For your capstone and final assignment, you will select a location for a notional Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia, Liberia. Please note that our problem is hypothetical and bears no direct relationship to the location of planned clinics! The exercise uses data and a capability similar to the NGA Ebola Map site designed to assist Ebola relief in West Africa. Similarly, our parallel site is supported with Esri's ArcGIS Online, DigitalGlobe's Human Geography data, and hosted on Amazon Web Services. Your peer reviewed work:
You might want to review the explanation of the ACH approach found in Structured Analysis of Competing Hypotheses: Improving a Tested Intelligence Methodology [1] by Kristan J. Wheaton and Diane E. McManis. We are just using evidence and hypotheses that are geospatial in nature.
This assignment makes use of Coursera's Peer Assessment tool. Use the following link to access the Peer Assessment tool [2]. The key deliverables and due dates for this assignment are:
Date | Time | Activity | Your Task |
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9 February, 2015 | Lesson 5 opens 0001 UTC/GMT (12:01 AM) | Assignment Starts |
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14 February, 2015 | Due at 2359 UTC/GMT (11:59 PM) | Submission Deadline | After this time, you can no longer change your submission. If you have not clicked the "Submit" button by this time, your classmates will not see your submission, you will not receive an evaluation for this assignment, and you will not be permitted to evaluate your classmates' submissions. |
15 February, 2015 | Begin on 15 February at 0001 UTC/GMT (12:01 AM) | Evaluation Starts | After this time, you will evaluate the work of five (5) of your peers. Finally, you will evaluate your own work. Optionally, you can choose to evaluate the work of even more of your classmates before the evaluation deadline passes. This is very helpful for the success of the course. You are an awesome person if you do this. Remember: as with the submission stage, this evaluation stage is required if you want your own assignment submission to be evaluated. |
17 February, 2015 | Due by 2359 UTC/GMT (11:59 PM) | Evaluation Deadline | After this time, you can no longer evaluate the work of your peers or your own. If you have not finished your assigned evaluation tasks by this time, your own assignment may not be evaluated and you may receive a grade penalty. |
17 February, 2015 | Due by 2359 UTC/GMT (11:59 PM) | Final Examination Deadline | Complete the Final Examination. |
There will be no exceptions or extensions to these deadlines. The Coursera Peer Assessment tool does not allow us to make individual-level exceptions.
The following is the hypothetical scenario. You are a volunteer providing short-term support to a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Monrovia, Liberia. You have available the information and capabilities of the below Ebola Map website which provides mapping capabilities, satellite imagery, and human geography data.
Using the Ebola Map and the proposed locations in Monrovia, Liberia, select where to establish the next Ebola Treatment Unit. You may optionally propose an alternate location in Monrovia but this is not required.
The coordinates in parentheses are longitude (X) and latitude (Y) expressed in decimal degrees that are suitable for ArcGIS Online.
Step 1: Review the problem, background, criteria, and explore the technology and data. In our ArcGIS Online Ebola map [5], click on the "content" tab in the legend to display the full list of imagery and human geography data themes. Learn about the data. Develop a deep and rich mental picture of the place.
Step 2: Think about and apply a simple data collection strategy. Using ArcGIS Online and the data themes, forage for geospatial evidence to help in your evaluation of the hypothesized best sites in Table 5.1. Note the data you are lacking.
Step 3: Using the art of geospatial reasoning aided with ArcGIS Online's maps:
Step 4: Share and discuss your analysis in the Lesson 5 Discussion Forum [6]. This is an opportunity to vet your analysis before you finalize your submission for peer assessment.
Step 5: Using the Peer Assessment tool [2], Coursera link post your selected location for the Ebola Treatment Unit in the appropriate terms and expressions provided in Tables 5.1 and 5.2. Discuss how you completed this geospatial analysis using ACH. Peer review your submission and four other students' submissions (total of 5 reviews) using the standards of analysis (Table 5.3). Please note the due date!
Hypothesis: Site 1 is the best location. | Hypothesis: Site 2 is the best location. | Hypothesis: Site 3 is the best location. | Hypothesis (Optional): Site 4 is the best location. Specify the location. | |
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Evidence Related to Criterion 1: The clinic is in an area known to have the Ebola disease present. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 2: The clinic is in an area not served by an existing Ebola facility. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 3: The clinic is in proximity to existing medical facilities. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 4: The clinic is located to serve a significant population. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 5: The clinic has access to transportation. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 6: The clinic is in a favorable physical environment at the location. | ||||
Evidence Related to Criterion 7: The clinic is in a location safe for the patients and staff. | ||||
Other evidence you included in the analysis. Add as many rows as needed. | ||||
State the selected site using the appropriate terms and expressions from Table 5.2, below Referring to the Lesson 4 discussion of Analysis of Competing Hypothesis (ACH), describe how you arrived at your conclusion. |
Low | Moderate | High |
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Terms/Expressions:
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Terms/Expressions:
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Terms/Expressions:
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Item | Analytic Standard |
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A | Properly describes quality and reliability of underlying sources. |
B | Properly caveats and expresses uncertainties or confidence in analytic judgments. |
C | Properly distinguishes between underlying intelligence and analysts' assumptions and judgments. |
D | Incorporates alternative analysis where appropriate. |
E | Demonstrates relevance to the domain. |
F | Uses logical argumentation. |
G | If appropriate, exhibits consistency of analysis over time, or highlights changes and explains rationale. |
H | Makes accurate judgments and assessments. |
This lab was developed by Todd Bacastow, Gary Parkhurst [7] (DigitalGlobe), and Joseph Kerski [8] (Esri). Esri and DigitalGlobe generously provided help creating this instance using ArcGIS Online, current satellite imagery, and human geography data as in the NGA Ebola Map.
Links
[1] http://www.mcmanis-monsalve.com/files/publications/intelligence-methodology-1-07-chido.pdf
[2] https://class.coursera.org/geoint-001/human_grading
[3] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geointmooc/node/2039
[4] https://class.coursera.org/geoint-001/wiki/Human_Geography_Data
[5] http://education.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=684d5dab42824b3582cf224a6d5ba3c0
[6] https://class.coursera.org/geoint-001/forum/list?forum_id=3
[7] https://www.linkedin.com/pub/gary-parkhurst/41/504/84a
[8] http://www.josephkerski.com/