Week 3

 

 

This Week in Class

 

On Monday in class we brainstormed ideas of how our class website is going to designed.  Our class came up with what we wanted to have in our biographies of the website.  With questions like: Why did you take the class? and What was your biggest Culture Shock in France. My answers are below. We also included our age, major, hometown, blog link, and story map links.

 

Why you took this class?  I have never been out of the United States before and I took advantage of the opportunity to take this class which involves a 10 day trip to France. 

 

Interests after the field trip?   The battle of Verdun became my main interest after the Trip.  I was fascinated by the battle and the way our tour guide, Christina Holstein, described it.  It was really a very cool experience to actually be on the battle field and see some of the trenches and forts that the German’s and French fought in. 

 

Biggest Culture Shock?  There were many culture shocks for that I encountered on this trip.  The amount of people who smoke cigarettes was astonishing to me.  I want to say that over half of the population smokes cigarettes.  Also the dirtiness of France.  To me it seemed like the French do not really care that much about sanitation as the bathrooms were not clean, dog waste on the streets and flies in homes and restaurants. 

 

Project Progress

 

Making a story map of the front lines or battle lines in the Battle of Verdun.  I will do this by taking photos from the Internet or books and digitizing them in ArcMap.  Taking these photos and digitizing them in ArcMap will be a process called Georefrencing which I will explain later in the blog.  Then taking these images and using them in my story map.  I want to also use books on Verdun to write descriptions of the french and German army were doing at a certain part of the war.  For example:  There will be photo of my digitization in my story map of where the Germans were during the war lets say at fort Vaux and writing a description of what their plan of attack was.  Something close to: 'The Germans were stopped at Fort Vaux and started to heavily shell Fort Souville hoping to take the fort' also including dates of where the French and Germans were during the war.  I also want to use Brandon's DEM elevation maps of Verdun to with the front lines included.  Using the ArcGIS online story map template will be best for this project.  Because of its compatability with ArcGIS it will make transfering maps much easier.  Also this story maps has a lot more features and it looks more professional than Google's. 

 

 

Sources

Going on the Internet and searching for maps on the Battle of Verdun.  Also searching in the library for maps on Verdun.  I know my classmate Joey has a good atlas of Verdun that I can use. 

For descriptions in my story map I want to use books on Verdun, The Price of Glory Alistar Horne.  Also the books Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux written by Christina Holstein.  Christina's books should also have some maps of front lines that I could use for my project. 

 



Example of photo that can help me digitize in ArcMap
Map Link 

 



 

Another photo, only problem is this photo does not have any labels
Map Link

 

 





 Map Link

 

 

Georefrencing

 

In ArcMap add a map/raster that is similar to the map you wish to digitize.  You can do this by finding similar boundaries and landscapes that are both represented on your rasters.  Steps:  In ArcMap add the raster layer residing in map coordinates, then add the raster data set or JPEG you want to georeference.  Next adding the coordinate system to your new image so it correctly matches to your original raster/map.  Then using the goefrencing toolbar you select the raster you wish georeference.  Clicking the add control points to click around the two maps so they match up correctly.  For example clicking the northwest corner of your new image and then clicking the northwest corner of your original raster to make them match up correctly.  Add enough of these points so the maps are equal.  When you are satisfied you can continue with your process of your map.