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  • Do the reading (above), do WTL. If you don't know what else to write about, write about your brainstorming for assignment/project topics.
  • If you haven't already, please update your Profile in CourseSite to include a photo.

During class (ppt )

  • Let's go outside! Scaffolded geocache activity
  • Back inside: Debriefing, reviewing, discussing; what are the instructional implications? Things to address
    • Investigating our geo-locating tools. We have a 'dry' tool (the hardware) and a 'wet' tool (our brains), plus organizing frameworks (cardinal directions; equator & PM)
      • How does a GPS work?
      • How did our GPS equate with the popular usage of the term? ("I don't need a map--I have a GPS in my car") 
      • What else can a GPS do?
      • How did we orient ourselves outside? What cues did we use? 
      • Did we think in terms of N/S/E/W or Eq/PM? Did anyone make an 'airplane'?
    • Investigating the display & markup tool (Google Earth): What does that file look like? How did I make it? How can you make one yourself?
    • Extending the activity: Geospatial awareness/skills --> inquiry - -> community investigation.
    • Remaining time: Playing with Google Earth
    • And an FYI: What we did was not geocaching, it was a scaffolded geocache. See geocaching.com for the real thing.

...

  • Complete reading; download and try out AEJEE and My World (links above); do some WTL
  • Read and respond to a classmate's assignment ideas in their WTL thread.

During class (ppt )

  • Housekeeping
    • Everyone is launched in Moodle -- don't forget to keep up with WTL
    • How is everyone for software?
      • Google Earth
      • AEJEE
      • My World (using trial download)
  • Conceptual work: Getting started in Google Earth, AEJEE, and My World
    • Task framework: LINIQES: Load, interface, navigate, inspect, query, edit, save
    • Google Earth
      • Load
        • Mix of client-side and server-side data.
        • Satellite imagery: What are we looking at? Mix of current and dated material (see imagery date in lower left); it's only as good as "they" let you have (e.g., contrast One Observatory Circle vs. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW)
        • Layers -- my recommendation is to turn OFF as much as possible. But I do like leaving 3-D buildings on...sometimes turns up fun surprises (for example, Amsterdam!).
        • File > Open to load a .kml or a .kmz. For our demo, we'll use this file that I created for TLT 406. It's interesting b/c it has points, lines, associated images, etc.
      • Interface
        • Sidebar vs. display area vs. toolbar
        • Sidebar on and off
        • Navigation tools on, off, or auto
        • Sidebar fields: Search, My Places, Layers
      • Navigate
        • Search box, or
        • Double-click on an item in a list (Search or My Places)
        • Double-click on any point on the globe to go there.
        • Navigation tools: Tilt/pan, move NSEW, zoom in/out
      • Inspect
        • Single-click to open up info box.
        • Right-click and select "Properties" or "Info" -- gives more access to point/line/polygon data (e.g., lat/lon, URL of any imported images). More importantly, you can EDIT items in this mode (see below)
      • Query
        • Actually, not much we can do here.
        • One thing we can do is measure -- the ruler is handy
        • Other features I can't figure out what they're useful for...but maybe you can: time of day slider, year slider (I imagine this will be fun for tracking construction projects, or perhaps looking at observable environmental impact?)
      • Edit
        • Add something new: either
          • Search for it and then drag it into My Places and work on it, or
          • Click on Add Placemark, Add Polygon, or Add Path.
        • Editing something once it's been created: Open up Properties (or Info) and modify.
      • Save
        • For our purposes: Right-click the item, folder, or file name and "Save Place As"
        • You can also
          • Save out snapshopts
          • Record a tour
          • Move into Google Maps
    • AEJEE - Note that this runs on Java, so it requires a Java Runtime Environment...and some patience.
      • Load
        • All client-side data. We'll start by loading a blend of demo, downloaded, and self-generated data.
          • Loading demo data: File > open > us_hd.axl. (In case you need to browse to this: The file path is ESRI\AEJEE\Data.) What you're looking at: spreadsheets rendered visually. But we'll get to this in "Inspect"
          • Loading online data:
            • Here are files with the streets for Lehigh County streets (.shp; .shx ; .dbf ) and Northampton County streets (.shp , .shx , .dbf ). Download them all to the same folder / location, make sure you know how to find them.
            • Hit the "Add data..." button (between 'Print' and 'Remove layer') and browse to where you stored the data; you should see the .shp files there. Select them and they will become new layers.
          • Here is our scaffolded geocache data as tab-delimited text . Save this file to your machine, then do View > Add Event Theme. Browse to where the .txt file is, select it. BE SURE to specify 'lon' as the X Field, and 'lat' as the Y field.
      • Interface
        • Similar to Google Earth: tools across the top, left-hand layers, main area = display
        • Note importance of layers
          • Turn on/off
          • Re-order (e.g., pull cities layer down in the stack)
      • Navigate: Move about the map in at least three ways
        • Drag the map around
        • Zoom in/out
        • Zoom to full extent or active layer
        • BEWARE getting zoomed in or out too far -- correct using "Zoom to" tools (select layer and then zoom to it)
      • Inspect
        • Identify tool ('i') -- can be hard to use unless you're properly zoomed in.
        • Finder (Binoculars)
          • Try looking in the 'cities' layer for 'Denver'
          • Repeat this for 'San' -- select all the results and look at them on the map. What was expected? What was a surprise?
      • Query
        • Query-builder: Try POP_CLASS = 10. Repeat with POP_CLASS = 9, POP_CLASS >= 9
        • Table of results and displays on map.
      • Edit
        • Modify visuals
          • Right-click cities and select 'Properties'
          • Code cities by POP_CLASS, all one size, use color to differentiate ranks (e.g., red for highest rank -- largest cities -- and green for lowest rank)
          • Right-click states and select 'Properties'
          • Bring up 'Labels' tab and select STATE_NAME
        • Modify data -- all done in spreadsheet editor
          • Add new fields to existing layers: add a column, don't make the new column name more than 10 characters! Save as tab-delimited text
          • Creating new layers: MUST edit outside of AEJEE, bring it in. 
            • Can add point data fairly easily -- just give it a lat and a lon
            • Adding lines or polygons is much trickier. Take a look at the demo files of 10grid_hd.axl and 10gridpn_hd.axl to get a sense of this.
      • Save
        • Saves out as ArcXML (axl) files; viewable in Arc products.
        • HOWEVER: Note that each project file is pretty tiny (just a couple kilobytes) -- they're referencing the REAL data sources, down in the data folders. So if you're trying to move data around, move both the project file and the data sources.
    • My World
      • Load
        • Here, everything is built in: The "Construct" tab is where you assemble your data. You can add your own custom data, but for the moment, just
          • Set the Library to "United States"
          • Pull the following to the "Layer List" column: U.S. States, Counties, Rivers, Major Highways -- whatever you like.
          • To get our geocache data: Do File > Import Layer From File. Browse to wherever you stored the file, and note that this program is a little smarter -- given lat and lon, it recognizes them automatically.
      • Interface: You have the usual menus, but the tabs are the key
        • "Construct" is where you assemble the dataset
        • "Visualize" gets you more screen space and lets you see what's in each data layer. This is also a good place to re-order / re-stack layers, adjust colors, icons, turn layers on/off, etc. (You can do these in "Construct" as well, but you'll have a more cramped screen.)
        • "Analyze" is where you run your queries.
        • "Edit" lets you change your data set or add new layers from your own data.
      • Navigation:
        • The same tools and concepts apply: drag, zoom, zoom-to-active
        • Important new tool: Step forward / step back among views
      • Inspect: You still have an Inspect tool, but you can do a lot more browsing using the records fields to the right.
      • Query
        • This is actually pretty different: The Analyze tab is where you do this, and it's all split out by function. Note that this tool lets you do a lot of math (calculations, graphs) as well as maps. For example: Figure out a series of steps to see if the %age of older persons really is higher in Florida, Arizona, etc. 
        • Another bit of added value: You can save your queries / analyses as new layers. For students, this is VERY handy.
      • Edit
        • Obviously, the Edit tab is the place to be. Double-click on a layer and you can see the spreadsheet, add new records (entries) or new fields (characteristics to existing records).
        • You can make an entirely new layer (points, lines, polygons, etc.) by clicking the "Create A New, Empty Layer" button (the sheet-of-paper looking thing)
      • Save
        • The important thing here is to do "Save Project As..." to preserve (a) the integrity of the original data, and (b) whatever changes / analyses you've made.
  • Closure

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