Assignments

Module 1 Assignment

1. Discussion Board Post

Introduce yourself on the discussion board. Write a brief paragraph about why you might be interested in learning about the Digital Earth. That’s it! Just get to know a few people in the course and letting the instructor get to know some of your backgrounds and interests is all that is required for Module 1.

Module 2 Assignment

Google Earth is currently the most widely used Digital Earth application. A tool built using Google Earth called Voyager provides a series of pre-defined guided tours, quizzes, and layers that focus on particular themes of issues around the globe. You are going to explore three of these stories

  1. Frozen Lakes
  2. Mapping London’s Air Pollution
  3. Underwater Earth Imagery

Spend at least 10 minutes exploring each. Navigate around as much as possible and get a feel for what types of information are provided. Your task is to compare and contrast these three Digital Earth applications.

1. Create the table below in Microsoft Word and fill it in.

Objective How were the data collected Potential data quality issues or biases
Frozen Lakes
Mapping London’s Air Pollution
Underwater Earth Imagery

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2. Review

Select one of these and write a one-page review of this Google Earth story. In your review, be sure to include the objective of the story, the types of information that is presented, and some ideas for how it could be improved or extended.

Module 3 Assignment

  1. Use the annual crop inventory - specifically using the 4-Year Rotation Tool - to find a corn field that has been planted corn for the past four years near the corner of Sawmill Rd and Northfield Dr E north of Waterloo near Conestogo. Answer the following questions about this field:
  • what is the approximate size of this field in hectares?
  • what was planted in this field in 2013?
  1. Imagine you are tasked with designing a wildfire monitoring program. The program would aim to detect new wildfires, and monitor existing ones and control efforts using satellite-based earth observation data. What spatial and temporal resolution data would be required for this system? Explain your reasoning of this choice.
  2. Give two examples of how EO data could potentially be used in the viticulture industry?
  3. What would be the potential sources of error or bias in using the AAFC Annual Crop Inventory to understand agriculture patterns in Canada?

Module 4 Assignment

1. Community Mapping with GreenMap

Come up with an idea for a greenmap project for a community you are familiar with (e.g., where you grew up, where you live now, etc.). Think about a project that would highlight an important issue, or feature a unique place or characteristic of the region. How would you map this? How would you go about engaging people to participate?

Write a one-page proposal outlining a GreenMap project proposal. Think through the objectives, design, data collection and presentation, and community engagement.

Module 5 Assignment

This week there are two options for the assignment - you only need to do one of these options.

Option A - GPS Mapping with your Cell Phone

  1. Download and install EpiCollect on your mobile device - sign in using your mylaurier email address
  2. Open the Epicollect5 App and open the GESC 151 Assignment 4 Project in your list of projects
  3. Ensuring you are outdoors in a safe environment (e.g., an open field or a park) - answer the five field questions in the project
  4. Once you have submitted your answers in the EpiCollect Project, go to https://five.epicollect.net/project/gesc-151-assignment-4 in your web browser and view the data you collected. Change up the basemap to satellite view and to OSM view to see how your features compare to what are represented there.
  5. Write half page report discussing the following:
  • How well the features you mapped compared to what was in OSM and Satellite basemaps
  • Any issues of spatial accuracy that effected how well the collected data represented what you aimed to map
  • How data collection about places that are relaxing or stressful could be used

Option B - GPS Data on OSM

  1. Open up Open Street Maps to a location, neighbourhood or community you are really familiar with
  2. Write a one page report evaluating the covergage and data quality of OSM for that are, be sure to include the following
  • Any important features that are missing
  • Does OSM map give an accurate representation overall of this area, would it capture the essence of this location? Why or why not?
  • If you had to author your own personal OSM map that documented the features most important to you - what else would be included, what would be excluded?

Module 6 Assignment

1. Applications of UAS

  1. What is a potential application of a thermal sensor onboard a UAS?
  2. Use Google to find a company offering drone-based mapping services. Write a critical review of their services. Make sure to address the following key points in your review
  • What product or service is the company offering?
  • How long has this company been in business?
  • What are the potential problems or issues that could arise with this product or service?
  • How would the issue being addressed or offered be accomplished without a drone? What is the extra value added by using UAS in this context?
  • If you or a family member were involved in this sector, would you purchase this product or service? Why or why not?

Module 7 Assignment

1. Crime and Big Data

  1. What is predictive policing? What are the key advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
  2. Give the widespread protests against overuse of force and racially-based policing, how could big data be used to help solve rather than exacerbate these issues. Write a one-page proposal outlining your ideas to use big data to address these widespread systemic issues, or describing why big data is not going to be part of the solution.

Module 8 Assignment

1. Critiquing and analyzing Story Maps

  1. Having reviewed in detail the Top 10 Lifestyle Segments in the City of Kitchener story map, what are the downsides of viewing the city through this lens?
  2. Read thru the technical documentation for the Prizm 5 methodology and answer the following questions:
  • what is settlement context and how is it used in the process of creating neighbourhood segments?
  • what does it mean to ‘maximize within segment uniformity while differentiating between all the identified segments’? Why is this relevant to the creation of lifestyle segments?
  • how could the lifestyle segment geodemographic data potentially be misused?

2. Scientific GeoVisualization

  1. How do voxels differ from pixels?
  2. What do you think is the most exciting area of geovisualization? Why?
  3. Provide a detailed prediction of where we will be in terms of geovisualization of the Digital Earth in the year 2030.