Demo Presentation
Today was D-Day: The demo presentation. As much as it was nerve wrecking and a tad scary- We believe it went well. We presented our completed 3D model, hard copy maps as well as the progress made on the web-mapping application. The feedback and thus lessons learnt were as follows:
1) The presentation itself was clean, visually appealing and portrayed the necessary messages well. We made use of images instead of words and when words were used, we stuck to short key words instead of long, boring sentences. It is key to note that power-points can get hella boring hella fast, so remember that simple is always best.
2) 3D model was clean and visually appealing while still portraying the necessary information. We chose to exclude the dwellings in our model because they caused clutter. Proposed collection/drop-off sites, volunteer collectors, Viva and the current informal dumping sites were all displayed via appropriate floating icons.
3) Hard-copy maps were commended for being appealing, informative and clean cut. We created 4 maps and are still working on a fifth.The four maps we created thus far are:
i) The study area of Mamelodi within The Tshwane municipal district. This was done to orientate the user.
ii) Overview of the study area of Alaska within Mamelodi. Again, done to orientate the user as well as providing them with a general overview of what the area looks like and what it is about.
iii) Volunteer collectors within the community of Alaska. This map simply portrayed their location within Alaska. These 15 collectors were randomly generated.
iv) Proposed drop-off/collection sites vs the current illegal dumping sites within Alaska. This map was created to indicate that the proposed sites are located a) Near the already existing informal dumping sites and b) They are located very close to a main road which is accessible by waste removal trucks. This helps to ensure that any materials that are not collected by the volunteer collectors is still removed by official waste removal trucks.
The fifth and final map we are currently working on is depicting the buy-back centers as well as the recycling companies in and around Pretoria. These will need to be manually digitized due to the lack of shapefiles. We are therefore currently googling the buy-backs and companies, taking note of their location as well as the materials they specialize in. We will then manually add them in QGIS and create the map from there.
4) Web-mapping application still needs work, mainly due to the fact that were not done working on it yet. We presented the framework and basics that we have completed thus far and were commended for what we have, but need to continue with the grind. Our main objective from now until the final presentation in November is to complete and style the web-app. The web-app is currently being created in Notepad++ using HTML, JavaScript and CSS for styling. Leaflet is being used as the platform to create and visualize the web app.
We, as a group, are really chuffed with our progress and feedback thus far. As happy as we are though, we know we are not finished just yet. Styling and improving the deliverables is a constant fight that we are willing to take part in... So bring it on!
For now,
Alaskan Assimilators signing out
