Reflection Post 5: Mapping

For our mapping portion of the course, we worked with the Map of Early Modern London and we created a story map in ArcGIS Online. Both were extremely useful ways to help visualize what we were reading in a new, geographic way. The MoEML and ArcGIS helped me to create research questions about issues relating to Richard Tarlton and his life as an actor in the 1580s.

In MoEML it was very interesting and helpful to see the layout of London after reading references to places for so long. Spatial thinking allowed us to go that much deeper into the text. It helped me to visualize just how Tarlton may have travelled around the city and showed where his most visited places were (things like this that I might not have considered by just reading)

moeme

We started learning how to use ArcGIS by using a step by step manual/tutorial at first. But then changed to a “hands-on” approach to learning the interface instead. As the tutorial would have most likely taught us how to use all the features and tools, the hands-on method was much better for me to learn the program. This way allowed me to experiment with the wide array of features offered.

After learning how to use the interactive map, it was time to address research questions. We were asked if it was possible for one troupe of Queen’s Players to be responsible for the entire country-wide tour. This question was one that had to be answered by actually mapping the most efficient routes and measuring their distances to see if the troupe could have gotten from city to city in the allotted amount of time. In the process of answering this question, more questions arose. The mapping made us ask questions like “what did these men travel with?” “how far could they travel in a day?” and “did they travel using rivers?” and made me think differently about history. Before this project I did not think about how they managed to tour the country.

Screenshot (39)

The type of mapping I liked the most was ArcGIS. I thought it was a really flexible program and it was fun to work with. The many features on the map made the process really enjoyable and allowed it to be much more ascetically pleasing. I liked it more than the MoEML because I enjoyed making the map myself and I look forward to using ArcGIS on my final project.

 

http://arcg.is/1Pz7Qwc