Week 4

Gettysburg Story Map



With my idea being to take the template used in the Gettysburg Story Map to create my story map of the Battle of the Somme I began to look at the ArcGIS Online story map site. All story maps created with using the Create Map button. This will bring you to a blank map where the user begins their project. After picking an appropriate base map I zoomed to the area in France north of the Somme river where the Battle of the Somme took place. Now you have the ability to add layers which I would need to get an interactive story map like the Gettysburg Story Map to work. But, obviously, with there being no pre-made layers on the ArcGIS site for the Battle of the Somme they would need to be created.

Another option that is available would be to draw on the map. To do this you click the Add button and then click the Add Map Notes button. This will bring you to a screen that gives you the ability to name the Map Note. After you name it you hit complete and the Edit: Add Features bar will appear to the right of the map. You can then draw on the map. I thought this map be an option to draw the several frontline changes throughout the battle by using this and then setting a date to each Map Note. The idea would be to add this to a Story Map template and the seperate Map Notes (with their predetermined dates) would be displayed. I was unable to figure out how to assign dates to the Map Notes. After playing around with this for a while I made the decision to go simpler with my Story Map and use the picture story map template. While this template won't be as sophisticated as I would have hoped for my final project in this class it will still get the job done and enable me to turn in a quality story map.

Creating a CSV

 

 



After changing my mind on the sort of template I will be using for my final project I decided to start to create a CSV to host my pictures. This will become beneficial once the process of starting the story map takes place. When you go to add pictures into a story map, instead of uploading all of the pictures and placing them in the correct position, you can simply upload your CSV file and all of the photos will be put into place for you.

A CSV is an Excel file that contains information about a photo, like; name, description, icon color, longitude, latitude, picture url, and thumbnail url.

 

 

For the name and description those are up to the user. The icron color our CSV used was red. To find the lattitude and longitude of the photos I had to go to other people's photos that had GPS enabled. My iPhone should have had the coordinated connected to each photo, but this was only true for about a fourth of the photos. Possibly just a lack of GPS signal. For the picture url we used the url; https://gis.uwec.edu/Geog368Fall13/(yourusername)/photoname. For example my user name is johnblak and a name of one of my photos was LochnagerCrater, so the picture url would have been; https://gis.uwec.edu/Geog368Fall13/johnblak/LochnagerCrater. The user name locates the picture by the album that I had created and then uses the specific picture name to find the exact photo.

A problem I encountered was with producing the Thumbnail URL. I tried using a thumbnail url generator that was located online, but it wouldn't work. I would past my JPG photo and press generate. An error would occur saying that only PNG and JPG were supported with this generator. Since I was using a JPG photo I'm not exactly sure what the problem is.

This is the error message that would appear when I attemped to obtain the thumbnail url

 



Site used for thumbnail url: Thumbnail Generator

Final Project Progress

With my CSV not yet being completed due to some technical difficulties I have continued brainstorming information for my final project and how it will be completed. I am going to use the ArcGIS site and use a picture story map template for my final project.

 

 

On the right is a map with specific points on the map, on the left will be a title, picture, and a description of the events that happened at that certain place. With a focus on the Battle of the Somme, most of the events will be located around the Albert, France area.

 

 

So far, my points of emphasis for this project will be the significance of Joffre and Haig in the battle and how their decisions benefited and worked against the allies. The significace of the dates July 1, July 14, September 15, and November 17, 1916 with the movements of the frontlines throughout this battle. And key events such as the start of the battle, lochnager crater, hawthorn crater, the massacre, and the end of the battle. One site I found, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWsomme.htm, focuses on all of these points and I also hope to find more sites and possible some books that go more in depth. I have not had the chance to look at any of the books that I had stated in my previous posts that I would, but I hope to dig into those sometime later this week.

 

 

 

Lochnagar Crater Site

 

 

 

Hawthorn Crater Site

 

 

I believe if I go in depth in the topics that I have chosen the viewer will have a much better understanding of the Battle of the Somme, the significance it had during WWI, and the geographical implications it had on Northern France.