Project 3: Mapping the Class Roster
For Project 3, I would like you to map the hometowns of everyone on the class roster using Postgres/PostGIS and QGIS. Included in the data you downloaded at the beginning of the lesson were U.S. state and counties shapefiles, along with a comma-separated values file called postal_codes.txt that stores U.S. and Canadian postal codes and the coordinates of their centroids.
Right-click here to download the class roster with postal codes . (If there are any students from outside the U.S. and Canada, they will appear at the bottom of the file with a special code. There will be a matching record at the bottom of the postal_codes.txt file.)
Here are the broad steps you should follow:
- Import the counties shapefile into Postgres.
- Create a table to store the postal code centroids.
- Load the centroid data from the text file.
- Add a geometry column and use an UPDATE query to populate it with POINT geometries.
- Create a table to store the class roster.
- Load the class roster from the text file.
- Determine a way to associate the geometries in the postal codes table with the records in the roster table.
- Use QGIS to create a map of the hometowns. Include state and county boundaries for some context.
Deliverables
This project is one week in length. Please refer to Canvas Calendar for the due date.
- In the Project 3 Dropbox, upload a write-up that includes the map and describes the process you used to produce it. Your write-up will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Workflow (60 of 100 points)
- Write-up quality (20 of 100 points)
- Aesthetic quality of the map (10 of 100 points)
- Ease of making updates/insertions to the class roster (10 of 100 points)
- Complete the Lesson 3 quiz.