GIS Survey Class
Assignment 1: Electronic Atlas work

Create Two maps comparing some trend across space. Could be based on two different variables in the same mapped area (poverty and minority groups), or the same variable in two different mapped areas (Japanese Americans in Seattle and Los Angeles).

First a quick review of the steps:

Explorer Part (method illustrated in class)

1. Use Windows NT Explorer to build a subdirectory under the Temp subdirectory with your name
2. Use Explorer or such to search for (Google is a recommended search engine) an electronic atlas on the web such as William Bowen's Electronic Atlas or other web pages.
3. Go to a map that you like in Explorer, using the Ctrl and Print Screen keys capture an image of your computer screen (also can use Shift and Print Screen, this is called a Screen Dump).
4. From your Programs click and open MSPowerPoint.
5. Open a blank template.
6. Paste the screen captured image to your Power Point slide.  Click on your picture then use the arrow key to move the image about and shrink or expand it to the correct size.  Also, use the Cropping Tool to cut off anything extra.
7. Next do the same for text (title) and legend or other important information from the map that you wish to include in your final cartographic product.
8. You may also add other image data that has been saved as a file by using Insert / Picture  or additional text information using  Insert / Text Box
9. You can then improve the emphasis on your map by using the default rectangle box or oval with no fill (as demonstrated in class), or for the clever few draw on the map directly by first going to slide show, then using the right mouse button to activate the pointer options.
10. Save your work and print the results.

Method Two -- Using Arc/View (this was not demonstrated in class and is a more difficult method, but useful for those who are interested)

1. Use Windows NT Explorer to build a subdirectory under the Temp subdirectory with your name
2. Use Explorer or such to get to search for (Google is a recommended search engine) an electronic atlas on the web such as William Bowen's Electronic Atlas or other web pages.
3. Go to a map that you like in Explorer, and Save As to your new subdirectory with a file name that you will recognize. This usually saves under a .GIF format although others might occur..
4. Click on the Start in the lower left corner, scroll to Programs click this open and under Adobe Photo Shop or Correl Draw click open Correl Photo Paint.  After this software opens use File/Open to open your downloaded map.
5. Using the drawing tools circle, or in another manner locate and outline clusters of similar areas. That is annotate your map.
6. Save your file with Save As as a .TIF file, and close Adobe Photo Shop or Correl Photo Paint.
7. Now you can crop inset maps, legends, or any other important features. Save each independently as a .TIF file in your subdirectory.
8. This TIF can then be inserted into a Power Point Slide using Insert / Picture and completing your work as discussed above or with ArcView as discussed below.
9. From the Start/Programs menu, start the ArcView program (remember how to get there under ESRI). Click OK when it asks if you want to start with a New View. Yes to add new data, and then scroll to the Temp subdirectory with your name that you created above that contains your TIF version of your map. Be sure in the lower left tiny window that you change the Data Source Types to Image Data Source. Click on your map and it should appear.
10. You are now ready to Print your map (file/print). If you are clever, you should be able to figure out how to zoom in or zoom out if you wish to focus on some part of the map. If you are really clever you can use the "layout" command under the VIEW menu and get a nicer map.
11. Now you're ready to explore web sites and pick-out some maps from atlases. Below are a few web sites to get you started, but don't feel limited. Everyday more are being added. Your exploration provides me with additional education, so I look forward to what you may find.
12. After doing some exploration, create two (or more) maps for a comparison. They could be separate themes emphasizing different attributes for the same area or the same attribute for different areas. I leave it to your imagination. But find things that can be related, compared, and jointly discussed in some fashion. Print-out these two maps in black and white (color printer not available due to expense).
13. Finally clean up. Delete all files. And if you don't get a sharing violation, delete your subdirectory too. (Sharing violation may result from fact that we all were signed on to the same account, if you're there by yourself it may not occur.)

Write up (kindly follow this order and title each step as you deal with it):

Note that late assignments lose points in an exponential fashion, and none are accepted after being more than one week late.

Good luck. Expect your map(s) and written report.

A number of sites worth looking at:

Atlas of Canada, Natural Resources of Canada

http://atlas.gc.ca/site/index.html

Silk Road Seattle

http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/index.html

DIGITAL ATLAS OF CALIFORNIA

http://130.166.124.2/CApage1.html

The Map Room, San Francisco, California

http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/maproom.html

Up-to-the-minute Southern California Earthquake Map

http://www.crustal.ucsb.edu/scec/webquakes/

The ARL Electronic Atlas

http://www-map.lib.umn.edu/arl.html