← Methods 3

Assignment 1

Part 1: Drawing Your Mental Map

Each of us carries a spatial representation of our immediate and general environments in our mind. Usually these spatial representations have similar elements: edges, nodes, paths, districts & landmarks (eg Kevin Lynch, Image of the City). Using analog tools such as paper, pens, pencils, really whatever you have at hand or choose, put your "mental image" or mental map to paper for New York City. Bristol paper is a good choice; 11x17” as a default size is probably good, 8.5x11” may be too restricting.

The focus lies on the content and not the beauty of the mental map, and there is no right or wrong. The key is that the mental map must not be copied from a map or image but rather drawn from memory.

It may be helpful to break the process into three phases. First is the skeleton phase, it contains most of the important information, objects, direction, names and paths. The second phase puts the flesh on by linking between memories with information and description. This will often trigger some more memories and makes the map rich and representative. The third and last phase can focus upon the larger aesthetic and themes of the map but no more important information is added, but rather the map is adjusted and critiqued.

Bring finished maps to class, and we will compare/critique the maps. This exercise will further unearth how we think about New York City, how we navigate it and how our experience may lead to ideas to contribute to later work in this course.

Part 2: Installing QGIS

The computers in our classroom will have QGIS installed and running on them, but for maximum convenience I strongly suggest that you install QGIS on your computer. If you have an older version I highly recommend upgrading to 3.2 now. QGIS is generally easy to get working on Windows and OS X:

Windows

  1. Visit the QGIS download page.
  2. Select the appropriate package (32 bit or 64 bit) and download it.
  3. Once the package has downloaded, run it.
  4. Open QGIS to confirm that it works.

OS X

  1. Install Python 3.6.5.
  2. Visit the QGIS download page.
  3. Download the installer package for Version 3.2.
  4. Install GDAL (2 Install GDAL Complete) in the QGIS installer package.
  5. Install QGIS (3 Install QGIS 3) in the QGIS installer package.
  6. If OS X gives you an error while installing any of the packages, force it to install by right-clicking on the installer, selecting Open, and choose to install it.
  7. Open QGIS to confirm that it works.

Submitting your work

Upload a picture or scan of your work from part 1 and bring it to class.