Feel free to post a question about the syllabus to the About the syllabus discussion.
[x] Update your ArcGIS Online (AGOL) profile to include a personalized photo or avatar and your areas of special skills (e.g., "I'm good at data vis", "I'm a StoryMap master", or "I literally know how to use Python").
[x] Includes your preferred name (so we know who you are)
[x] Includes the same profile image you used for your AGOL profile (to help us know it's you)
[x] Choose a focus: programming or analysis (delete the one you don't want).
Analysis focus: you are comfortable with ArcGIS Pro and have little to no programming experience, so let's start with what you are comfortable with and learn out how to use ModelBuilder to create reproducible geospatial workflows
[x] Join the GroupMe chat (email your professor your preferred email for GroupMe)
Like a comment or just say "hi"
[x] Log into AGOL and make sure you are a member of the "AdvGIS - Fall 2021" group
[x] I completed the Ice Breaker challenge on the first day of classes
On GitHub
[x] Familiarize yourself with the Markdown syntax (see resources below)
[x] Introduce yourself to the class with a comment on the Welcome Discussion.
[x] (Wait until you hear from your instructor that it's okay to do this) Create a new issue on our repository's Issues, title it with your name (e.g., Davis's Checklist), copy-and-paste The Master Checklist content to the "Write" section, under Assignees: assign yourself, under Labels: checklist. Be sure to note your issue's unique number.
This is your copy of the master checklist
Use it to keep track of your accomplishments as you go through the semester
You may also see how your peers are progressing to judge your own time management
[x] Create your Report Wiki on our repository's Wiki page
This is where you submit your weekly tasks, goals, and accomplishments
See Home page for instructions
For Certificate Students only
[x] Save a copy of the Performance Accomplishments document and share it with your professor (with edit permissions so I can leave comments)
Update the Evaluee section with your name
[x] Sign up for your Semester Start, Progress, and Final meetings here
Note that you can adjust your scheduled times at any time; please inform your instructor of any changes.
The Consultancy
[x] Find a team (in groups of up to three people) to work together (It's just me :))
[x] Form your consultancy.
It should have:
[x] Name: Geo-Inspired Solutions, Inc. (GISI)
[x] Members: Marie Pitts
[x] Logo:
[x] Slogan: Navigating to a better world.
Create a publicly accessible website and provide the following:
It may be your website, slideshow, StoryMap, or another web-accessible document. Make it clear on your website how / where to access it.
Be sure to include visual aids
Remember that your client is not a GIS expert; tone your report for a lay audience
[x] Schedule a progress report meeting with your client here
[x] Write down your thoughts regarding the experience of working through this project and the client meeting in your weekly report. Copy and paste your response here:
The first difficulty I faced with the reproducibility project was trying to find a paper that was both not too intimidatingly complex and seemed like I would be able to get access to the data. While common landcover and municipal layers like LULC, waterways, and roads are easy enough to find nowadays through agency GIS data portals, the wildlife data itself was much more restricted. Often times the data was gathered by the biologists themselves and not posted online. With the limited time I was working in, I didn't want to have to rely on reaching out to the authors to request access.
Most of the data URLs listed were already broken links just a few years later. This stresses the importance of "permanent" URLs like DOIs, and why more journals are requiring that data be uploaded along with the paper. Luckily, the snake point data from EDDMapS had an easy search/filter/download tool, and with some simple Googling, the environmental layers were not too hard to find.
The most time would be consumed by having to learn the statistics software MaxEnt, as my statistical knowledge is tragically low at this point and you really should know both how and why you are running models in a certain way. I definitely appreciated that this paper had clear tables for the software programs, tools, and parameters used. Plus, given that MaxEnt is open source, there are currently many tutorials available for this sort of presence-only wildlife habitat suitability modeling. So if I had enough time, I could surely wrap my head around it.
The Client Meeting went fine. Though live presentations make me nervous, it helps to force you to organize and simplify a project. It's similar to learning something better by teaching it to someone else. Overall this project does a decent job of showing just how difficult reproducing a published paper can be, which can be disappointing considering how important reproducibility is to science. This kind of experience may help influence students to be better organized in their project workflows and write more clearly in future publications.
[x] Rate your paper's level of reproducibility (based on your opinion)
The levels are:
S: satisfactory (methods are clear and reproducible)
M: marginal (it is hard to say because some methods are unclear and/or data are outdated or not readily available)
U: unsatisfactory (there is no known way to reproduce these methods)
Our consultancy gives our paper the rating of S for the following reasons:
Accessible data: While many data links were no longer accessible, data still findable.
Clear analyses: Analysis methods appear detailed enough to reproduce, even if on newer versions of the software or related software. Detailed tables provide which software, tools, and parameters were used.
Additional help available: Many available tutorials for using the software, recentness of paper means, authors are more likely to still be accessible for data and guidance if needed.
The Special Works Solutions
Prepare two methodologies for solving one of the special works projects
The special works project should emphasize a skill set that one of the consultants identified as a weakness in the pre-semester survey
Solutions may be typed or recorded
Solution Method 1:
[x] Solved to "basic" level
[x] Solved to "intermediate" level (tick both boxes)
Solution Method 2:
[x] Solved to "basic" level
[x] Solved to "intermediate" level (tick both boxes)
[ ] We presented a discussion of our dataset (and the methods for its creation) in class or on GitHub
Engagement
[x] Sign up here to schedule to contribute at least once to each of the five weekly topics.
If you are a certificate student, instead sign up for one topic each week.
[x] Question of the week. Date(s): Weeks 2, 7, 12, 15
[x] Data share of the week. Date(s): _Weeks 3, 8, 13___
[x] Ethics consideration of the week. Date(s): _Week 11__
[x] Vocab term of the week. Date(s): _Weeks 4, 9 14 ___
[x] Method of the week. Date(s): _Weeks 5, 6, 10___
[x] Each week, respond to and/or engage with the five weekly discussion posts.
If there is no natural response, then please respond with a reaction to the comment.
[ ] I responded to more than five discussion posts on GitHub (weekly, so 84 minimum)
[ ] I responded to more than ten discussion posts on GitHub (weekly, so 154 minimum)
[x] Share a selfie where you are holding or standing next to a physical item within Swem library (e.g., an open book, a painting, or a map) to our GitHub discussion board with a short description of the item and how it relates to a geospatial topic
[x] This includes creating folders and/or updating item names
[ ] This includes updating the metadata (summary, description, terms of use, tags, and credits (attribution) appropriately on all shared items (organizationally, publicly or with groups)
[x] I shared a plan on how I organize my AGOL content and/or a system for tagging items in class or on GitHub
Complete at least three (3) hours or six (6) tutorials from one of the following sites: (1) Esri Academy; (2) ArcGIS Developer Guides; (3) Learn ArcGIS; (4) other approved resource (*include names of and links to each tutorial completed)
[ ] Tutorial 1
[ ] Tutorial 2
[ ] Tutorial 3
[ ] Tutorial 4
[ ] Tutorial 5
[ ] Tutorial 6
Final Touches
[x] I updated this checklist to match my accomplishments (you are not required to complete everything on this checklist)
[x] I completed the course evaluation
Please include your thoughts on the course structure, topics, things that worked, and things that didn't work for you
[x] I grant unrestricted permission to use media (e.g., web content, audio or video) I created for educational purposes
Note that you are not required to tick this box and, at any time, you may request that materials you made for this class be removed from use in past, current, and future classes
For certificate students only
Prepare solutions to two (2) special works projects.
Note that the same special works project cannot be used to satisfy both of the following.
[x] Create a tutorial (written, audio, video) that accomplishes the reproducibility of your methods and results
[x] Complete a live demonstration of solving a special works project.
[x] Objective 1: include the benefits of independent and collaborative work
[x] Objective 2: prepare a definition of geoethics and provide example(s) that demonstrate what it means (include all necessary citations)
[x] Objective 3: Highlight a skill that you learned this semester (e.g., time management, data management, programming or other); reflect on how you organized your AGOL content; and reflect on the three pitfalls of GIS:
Failure to know GIS (theory and lexicon).
Failure to communicate GIS (purpose, process and metadata).
Failure to execute GIS (using the right data with the right tools in the right way).
[x] Objective 4: reflect on your client meeting, what you would have done differently, and the challenges with communicating geospatial methods to a lay audience
[x] Objective 5: reflect on the benefits of programmatic approaches for addressing geospatial challenges and provide an example
Getting Started
On GitHub
For Certificate Students only
The Consultancy
The Reproducibility Project and Client Meeting
[x] Write down your thoughts regarding the experience of working through this project and the client meeting in your weekly report. Copy and paste your response here:
The first difficulty I faced with the reproducibility project was trying to find a paper that was both not too intimidatingly complex and seemed like I would be able to get access to the data. While common landcover and municipal layers like LULC, waterways, and roads are easy enough to find nowadays through agency GIS data portals, the wildlife data itself was much more restricted. Often times the data was gathered by the biologists themselves and not posted online. With the limited time I was working in, I didn't want to have to rely on reaching out to the authors to request access.
Most of the data URLs listed were already broken links just a few years later. This stresses the importance of "permanent" URLs like DOIs, and why more journals are requiring that data be uploaded along with the paper. Luckily, the snake point data from EDDMapS had an easy search/filter/download tool, and with some simple Googling, the environmental layers were not too hard to find.
The most time would be consumed by having to learn the statistics software MaxEnt, as my statistical knowledge is tragically low at this point and you really should know both how and why you are running models in a certain way. I definitely appreciated that this paper had clear tables for the software programs, tools, and parameters used. Plus, given that MaxEnt is open source, there are currently many tutorials available for this sort of presence-only wildlife habitat suitability modeling. So if I had enough time, I could surely wrap my head around it.
The Client Meeting went fine. Though live presentations make me nervous, it helps to force you to organize and simplify a project. It's similar to learning something better by teaching it to someone else. Overall this project does a decent job of showing just how difficult reproducing a published paper can be, which can be disappointing considering how important reproducibility is to science. This kind of experience may help influence students to be better organized in their project workflows and write more clearly in future publications.
The Special Works Solutions
We presented a discussion of our solutions in class or on GitHubThe Novel Datasets
We presented a discussion of our dataset (and the methods for its creation) in class or on GitHubEngagement
I responded to more than five discussion posts on GitHub (weekly, so 84 minimum)I responded to more than ten discussion posts on GitHub (weekly, so 154 minimum)Week 12Become More Geoethical
Managing Your Data
This includes updating the metadata (summary, description, terms of use, tags, and credits (attribution) appropriately on all shared items (organizationally, publicly or with groups)Getting Started With Notebooks
Geoprocessing with arcpyRevealJS Presentations Notebook(optional)Additional Practice
Complete at least three (3) hours or six (6) tutorials from one of the following sites: (1) Esri Academy; (2) ArcGIS Developer Guides; (3) Learn ArcGIS; (4) other approved resource (*include names of and links to each tutorial completed)
Tutorial 1Tutorial 2Tutorial 3Tutorial 4Tutorial 5Tutorial 6Final Touches
For certificate students only