This week Mary and I met to review the Schools in the Park Watershed excel sheet. From there we added columns with color and text ID. This shows the types of schools are which. We created categories that are relevant to nature or watershed research. In Google Fusion tables we were then able to change the point markers and colors to show differences among the schools of the area.
Next step will be to add the polygon layer of the watershed as well as the municipal boundary lines. There needs to be a little clean up done on the pop up boxes (URL links, taking out unnecessary data, etc.). I would like to add a legend as well to distinguish what each color means. Are the colors and markers seen in Google Fusion the only ones we can use? Are there any other ways to change the styles of these markers? Need an explanation on how the map works for the general public.
We were also wondering if there was an excel sheet of the private schools. Mary knows of some popular Environmental programs/schools that are private that would be nice to filter on the map as well.
We would like to integrate this map and its framework into the Park River Watershed website.
This week I wanted to be able to combine the point layer of only the school points in the watershed, with the Park River Watershed outline, as well as boundaries of the municipalities. However, this task proved to be more difficult than I thought as I had some difficulties with Google Drive and Google Wizard Fusion. There wasn’t a problem so much with the codes of my data. But there were some issues with the tools and applications I used, which were not cooperating very well. Below is the map of the my school points and the watershed boundary. The schools each have a type:
1 = interdistrict
2 = district
3 = more PreK centers
I would like to create a choropleth interactive map that shows the three different types of schools in the watershed. There are no private schools included. It would be very beneficial for schools to have the information available to them, in order for science programs and environmental clubs to seek out a student networks.
*March 10th update from Jack: As Shaina reported, she is having difficulty with web hosting on Google Drive. Her interactive map below is only visible to me on Safari, so I have inserted a static image. The best way to fix this may be to shift to web hosting on GitHub.*
Using Google Fusion Wizard, I was able to combine the point layer of the schools and the polygon layer of the watershed together. I will have to play around with the colors of the points as well as the watershed for my final map. I would also like to be able to show the schools in the watershed alone and take out the other schools. But the map below is starting to look more to how I would like my final map to look like.
Now that I can add layers to point maps, I would like to add more to my final map. For example, it would be nice to include boundary lines of the municipalities, parks/nature centers/libraries, impaired water systems, etc. My next step is to search for other shape files with the above details in either the Trinity GIS folders or by downloading them.
As we move forward with our projects, I have honed down on two specific ideas I would like to work on for this semester. One idea we would like to expand on is the Water Quality Story. Many streams and tributaries begin in the smaller areas outside Hartford and the more suburban towns, such as West Hard Hartford. As of right now, I am still in the process of searching for data on the water quality measurements, whether that be water sediment or levels of pH, etc. We would like to observe how affected the streams become as they begin flowing from the cleaner suburban regions to more urban environments. By depicting this data to the public, we can learn where pollutions are being dumped into the streams through point and non-point sources. Hopefully, with adequate data, we can be efficient in discovering how our neighborhoods and towns can work together to create a cleaner stream system.
Here is an image of the Park River near Flatbush Ave., Hartford, CT.
The second idea includes working with public data about the different types of schools (public, private, etc.) and levels of education (primary/elementary education, high school) that reside in the Park River Watershed. Specifically, we would like to examine school systems that were built along the main rivers in the watershed. This knowledge will allow schools to build a greater and stronger network within their science programs as well as with each other. With a better support system, students will be able to foster their environmental interests further, and school officials and teachers will have an easier time implementing interactive science into the education system.
With school information around the Hartford area that Professor Jack Dougherty has given me, I was able to upload the data onto Google Fusion Tables to create a Point Map. Utilizing this tool for these points of schools is a great way to portray what my partner organization and I would like present. Below, the red dots on the interactive map show the different types of schools in and around the city of Hartford.
I have also found a shapefile layer of the Park River Watershed, which can be converted into a .kml file and can easily be uploaded to Google Fusion Tables as well. In the map below, the watershed can be seen outlines in red.
I would really like to be able to merge the the point map and the polygon layer of the watershed into one map. The polygon layer would need to be somewhat transparent in order to show the points. I believe this type of dataviz created does fit my partner’s needs in terms of illustrating a map that shows school points over the Park Watershed. Once I learn how to combine points with a polygon layer, this map will look more like what I have envisioned.
Here’s a couple examples of how I would like my merged map to look like.
