Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Final Project Proposal

Here is my completed final project proposal relayed here onto my blog:


For my final project,

I propose working on an interactive history map that chronicles the history of the Washington DC Metro rail system. In this map I will display the formation of Metro and detail its history as it grows station by station. Milestones, setbacks, and news related to Metro will also be included.

The map would start off with a blank map of the DC Metro area.

This would signify the beginning of the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority in 1966. In 1968, the organization would approve the construction a railway system around Washington DC. The first stations, five in total, would be open eight years later in 1976.

These stations, between Rhode Island Avenue and Farragut North in DC, would eventually become the first wing of the Metro’s Red Line rail. This would be the second part of the interactive map. Then it will progress onto the construction of the Blue line in 1977, Orange line in 1978, Yellow line in 1983 and Green line in 1991. At the end a dotted line in silver will appear to represent the proposed Silver line. The progression of the rail construction will be connected to a timeline. As the timeline progresses, the news related to the Metro construction will also pop up. One such Metro-related news will be the dates Metro changes their suppliers for their Metro cars. From 1976 until 1978, Rohr Manufacturing in California supplied railcars to Metro. From 1983 until 1994, Italian manufacturer Breda supplied the cars. From 2001 until 2004, Spanish manufacturer CFA supplied cars to Metro. Today the cars are assembled and furnished in New York by Alstom using body shells from Spain. Also included will be major accidents that have occurred on the Metro rail. These major accidents happened in 1982, 1996, and scattered incidences every year between 2004 and 2007.

I hope to make a very appealing and interesting map.

Hopefully a map that could fool people into thinking it was an official interactive map from the WMATA website. The layout will be based on the map Metro uses at their stations and on their website and I will try to keep it simple when I add the timeline and other features.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Labs 5 and 6 Finally Completed!

After undergoing much trials and tribulations, I have finally completed my Labs 5 and 6. They are depicting Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during the summer of 1941. Figuring out how to smoothly move the symbols and create the growing area representing conquered land was the most difficult part.
Go here for the finished labs: http://mason.gmu.edu/~jhaumann/lab5_1.html

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Interactive Timeline Election Map

Here's a map I found interesting. It displays every U.S. election from 1789 til present and the electoral college victories between the two candidates:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jan/14/uselections2008-obama-white-house

Completed Lab 4

Here is my completed Lab 4. It displays the Democratic Party electoral college victories in each presidential election between 1976 and 1996.

http://mason.gmu.edu/~jhaumann/lab4_411.html