Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
Author
Jakub Kabala
Title
Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
Description
An open-source textbook for an undergraduate course in digital mapping and cartography with the Wolfram language.
Category
Educational Materials
Keywords
mapping, cartography, digital humanities, digital studies
URL
http://www.notebookarchive.org/2022-12-6y2lrys/
DOI
https://notebookarchive.org/2022-12-6y2lrys
Date Added
2022-12-15
Date Last Modified
2022-12-15
File Size
69.41 megabytes
Supplements
Rights
CC BY 4.0
Download
Open in Wolfram Cloud
Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
1st ed. (December 2022)
Jakub Kabala
jakabala@davidson.edu
jakabala@davidson.edu
Introduction
Welcome to Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
Welcome to Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language
This open-source textbook offers an interactive introduction to digital mapping as I currently teach it in a course called Digital Maps, Place & Space in the Digital Studies program at Davidson College. It distills the many lessons I have learned with various cohorts of Davidson students since first offering the course in 2017. Clicking on the course link will take you to an online folder with a syllabus and documents from the last iteration of the course. Authors and texts mentioned in some of the exercises below can be identified on that syllabus. While I invite you to download and study course materials, this textbook stands alone and does not require them.
Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language (DMWL) avoids out-of-the-box mapping software and invites students to learn cartography programmatically, from the ground up, using the Wolfram Language (WL) in Mathematica. There are a few reasons for this. First, a coding approach compels students to make intentional and mindful choices in map creation from the start. This, in turn, sharpens their ability to read maps created by others in a nuanced way. Both are essential learning objectives of DIG 270. Second, the WL is a high-level programming language with a robust suite of mapping functionality. This means that students can create their first maps on Day 1, and rapidly reach the level of proficiency necessary for more advanced techniques like spatial storytelling and data visualization. Third, the Wolfram environment provides immediate access to curated data, including the Wolfram Data Repository with its ready-to-use spatial datasets. This becomes immensely useful in the second half of the book. Finally, although learning to write computer code is not the explicit goal of the chapters below, it does tend to be a by-product: simply by studying the examples and completing all exercises and projects, students will learn about most concepts normally covered in an introductory college programming course. As a result, they will be able quickly to pick up any number of other Digital Humanities techniques going forward: text analysis, network analysis, neural net manipulation, image, sound, and video analysis, etc. The fundamental principles will all be the same.
To use this textbook, save a local copy to your computer by clicking the ‘Download’ button above. You can then open it (a .nb file) in the latest version of Mathematica (v. 13.2 as of December 2022). Many colleges and universities offer free downloads of this software to students and faculty/staff through their site licenses. You can also purchase the software directly from Wolfram Research.
This is a first edition. I will update and supplement it every time I return to teach DIG 270. As a result, please send any comments, tips, or suggestions to the email address above. I thank all readers in advance. And I hope you enjoy!
-Jakub Kabala
(submitted 2022.12.15; revised 2022.12.30)
-Jakub Kabala
(submitted 2022.12.15; revised 2022.12.30)
Chapter 1. Basic WL Programming
Chapter 2. GeoGraphics
Chapter 3. Points and GeoMarkers
Chapter 4. Polygons
Chapter 5. Lines and Arrows
Chapter 6. Projections
Chapter 7. Coordinate Grids
Chapter 8. Geo-rectification
Chapter 9. Cartographic Propaganda
Chapter 10. Deep Mapping
Chapter 11. Project 1: Spatial Storytelling
Chapter 12. Intermediate WL Programming
Chapter 13. Finding Spatial Data: Wolfram Entities
Chapter 14. Visualizing Spatial Data: Choropleth, Bubble and Heat Maps
Chapter 15. CSV Data I: Importing and Visualizing
Chapter 16. CSV Data II: Color, Size, and Legends
Chapter 17. CSV Data III: Geocoding with Interpreter & APIs
Chapter 18. Advanced WL Programming
Chapter 19. Shapefile Data I: Importing and Visualizing
Chapter 20. Shapefile Data II: Adjusting Projections and Units
Chapter 21. Project 2: Quantifying Spatial Data
Chapter 22. Final Project: A Digital Cartographic Investigation
Acknowledgments
Cite this as: Jakub Kabala, "Digital Mapping with the Wolfram Language" from the Notebook Archive (2022), https://notebookarchive.org/2022-12-6y2lrys
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