-04:00

Mollweide projection for lab 3. Why doesn't my spellchecker recognize "Mollweide"?

Funky map for the week pending.

Graphic from Lab 2

2008-09-13T16:41:00.002-04:00

Hopefully this doesn't vary too much from the example.

My Three Links

2008-09-05T20:37:00.003-04:00

Flash Earth is a pretty flash application that allows you to view recently updated global maps, that can zoom down to the street level in most places. I think the NASA setting is the neatest, check it out now and see tropical storm Hanna, raging across the southeast :D

Lilly is just plain cool. In the video she's not even 2 years old, and she already has greater geographical knowledge than most American adults. Maybe this link isn't really related to this class, but Lilly totally has a geography related career lined up some day.

Wikimapia is like Wikipedia and Googlemaps smushed into one. The small white squares on the map indicate zoom-in capacity, and clicking on specific countries, states, even counties provides links to useful related websites and comments straight from citizens all over the world!