Hi everyone, this is my midterm project. For this assignment, I made a comparison map in ArcGIS that looks at the differences in location and number of public libraries in Vermont in 1914 and the present day. My model presents a side-by-side view of these differences which extends over a century!
My Process
For my process doing this assignment, I firstly used AllMaps to georeference a 1914 map containing the location and quantity of Vermont libraries, and with this, I overlayed it on a current world map. After, I used ArcGIS to sketch 3 zones: a high, middle, and low zone of Vermont in order to compare libraries from new and old. This helped clean up the data through color-coding the zones, and I also outlined the Vermont territories. I also highlighted, through labeling, the quantities of libraries in each zone with different colored labels, and used these polygon layers to keep the map clean and simple.
Moreover, I made sure to keep everything organized. I did not want everything to look very jumbled because I felt all of the dots of the libraries could be a lot to look at at times. I wanted to make sure comparing these two maps was efficient. In order for it be easier on the eyes, I feel the use of different shades was very helpful in order to distinguish the different Vermont zones of high, middle, and low.
In general, this project was significant for my learning in this class. I spent an incredible amount of time trying to mess with ArcGIS to make everything work, and in total, I would say I spent 6 hours on this assignment. What I felt was most difficult was the counting of the individual libraries which I made possible due to the lasso tool after much trial and error. Nonetheless, I felt this was a very effective digital humanities project for me as I learned how to compare history in a new light. Not only this, but I have learnt that using online platforms like AllMaps and ArcGIS can be incredibly helpful when making diagrams for people to understand history.
Through all of this, I feel it was an incredible opportunity to grow as a student in the digital humanities field. I am very happy with the results I came up with in the end.