Project Resources

Project Resources

One of the major resources used in our project was the Atlas, which is a compilation of the 2008 Cape Town Project Centre’s work. Much of the work performed in 2009 was a continuation of the work in 2008. The atlas was used as a visual aid with our project sponsors and as a source of information gathered in Monwabisi Park. You can find the work of the 2008 WPI Mapping and Planning Team here.

Our Proposal

This proposal was prepared in the 7 weeks prior to our arrival in Cape Town, South Africa. It represents all the background research and ideas we wanted to pursue in Monwabisi Park. While our goals changed numerous times while in the park due to unforeseen complications, much of the research is highly relevant. You can download the proposal in PDF form here. Alternatively, you can browse most of the background content from the proposal online here.

On-Site Photos

We have taken numerous photos while in Monwabisi Park for both archival purposes and analysis of current conditions. All of these photos can be found on Flickr here.

Rescaled Methodology1

Google Earth

We used Google Earth as an easy, free method of creating maps. The software can be downloaded for free from Google, and it is simple and intuitive to use. Not as powerful as Arc GIS, it also has a much easier learning curve. In addition, it allows easy sharing of data because anyone can access it. To read about what we have done in Google Earth, click here.

Project ResourcesGE

Arc GIS

Arc GIS is a geographic information system software package that is extremely powerful. It is, however, also expensive and not feasible for an individual to purchase. It also has a steep learning curve and cannot be easily self-taught. All of the 2008 data was stored in Arc GIS and WPI has a limited number of licenses available for students to use on school computers. We give a brief discussion of how to use Arc GIS, as well as what we did with it here. To see a complete list of data available click here. To get our Arc GIS data, contact us at ctpc@wpi.edu.

Project ResourcesGIS

Bibliography

Other resources were used to create a background for our project. Before arriving in Cape Town, our team spent months researching different concepts of our project. In addition, further research was conducted in Cape Town. We compiled a list of resources that were helpful in understanding our project goals, which can be found in our bibliography.