For my final project, I chose to do a map on something of interest
to me. I decided to look into the mapping of hurricanes. I have mapped the
intensity of hurricanes that made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico states of the
United States from 2005-2010 for my GGS 310 project. I chose this because
outside of class most of my friends and family know me as a weather nerd, so
following hurricanes and tracking events such as snowstorms and tornadoes are a
true interest of mine.
My intended audience is our GGS 411 class and anyone else who
looks at my blog. I hope to display the information in a way that someone who
is not in the discipline of Geography will understand what the map is about. I
figure the best way to show my data and for people to see the intensity
difference is to do a proportional symbol map. I hope to find a symbol like the
one they use on the weather channel to show the projected path of hurricanes
that are a threat to the United States.
The base map I would have to get from ArcGIS; showing a map of the
states I need. Considering most Atlantic hurricanes start off the Coast of
Africa and end up in the Gulf of Mexico, I would need the states from the Gulf to
give a sense of where the storms hit the coast and what state they are making
landfall in.
My data set comes from the National Hurricane Center. I decided to
go back to 2005 because there is a difference in the number of hurricanes and
the intensity of the hurricanes so it will give my map some variation. Then use
the years through 2010 to show the size variation in my symbols. The size of my data is large enough that you
get a sense of the intensity of the hurricanes that have hit the gulf coast
over 5 years.
As far as production goes my base map is done! That in itself is
half the battle! I hope to have most of my animation features done by critiques
so I can get an idea of what I should add to finish up my map and put some
final polish and touches.
I face similar challenges as with my maps of motion this semester.
The other challenge I face is the motion element to my map. I want to make the
actual hurricane symbol spin but is that the only thing I do? The other thing I
thought about adding is the flooding zone from each storm when it hits the coast?
Finally I thought about adding a thunder sound as it spins along the path would
give my map an interesting quality.
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