Data Visualization & GIS Librarian John Clark offers beginners' workshops for students and faculty interested in working with online mapping tools.
Data Visualization & GIS Librarian John Clark launches his fall workshop series this week. Read on for full details about this week’s workshop opportunities!
Beware of Maps: a beginner’s guide to reading and making maps
Reading a map is trickier than you might expect. While maps casually present themselves as a visualization of reality, the truth is, they aren’t. All maps are imperfect models of natural and cultural features on the surface of the Earth. Reading a map involves understanding how a map maker has chosen to represent these features and, perhaps more importantly, what she has left out. Join Data Visualization & GIS Librarian John Clark for a guided tour through a variety of different historical and contemporary maps as he explains some common principals used by cartographers. Participants will then have an opportunity to make a map themselves using Social Explorer, an on-line mapping tool available to the Lafayette community through Skillman Library. This workshop is being offered twice, Wednesday, September 5th and Friday, September 14th from 12:15pm to 1:00pm.
Lunch provided. Please RSVP to John Clark (clarkjh@lafayette.edu) to reserve a seat and indicate if you would like to attend the Wednesday or Friday event. 18 seats available. Calendar Link: https://calendar.lafayette.edu/node/35833
Exploring Google Maps
There is a lot more to Google Maps than meets the eye. Join Data Visualization & GIS Librarian John Clark to get a glimpse of what goes on “under the hood” of this online mapping resource and how you can use it to make your own customized maps. Participants will learn how to contribute their own content to a Google Map as well as many other tips and tricks for creating useful and well designed maps with nothing more than a web browser. Laptops will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own. This workshop will be held on Wednesday, September 12th, from 12:15pm to 1:00pm, in Skillman 004.
Lunch provided. Please RSVP John Clark (clarkjh@lafayette.edu) to reserve a seat. 18 seats available. Calendar Link: https://calendar.lafayette.edu/node/35806
Mapping the U.S. Census with Social Explorer
Social Explorer is a web app which allows users to easily map a wide variety of socio-economic variables such as race, ethnicity, education, income, and health anywhere in the United States. Available to the entire Lafayette community through a subscription at Skillman Library, Social Explorer serves up historical and current US Census Bureau data, including the American Community Survey, from 1790 to the present. This is a hands-on workshop which will introduce you to Census data and guide you through making your own maps. Laptops will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own. This workshop will be held on Wednesday, September 26 – 12:15 to 1:00pm – Skillman 003.
Lunch provided. Please RSVP John Clark (clarkjh@lafayette.edu) to reserve a seat. 18 seats available. Calendar Link: https://calendar.lafayette.edu/node/35839
Making Maps with a Geographic Information System (GIS)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are a powerful, yet easily accessible technology, used for analyzing and mapping information about the world around us. In this workshop participants will be given an introduction to basic mapmaking concepts followed by a hands-on exercise making a map with ArcGIS, a popular desktop GIS application available to the Lafayette community at Skillman Library. This workshop will be held on Friday, September 28nd, from 12:15pm to 1:00pm, in Skillman 003.
Lunch provided. Please RSVP to John Clark at clarkjh@lafayette.com . 18 seats available. Calendar Link: https://calendar.lafayette.edu/node/35845