Exemplary Student Work GSD1211 Fall 2007

Planning and Design of Landscapes

This page presents some fine and noteworthy thematic maps made by the students in Harvard University Graduate School of Design Studio: Planning and Design of Landscapes, Scheri Fultineer, principal instructor. The Mapping exercise was directed by Paul Cote.

Two Hectare Mapping Project Objectives

The objective of this exercise was to introduce students to the use of spatial data infrastructure to develop an understanding of a small site, and to communicate that understanding through maps. The requirement to map and to say something about a two-hectare site was to force students to push the limits of the precision of the state of Massachusetts GIS data, to think critically about information and to avoid making unfounded claims about a place based on data that was collected for purposes other than the one at hand.

Each student was assigned a point within the studio area of interest near West Concord Massachusetts. Their task was to make a broad-scale context map portraying the context of their point. The students also had to define a two hectare area of interest that surrounds their point and then make several thematic maps depicting data that might help to illuminate several physical systems within their area of interest. A requirement of the assignment, was that each map would be accompanied by text that explains what the map and data were intended to represent, with commentary about what these may tell us about the actual conditions on the ground.

Student Projects

These projects were selected because they were well executed and demonstrate an interesting and effective approach to the problem.