The Life Starter
Sign up
All courses/Digital

Course 90 · Digital course 15

Maps and Location Data for Community Decisions

Compare routes and coverage using a fictional community map, then explain a location decision with checked numbers.

Before you start

Prepare squared paper or an existing drawing tool.

See everything you’ll need
What you’ll leave with

A community map and checked route comparison that explain a practical location choice.

Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.

Your project

Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.

Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.

  1. Get your materialsDownload the practice worksheetUse the downloadable worksheet or toolkit alongside the lesson instructions.
  2. Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
  3. Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.
Course handbook

Know the route before you begin.

Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.

Who this is for

Learners age 14 and older, including adults exploring technical work or strengthening school and community projects. No employment or university enrollment is needed.

Prepare before lesson one
  • Prepare squared paper or an existing drawing tool.
  • Use only the supplied invented points, populations and road times.
  • Keep a simple calculator or hand arithmetic available; GIS software installation is optional and unnecessary.
Your final project

Finish with proof you can use.

Compare an existing and proposed service location in the supplied fictional four-zone town.

Save a project record in My Proof
See project checklist and review criteria

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Define the decision and geographic layers with aggregate data.
  • Plot a labeled coordinate grid and check units.
  • Join attributes by zone ID and document missing-data checks.
  • Calculate baseline and closure routes from the given network.
  • Compare unique coverage and deliver a map, table and scoped memo.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • Geographic meaning: layers, units and assumptions are explicit.
  • Data quality: IDs and populations match without invented values.
  • Calculation: route and unique coverage arithmetic is reproducible.
  • Communication: the map supports a limited, accessible decision explanation.
Three ideas to help you along the way
Three useful ideas

The rules behind the steps.

01

Match data to the question

Collect the geographic detail the decision actually needs.

02

Respect connections

Travel follows available routes rather than visual shortcuts.

03

Count places once

Resolve overlap before summing covered populations.

What do these words mean?
Key words

Key terms worth knowing.

Geographic information system (GIS)
A system for organizing, analyzing and presenting geographic information.
Layer
A set of related geographic features and their attributes.
Attribute
A fact attached to a geographic feature.
Coordinate reference system
The framework defining what coordinate values mean spatially.
Network route
A path through permitted connections with associated costs.
Coverage threshold
The rule defining which modeled locations count as served.
Your route

6 lessons.
One useful project.

Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.

  1. 1
    Up next

    Turn a community question into map layers

    Name the decision and the map features you need, such as points or roads. List facts about them, called attributes, such as population or travel time.

  2. 2
    24 min

    Keep coordinates, scale and units straight

    Plot a fictional grid and distinguish map units from geographic measurements.

  3. 3
    26 min

    Attach attributes and audit missing data

    Join zone facts by stable IDs and distinguish zero from unknown.

  4. 4
    28 min

    Compare routes instead of straight-line guesses

    Calculate the shortest travel time on a small network.

  5. 5
    28 min

    Measure coverage without double counting

    Compare population coverage for one site and two sites under an explicit threshold.

  6. 6
    36 min

    Present a map-backed community decision

    Create an interpretable map and concise decision memo with assumptions.

Use the tools

Tools to help you practice.

See all tools
Text worksheet

Your course project worksheet

A downloadable text worksheet with each lesson’s working output, space for your answers, and the shared final-project checklist. Save your own copy.

Source transparency

Sources and further study.

Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.

Penn State GEOG 160 — Features Versus Attributes
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10

Opened via Penn State’s course link and read the feature/attribute distinction. Public OER page; its noncommercial share-alike license is not treated as permission to copy exercises.

Access: Free public reading; no account or certificate is required for this Life Starter course.

Reuse: Linked for reference. Examples, activities and assessments here are original; free access alone does not grant permission to reuse source text or branding.

QGIS — A Gentle Introduction: Vector Data
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10

Read point, line, polygon, scale, geometry, layer and attribute explanations in official QGIS 3.44 documentation.

Access: Free public reading; no account or certificate is required for this Life Starter course.

Reuse: Linked for reference. Examples, activities and assessments here are original; free access alone does not grant permission to reuse source text or branding.

QGIS — Coordinate Reference Systems
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10

Opened official CRS and projection tutorial. The exercise uses a labeled fictional Cartesian grid and never presents it as geographic coordinates.

Access: Free public reading; no account or certificate is required for this Life Starter course.

Reuse: Linked for reference. Examples, activities and assessments here are original; free access alone does not grant permission to reuse source text or branding.

USGS — Topographic Maps
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10

Opened official topographic map overview and product distinctions. Used for understanding map context and limits; no real route safety or current service claim is inferred.

Access: Free public reading; no account or certificate is required for this Life Starter course.

Reuse: Linked for reference. Examples, activities and assessments here are original; free access alone does not grant permission to reuse source text or branding.

Ready when you are

Start with the first useful move.

You’ll always know what to do, what to make, and where to go next.

Start lesson one