SketchUp 7

This week we are building on to Google Earth (literally) with Google SketchUp. It is a 3D modeling program that allows us to generate models that are easily placed into the Google Earth sphere.

One of the great features of SketchUp is the price....free! Feel free to download the latest version (7) at home or use it in the lab. (note: the standard version is free, the Pro version has a free 8 hour trial. For 411, the standard version is fine). As for Google Earth, the latest version 5 is now on the machines in the lab. Yay!

In lab 9 you'll be asked to go through a few intro video tutorials to familiarize yourself with the tools and options. If you want to get a head start head here .

And lastly, here are some visualizations to critique:
Open Street Map 2008
Flowing Data's top 5 Visualizations for 2008 (I am particularly interested in the trio of BBC videos
Facebook Data Visualization
Tracking the Box by the BBC. This is the info page, for the map click on Where is the Box Now?

Google Earth

Here are some links that are in the write-up for Lab 8:

Homepage and download site
Basic Guide to Google Earth
some video tutorials by the Google Earth team if you're stuck
Image overlay instructions
and finally, some excellent examples

Week 10 (only 6 more to go!)

This week we shift gears and experiment with 2 different programs: Google Earth and Google SketchUp. Many of you have used Google Earth (and if you haven't now is your opportunity). SketchUp, on the other hand, is probably new to most everyone. It is a simple, yet rich 3D modeling program that outputs models suitable for dropping into Google Earth. Pretty sweet.

Before we get into the new programs, I want to look at this interesting website:
Tall Buildings

More visualizations to look at....

Shaded Relief and Draping :
Tom Patterson is the shaded relief guru (he's a Cartographer at the National Park Service in Harper's Ferry). He is also a really nice guy! This is his site.
And this is another great site.
Another good source of info: Hunter College Guide
Tufte on Imhof

FAA flight visualizations
Red Sea
U.S. home prices adjusted for inflation and plotted on a roller coaster. Really.

Not a map per se, but you might find this video as neat as I do. Might make you feel a bit small in the grand scheme of things.

Web posting assignment for this week: Select and comment on one of the following:
More than 1100 static images. Try and find the actual site for the graphic you like. Explain why you picked it!

Final Project Proposal

Here is what I'm looking for with the proposal:

In 2-3 typed, double-spaced pages, propose an idea for your Final Project. Explain the topic, the reason you've selected it, the audience of the map(s), the type of visualization you envision, the data source (and if it has been acquired), the production steps (data processing, software, etc.), and a schedule. Also discuss any issues/obstacles you foresee. The Final Project Proposal is due next Tuesday 3-31 at the start of class (note: the proposal is worth 30 points so take it seriously).

There are a variety of visualization options: smooth, temporal animation, motion and shape tweening animation, step-by-step "book-like" animation, "faux" GIS (where the user gets to turn layers on and off -- like lab 4), 3D modeling in SketchUp and Google Earth, and animations in Google Earth (coming soon!), and any combination of the above. The one requirement is that the project is presented in Flash as a link off your blog (or possibly Google Earth). You can choose to use any combination of software programs for the development (ArcMap, Illustrator, Photoshop. etc.) but you must use Flash or Google Earth as the display medium.

At this point you should have a decent grasp as to what you can do in Flash. We're just starting the 3D side but it is not too hard. Go ahead and propose your ideal project (what you'd *really* like to see) and we'll discuss what is doable. My hope is that this project can be used for potential employers (or grad schools) as an example of what you can do. And there are even student map competitions for visualizations!

An assortment of final projects from the past...

These span a wide range of topics and several of them I have not shown before. They are in no particular order and range from decent to good (I'll spare you the poor ones):

U.S. Territorial Expansion
Battle of Aldie Mill
Vikings
Mobile Phone Networks (uses Google Earth)
Territorial Expansion in Africa
Family Lineage

I'll post some more later this week.

Hyperlinks -- much easier in CS4

I want to pass along a much simpler way to do the hyperlinks courtesy of CS4 (thanks Kelsey).

Select the text you want to use for the hyperlink. In the Properties panel, click on the Options side-ways arrow. This will reveal a field called "Link:" Simply paste in your webpage (http://www.something.com) in the empty field.

Roll-overs

Adding roll-over (pop-up) windows:
There are a couple of ways to do this (either initiated as a roll-over or a button click). Here's the easiest.

1. Click on whatever symbol you want to turn into the roll-over, then "Modify->Convert to Symbol..."
2. Double-click on your new button to edit the "states" of that button (the states are the different phases of the button as determined by the user's cursor).
3. Insert a new keyframe in the "Over" frame (in playback, "Over" is when the cursor is positioned over the button)
4. While in the "Over frame," edit your button as desired. Also add your popup note generally where you want it to appear relative to your button. You may need to come back and tweak this location to get it to appear exactly where you want it on stage.
4b. In the "Hit" frame, designate what you want to be the "active" area. Generally, you only want an area around the button to be active (not the graphic appearing on roll-over). Flash will make everything it sees on the "Hit" layer the active zone, so delete things and you can even draw a new box for the active zone (good to do it is just a piece of text).
5. Save your document!
6. Click on the "Scene 1" link at the top of the timeline to exit button editing.
7. There is no step 7.

A more complicated way, but potentially more powerful, is to script the button as you did your layers and checkboxes in the faux-GIS -- but this time use an "on (rollOver)" event rather than the "on (click)". Remember, you'd be changing the "visible" property of your pop-up note with the script, and your pop-up note would have to be it's own movie clip symbol (on whose "visible" was set to "false" in the first frame, as you did with your map layers). With this method it's probably easier to get the positioning of your popups, but again, more complicated to get all the scripting down.

And lastly, another approach is described in a mouse-over tutorial Javier posted on his blog. It walks you step by step through a method somewhat similar to the first one above. Check it out!

Hyperlinks

Adding hyperlinks to Flash buttons is pretty easy.

1. Create your button.
2. Click on the instance of the button on the stage and edit its actionscript.
3. With "Script Assist" turned on (click the "Script Assist" button in the script window), double-click on "on" under the "Movie Clip Controls."
4. Select the "Event: Release" checkbox. Then under the "Browser/Network" functions, choose "getURL." In the fields presented, enter the url you'd like to open (in the form "http://myurl.com"), then select a window for it to open. If you'd like to pop-up a new window, choose "_blank."
5. That's it.

Second half of the semester begins...

Hope you had a good break!

This week we are wrapping up the shape tween of the invasion of Russia. The completed Lab 6 is due this Thursday. If you are having issues, *please* let me know. With this lab I want you to create your first "rich" movie in terms of content, design, and functionality. Spend enough time to get it looking good (and working correctly).

This week we are also learning about smaller effects that can add considerable polish to your Flash projects. Splash screens, rollover effects like pop-up windows, hyperlinks, camera effects, preloaders, among other things add a professional feel that elevates the entire project.

Finally, this is our last full week of Flash so please ask any questions that you have. Next week we are going to jump into Google Earth. I will still be showcasing a few more Flash effects so if you have a particular interest in an effect or skill let me know and I'll include it. We will be using Flash as the presentation program for the final projects so I want you to be comfortable with it and have a wide range of options for tackling your project.

Here is a nice final project from 2 years ago: Vikings

And here is a new visualization from the NYTimes: Interactive Immigration Map

Splash Screens in Flash

Splash screens are essentially introductions. They are generally 1 screen that gives the map reader basics about the map before they are visually stunned by the map itself. Users generally have to click somewhere to leave the splash screen and view the actual map. Some can be more complicated and include sounds and such. I find splash screens make a more professional package -- they help set the theme of the map and give insight and instruction before the map itself. It can also be used as a tease.....

There are 2 ways to approach a splash screen.
1. A splash screen can be an extra frame at the beginning of your animation that holds non-map content. If your map begins on frame one, click on that frame and add a few extra frames (insert -> frames). I usually do a few extra frames so I can read and separate it from the rest of the timeline. (Note: if you have scripts that refer to frame numbers instead of frame labels, all of your links will be off if you add new frames at the beginning -- use variation instead).

In addition to your title, make sure you include some form of a button to allow the user to get to the map. If you put important info on the splash screen (info the user may want to see again), also allow the user to return to it on the main map pages. Check out some of the other maps from Wisconsin for ideas (at the bottom of the page). Remember that the aesthetic character and "feeling" of your map is conveyed in that initial splash screen so don't simply slap a title and your name on the stage. Use it to set the tone.

2. The other way to do it is to create a new scene (with a new blank stage and library). You then set up your splash screen as you like and use a button to script the opening of your "map" movie. It runs seamlessly and is an easy way to manage all your content. Most large Flash projects involve several scenes (helps especially when more than 1 person is working on the project).

Hang in there....just a few more days until the Break!

This week we are discussing shape tweening -- animations that morph the shape of a symbol to convey the data change through time. With shape tweening, it is possible to do motion tweening at the same time (moving the symbol across the stage while it is changing shape).

Shape tweening is very engaging when done well (but it takes time to get it to work smoothly). Here are some examples to dissect:
Maps of War (we looked at these before but they are really good examples of morphing animations)
Imperial History
History of Religion
March of Democracy (not as good...rather flashy...but interesting from a design and interface standpoint)
American History (warning: it has narration)
A cartogram generator that uses nice shape tweens.

From a technical standpoint, here is the official Adobe page on shape tweens. Please read through the notes on shape hints. They help control the morphing Flash does by letting the program know where particular spots of the symbol need to be during the morph. For our Russian invasion, shape hints can help us keep our front line on land (it wants to bleed into water bodies).

This is not an animation, but you might find it interesting and/or amusing (as amusing as Geographers tend to get).