Engaging Students with
Interactive, Web-based Mapping
Curtis Denton and Michael Howser
University of Connecticut
Jack Dougherty
Trinity College
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Outline
• Why Interactive mapping?
• Engaging students with spatial concepts
• On the Line: Examples of interactive maps
for student engagement
• Tools and resources for creating
interactive maps for the classroom
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While this looks fun…
It’s
only
engaging
to
a
select
few.
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Better….
but
s4ll
capturing
that
same
crowd.
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Is this more engaging?
1934
2008
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Interactive is essential
• Print maps are great… but do not capture
the attention spans of today’s students
• Examine curriculum topics from
– Spatial perspective
– Temporal perspective
• Integrate data from multiple sources
• Ex. Fault lines, earthquakes, and population data
• Interactive ≠ expensive or difficult
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Spatial and Temporal Context
What
do
the
following
items
have
in
common?
June
1
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Does this help?
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Static to Dynamic!
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Infusion of Interactive in the
Classroom
• Don’t teach the
technology, teach
with the technology
• Contextualization
– Spatial
– Temporal
• Relate to local/familiar
areas
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On the Line
A collaborative approach to
interactive maps
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What is On the Line?
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Tools used to create
interactive maps for On the Line
Resources Used Requirements
• Google Maps API • Interactive tools must
• Google Fusion Tables be platform apple,
• ArcGIS.com windows, and mobile
friendly
• HistoryPin
• No special plug-ins
• Free
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Google Maps API
• Search address
tool
• Pan
• Zoom
• Switch between
layers
• Linked views
• Linked zooms
• Linked documents
• Time sliders
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Making Maps with Google Maps
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Google Maps
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What is Google Maps?
• Address
searchable
• Point-to-point
addressing
• Research public
transits options
and yellow pages
listings
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Things you can do!
• Explore
locations
• Compare
• Create maps!
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Making your own maps!
• MyMaps
– Placemarks (points)
– Lines
– Shape (polygons)
– embed photos
& videos
– Import KML’s
• Share
• Collaborate
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Exploring the World with Google
Earth
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Google Earth
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What is Google Earth?
• Travel the world
• Satellite imagery
• Maps
• Terrain
• 3D buildings
• Embed pictures and videos
• Create tours
• Access to diverse geographic data
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Import data
• Overlay imagery (BMP, DDS, GIF, JPG,
PGM, PNG, PPM, TGA, TIFF)
• KML (Keyhole Markup Language) data
• Import GPS data
• Embed photos and videos
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Explore the urban landscape
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Explore the environment
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Access existing content
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Explore the past
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Google Fusion Tables
What is it, and how can it be used
in the classroom?
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What is Google Fusion Tables?
• Web based interface for uploading,
managing, and visualizing large datasets
• Builds upon Google Docs and Google
Maps
• Includes API to develop custom interfaces
• Enables sharing of large datasets
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Accessing Google Fusion Tables
hAp://www.google.com/fusiontables
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Importing Data
• Data formats supported include:
– Spreadsheets (.csv, .tsv, or .txt)
– Microsoft Excel
– Google Docs Spreadsheets
– KML Files (not KMZ)
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Google Fusion Example:
2010 Census in Texas
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Google Fusion Example:
Poverty by School District
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Making Maps Online with
ArcGIS.com
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What is ArcGIS.com?
• Web-based map
creation interface
• Enables collaborative
map creation
• Users can contribute
data to share via
ArcGIS.com
• Free!
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Importing Data
• Data formats supported include:
– Spreadsheets (.csv, .txt)
– Shapefiles (.zip) – WGS84 projection
– GPS files (GPX)
La8tude
field
Longitude
field
la8tude
longitude
lat
long
y
x
ycenter
xcenter
point-­‐y
point-­‐x
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Adding Data from the Web
• Data can be imported
from the following:
– ArcGIS Server Web
Service
– OGC Web Service
(WMS)
– KML file (Google Earth)
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ArcGIS Example from Gallery
ArcGIS.com
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Special Thanks!
• Jack Dougherty, Katie Campbell, and Jean-Pierre
Haeberly (Trinity College)
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection
• Office of Policy and Management
• University of Connecticut: Department of Geography,
Libraries, Libraries IT Services, MAGIC, CLEAR,
Department of Natural Resources
• Connecticut Geographic Alliance
• U.S. Census Bureau, Boston Regional Office
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Explore more
Explore, contribute, comment at:
http://ontheline.trincoll.edu
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Questions?
Map and Geographic Information Center – MAGIC &
Connecticut State Data Center
at the University of Connecticut Libraries
369 Fairfield Way
Phone: 860-486-4589
E-mail: magic@uconn.edu or ctsdc@uconn.edu
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