INTRODUCTION

The interim report is due on Wednesday, March 12 by 5:00 pm. Please submit your reports to both of the instructors.

The purpose of the interim report is to document the actual problem solving methodology and to get an opportunity for feedback regarding your progress. The interim report will be worth 15% of your final mark and will be assessed as follows:

1. Appearance/Organization - /20
2. Parsing Phase - /10
3. Modeling Phase - /50
4. Analysis methods to date, evidence of suitable progress - /15
5. Conclusions - /5

Part of the marks for each of these components will be based on completeness. Groups who have completed more work will get more credit, as an incentive to keep progressing at a reasonable pace.

Your modeling mark will be determined within the context of your particular project (i.e. if terms in the Problem Solving Methodology and Project Design pages we previously discussed don't apply to your project, don't worry).

Map products created using MapInfo or ArcInfo should be completely annotated with a suitable layout, scale bar, legend etc. Map products created from EASI/PACE or GRASS should include a caption, a description of the spatial scale or resolution and a description of the spatial extents and location of the map. Marks will not be deducted for black and white maps. However, the final report at the end of the term will require completely annotated colour maps.

This report does not have to be published on the web.

REPORT FORMAT

The report should be presented with the following components:

1. Title page
2. Executive summary: problem statement plus a description of what the report contains
3. Table of contents
4. Progress summary: updated GANTT chart plus a short summary of what has been done and what is left to do
5. Parsing phase: refer to the data dictionaries and include them in an appendix. Use the format provided on-line or the format used in ArcCatalog. Make sure to fill in all subjects (even if it is just "no data")
6. Modeling phase: include a short explanation of each component of this phase (i.e. don't just submit the flow chart without a reference to it in the text).
7. Analysis methods: perhaps an example calculation or a summary of your non-GIS analysis results to date
8. Conclusions: reiterate what your final product will be and explain how you think it addresses the problem statement (you may want to once again specify your assumptions here)
9. Appendices: Data dictionaries

PARSING PHASE

Defining relationships between entities and groups of entities.

You started this work with the proposal. Now you should be able to show the links between various data sets, and fill in everything you can in the data dictionaries.

1. Define relationships between groups of entities

• Attribute Linkages: identify linkages between attribute tables based on the relational database concept
• Spatial Data Structure: identify the data structure (raster/vector) of each data layer and explain the need for any data structure conversions. Also explain any technical details with data import/export (e.g. map projections, how you are converting between projections, any sort of aggregation).

• Conceptual GIS data flow model for solving problem (a picture with a <1 page explanation).  This should include notes regarding movement of data between GIS/stats software.
• Data Dictionaries: document each data layer and attributes in one file;  complete the data dictionaries started in problem statement.

MODELING PHASE

• Create a cartographic model (map algebra flow chart)
• Provide descriptions of each operation (see cartographic model page for examples of descriptions), including:
1. A short definition of the operation (if not obvious)
2. The relevance of the operation to solving the problem
3. A description of the actual GIS method used (i.e. software specific)
4. Explanation of parameters used in the operation and assumptions used.
5. Explanation of the expected output (a data dictionary is ideal).  
• Provide printouts of intermediate and/or final modeling results (either tables or figures)

• Provide details for any procedures in the flow chart that do not rely on GIS analysis. (e.g. classification training procedures)
• Statistical analysis (e.g. regression, validation of classification)
• Map/graph/tabular presentation (describe what sort of presentation you provide in the future, e.g. a map of valid liquor stores, churches and malls over a City of Toronto Base Map)
• Field or web data surveys (explain any special surveys you may have conducted, e.g. document runoff coefficients, specify how you determined profile of low dwellers)
• Cleaning up data errors (did you have to replace missing data, fix polygons etc.?)
• Technical computations done completely offline (i.e. not using spatial data)

• Provide sample results from above methods (e.g. regression results, etc)
• Explain limitations and assumptions involved in the analysis (basically a more specific description of your problem statement assumptions).