Week 9

Tasks

• Summarize my path through the course

To France and back

On September 14th my Geography of the Western Front class travelled to France for 10 days to study the battlefields of World War I, more commonly known by Europeans as The Great War. The first city we stayed in was Hardecourt-aux-Bois. This city is really close to the Hawthorn and Lochnagar craters and is in the heart of the Somme. Visiting the memorials and battlefields of the Somme are really what drove me to want to focus on The Battle of the Somme for my final project. Some of the WWI memorials we went to were absolutly beautiful. Knowing what I wanted to focus on, I then needed to decide what direction I wanted to go with it.

This is a picture from the Vimy Ridge Canadian WWI Memorial

Before we had left my professor, Joe Hupy, showed us a story map of The Battle of Gettysburg. I really wanted to do something similar to this. I wanted to be able to show on a map how the front lines moved throughout the battle. I also wanted to be able to display some of the locations that I had visited while in France. So I guess you could say both the Gettysburg story map and my own personal experiences in France were my inspiration for my final project.

*** At this point I knew I wanted my final project to focus on The Battle of the Somme, I just wan't sure how my project would be presented.

Story Map Try-outs

When we got back from out trip our professor decided to have us create story maps. The story maps were meant to familiarize us with the programs and help us decide which one we would want to use for our final project. The first program we used was created by Esri. This kind of story map was nice because there were a lot more things you could edit on it and really make it your own. Another pro to using the Esri Story Map was that Esri is probably the most welcomed format within the geography community. Everything geographers use now seems to be run by Esri. The down-side was that the site wasn't very user friendly. Some of the editable features were difficult to use. My Esri Story Map focused on the second day of our trip; Day 2 in France.

My Esri Story Map of the second day of our trip to France

The next and final story map we tried out was created by Google and it is called TourBuilder. I also liked this type of story map, but for different reasons. The TourBuilder program was extremely user friendly. It was very simple to use and took no time at all to figure it out. The cons about this program were that there wasn't as much you could edit on it, so everyone's story maps had the exact same format. Very unoriginal. Another thing that isn't great about this site is the Google isn't as high praised as Esri. My TourBuilder Story Map focused on the memorials we visited from WWI; Memorials of WWI.

My TourBuilder Story Map of the memorials of WWI

*** At this point in the semester I was planning on creating an Esri Story Map on The Battle of the Somme using the Gettysburg format. My hope was for my story map to look very similar to the Gettysburg one. It would be an interactive map that would show the progression of the front lines across the western front. 



Foundation of Research

After completing those two sample story maps I began to go more in-depth with my research on The Battle of the Somme. I already had a solid base of knowledge from my trip to France and learning the essentials from the battle, but for me to make a final project that goes above and beyond I knew I would have to dig a little deeper and find some information that not everyone else knew about. When I first presented my blog post with the information I had found on The Battle of the Somme it mostly consisted of things that I had learned from the assigned text and the France trip. While I'm not going to go over every source that I used for my project I will share my favorite source. I used a lot of sources for different things. A lot were used for finding different maps of the Somme. 

My first favorite source I used was from Spartacus Educational who had an amazing site giving a brief overview of the entire Battle of the Somme. A lot of what we learned while we were in France was about the first day of battle because this is when the most significant events happened. This site went beyond that and explained It did give a description for the first day, but after that it explained the rest of the battle as well. The author proceeds from that first day and talk about the front line changes from July 14th, September 15th, and finally to November 18th at the end of the battle. It explains significant events that led to the front line moves and the reasoning for the end of the battle, or at least a hypothesis for the ending of the battle. This site really helped me gain a greater base of knowledge on The Battle of the Somme for my final project. 

*** At this point I was really just in the gathering of information mode. Even though I was unsure of where my final project was heading I knew I would need a lot of information. So for the time being that was where my focus lied.

ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Online is the site that the Esri Story Maps came off of. You would pick your basemap and then insert that into a story map and add pictures to different places on the map. Well instead of inserting the map into a template right away I found out that the site lets you draw on the basemap. When I found this out I decided to draw the front lines on the basemap using the Map Notes tab.

Front lines of The Battle of the Somme

This was the map I used most to help me draw the front lines on the basemap. I spent quite a lot of time tinckering around with this and trying out different features. Once I finished drawing the front lines I was able to add descriptions to the features that I had just created. I added a short summary to each front line movement.

After I finished drawing the front lines I decided to add the two craters that we had visited while we were in France, the Hawthorn and Lochangar craters. These were symbolized by red triangles with an exclamation point in the middle.

A screenshot of what my project looked like up to this point

*** At this point in the semester I was still hoping to find a way to use what I had just drawn on ArcGIS Online to create something similar to the Gettysburg map. I was also looking for a Story Map template to incorporate what I had just created. I had more of an idea of what I wanted to do than a direction of where I was going with it.

Additional data research

After I had the front lines for July 1st, July 14th, September 15th, and November 18th drawn on my map I realized I would need more information represented on my map, it was looking rather blank. My first decision was to add all of the larger mine explosions that occured on the first day to my map. At this point I only had the Hawthorn and Lochnagar craters on my map. Through using several different sites I was able to find the locations of the Triple Tambour, Y-Sap, Bulgar Point, and Casino Point mines.

Although this is more information that was being added to my map it was still looking rather blank. When I came across this next site I immediatly knew what would be next to go on my map. This source, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, focuses on the individual battles withing The Battle of the Somme. So on my map I illustrated each of these smaller battles, which helped show the progression of the Allied troops as they pushed back the imposing German forces. The author did an excellent job describing the events leading from the beginning of the fighting near the city of Albert on outward towards the city of Bapaume and the final front line move on November 18th.

*** At this point in the semester I had all of my information about The Battle of the Somme collected, I just had to figure out how I would display it onto my map. Also I continued to think about how I wanted to present my final project.

Adding new information to my map

I began with adding the mine explosions to my map. I created a new feature class using Map Notes and I placed an orange icon in the places where mine explosions occured. I then added a small bit of information about each cratered area in the description section. Some craters like the Lochnagar Crater only had one mine explosion in that location. Others, like the Triple Tambour site, had multiple mine explosions all in one area. Regardless of the number of explosions, each area only received one orange icon to maintain the maps neatness.

What my map looked like after the addition of the mine explosions

After the addition of the mine explosions I began to add each of the smaller battles on to my interactive map. There were twelve of the smaller battles in all. One problem I had while illustrating these battles was that I wasn't sure how to display them on my map. I came to the decision of circling the areas of emphasis and putting a flag near those areas that contained information about the battle. Green flags were used for successful battles. White flags were used for battles that either failed or were not a complete success. While this worked well for the areas that were taken over by the Allied troops, some of the battles were assaulted that started at one city and progressed to another. These types of battles are displayed with using hollowed out arrows pointing in the direction of the assault. There was then no need for the informational flag because the arrow feature could hold all of the information.



Battle type number 1



Battle type number 2

*** At this point in the semester I finally had all of the information that I wanted displayed on my ArcGIS map. I was still unsure of how I was going to display my map, but I was finally getting close to a final project.

Presentation

While I was looking through all of the Story Map templates that are hosted on the ArcGIS Online site I came across something. Every time I would go to work on my map I would click open and then click open in ArcGIS.com map viewer. There were always other options, but I never bothered to open my map in any other program besides the one we had been working with all semester. I decided to open my map in ArcGIS Explorer Online.

This is the screen that my map opened up into

I was able to turn on and off all of my features just like the other program, but this one had a different function. I clicked on the Presentation tab and I realized how I was going to present my project. The Presentation tab gave me the ability to insert my map and features into a slideshow format. I started off with the first day of fighting with the caption "July 1st" and turned on the July 1 and crater explosion features and turned everything else off. I did this to show all of the battles also. I progressed through The Battle of the Somme slide-by-slide. You can still click on features to see the information I wrote about them. The only thing this format wasn't compatable with was the pictures I attached to the information, so I had to delete those. Other than that I love this format and I believe it displays my research and map excellently.

My Final Project: The Battle of the Somme: Front Lines

 

Final Website: Geography of the Western Front



Week 8

Tasks

• Complete an overview of my final project to be placed on the class website

 

This week was Thanksgiving Break so not much progress was made concerning my final project. Although I did sit down with my professor before break to go over what I would need to do to Georeference my maps, I didn't have access to a computer over break and not much was completed.

 

 

Overview

 

Background: I am a geography major at the University of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I’ve always wanted to get the opportunity to travel outside of the country. I mean I’ve been to Canada, but that doesn’t really count! When I found out about the trip to Europe I was immediately intrigued, even though I knew nothing about the class. I found out that during the trip we would be travelling to Europe for ten days to visit WWI battlefields. At this point in my college career I’m not completely sure what area of geography I’d like to go in to. When I met with my advisor, Joe Hupy, and he told me, “It’s almost as important to find out what areas you don’t want to study as it is to find out the areas you do want to study.” With this bit of knowledge I decided to sign up for the Geography 368 class going to Europe and I haven’t regretted it one bit. I hope that after this class I will have either found an interest or disinterest within the geography field.

Introduction: My final project is focusing on the Battle of the Somme during The Great War of 1916. The Battle of the Somme was fought to divert the German’s attention from Verdun where the French were losing ground. Many saw it as a battle of attrition and viewed it as a waste of resources with no significant ground won. While learning about this battle’s relevance during our trip to France I decided to create a web map of the frontlines during the Battle of the Somme. I’m hoping by creating this front lines map, and adding in significant information, that viewers will be able to visually see the relevance of this battle. Along with the frontlines the map contains significant events and the smaller battles within the battle. The significant events include the mine explosions from the first day of battle. These features all put together on one map will enable the every-day history junkie to become more informed on the battle itself and the significance it played during WWI.

History: The Battle of the Somme was a battle fought by the Allied troops against the imposing German army. The reason for the fighting at the Somme was to divert the German’s attention away from the French city of Verdun. The French reserves were being diminished at Verdun and the Germans needed to be drawn away. On July 1, 1916 the British set off several large mine explosions all along the presumed German front. During out trip to France we were actually able to visit the explosion sites of the Lochnagar and Hawthorn craters. The crater left in the earth by these explosions are massive even to this day.  The idea was that the British could dig tunnels underneath where they believed the Germans would be on that morning and place explosives in the tunnels. Then on that morning the British could detonate the explosives and simply crawl over the top of the trenches and walk across no-mans-land to claim the German side. The mine explosions weren’t as successful as they had hoped and the British were slaughtered in the thousands. This day is known by some as the Massacre of the Somme. There were approximately 58,000 casualties on the first day of fighting. While this day is what The Battle of the Somme is predominantly known for, the fighting did last for another five months or so. There were many smaller battles fought within The Battle of the Somme, for a list of each of the smaller battles refer to my Week 7 blog post (geog368.blogspot.com). The major frontlines moves were made on July 14, September 15, and finally on November 18 the fighting ceased. Besides the first day of fighting at the Somme this battle is also known for WWI’s first use of tanks. In the Battle of Flers-Courcelette tanks assisted the Allies in their capture of the city of Flers. The cold November weather and the depletion of resources is believed to be the major contributor to the ending of the battle.

Overall Methods: My project was done using ArcGIS Online and was completed by using the Map Notes feature that enables the user to draw on the basemap location of your choosing. For my project I used a topographic basemap. This basemap contained more geographical locations like cities and forests. These helped me to place the front lines on the map with accuracy.

 

 

 

 

 

These were some of the maps that I used to help me draw in the front lines on ArcGIS Online. After I drew these front lines I did a lot of my research using the site, Somme. This site helped me to find the specific battle location on the Somme and landmarks that were significant to the battle. With the addition of the landmarks you are really able to see how the geography of the land helped shape the front lines throughout the battle. You will be able to better see my methods for using the Map Notes in my Week 7 Blog Post (http://geog368.blogspot.com/). Also in my Week 7 Blog Post you can view a screen shot of my process of research as I gained more indepth information on The Battle of the Somme. After I had completed my map I pulled it up into ArcGIS Explorer Online. This enabled me to create slides where I could turn on and off layers to tell a story of The Battle of the Somme.

Final Project: My final project is in presentation mode. I created my map and all of its features using ArcGIS Online and then opened it up into ArcGIS Explorer Online. This enables me to create several slides and walk you through the battle slide-by-slide. I started off with a slide of the first day of battle. This slide has all of the mine explosions on it. What is awesome about this format is that the user can drag their mouse over a feature to see what it is and then click on the feature to get a more in-depth description of that feature. Then I went from battle-to-battle showing visually how the battle progressed.