GEOG0030 Coursework: Instructions and Guidance
The assessment for GEOG0030: Geocomputation is split across one piece of coursework and a written exam. The coursework requires you to create your own ’Social Atlas’ on a topic that interests you, utilising the analysis, programming, cartography principles and techniques you have learnt during the module. The coursework counts towards 60% of your final mark and has a limit of 1,500 words.
1.1 Assessment
A Social Atlas is a collection of maps that visually presents and analyses social, demographic, economic, or cultural information about a specific geographic area. These maps are used to convey complex data in a more understandable and visually appealing way to show patterns, trends, and relationships. For this Social Atlas:
• You should create a minimum of six maps - and a maximum of eight - and not exceed 1,500 words (see Section 1.5 for more details on the word count).
• You should choose a specific theme, e.g. “Energy Efficiency in Newcastle” or “Ethnic Segregation in England”, or create a research question to answer. An Atlas is more than a collection of maps and should contain a narrative that ties all the maps together (see Section 1.3).
• You should use a range of different techniques taught in the Geocomputation module to explore your topic – but make sure you apply the techniques in appropriate manner and with the right data types.
On Moodle, you can find several examples Atlases from previous years including an indica-tion of the mark these assignments received.
1.2 Submission
The deadline for your coursework is noon UK time on the 22th of April 2024. You need to submit your Social Atlas through the GEOG0030 Submission link on Moodle. Together with your Social Atlas you also have to submit a zipped folder, containing your R code and Data Descriptor table (see Section 1.4.3 for more details) using the GEOG0030 Zipfile submission for code / additional data notes link that you will also find on Moodle.
Make sure that you name both files using your Exam ID only, e.g. ABCXYZ.pdf and ABCXYZA.zip.
1.3 Topic
This is an intentionally open-ended task designed to test your ability to source, analyse, visualise and interpret a dataset. You can focus on a city such as Bristol or Edinburgh or take a national or global perspective. The key to success is linking the maps together with a central theme or narrative – this could be an issue such as ”health” or ”poverty” or it could be an area like ”Manchester” or ”Northern Quarter”. Do keep in mind that data availability should be a guiding principle when selecting your topic.
1.4 Guidelines, requirements, and limitations
1.4.1 Area of study
You can set your Atlas (almost) anywhere across the world or utilise multiple Areas of Interest or scales if you so wish – just remember, data is not always easily. However, you may not select Greater London as a whole as a case study area.
1.4.2 Use of workbook tutorials for guidance
Your Atlas should be entirely your own endeavour and must be your own work. You can of course use the workbook tutorials and associated code and data for inspiration within your Atlas. You should, however, not replicate any analysis completed within any of the practicals (i.e. same analysis, same data but just in a different area is not allowed).
Further to this:
• There is no set number of techniques you need to utilise within your Atlas, nor do you need to cover everything from the computer tutorials.
• Keep in mind to use techniques that are both suitable for your dataset and provide your analysis within the answers you are looking for.
• Do not duplicate analysis found in any other online R help tutorials. You may use these tutorials as guidance, as per our Geocomputation practicals, but if your analysis is found to duplicate these tutorials, this is considered plagiarism and will result in academic misconduct penalties being applied to your work.
1.4.3 Data sources and data requirements
You can use data from any of the online resources used in our practicals (UK Census, CDRC, data.police.uk) as well as follow through on the links provided on the Additional Resources chapter on the GEOG0030 Geocomputation webpage. If you scrape any data from the web, including from OpenStreetMap, please provide the code used to obtain this data within your code.
You will need to keep track of where you obtained your data and provide this within a Data Descriptor Table, which will outline the metadata of your data, including links to the webpage you downloaded the data from, and any non-coded data cleaning conducted on the dataset prior to using it within R. A template for your Data Descriptor Table is provided on Moodle alongside some more detailed instructions in a separate document.
We cannot help you source data for your Coursework, nor can we provide guidance on appropriate datasets beyond what is offered in our Practicals and workshops.
1.4.4 Tools for data management and analysis
To follow through with our key tenets of spatial data science outlined in Week 5, we would like you to complete all analysis in R and using RStudio.
Further to this:
• You are welcome,and encouraged, to use GUI GIS software, such as QGIS, for initial exploratory analysis. However, all analysis that is presented in your Atlas must be hard-coded within R and contained within your R scripts.
• You may use Excel for your initial cleaning of csv’s or spreadsheets (e.g. extract-ing a worksheet from a workbook or removing whitespace rows) – but any data ‘wrangling’/manipulation should be coded (e.g. filtering of data, joining data, re-coding/recalculating variables) in R.
1.4.5 Map expectations
The most important things to keep in mind when creating your maps:
• Make your maps large enough – we suggest to make all maps at least half a page and ensure all details included on your map are legible.
• Make sure to include with your maps the expected map conventions.
• Remember to check out the colorbrewer website for recommendations on colour schemes – and use the correct colour scheme (e.g. sequential, diverging, qualitative) for the data you are representing.
Please note:
• Facet maps (e.g. made with the tm facets()) code, count as one map. A small multiples map (e.g. made with tm arrange()) counts as one map. Maps that are combined in other ways than through code, e.g. in Word or Powerpoint, are not considered as multiples maps and will be counted individually.
• Any maps that exceeded the 8-map maximum will not be assessed.
• Your code will be checked to determine how your maps have been made.
1.4.6 Tables, charts and figuers
You may include tables, charts (graphs) and figures within your Atlas. Please limit this to no more than one of each type (i.e. no more than 3 in total, including any you may append to a map). If taken from a resource online, you must cite correctly: e.g. ‘Source: Esri, 2023’. Facet charts (graphs) or small multiples charts (graphs) count as one chart (graph), same as for maps (as outlined in Section 1.4.5).
1.4.7 Code expectations
The quality of your code will not contribute to your assessed mark, however, its inclusion alongside your Data Descriptor Table is mandatory for this assignment. You are expected to comment your code and it will be checked for legibility and to ensure you have programmed your analysis as requested.
Please save all R code as R scripts. You should then zip your R scripts into a single zipped folder, along with your Data Descriptor Table, and submit this to the relevant link on Moodle. A template for your Data Descriptor Table is provided on Moodle. Please do not include your datasets in your zipped folder. Make sure only to include your Exam ID in the name of your zipped folder and nothing else (see Section 1.2).
1.5 Word count
As per the Geography Departments requirements, the word count excludes tables and figures, footnotes, the bibliography (reference list) and appendices but includes quotations and references in the text.
Your cover sheet and your assessment title does not count towards your word count; nor does figure captions or map/table titles, however, please keep these as succinct as possible.
Your code does not contribute to your word count either.
Your final word count should be included in your cover sheet.
1.6 Structure
The atlas should have a brief introduction and conclusion outlining the rationale for the atlas and its desired impact.
Our suggestion is as follows:
• Introduction: Here you should introduce your rationale for your Atlas: what needs investigating (background) and why (motivation). We recommend providing brief references to ground your Atlas in similar literature (you can use those cited within our practicals and seminars, but are also strongly encouraged to include references to additional sources) and context. ∼200 words
• Main body: Present each of your maps and what they show – you can outline the techniques you have used and any parameters you set and why. Summarise the results of your techniques/analysis concisely. ∼1100 words
• Conclusion: The final section is to briefly conclude your Atlas by explaining what your maps and analysis has shown. Make sure that the conclusion links nicely to the rationale you have introduced in the introduction. ∼200 words