Syllabus

Week 1

• Intro Class, Sci217.

• First Class! Snap Shot Assignment - what do you see in a map?
• Prep:
  • download and install QGIS and other necessary software as prompted.
  • If you're having trouble (or just anyway, because we'll be watching it next week) consult this video.

Week 2

• QGIS, introduction and troubleshooting.
• Prep:
  • Try to import a shapefile, get the background maps plug-in from google and open streetmaps.
  • Finish watching the video from Sept 2.
  • Mess around with Q!

• The Myth of Continents
• Prep:
  • Read the preface, introduction and Chapter 5 from The Myth of Continents (available from the library as an ebook via that link - if it doesn't work, here's the url to copy and paste - works best in chrome: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=443030&site=eds-live&scope=site

• QGIS, making a map of your hometown.
• (Assignment 1 due at 4pm today.)
• Prep:
  • Work on some of the items from the video in the context of your hometown; come to class with any difficulties you've had.

Week 3

• Math 1: triangles, distances and projections.
  • No prep.
  • Some prompts for class

• Intro to Thematic Mapping
• Prep:
  • Read Monmonier, Chapters 1-3 (pp 1-42).
  • Bring in examples of maps that illustrate (or don't) issues or techniques from the reading.
  • Look at the math assignment and bring comments and questions.

• Projections and data in QGIS. Census data.
• Prep
  • Prepare in Q, a map of the census tracks or counties for your home state as demonstrated in this video to download the data, and then This Video to link the data to a shapefile.
  • Read Monmonier, Chapter 10 (pp. 139-162).
  • Also, there's an assignment due at 4pm today.

Week 4

• More projections, and finding our latitude and longitude.
  • Rough Science 1, you can skip through the insect repellent pieces if you like.
  • Details for the gnomon experiment we (aka you) will be carrying out a version of. And here is a pared down description of what is expected of you.
  • Try tinkering with the projections in QGIS as demonstrated in this video.

• Cartography in Classical Greece and Rome
• Prep
  • Read Chapter 9: Growth of an Empirical Cartography in Hellenistic Greece.
  • Then Choose either:
  • Chapter 13: Roman Large-Scale Mapping in the Early Empire.
  • Chapter 14: Itineraries and Geographical Maps in the Early and Late Roman Empires.
  • Or if you want more math with Ptolemy, chapter 11: The Culmination of Greek Cartography in Ptolemy.

• Thematic Maps 1: dot maps, choropleths and proportional symbols.
• Prep
  • Reading from Dent (on reserve - lots of pictures):
  • Chapter 6 - pgs. 102-118 - Choropleth Maps
  • Chapter 7 - pgs. 119-130 - Dot Density Maps
  • Chapter 8 - pgs. 131-149 - Proportional Symbol Maps

Week 5

• Long/Lat Calculation and Data Visualisation.
• Prep
  • Bring in the data from the longitude and latitude experiment (brief instructions here).
  • Watch the videos here.

• Medieval Maps I: TO maps (Mappae Mundi)
• Prep
  • Readings from Maps of Medieval Thought pgs. 1-48.
  • Look over Chapter 18 from the Chicago History of Cartography: Medieval Mappaemundi.
  • Look closely at an image of the Hereford Map.

• GPS data.
  • No Prep (but there's an assignment due at 4pm today).

Week 6

• More Data Visualisation
  • If you haven't already, watch the videos here.
  • Data visualiations to look at in class:
    • Angular Size
    • State of the Race
    • Plan Cosponsorship
    • gun deaths
    • 538 election map
    • McSparseness

• Medieval Maps II - Portolan Charts and Navigation
• Prep:
  • The History of Cartography from Chicago, Chapter 19: Portlan Chart from the Late 13th Century to 1500 by Tony Campbell.
    • Again, because this article is very long, skim as necessary.
  • Then a few others - Choose one:
    • Sonja Brentjes, "Fourteenth-century portolan charts," Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies 2:1 (2015): 79ff.
    • J.E. Kelley, "Non-Mediterranean Influences That Shaped the Atlantic in the Early Portolan Charts," Imago Mundi 31 (1979): 18-35.
    • And the "Deep End" of the humanities: Philip Steinberg, "Insularity, Sovereignty and Statehood," Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography 87:4 (2005): 253-265.

• Thematic Maps II: Isarithmic, 3D, and flow maps (and we'll mention cartograms).
• Prep:
  • Dent, Cartography: Thematic Map Design, On Reserve, total from pgs. 150-200.
    • Chapter 9 - Isarithmic and 3D maps, pgs. 150-166.
    • Chapter 10 - The Cartogram, pgs. 168-187.
    • Chapter 11 - The Design of Flow Maps, pgs. 187-200.

Week 7

• More Data Visualization.
• Prep:
  • Find a moderately complex data visualization online that includes a map. Come to class ready to talk a little bit about what it says and then what it does well and what it does less well.
  • Browse through some of the visualisations linked for the Oct 3rd class and bring any questions or comments that arise from that.

• Medieval Maps III - Crusader Maps and Itineraries
  • Matthew Paris Map of Palestine at Fordham with Short Introduction.
  • Articles on Matthew Paris (Choose one):
    • Daniel Connolly, Imagined Pilgrimage in the Maps of Matthew Paris," The Geographical Journal (1999): 598-622.
    • Michael Gaudio, "Paris and the Cartography of the Margins," Gesta 39:1 (2000): 50-57.
  • Look at the Itinerary maps made by Stephanie Ling and Gary Shaw

• Assignment Due: Analysis of a Map (choose your own map)

Hendricks Days