Background
In July 2015, the 4-H summer conference was hosted on ISU’s campus with the theme Dare to Discover. IowaView staff thought this would be a perfect opportunity teach 4-H Youth to map digitally. IowaView hosted two workshops to introduce 4-H youth (high schoolers) to the world of digital mapping and remote humanitarian work. This is part of a larger effort by IowaView to teach groups about the volunteer opportunities in online mapping, such as Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).
Description of Task
The intention of the project was to introduce Iowa youth to the components of mapping, and teach them how to map. To accomplish this, we developed three goals:
- Provide the students with a background in GIS, remote sensing, and digital mapping.
- Teach the students about the OSM and HOT programs.
- Start the students working in local (Iowa) and humanitarian areas.
To ensure all students could begin mapping upon arrival at the workshop, we created twenty ‘dummy’ OSM accounts to provide them at the beginning of the session. These accounts also allowed us to monitor the students’ progress and clean up mistakes.
Workflow
To execute the first and second tasks, we created an introductory PowerPoint with basic concepts of mapping: from uses of GIS, to the origins of aerial imagery and remote sensing. Hoping to trigger the students’ curiosity, we employed an array of exciting imagery and varied descriptions of field applications. Finally, we showed them the video “Why Map?” on the MapGive website.
Finally, students digitized the features of a small, unmapped, Iowa town: Ogden, Iowa. The intention of choosing a town in Iowa was to introduce students to working remotely, providing them with high-resolution imagery and a familiar landscape. The TeachOSM tasking manager allowed the trainer to section the town into small, manageable areas for mapping. The trainer presented additional PowerPoint slides and a live demonstration explaining; how to create lines, points, and areas; and label and save after each edit.
Students spent the first half of the mapping session learning to digitize streets, waterways, houses, and parks for Ogden, Iowa. After thirty minutes, they transferred to the humanitarian area provided by the HOT tasking manager in Namaacha, Mozambique, where they continued to map for the remainder of the session.
Problems
Fortunately, we encountered very few problems during the workshops. Most students participated readily, and the creation of extra accounts guaranteed no issues with the opening process. Our final review indicated that some students squared or rounded areas, while others did not, resulting in uneven mapping quality between users. A few students working in blocks on the edge of town extended beyond their intended boundary and mapped surrounding farm fields, and a mischievous student drew an imaginary lake in Ogden and several non-existent triangle buildings: quite the surprise for our final editor.
Results
Though this was our third OSM/MapGive workshop, it was our first time using the TeachOSM task manager. We feel that the similarity between the TeachOSM and HOT mapping interfaces provided good continuity as we transitioned the students from one platform to the other. The lock-area tool allowed us to delineate areas for students to work in, preventing duplicate edits, while providing a manageable area for completion.
To track workflow and understand how well students learned to map in our allotted time period, we analyzed the number of features created; per account, per day, per area. In total, students seemed to take to mapping quickly; creating an average of 51 features each (some mapping only a few, some mapping as many as 120 features). The comparison between edits in Iowa to Mozambique revealed that most students preferred mapping areas for the humanitarian effory than they did the town in Iowa, indicating either improved skill or increased interest. In total, students mapped 1031 features over the two-day period.
As a bonus, some students noticed differences between the imagery from Iowa and to the HOT area in Namaacha, Mozambique. They discussed differences between the sizes of housing, the quality of roadways, and other features on the landscape. Though our intention was to introduce students to digital mapping and online humanitarianism, we also taught them more about the world around them.
