Reflection

This assignment was a great learning experience, and a good way to put the theory from the classes into practice. Looking at the landscape through different layers made the area much easier to understand. The geology part was the most difficult for me, as I knew very little about it before starting the course. It took more effort to interpret than the other parts, but it also made the geographic section feel more complete.

I also made the project my own. The virtual landscape viewer, this website, the additional interactive maps, the landscape video and the point cloud views were not required for the assignment. They were added because I found them interesting and because they helped me look at the study area in more detail. The viewer especially made it possible to return to the landscape from behind a desk, which was useful for the mapping.

At the same time, the assignment took a lot more time than expected. Even without counting the extra parts I added myself, the workload was higher than what the credits suggest. The course counts for 5 credits, or about 150 hours, and this assignment represents one third of the grade. That would suggest around 50 hours of work. The six practica already take up 12 hours, and the three visits to the study area took about 10 hours. That leaves around 28 hours for processing the data, creating the maps, writing the report and finishing the project. In practice, this was not enough. The processing of the data alone took at least 40 hours. A less varied landscape with larger open areas might have taken less time, but for this study area the work was substantial.

Ultimately, I am happy with the end result. It is a project I would be proud to add to my portfolio. I also got to know a beautiful area of nature not too far from home. I will definitely cycle or walk there again in the future, and I will notice things that I would not have seen without this course.