The links below provide an outline of the material for this lesson. Be sure to carefully read through the entire lesson before returning to Canvas to submit your assignments.
Note: You can print the entire lesson by clicking on the "Print" link above.
Take a moment and look back at how far you've come. In this course, you've learned what free and open source software (FOSS) is and how it fits into the practice of web mapping. You've also learned how to take raw GIS data, process it, assemble it into beautiful maps, expose it as web services, and present it as a finished product in an interactive web map.
As a demonstration of these skills, you are expected to submit a term project that exposes some theme of interest to you as a web map. You have already started creating the pieces of this project in some of your weekly lesson assignments, and a portion of this final week of the course is reserved for you to solely focus on completing the project.
After the projects are submitted, we will have a "mini-conference" where you'll get the chance to browse other students' work and review it. This may provide ideas and feedback for your future web mapping projects.
In Geog 585, you are expected to create a term project that takes some data of interest to you and fuses it into a useful web map. The term project can be simple and focused in nature, but must include:
In creating your term project, you should use at least one tool or technique that was not covered in the course materials. This could, for instance, be a tool for (pre)processing the data, or it could be a Leaflet class or method that you explored. You don't have to know this part when you make the proposal, but as you work through the different exercises in the course, you should stay aware of additional functions you could incorporate to meet this requirement.
The project must be built entirely with FOSS. This requirement is not in place to make you a FOSS "purist"; rather, it is intended to compel you to fully practice the skills you have learned in this course and discover new ways of doing things. If there's some piece of your project data processing that you don't think can be completed with FOSS, please discuss it with the instructor.
There are three parts to the term project submission:
The requirements of the submission are described in detail below. Please see the term project grading rubric on Canvas to understand exactly how these requirements will be evaluated.
To share your project with the instructor and others, you will create an online screen recording "video" explaining the purpose of the project and giving a tour of its functionality. In under 5 minutes the video must cover the following:
It is expected that the video will just record the screen (you don't need to appear on camera). There are many alternatives to produce the video, including free screen recording software and services. As Penn State students, you have free access to Kaltura [2]. Another free option that worked well in the past is Screencast-O-Matic [3]which requires you to run a small program on your computer. The recorded video can be stored as a .mp4 file, or it can be shared via their web site. Alternatively, if you have access to professional screen recording software such as Captivate, Camtasia, Fraps, etc., you may use it. Much of this software is available for free trial periods. An option for Mac users is to use QuickTime; there are descriptions of how to do this out there on the web. For sharing your video, you can also upload it to any other file sharing service, for instance, dropbox.com, GoogleDrive, or OneDrive.
It's strongly recommended that you reserve at least a day or two for creation of the video. This will allow you to accommodate any unforeseen technical challenges and do multiple "takes" if necessary. Things will go more smoothly if you prepare a script or outline of things you want to show, and refer to this during the video recording.
The video is due Sunday evening before the course end date. To submit the video, follow the description on the Term project submission and mini conference page [1].
Please also submit a 500+ word writeup recapping:
Please submit all the source code for your project together with your writeup. Please zip the original HTML, JavaScript, and all other files required by your project together. Do not copy & paste the code into your writeup. Optional: If you host your final term project map in your AWS S3 storage as in homework assignment 7, please include the public S3 URL for your main .html file in your write-up. That will then allow us to directly test out your final web map application.
The writeup should follow professional writing and grammar conventions and should be spell checked. The writeup and code are due in the term project drop box by the course end date.
Tip: If you complete the writeup before you do your video narration, the words may come more easily when you are "on camera".
The project will no doubt be a learning experience for you, but there is also plenty to learn from other students' experiences and submissions. During the final three days of the course (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), take some time on the "Term project video & review forum" on Canvas to browse other submissions. Select two projects of interest to you and, with each, post a brief review as a reply. Your review should include:
These reviews are due by the course end date.
Academics often attend conferences where they share their discoveries and browse the work of others to gain new ideas and offer feedback. Although we can't all physically meet together, the "Term project video & review forum" on Canvas will serve as our virtual conference location where you can get the same benefits.
By the final Sunday evening of the course, make a post in that forum containing a link to your term project video. Then, by the course end date, please reply to at least two other students' videos in that forum. See the Term project submission guidelines for further instructions about how to make these submissions.