Fundamentals of Mapping and GIS – GEOG/GIS 22                      Name:  ___________________                                                                    

 

Online and Desktop Mapping Tools - Lab Exercise #3

 

In this exercise you will examine online navigation/mapping interfaces and 3 web map service-based desktop applications.

 

I.    Online Mapping and Navigation

Mapping Tool:

MapQuest

www.mapquest.com

Yahoo Maps

maps.yahoo.com

Google Maps

www.google.com/maps

1. Put in your address. How well does each of these applications map your home? Be specific!

 

 

 

2. Put in an address of a place you are familiar with out of the area (extend family member?). How’d it do this time?

 

 

 

3. Navigate from address in #1 to #2. Describe the navigation functionality of this application? What works well? What doesn’t work? Alternate routes?

 

 

 

4. Evaluate the display (cartography) of these maps (be sure to look at various scales. How does this program deal with scale dependent display?

 

 

 

5. Describe other functionality of this application (anything stand out?)

 

 

 

6. Return to this site later in the semester (when I ask you to) and add any revised comments based on your greater familiarity with mapping and GIS.

 

 

 

 




II.   Desktop web-mapping applications (use applications on the computers in the GIS lab or download at home)

Desktop web mapping tool:

NASA World Wind

worldwind.arc.nasa.gov

Google Earth

earth.google.com

ESRI ArcGIS Explorer

www.esri.com/explorer

1. Put in your address. How well does each of these applications map your home? Be specific and discuss differences from the programs above

 

 

 

2. Pick your dream spot on the planet to visit and try to use their search tools to navigate to the location. How did the tools work?

 

 

 

3. How does this software depict the location from #2 that you mapped? Be specific!

 

 

 

4. Try adding new layers of information to the map. Describe how this appears to function.

 

 

 

5. Describe other functionality of this application (anything else stand out?)

 

 

 

6. Return to this site later in the semester (when I ask you to) and add any revised comments based on your greater familiarity with mapping and GIS.

 

 

 

 

III. Find another mapping site or tool on the internet and evaluate it as you did in I. or II.

 

Site selected: _________________________________  Type of mapping tool - _________________________

 

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