Blog Post 4

In all honestly, I have been struggling with getting this map put together. I have many elaborate ideas that I can picture in my head, but cannot seem to get them in motion when I spend time working on the computer trying to put everything together. I am picturing a map similar to the current campus map (posted on blog 3),  But cannot find one that has enough detail so it could be used by not only current students, but also prospective students and visitors. I also do not want the map too cluttered so I am hesitant to simply use the World Imagery Basemap. I am planning on going to Dr. Meierdierck's office hours on Thursday to see if she can suggest a method that will allow me to use a 'simple' map of campus, then add points and polygons to show the sustainable features of campus.

I have collected more precise information about where some of the notable features of campus are as well. I found that there is at least one water bottle fill station in each dorm building, with multiple in the newer residence halls such as Snyder. I am thinking of plotting only the most central fill stations (and those that are also accessible to visitors to campus) in each building rather than every single fill station, as the data could get a bit crowded if I included them all. Additionally, I think it would be better to mark buildings with easily accessible fill stations rather than all fill stations so the map document does not need to be updated every time a new one is added.

Once I meet with Dr. M and am able to get through the chapter 7 tutorial, I should finally be able to create a draft map with points and polygons to show sustainability features.

Post 3

Unfortunately, I did not make much progress with my project over the past week. I was unable to find time to visit campus during spring break to locate the notable features I would like to include on my map, so I intend to gather these data points over the upcoming weeks.

However, I have been thinking quite a bit about what I would like my final map to look like, and am considering using simpler base map to add the sustainability points to. I think this would be a good improvement to the project as much of the landscape on the previous base map adds distractions and may become too congested when features, such as water bottle fill stations, are added. I found a PDF of Siena's Campus to use as a reference for this post, but am intending to adapt/find/create a similar base map for my project. I believe this will be an improvement, especially for the interactive online map, as it will be more modern and accessible to a wider audience.

Potential difficulties for this week include (once again) finding a way to make sure specific data points are accurate enough to be useful on the map as well as finalizing a new base map for the project.