Geography project ArcGis project

The country I choose is South Africa, all writing parts is done, for this project, only need to create a ArcGIS account and put all materials together online and created one storymap.

The final project for this course will be your storymap that will include at least 4 of your weekly regional assignments, and an introduction and conclusion to your region.

Your format for this project will be a storymap (Links to an external site.). Embedded within this storymap will be at least three maps that you make in ArcGIS online, in addition to text and multimedia. You will create both the maps and the storymaps in ArcGIS online. The terminology is admittedly a little confusing. A storymap is a format that allows you to integrate maps, pictures, multimedia, and the story you want to tell about something and someplace (See an overview and many, many beautiful examples here (Links to an external site.). Scroll to the bottom after all the fancy overview. There are also links on the final assignment module to get you into your storymap creator and some other example pages). Maps are what you’ve been incorporating into your weekly assignments. You know. The actual maps.

Your final project will require several elements, including maps, links to external media (YouTube, social media, news articles, etc.), pictures, etc.
I promise. This is fun stuff. And once you learn this platform, you can use it in other classes and on all sorts of projects. It’s really impressive and not as much work to put together as you might think.

Do NOT procrastinate on this assignment. It’s not very difficult if you start early. This gives you time to get to know the platform and then spend time making it look like how you want.

Job-Ready skills you will develop in this assignment

• Creating maps and storymaps in ArcGIS online
• Finding and compiling appropriate data
• Effective visual communication
• Effective written communication
• Ability to create complexing narratives to explain complex processes
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Problem-solving (because you will likely need to use google to figure a few things out!)

Goals for this assignment

• Apply concepts and theories that we use to understand specific regions to a particular place to explain the processes specific to that place as a way to understand that place on its own terms, or beyond the stereotypical stories that often define that place.
• Understand the basics of spatial data and the power of seeing that data on a map as a way to help explain a process or system in a place.
• Think critically about a place and the data you can use and the stories you can tell about that place.

Components of this project

The storymap

You can think of storymap almost like a series of slides, although when you get into the platform, you will realize it’s not the same as PowerPoint slides. As such, the components listed below should be organized as slides.

• You can choose any template you want. The default template is simple, elegant, and appropriate for this assignment. If you don’t want to go down a rabbit hole, just use the default template.
• ESRI has made storymap design similar to a template on a website. Just click on the Plus sign and it’ll ask you to add content. Again, don’t go crazy with the design. Do the basics. Once you learn those, and if you have time (or the next time you use this platform), you can get more creative.
• You will see ways to incorporate images, videos, maps, and of course, text.

The content

• The storymap should have some introduction that ties the weekly themes that you chose together to tell the story. Think about what you wrote in week 1. That can serve as your intro, but you will likely need ot rework it so that it’s an appropriate intro to the later material you’ve been working on.
• You need to include entries from four (4!) weeks of the term.
  • To choose your weeks, consider which ones you think fit well together as far as subject matter or themes. You can (and should!) rework these so that they flow together and that when they are put together create a coherent presentation about your region. This might mean changing the text and you’ll likely need to add more pictures and media.
• The storymap should have at least three maps that you create in ArcGIS online. You can make maps that go with certain weekly assignments. You can make more maps AND you can use maps you find from a website in addition to the three that your group creates.
• Your storymap should have a conclusion and potentially some ideas of future strengths and/or challenges of your region.
• Citations for your material should either be at the end of each slide or on a final slide at the end of the storymap. Citations should be both in-text like this (McLees, 2020) along with the entire citation list at the end. You may also use endnote citations IF you do them properly. You still need appropriate citations at the end.

You may likely run into technical issues if you try to get fancy. You don’t need to get fancy for this assignment (the storymaps are pretty fancy on their own!) ESRI (the company that created ArcGIS online) has a zillion tutorials on how to use their products. You’ll be amazed at what Google can help you with.

Look on the canvas page under the final assignment module for more details on how to access and create maps and storymaps.

The weekly assignment

Just to reiterate, the weekly regional assignments you are completing for this course are the material you will be putting into your storymap. I am grading these weekly assignments based on how well they will translate into the storymap (in addition to content, inclusion fo visuals, citations, writing coherence). Once you get a grade from me on the weekly assignment, you can (and should!) edit it before it goes into your final storymap.

YOu will notice that some of the guidelines to the weekly assignments start to make sense here. The small word count is because in the modern world and the focus on digital and visual information, short is better. That means your weekly assignments should not be a wide swath of information that is all about everything you can find about a subject (like migration) but focus on one aspect that you find interesting. You can also see why I want you to find visual projects and incorporate them into the text.

To turn in

Before you submit your final storymap link, you will need to make sure the storymap and all of the maps that you embed within it are shared publically. When you find the share icon, you can figure out how to do that. There will be a short link that is what you will post on the assignment submission in canvas.