{"id":22,"date":"2015-11-12T16:13:33","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T23:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:03:58","slug":"projects","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Description"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"random-accordion-id-354\" class=\"accordion-shortcode  \"><h3 ><a href=\"#choosing-a-topic-0\" >Choosing a Topic<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"choosing-a-topic-0\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<p>In this course, your class project is a significant component. In order to complete a project you need to identify a topic (or partner with someone who has identified a topic that is of interest to you) that will enable you to use your GIScience skills and demonstrate the practical knowledge that you have gained in GEOS 270 and GEOS 370. You should select a topic that is of interest to you. If you are focusing on urban geography in your studies, consider working on something that uses census data (examples presented here: <a href=\"https:\/\/ctb.ku.edu\/en\/table-of-contents\/assessment\/assessing-community-needs-and-resources\/geographic-information-systems\/main\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">assessing community needs and resource<\/a>s); if you are mostly studying physical geography, check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.saga-gis.org\/en\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SAGA (Software for Geoscientific Analyses)<\/a>\u00a0web site and in particular <a href=\"https:\/\/saga-gis.sourceforge.io\/saga_tool_doc\/9.3.0\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">look over the tools that are provided<\/a>).\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whiteboxgeo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whitebox Geospatial<\/a> set of tools is also worth reviewing.\u00a0 For Human geographers, this text on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorfrancis.com\/books\/mono\/10.4324\/9781315759326\/gis-social-sciences-dimitris-ballas-graham-clarke-rachel-franklin-andy-newing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GIS and the Social Sciences<\/a> is definitely worth taking a look at.<\/p>\n<p>I very much suggest that everyone discuss their proposed projects with the TA and\/or me, since we may be able to provide some useful guidance (e.g., where to look for data, how other students have addressed the issue). Finding appropriate data sources for your project is often the most time consuming component; thus, project topics will often be constrained by data availability. Choosing a good topic to work on is challenging, but we can provide guidance and suggestions along the way. Given time constraints, you might have to start with what data is available and then see what sort of interesting questions we might ask that this data will help us understand.<\/p>\n<p>The below links may help you discover some project ideas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/gisgeography.com\/gis-applications-uses\/\">A listing of 1000 GIS applications<\/a>!<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/student-examples\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click here to view completed projects by previous classes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.directionsmag.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Directions Magazine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/esri-news\/arcuser\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ArcUser Magazine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xyht.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">XYHT Magazine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Because of the substantial amount of work required to complete a project, it is important to plan ahead. If you do plan ahead you will find the project and the learning process both fun and challenging. Previous students emphasize the importance of deciding on a project topic early on in the course. This will allow you time to obtain the needed data and identify the appropriate research methodology early on, and, when the data glitches and analytical snafus occur--and they almost always do--you will time to work around them.<\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><h3 ><a href=\"#guidelines-for-project-proposa-1\" >Guidelines for Project Proposal Presentations and Summaries<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"guidelines-for-project-proposa-1\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>For your project proposal presentations,\u00a0you must outline:<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>A statement of who is involved in your project (e.g., the 'team').<\/li>\n<li>A title for your project, as well as a short description of what you hope to achieve in your project (depending on what sort of geographical inquiry you do, this could be your 'hypothesis', or what sorts of questions you are posing, or what concept you hope your inquiry will shed light on, etc.).<\/li>\n<li>A very short description of the data that you will be using in your project, and an indication of whether the data is 'in hand' or has to be obtained.<\/li>\n<li>Any other important facts you would like to present to the class, such as the advanced methods you plan on using for your analyses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"level01text\">Important considerations when developing a project proposal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your foremost consideration is the identification of an appropriate question or research <a href=\"http:\/\/people.uwec.edu\/piercech\/researchmethods\/generating a research hypothesis\/generating a research hypothesis index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hypothesis<\/a>. What is the goal of your project? What do you hope to learn \/ achieve \/ unpack for further research \/ demonstrate through the completion of your project?<\/li>\n<li>Another important consideration is the need to emphasize <strong>spatial analysis<\/strong>--every project must entail some elements of <strong>advanced<\/strong> spatial analysis (i.e., producing simple maps that compare the distributions of two phenomena is not advanced spatial analysis). Note that you can draw methods from what you learn in labs, but good projects don't just repeat a lab in slightly different circumstances.<\/li>\n<li>Although there are exceptions, in order to conduct <em>meaningful<\/em> spatial analysis, you typically want to have more than 25-30 spatial units (e.g., points or polygons).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some useful resources:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A site that describes <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Archaeoinformation_science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">computational archaeology<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Some <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Predictive_modeling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">predictive modelling<\/a> resources.<\/li>\n<li>GIS <a href=\"http:\/\/corridordesign.org\/designing_corridors\/resources\/gis_tools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tools<\/a> for connectivity, corridor, or habitat modeling.<\/li>\n<li>An <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0022169402001105\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> on estimating precipitation in mountainous environments.<\/li>\n<li>Snow indices and satellite data: <a href=\"http:\/\/profhorn.meteor.wisc.edu\/wxwise\/satmet\/lesson3\/ndsi.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NDSI<\/a>, some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/landsat-missions\/landsat-fractional-snow-covered-area-science-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issues<\/a> NASA identifies with NDSI, a <a href=\"http:\/\/web.pdx.edu\/~jduh\/courses\/geog482s09\/Projects\/Davis_MtHood.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">comparison<\/a> with IR values.<\/li>\n<li>Geospatial Modelling Environment (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spatialecology.com\/gme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GME<\/a>) software--useful for many forms of analysis, in particular it provides a link to the R statistical program.<\/li>\n<li>An <a href=\"http:\/\/cran.r-project.org\/web\/views\/Spatial.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">overview<\/a> of methods of spatial data analysis available through R.<\/li>\n<li>ESRI's technical <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.esri.com\/esri\/arcgis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blogs<\/a> cover many topics such as 3D GIS, analysis, editing, python.<\/li>\n<li>A useful resource for those planning on doing some form of hazards analysis in their projects: <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/files\/2020\/11\/NorthernHazardMappingMethods__HighRes.pdf\">Northern Hazard Mapping Methods<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Deliverable:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Each team will briefly present in class and within 24hrs after is required to submit a one-page electronic summary. The summary should include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A statement of who is involved in your project (e.g., the 'team').<\/li>\n<li>A title for your project, as well as a short description of what you hope to achieve in your project.<\/li>\n<li>A listing of the data that you will be using in your project, and an indication of whether the data is 'in hand' or has to be obtained (a table works well for this).<\/li>\n<li>Any other important facts you have presented to the class.<\/li>\n<li>Any reflections on feedback from your classmates - how it may help (or not!) with narrowing in on your analysis or clarifying your project goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<\/div><h3 ><a href=\"#assessment-2\" >Assessment<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"assessment-2\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<div class=\"note\">Important note: Your project is worth almost as much of your final mark as your labs, so you should dedicate as much time and effort to your project as you did to your labs.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The project marking scheme <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/project-marking-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is outlined here, along with a few additional helpful hints.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><h3 ><a href=\"#guidelines-for-presentations-3\" >Guidelines for Presentations<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"guidelines-for-presentations-3\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<p>Final presentations take place the last week of classes. It's important we are all there to offer support, to ask questions that people can use to revise their approach, and to learn more about the diversity of topics that GIS allows one to engage!<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the final number of groups we will have short presentations and ideally group-based discussion. You will have more details beforehand but generally you should have a draft of your project website ready to discuss - particularly your findings.<\/p>\n<p>\n<\/div><h3 ><a href=\"#project-website-4\" >Project Website<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"project-website-4\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<p>Your project should have an abstract (a paragraph summarizing your project), something equivalent to a table of contents, an introduction, a section describing the methods and data used, the results, and a conclusion. It is also important to identify all of the project team members on the project's home page.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, there are two preferred methods of creating your final (online) project report. You can use a blogging platform. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/\">UBC Blogs<\/a> provide the easiest solution--and they make it easy to keep your site private if you don't want it to either serve as evidence of what you've learned in a portfolio or inform the broader world about your topic. Regardless, make sure that we can access your site. For the more adventurous, you could use an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/arcgis\/products\/arcgis-storymaps\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ESRI's Story Maps<\/a> to host your project. (<a href=\"https:\/\/learn.arcgis.com\/en\/projects\/get-started-with-story-maps\/\">StoryMap tutorial here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>More Details (not listed but should be included, introduction &amp; conclusion):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Abstract: A short statement about your project<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., The goal for our project was to develop an inundation model of a 10-metre high tsunami for the Metro Vancouver region. Our model identified the potential risk of inundation with respect to elevation and distance from the coast. The areas at highest risk of inundation include the low-lying cities of Richmond and Delta. An estimated 400,000 \u00b1 165,000 people reside within the forecasted risk area. <\/span><b>Or<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The goal of our project was to analyze the potential effects of the Northern Gateway Pipeline on the environment and the peoples living along its route. Using multiple parameters we created different cost surfaces that were used to model different potential pipeline routes. Then, using our generated routes, as well as a route that Enbridge has proposed, we analyzed the pipeline's potential ecological and socioeconomic impacts along its path.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A statement of your data sources<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g., We obtained our data from DMTI and Statistics Canada; as well, we georeferenced some of the data ourselves. <\/span><b>Or<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We obtained our data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission as well as from the Climate BC web site.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A discussion on the methodology used in your project<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ( e.g., We followed the classic Multi-criteria analysis methodology in our project--we identified the factors (list them out) and constraints (list them out) relevant to our goal and, after standardizing them, we used a weighted sum to identify the potential sites.).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">A discussion of your results and conclusions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is where you should spend much of your time--identifying your important results (e.g., presenting your maps) and discussing what they show, and then indicating whether or not your analyses achieved the goal(s) you had established.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 ><a href=\"#fine-details-5\" >Fine Details<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"fine-details-5\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><\/p>\n<h4>You must follow the following details in creating your project web pages:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Spell checking is absolutely necessary! If your editor doesn't support spell checking, it is a good idea to cut and paste your text into a word processor and run a spell check in order to ensure that you have no errors.<\/li>\n<li>As a general practice when working with web materials, it is best\u00a0NOT to have any spaces in your filenames (e.g., Final Map Showing Results.jpg should be named finalmapshowingresults.jpg)<\/li>\n<li>All images used in your project must be properly cited (that is, where did you obtain that picture from?) and, typically, you should obtain permission first before using someone else's images.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 ><a href=\"#graphics-to-the-web-6\" >Graphics to the Web<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"graphics-to-the-web-6\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><p>A picture is worth a thousand words. Chances are that you will want to use graphic images to convey information about your analysis and to show people the results. Note that web pages can only display a limited number of the possible graphics files formats (e.g., web browsers cannot display Window's emf files, but they can display gif, jpg and png images), so it is important that you explore all of the export options before deciding upon a final format. (For a complete listing of all of the known file extensions, check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/filext.com\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FILExt<\/a> web site. They also list viewers for many of the extensions.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Methods you can use for capturing ArcGIS's images are:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ArcGIS's Export<\/li>\n<li>Capturing a 'screen shot'<\/li>\n<li>Creating a PDF<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Important consideration: You need to ensure that the images (maps) are legible. That is, if the image is too small it becomes difficult to discern the details.\u00a0 To alleviate this as a concern you can create smaller static images of the maps and link them to PDFs or larger versions of the files that can be viewed by clicking on the smaller static map.<\/h4>\n<h4>ArcGIS's Export<\/h4>\n<p>This is the preferred method, which uses the export capabilities of ArcGIS to create a placeable Window's Enhanced Metafile, a gif file, a jpg file, a PDF, etc. Once you have the map\u00a0created (with all of the elements, such as the legend and scale bar, properly placed) simply use the File \/ Export menu to save the image as a Windows Enhanced Metafile (*.emf) (or as a *.jpg). You can then use a graphics program such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gimp.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GIMP<\/a> to adjust the image, if necessary, and to save the image in a web-friendly format. Always confirm the Export Options to ensure that the resolution, etc. are what you want them to be. Also, read over the ArcGIS Help file on \"exporting maps\" for additional tricks you'll need to know.<\/p>\n<h4>Capturing a 'screen shot'<\/h4>\n<p>This method varies a bit by your version of your operating system. If the exact approach described here doesn't work, consult this page: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.take-a-screenshot.org\/\">https:\/\/www.take-a-screenshot.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The simplest approach, classically, in Windows uses the <strong>Print Screen<\/strong> key that may be located beside the <strong>F12<\/strong> key on the top row of the keyboard. By pressing this key the whole screen is captured as an image to the Clipboard (in the computer's memory). Windows also has the Clipping tool that is more flexible to use. To use this image you can either open <strong>Clipboard<\/strong> and save the file as a <strong>CLP<\/strong> (clipboard) file or go to a graphic management program and paste the image from the Clipboard into an image file. You can also use Window's <strong>Snipping Tool<\/strong> to capture part or all of the screen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example - Here is a simple walk through of how to use the PRINT SCREEN method to capture an image from ArcGIS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Open ArcGIS Pro.<\/li>\n<li>Create the screen you wish to capture (can be a layout, table, chart, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Press Print Screen key on the keyboard.<\/li>\n<li>Open a graphics program.<\/li>\n<li>Select Edit and then Paste, you will see the whole screen capture pasted on the window. Here is a captured screen image.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-45 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/files\/2015\/11\/print-screenfull.png\" alt=\"print-screenfull\" width=\"480\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/files\/2015\/11\/print-screenfull.png 480w, https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/files\/2015\/11\/print-screenfull-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Now you can edit the image by cropping, resizing, flipping, rotating, adding text and changing colour etc. This is the modified screen image after cropping.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/files\/2015\/11\/print-screencropped.png\" alt=\"print-screencropped\" width=\"260\" height=\"220\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4>Graphic Software<\/h4>\n<p>Some of the more popular graphic management programs that handle <strong>bitmapped<\/strong> (raster based images) are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gimp.org\/\">GIMP<\/a> (free to all and available in the Geography Computer Labs) and <strong>Window's Paint<\/strong>. Images that are saved as Screen-dumped (can be called somethingsomething.bmp) files can generally be opened directly from within these types of programs. In addition, the clipboard contents of a screen capture can be pasted directly into these programs. One of the advantages of using a raster-based graphic management program to handle your screen capture is that you can edit and manipulate the image to your liking before saving it, allowing you to crop out window borders, menu headers, and other unnecessary information.<\/p>\n<p>Vector-based drawing programs such as <strong>Illustrator<\/strong> (available in the Departmental Computer Labs) or <a href=\"https:\/\/inkscape.org\/\">Inkscape<\/a> (free to all) are also useful for manipulating saved images. Bitmapped Screen-Dumps, however, can typically only be imported (but not modified) when you are using a vector-based program such as Illustrator (\"Import\" is usually found under the \"File\" menu in most programs). Once the image is imported, a user can add lines, curves, coloured boxes, and artistic text around the image (especially useful when annotating an image in a project!). However, the imported image itself cannot be edited in a drawing program; it must first be manipulated in a raster-based graphic management program.<\/p>\n<h4>Copyright and credit<\/h4>\n<p>It is important to respect copyright when creating your web pages (e.g., using images from another site, taking quotes from publications). You must properly source all materials used on your pages. The library has a webpage dedicated to copyright issues: <a href=\"http:\/\/copyright.ubc.ca\/students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/copyright.ubc.ca\/students\/<\/a> as well as this page on how to properly cite images: <a href=\"http:\/\/copyright.ubc.ca\/guidelines-and-resources\/support-guides\/image-sources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/copyright.ubc.ca\/guidelines-and-resources\/support-guides\/image-sources\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Bottom Line<\/h4>\n<p>Incorporating images to your project may enhance the quality and appeal of your project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 ><a href=\"#project-examples-7\" >Project Examples<\/a><\/h3><div id=\"project-examples-7\" class=\"accordian-shortcode-content \" ><p>The entire class projects for several years are posted on the web. With the skills and knowledge you acquire in this course, you should be able to produce a project that excels the ones shown on the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/student-examples\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Student examples<\/a> page!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><!-- #random-accordion-id-354end of accordion shortcode -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18620,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":155,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5128,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions\/5128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/advancedgis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}