Project

Project#

The class project is a significant component of your learning experience, contributing 25% to your final grade. This project is an opportunity for you to apply the geospatial analytics concepts and techniques we’ve explored throughout the course to a real-world problem. You are expected to work individually to develop an original project that showcases your analytical skills, creativity, and understanding of geospatial data.

Major Expectations#

  • Originality: Your project must be original, demonstrating your approach to solving a geospatial problem. It should reflect your ability to think critically and innovatively within the field of geospatial analytics.

    • You do not need to find a novel algorithm or method, but you CANNOT just complete a tutorial from YouTube and submit it as a project. Explore different geospatial projects in research articles, LinkedIn, Medium, or GitHub and try to apply a different set of data to make a slightly different inference. Start thinking about your project as soon as possible.

    • The project can be related to your dissertation or thesis research. Please ask your PI for permission before using your own research data as part of the class project.

    • The project must include one or more geospatial analytics techniques we are covering in this course. I know its too early to decide as we have not gone through the lectures yet, but please look at the schedule for more information about what type of topics will be covered.

    • Please reach out to me about your project topic if you have confusion.

  • PowerPoint Presentation: You will present your project to the class in a concise PowerPoint presentation. This presentation should clearly communicate your project’s objectives, methodology, results, and conclusions. More details will follow.

    • The presentation is for 10 minutes with short Q&A.

    • You should at least include the background of your problem, clearly state your objectives, the methods, results, discussions and conlcusions.

  • Short Report: Along with your presentation, you will submit a short report (3-4 pages) summarizing your project. The report should include an introduction, a detailed explanation of your methods, your findings, and your conclusions. It should be clear, well-organized, and professionally written. More details will follow.

The class project is your chance to demonstrate your mastery of geospatial analytics, so take this opportunity to showcase your skills and insights.

Rubrics#

The overall grade for the class project is 25% of your total grade. Within this 25%, following are the major points totaling to 100, which will be weighted by the 25% weight:

Points

Abstract

5

Research

50

Oral Presentation

20

Short Report

25

Abstract#

Please submit your project abstract on Canvas by October 29, 2024, 10:00 PM CDT. The abstract is worth 5 points and contributes to your overall project grade. Your abstract should be no longer than 250 words and must include a title followed by a concise overview of your project.

Your abstract should follow the structure typically used in scientific publications:

  1. Introduction: Briefly introduce your topic and define the main problem.

  2. Research Question and Objective: State the key research question, the objectives of your project, and explain why this work is important. Highlight who could benefit from the findings.

  3. Methods and Data: Describe the methods you will use and the datasets required for your analysis.

  4. Expected Results and Hypothesis: Outline the type of results you expect to achieve, and if applicable, mention any hypotheses you are testing.

Please submit your abstract as a Word document.

Research#

Here is a breakdown of the Research component. By Research, I am emphasizing the actual work of the class project. Let’s say you have provided a great presentation and report, but the research side is weak, this can affect your overall grade. Also this can occur vice-versa. These are breakdown of points which totals to 100:

Topics

Points

Good title

5

Clear definition of problem

5

Research question(s) / Objective(s)

10

Identification of related research

10

Practicality / scope of the research

5

Data statement (source, processing, ESDA)

10

Use of at least three major geospatial analytics methods (not limited to our lectures)

30

Clear results that address the research question(s)

15

Use of quality figures

10

(Bonus) Discussion of results with other related studies

10 (Bonus)

Total

100

Oral Presentation#

Here is a breakdown of the Oral Presentation component which totals to 100:

Topics

Points

Background with problem, scope, objectives

20

Clear methodological workflow

30

Results

20

Conclusions

10

Oral presentation quality

20

Total

100

Short Report#

Here is a breakdown of the Short Report component which totals to 100:

Topics

Points

Section 1: Background

15

Section 2: Methods

30

Section 3: Results

20

Section 4: Conclusions

10

Study area map figure

5

Workflow figure with

5

Formatting

5

Proper citations and bibliography

5

Overall writing quality

5

Total

100

Report Template#

Use this template to write your short report.

Download report template from here.

Contents