The project itself
THE MAP
Going into the project, Whatcom Farm-to-School was gearing up to launch a website similar to one that Oregon had launched earlier this year. They had the basic underlying framework, but hadn't filled in any data yet. What Mardi was hoping for was a basic map that showed all the school districts in the state of Washington, with some ability to have it show relevant information. For example, creating a map that showed every school district that contained at least one school garden. They were planning on replicating this.
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For me, I was to attempt to replicate the second to last image, the one showing the state of Oregon. That was my only real objective, but it was a very large undertaking and no one had the first clue on how to accomplish it.
How everything went sideways
THE PROCESS
This was an independent project, where I was entrusted to learn how to accomplish the objective on my own. I had no guide, it was on me to figure things out.
I began by trying to create a map by hand. I used Google Maps and started the process, comparing it to maps I found online. This quickly proved foolish. Any map I created would look sloppy. If I attempted to make it perfectly match the districts displayed on maps, I'd have to go down to the street level of accuracy.
Here's an example map.
There are 295 public school districts in the state of Washington. Many of the borders are seemingly nonsensical. It did not take me long to give up on this idea. Instead, I started by looking into ways to import a map that had already been created. There are an abundance of maps of Washington State school districts, but finding one that I could interact with proved exceedingly difficult. I quickly realized I'd need some kind of program to import the coordinates of the districts.
First, I went looking for the data itself. After a lot of searching and pouring through website directories, I finally found some data hidden in a long list of reports released by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. I next imported the borders data from the OSPI website for use in creating a map.
Initially, I attempted to import the data into Google Maps. I figured that would be the most user friendly application. Unfortunately, I found the file formats to be incompatible with Google Maps. Google Maps simply wasn't equipped to handle and process all of that data.
Looking for something with a bit more muscle, I next worked with a program called GRASS. I struggled to convert the data through GRASS into something visual and useful. I failed. That program was beyond my ability to figure out without help or an excessive amount of blundering around. Instead, I decided to cut my losses and try something else. There had to be an easier way to import the data without messing around with program directories.
Next, I tried a program called ArcGIS. I had encountered websites that used this program to display data on school districts on other websites (specifically, on websites discussing best school districts to enroll your children in). I had been unable to import those maps, so I set about trying to create my own. Once again, I failed. I was working with a program far more powerful than what I needed, and far more complicated than I could figure out on my own. A friend of mine who works in wildlife sustainability advised me to abandon using that program. His exact words, "Avoid Arcgis pro unless you have at least a minor in it, and are a city planner counting fire hydrants or a biologist documenting endangered species locations for future generations' academic knowledge."
So, I took his advice and abandoned use of ArcGIS.
BACK TO WHERE I STARTED
Re-visiting prior failures
Since my attempts at converting the data had failed, I revisited the data itself. Going back through the OSPI website, I continued pouring through pages of reports that they had compiled. Through my failures, I had learned of the different file formats that are used in maps like .kpv. So while searching through the troves of reports the OSPI had made public, I found a report on the borders of Washington School districts in a familiar file format. I was able to get a version that was small enough for Google Maps to upload. After reporting my success to Mardi, I then went about cross checking every district I had with all available lists of school districts in the state of Washington. I had to do this since my data was from 2013, and I wanted to make sure it was still up to date. After finding perfect matches with 3 different lists of Washington school districts, I accepted my map as up-to-date.
TEACHING
Learning, and passing on my knowledge.
I proceeded to fully immerse myself in the capabilities of my new map. While I'm sure there's more to discover, I quickly realized several potential advantages and strengths that Google Maps offered. The capabilities of my map far exceeded the project requirements.
The final step was simply to pass on my knowledge. I met with Mardi and held a teaching session, showing her the ropes of using the map, its capabilities and limitations, and helping her truly understand the tool I had created. Education is a continuous process however, so I also encouraged her to feel free to contact me if she had any further questions.