This week started off with a bit of hope in using Arc-GIS after exploring their temporal layers, but they ended up having some major flaws. The main issue was that there was not really a good way to export the map and make it interactive. A video was really the only way that I saw an ability to export the tutorial map and even though that would fulfill basically all my requirements, I don’t think it would be a great solution in terms of user experience. Thinking about the final project, the more interaction the user can have with my data, I think the better.
Before running into these major roadblocks, I started to create a project that I thought I could add a temporal layer to. I had to create the original data points of each major city by hand, which took close to 2 hours. I was hoping that I could join a few tables with each other to create the temporal animation (which is what the tutorial showed), but then I think it might be almost impossible to ever update the data without redoing the project. I do like the look of how this version turned out, so I’m interested to see if I could create something similar (that actually works) in the future. The main thing I would change about this is how close all of the data points are to each other and then there are none in colder climates. This makes sense because most people live in warmer climates, but I am hoping I could find some colder data or at least find a way to cover the map more.
I think I could have made Arc-GIS work for what is required, but I do not think I could provide an accurate project to what I know I am capable of and I would be disappointed with myself. With that being said, I do not think I am fully convinced of not using Arc-GIS at all; I think some smaller maps and data could be used in addition to my main project of animating temperature trends.
Taking a Break
My typical day I get a chunk of time to work on my capstone is Wednesday afternoons, but this week I was able to head home Wednesday for Confirmation at my home church. After a bit of a disheartening and trying week, I think taking a bit of the week off was really helpful for my mental health and I’m ready to try out something new.
The Next Steps
Because of these roadblocks, I am planning to try using Google Maps as a platform instead. I have never used any of the developer tools that Google Maps provides, so I’m interested to dive into a few tutorials this weekend and doing some research. I do know many students who formerly had similar projects ended up taking the Google Maps route, so that is a bit promising.
Overall, this week was a bit frustrating to see and hear other students being able to make so much progress on their projects while feeling like I’m struggling to get anywhere. Almost all of the issues I’ve had are technical problems with platforms, and I haven’t even looked at or written any code. Because of that, I’m interested to see how Google Maps will work and I’m thankful that there is a direction I know where to go next.
