Design a Personal Map
This lab assignment will be discussed in class in the first week and in the lab next week, so students can start thinking about the assignment as soon as possible.

Meet in the GIS Lab, room 1316A, Social Science Building, in the lab session scheduled for this assignment. You will test your card access to the lab, check your computer account is functioning properly, and discuss the assignment or ask for advice.

Goal: To design a map of a National Park or similar protected place (Provincial or state park, nature reserve etc.)

Notes: For the rest of the term you draw maps using information we provide. Here you get to design a map unique to you, a more personal map. You design it in this lab (illustrating it with a sketch, or a copy of some existing map of the place, plus a short description of what you are going to do with it). Later in the term you will actually draw it and hand it in as part of the Portfolio.

Subject: The map should be of a National park or similar protected place. This is vague - on purpose! So you can choose a place that is most interesting to you. It might be a place you have visited or somewhere you would like to visit. It might be a historic site (e.g. Fort York in Toronto, Emily Carr's house in Victoria) as long as it is officially designated and protected. And it can be from anywhere in the world, not just Canada. Try to pick a place you are interested in.

After you choose a topic to work with, you have to decide how you will map it. What area does it cover? It could be huge like Wood Buffalo National Park, or a single building or monument like the Vimy Ridge memorial. It might also benefit from a location map in one corner, showing where your place is (such as a map of the city it's located in). You can add photos to illustrate the story, and a short block of text as well if you like.

Assignment: First, decide what subject you will work with. Then look for what you need - especially the background map. You can do a 'print screen' command or its Mac equivalent from Google Maps or equivalent sites, and paste that image into MS Word or Powerpoint, then use the picture crop tool to cut out what you don't want. Do you need a location map to show where the main map is? If so, find that as well. And if you want to add any other graphics, such as a photo to put in a corner of the map, find that.

Second, in a short description (NO MORE than one page), describe your map, the place or event it is based on, where you found your information, what you want to put on it (text, photos, secondary maps, etc.) Make a sketch of what the finished map might look like. It can be very rough, as long as it shows how you might arrange the components of the map on the page. The finished map will be on regular letter-size paper (either orientation) with a 2.5 cm (1 inch) margin, like all maps we draw for this course.

Hand in your description, your sketch, and a print or copy of any map you will use as the base for your drawing. The total should be about 3 pages (description, base map, sketched design), and NO COVER OR BINDER is needed, just a staple in one corner.

This assignment should be handed in to the TA according to the schedule.

Make sure your name and student number are on your assignment.