Sorry for the lack of updates over the last month or so. I’ve struggled to adopt a consistent workflow during the coronavirus lockdown – shopping and socialising are rather ad hoc and shopping takes twice as long thanks to the large queues. I’ve also been very busy with work over the past two to three weeks – it often feels like I’m the only person working on my current project. Never fear, I’ve been able to make time for the actual Coursera work but writing these blog posts has taken a back seat. I’ve taken some action to formalise learning, revision and broader next steps – last week I decided that Tuesday and Thursday evenings and at least one weekend day would be dedicated entirely to mapping. I’ve also bought some index cards so I can start revising properly and do a better job of committing everything I’m learning to memory. Lets’ see whether that works.

Those of you familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect will know what I mean when I say I’m currently in the Valley of Despair. As I’ve learnt a bit more I’ve realised how much more there is to go (I’d say I was at the Peak of Mt. Stupid at the start of Module 2), hopefully the commitments I outlined above will help me move up the Slope of Enlightenment, I’m very much looking forward to my time on the Plateau of Sustainability.

So, what have I been doing recently? I realise I never got round to posting the map I made at the end of Week 3 in Module 2, see below. I quite enjoyed making it, it felt like a ‘proper’ bit of analysis combining multiple datasets to provide an interested party with a useful map – the map below shows the probable nesting locations of the rare Marbled Murrelet in the Navarro river valley (and it looks half decent to boot!). It was created through a range of raster analysis workflows based on various bits of knowledge about where the Marbled Murrelet likes to nest: distance from the coast, direction of hill slope, elevation, in old forest growth etc. I shared it with my twitcher friend Max who immediately asked for a similar map for tree sparrows in Lincolnshire – one to create in a month or so, once I’m trundling up the Slope of Enlightenment!

Module 3 has followed a slightly different pattern to previous modules. Rather than creating one map a week we’re working towards creating one big map at the end of the module. As a result there isn’t a huge amount to share at the moment but I should have something in the next couple of days. I’m currently waiting on two large datasets – US flood plains, land use in California – to download, maybe that’ll give you a clue as to what might be on the horizon?!