Kicking off our Virtual Maps, Apps, & Drones Tour
At Home Map Digitizing Activity
We at Citizen Science GIS know a lot of parents may be going through a difficult transition having kids unexpectedly at home during this time and might be running out of ideas on how to entertain them and make it educational.
Each Thursday at 2 PM EST we will be posting a new activity we have discovered, reinvented, or created and will be demonstrating how your kids or students can participate at home!
This activity is a variation of the Digitizing Map activity we feature on our Maps, Apps, & Drones Tour!
Students will be provided with drone imagery of the islands of Belize, they will need to identify three distinct features on the imagery and group them based on similar characteristics to create a map. They will also create a map title, scale, compass rose, and legend. The legend will include the color and/or shape they chose to group each feature by and what each feature is (e.i. all buildings are in red, all roads in blue, all vegetation in yellow).
Variation #1
Materials: Microsoft Paint
1.Copy and Paste Belize Imagery into blank Paint page
Rendezvous-Caye-Orthomosaic-Map
Southwater-Caye-Orthomosaic-Map-Activity
Ragga-Island-Orthomosaic-Map-Activity
Jewel-Caye-Orthomosaic-Map-Activity
2. Choose three different colors and shapes to represent the three image features you will be working with (i.e red circle, blue rectangle, yellow triangle)
3.Choose the three image features you want to highlight (i.e buildings, roads, plants)
4.Highlight feature #1 using the first chosen color and shape combination (e.g Cover all buildings with a red circle)
5.Highlight feature #2 using the second chosen color and shape combination (e.g. Cover all roadways with a yellow rectangle)
6.Highlight feature #3 using the third chosen color and shape combination (e.g. Cover all plants with a yellow triangle)
7.Create a legend using one of the empty white boxes in the image. List the three features chosen and how they are represented on the map (i.e = Buildings)
8.Come up with a map title
9.Fill in the compass rose
10. Determine the appropriate scale for your map
11.Share with us your creations! @CitizenScienceGIS
Variation #2
Materials:
Printer
Construction Paper
Glue
Scissors
Color Pencils/Crayons
1.Choose one island imagery to Print and begin your map
Jewel-Caye-Orthomosaic-Map-Activity
Ragga-Island-Orthomosaic-Map-Activity
Rendezvous-Caye-Orthomosaic-Map
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5284-scaled-e1585925357280-1024x768.jpg
2.Choose three different colored construction paper
For this activity, I didn’t have any construction paper so I used printer paper and used markers to color in the shapes I wanted.
3.Select the three map elements you want to highlight
For my map, I chose the docks, buildings, and water.
4.With the first colored construction paper cut out enough shapes to cover every one of feature #1 (e.g. Cut out enough red circles to cover all of the buildings) and glue them on to the map
I cut out the squares for my buildings similar in size to the ones on the map but sometimes they were bigger, sometimes smaller.
5.With the next colored construction paper cut out enough shapes to cover each of feature #2 (e.g. Cut enough blue rectangles to cover all of the roads) and glue them onto the map
I realized at the beginning of the activity that my regular glue had dried out and so I used Modge Podge and tape to help stick them on the page.
6. With the third colored construction paper cut out enough shapes to cover each of feature #3 (e.g. Cut out enough yellow triangles to cover all the plants) and glue them onto the map
7.Fill in one of the empty white boxes with the legend information for each of the map features chosen (i.e = Buildings)
I decided yellow rectangles would be best for the docks. I also cut out squares and colored them in purple for the buildings. Lastly, I cut out water droplets and colored them in blue to represent the ocean.
8.Create a title for your map
I decided to get creative with my title and chose to go with Social Life Island, while my sister decided to name hers' Island Pacha Mama (Mother Nature)
9.Fill in the compass rose
10.Determine the appropriate scale for your map
11. Share with us your creations! @CitizenScienceGIS
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_5349-scaled-e1585930436237-1024x768.jpg
We hope you have as much fun with our activities as we are while staying safe and indoors during our time social distancing!Join us again next Thursday @2PM for another fun and educational activity.