Facilitator: Kristine Hildebrandt

We looked at some example maps in addition to the ones I included in the session proposal:

medievaldigital.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/oxford-outremer-map/interactive-map

neatline.dclure.org/neatline/show/declaration-of-independence#records/1329

datadrivenjournalism.net/featured_projects/uk_tech_landscape_where_do_they_meetup

We made a map on Google Maps: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qlVBH_C3O7Q032EvBdoOHMuZ20o&usp=sharing

And here are the basic instructions for creating maps in Google Maps and in R (we didn’t have time to cover R)

I. Getting Started with “My Maps” in Google:

1. You need to have a google/gmail account

2. You can manually type ‘my maps’ into Safari, Chrome or any other web browser, or use this URL, which will prompt you to log in: www.google.com/maps/d/

3. “Create New Map”

4. Name your map, and then begin by manually entering spatial data (latitude/longitude, a post code, a place name), you can draw (add a point) on the map and then name that, or else you can import data from an excel, csv, or tab-delineated file

5. I recommend clicking on the “learn more” buttons anytime they are available

6. You can tailor your map points, you can tailor your map to different base types, and you can add polygons (boundary markers) to connect specific points to highlight spatial connections

7. You can save your map, you can make it public and share it with selected people or make it totally open, and you can create images of various types.

II. Getting Started with R:

R is a statistics package, but it has become more powerful than just that. It now has the ability to help you create customized maps of all types (along with countless other visualizations and images). I am just getting started with learning about R for mapping, but I can share what I do know.

1. First you need to download and install R (the latest version as of June 10 was version 3.3.0.

www.r-project.org/

You can download it from any one of the multiple “mirror sites” (a network of servers which host R). Choose the one closest to you. Follow the install prompts.

By the way: R Studio is also R, but it is sometimes a bit more user-friendly because it makes use of a more Windows/Office/OS-like user interface: www.rstudio.com/

2. Launch R or RStudio

3. You must install some “software” packages from the R package installer. These packages are little packets of data for mapping. You want to make sure that “maps” and “mapdata” are installed. You can then check for their presence in the R library:

library(maps)

library(mapdata)

4. This will produce a default map of the world

map()

You can add axes and scale:

map.axes()

map.scale()

5. In R, remember the X axis is longitude and the Y axis is latitude

6. Here are some coordinates. See what type of map you get. See if you understand what the numbers are telling you.

map(xlim=c(140, 160), ylim=c(-20,10))

map(xlim=c(80, 110), ylim=c(20,35))

7. The map library has two types of maps: a default map “map” and a more high resolution map “worldHires”

You can compare: map(xlim=c(80, 110), ylim=c(20,35))

with

map(“worldHires”, xlim=c(80, 110), ylim=c(20,35))

Then, you can add your axes and scale again

8. You can import your own coordinates and place name labels, but you need to save the file as .txt or .csv tab or comma-delimited and quoted fields, and NOT as an excel file.

9. I have loaded this file: Languages_MapR.txt, which has the lat/long for 14 Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal, Tibet, China and India

View(Languages_MapR)

This gives me a spread-sheet type layout. Now I want to plot these language names accurately on the map

Here are the languages and their coordinates plotted on a scatter plot of lat X long: plot(Languages_MapR$longitude, Languages_MapR$latitude)

Here is how the map looks:

map(xlim=c(80, 110), ylim=c(20,35)) #this lets you zoom in to the region

points(Languages_MapR$longitude, Languages_MapR$latitude) #here are the labels plotted

text(Languages_MapR$longitude, Languages_MapR$latitude, labels=Languages_MapR$name) #this lets me add language names as labels

There are some other tricks on the following web pages that allow for color and shading

Here are some tutorial sites that I’ve found useful. There are many others.

www.mpi.nl/departments/former-independent-research-groups/evolutionary-processes/tools/mapping-with-r

rpubs.com/nickbearman/r-google-map-making

You can use R and Google Maps together, too, but I am not as familiar with this:

www.bnosac.be/index.php/blog/41-visualisation-with-r-and-google-maps

I have some experience with making custom maps using Google Maps and also using some free software called (R), which was originally developed for doing statistics, but has become much more powerful and useful through time. I’m interested in leading a hands-on session to demonstrate some of the features of both tools, and to briefly mention some other shareware that is out there for mapping and geospatial visualization, that I am less familiar with (e.g., QGIS). I would also be happy to have any other members participate in this session if they know about additional programs.

Why is this an interesting topic? Maps are useful beyond much more than just making travel plans or identifying places and objects in space. They help us to understand relationships and make connections (both spatial and temporal). They let us “see” relationships. They offer a sophisticated way to analyze very different types of information or variables (e.g. space, history, and politics). Here are some examples of some projects that incorporate geovisualization in with topics and disciplines that are more familiar to my own education and professional experience:

Civil War Washington

The Manang Languages Project & Atlas

Dialect maps, like this one featured in the NY Times

The World Atlas of Language Structures

It would be useful if you have your own laptop (any OS will do) with internet access. I’ll demonstrate whatever I can, but you will be able to download and sample different tools alongside me and others if you have your own computer.

Bring your laptops! I’ll walk you through the basic steps to setting up an Omeka site for digital archiving, anthologizing, and exhibiting, and we’ll discuss possible pedagogical uses and best practices.

Handouts:

exhibitassignment

Using Omeka

Slides available on SlideShare: