electronic submission is okay
Download and install Quantum GIS, an open source desktop GIS, to the temp directory on your lab computer. There are other tools for creating mapfiles, like the Amein! extension for ArcMap, and a few others that I will vette for you.
Load some vector layers into your map and style them with the properties dialog box. You can use the files in I:\students\projects\geodata\gisclass\webgis\data, or use some of your own (just make sure they're all in the same coordinate system).
Export a mapfile, name it test.map
Modify the file test.map to point the "paths" to the images where they REALLY will be.
Imagepath "/home/youraccountname/public_maps/tmp/"
ImageURL "/tmp/" (remove the # at the beginning of this line to uncomment it!)
Remove the path information from each data line in your map file, for example:
change DATA "I:\students\projects...\webgis\Oregon.shp" to DATA Oregon.shp
Use SSH to connect to your account on the research server, and do the following:
Create a directory named public_maps and another directory under that path called tmp (set permissions on tmp as shown in class)
Secure-FTP the shapefiles, mapfile and the test.php file to your public_maps folder on the Linux server. Be sure to change the name of the url to your account name in the mapfile.
Load http://youraccountname.geos.odin.pdx.edu/test.php and view your pretty map in web browser.
If you have problems you can try comparing your test.map with one that works :-)
Once you have a basic map showing, try putting in some class statements, use this example as a template. You should end up with different colored polygons for the four counties, just as I discussed. You should also end up with at least three classes of landslide volumes, as demonstrated in class.
Send your commented mapfile, a link to your working map, and
Answer the following questions:
1. Where is the spatial referencing information (coordinate system) information stored in a "shapefile"?
2. Where is the spatial referencing information (coordinate system) information stored in a "geotiff"?
3. What are some techniques for making your maps draw faster?
4. Why is scale dependency important in terms of accuracy of data?