MCS-177 Project 6: Plotting Earthquakes (Spring 2017)

Start: Thursday 4/6; Due: Wednesday 4/19, by 10pm

Overview

In this project, you will gain familiarity with reading data from the Internet. You will read data on earthquakes and plot dots with different radiuses and colors on a map.

This is a pair project. Please inform your lab instructor ASAP who your partner is. Please only submit one copy of the code with both names written in project6.py as comments.

Warning: you may need to use Python 3.5 (or a version slightly older than 3.5) to be able to test your work related to urllib.request for this project. This means that you and your partner may need to plan on using the computer lab machine (as opposed to your personal computers, if you have 3.6 installed) to work on this project.

Specific tasks

1. Check out USGS for recent earthquakes. The website offers a comma-delimited list of earthquakes for every 3 months period.

   For consistency, we ask you to use the following URL (containing earthquakes between Nov 2011 and Feb 2012, listed from the most recent to least recent) in your program: http://mcs177.github.io/projects/earthquakedata-2012-02-23.txt.

   The data's header contains:

   • Date
   • Time (in UTC)
   • Latitude
   • Longitude
   • Magnitude
   • Depth

2. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation for a procedure dateLessThan that takes two dates in the format YYYY/MM/DD (as string objects). It returns True if the 1st date comes strictly earlier than the 2nd date. Otherwise, it returns False.
   • You can assume that all input are valid dates in the format YYYY/MM/DD.

   • You can use selection statements (if, elif, else) and/or logical operators (and, or).

   • Note: Your implementation should not be overly complicated. In particular, it should contain no more than 2 nested selection (if) statements. In fact, none of the procedures I wrote contains any nested selection statements.

   • Hint: you've done something similar on Week 9 Tuesday.

   • Test your procedure against different combinations of dates.

   >>> dateLessThan("1999/01/01", "2000/05/15")
   True
   >>> dateLessThan("2000/05/15", "2005/05/01")
   True
   >>> dateLessThan("2017/01/01", "2010/07/01")
   False
   >>> dateLessThan("2013/10/24", "2013/9/24") # October is not earlier than September
   False
   

3. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation for a procedure betweenDates that takes 3 dates (as string objects) in the format YYYY/MM/DD and returns True if the 1st date is earlier/equal to the 2nd date AND the 2nd date is strictly earlier than the 3rd date. That is, if the 2nd date is between the 1st date (inclusive) and the 3rd date (exclusive). Otherwise, it returns False.
   • You may assume that all inputs are valid dates in the format YYYY/MM/DD.

   • You must use the procedure dateLessThan in a way that makes your implementation simpler.

   • Note: Your implementation should not be overly complicated. In particular, it should contain no more than 2 nested selection (if) statements. In fact, none of the procedures I wrote contains any nested selection statements.

   • Test your procedure against various combinations of three dates.

   >>> betweenDates("2000/05/15", "2000/05/15", "2005/05/01")
   True
   >>> betweenDates("2000/05/09", "2000/05/09", "2000/05/10")
   True
   >>> betweenDates("1999/05/09", "2000/05/09", "1999/05/09")
   True
   >>> betweenDates("2011/01/01", "2011/07/01", "2011/12/31")
   True
   >>> betweenDates("2000/05/15", "2000/05/15", "2000/05/15")
   False
   >>> betweenDates("2011/01/01", "2010/07/01", "2011/12/31")
   False
   >>> betweenDates("2011/01/01", "2011/12/31", "2011/12/31")
   False
   

4. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation of a function called makeDataDictionary. It takes in two string parameters. The first one is in the form of a header (separated by commas), and the second one is the data (separated by commas). It returns a dictionary with dictionary keys the words given from the header and the dictionary values the data values (as string objects). All leading and trailing spaces should be removed.
   • Hint: your code may look similar to the `makeDictionary function from Project 5 (in this case, you have to first turn the two strings into two lists of strings which are stripped of leading and trailing spaces)

   • Hint: In class, you learned various ways to remove leading and trailing spaces from a string.

   • Comment: Since you had recently learned about list comprehension, you are welcome to use list comprehension in this procedure (see the end of Chapter 5 in the textbook or Python doc). This is optional.

   • Test your procedure against several different inputs.

      
   >>> makeDataDictionary('State,HouseholdIncome,IQ,McCainVote,Region','Alaska,57071,99,0.602,W')
   {'Region': 'W', 'State': 'Alaska', 'IQ': '99', 'HouseholdIncome': '57071', 'McCainVote': '0.602'}
   >>> makeDataDictionary('day,  time,someinfo, magntd, depth', '2012/01/12,19:55:51.2,52.605,    , 50')
   {'someinfo': '52.605', 'depth': '50', 'time': '19:55:51.2', 'day': '2012/01/12', 'magntd': ''}
   >>> makeDataDictionary('1,2,3','val1,      ,   val3')
   {'1': 'val1', '3': 'val3', '2': ''}
   

5. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation for a procedure readEarthquakes that takes two dates in the format YYYY/MM/DD, accesses the earthquakes from http://mcs177.github.io/projects/earthquakedata-2012-02-23.txt (taken from USGS). It returns a list of dictionaries for all earthquakes between the two dates, except for earthquakes with missing magnitude information.

   >>> L = readEarthquakes("2012/01/03", "2012/01/04")
   >>> L[0]
   {'Date': '2012/01/03', 'Longitude': '143.786', 'TimeUTC': '23:30:07.0', 'Magnitude': '4.6', 'Depth': '10', 'Latitude': '26.938'}
   

   • Note that each item of the returned list is a dictionary. The keys of each dictionary should be be the same, given by the header of the data. The values of each dictionary are read off from each line of the data.

   • The beginning date is inclusive, and the ending date is exclusive, just like in the procedure betweenDates. Assume only valid dates in the form of YYYY/MM/DD are entered.

   • This procedure must call makeDataDictionary to create each dictionary, so that your function is not overly complicated. In fact, you should not have more than one loop in your implementation of readEarthquakes.

   • To further simplify your readEarthquakes procedure, it must use either dateLessThan or betweenDates to make sure that earthquakes are included in the returned list of dictionaries if and only if they have the correct dates.

   • If the first date is later or equal to the second date, return an empty list. If the dates do not exist in the data, return an empty list.

   • NOTE: If you have the first-edition textbook, it has two errors that were corrected in the second-edition. First, the first-edition textbook has a typo: use urllib.request instead of urllib. Second, remember that you need to decode anything you read from the web. For example, if you read a string into a variable myString, you can decode it by:

     decodedString = myString.decode()

   • This is the only procedure that should be reading from the internet. Hence, you may want to do import urllib.request within this function. (Remember also that you would run into problems if you run this procedure in Python 3.6).

   • Some earthquakes do not have any information on the magnitude. You should not include these earthquakes in your returned list by checking whether there is only an empty string in the place of magnitude.

   • Comment: Since you had recently learned about list comprehension, you are welcome to use list comprehension in this procedure (see the end of Chapter 5 in the textbook or Python doc). This is optional.

6. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation for a procedure colorCode that takes the depth of an earthquake and returns the corresponding color for the earthquake.

   Range	Color
   0-33	'orange'
   34-70	'yellow'
   71-150	'green'
   151-300	'blue'
   301-500	'purple'
   501-900	'red'

   >>> colorCode(33)
   'orange'
   >>> colorCode(34)
   'yellow'
   

   Your procedure should not be overly complicated. In particular, don't include more than 2 nested selection statements.
7. Please download the world map image by right-clicking on this link and put it in the same directory as the Python file you are working on right now. (This image is resized and converted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Equirectangular_projection_SW.jpg.)

8. To become more familiar with useful methods from cTurtle (a module that is saved in the computer lab machines), please go to the prompt and use the following cTurtle methods shown below to show a window showing the image link and draw several dots at 4-5 different locations with various colors and sizes.
   • You need all of the methods (except maybe speed). You should not require any methods not mentioned below.

   • If you wish to work on your own laptops, you can download the cTurtle module and save it in the appropriate directory. To figure out the appropriate directory, see https://mcs177.github.io/links.html

   • Please start by creating a cTurtle object as follows:

     >>> import cTurtle

     >>> myTurtle = cTurtle.Turtle()

   • To test that your image file worldmap.gif is saved in the correct directory, run

     >>> myTurtle.bgpic('worldmap.gif')

     which should cause the worldmap.gif image to be displayed.

   • To move your turtle, use goto. To draw a dot, use dot.

   Method Contract	Description	Example
   # goto: number number -> void	Moves the turtle to the given coordinate (x, y)	myTurtle.goto(10, 150)
   # dot: number string -> void	Makea a dot of the given size with the given color at the current position	myTurtle.dot(30, 'blue')
   # down: -> void	Put the turtle's tail down. Makes the turtle draw lines when it moves.	myTurtle.down()
   # up: -> void	Raise the turtle's tail up. Prevents the turtle from drawing lines when it moves.	myTurtle.up()
   # speed: integer -> void	Sets the speed of the turtle. 1 is slowest and 10 is fastest.	myTurtle.speed(10)
   # setWorldCoordinates: number number number number -> void	Modify the world coordinates of the canvas that the turtle draws on. Automatically scale the canvas between (x1, y1) and (x2, y2). X values range from x1 to x2 while Y values range from y1 to y2.	myTurtle.setWorldCoordinates(-10, -5, 10, 5)
   # bgpic: string -> void	Set the background of the canvas with the given image file	myTurtle.bgpic('worldmap.gif')
   # hideturtle: -> void	Make the turtle invisible	myTurtle.hideturtle()

9. Write the contract, docstring, and implementation for a procedure plotEarthquakes that takes two dates and plots all the earthquake data from http://mcs177.github.io/projects/earthquakedata-2012-02-23.txt (taken from USGS) between the given dates with dots on the world map.

   • Assume that the dates are string objects that are valid dates in the form of YYYY/MM/DD.

   • You must call the procedure readEarthquakes.

   • You can use the procedure dot from the cTurtle library that takes the size and color.

   • Please use the product of 4 and the magnitude for the size of dots. Please use the depth for the right color. The procedures int and float may also be useful for you here.

   • As demonstrated above, the procedure bgpic is useful to put the world map image in the background.

   • The procedure setWorldCoordinates can help you plot the dots more easily.

     Assume the entire map shows -180 to 180 degrees from left to right and -90 to 90 degrees from bottom to top.

   • This is the only procedure that needs the cTurtle object. Hence, you may want to do import cTurtle within this function.

   • When you are debugging your work, you may want to use a short practice data (as opposed to the entire data). For debugging purposes, you can use the two URLs: http://mcs177.github.io/labs/earthquake_short.txt and http://mcs177.github.io/labs/earthquake_shortb.txt

     It should take no more than a few seconds for the turtle to stop drawing the dots using these short practice URLs. It will go even faster if you remember to hide your tutle using the hideturtle procedure.

   • When you feel fairly confident that your code is working as it should, you can test it by replacing your test URL with the actual URL.

     The following command

     >>> plotEarthquakes("2012/01/01", "2012/01/04")
     

     should produce the following map with all the earthquakes for 3 days (January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 2012). It may take more than a few seconds for the turtle to finish drawing.

     

     The following command (which may take several minutes)

     >>> plotEarthquakes("2012/01/04", "2012/02/01")
     

     should produce the following map with all the earthquakes from January 4 until January 31 (inclusive). It may take more than a couple minutes for the turtle to finish drawing.

     

Submitting your work

Submit your code using Moodle; click on the following link for instructions on submitting code using Moodle. For this project, you will need to submit one Python file called

• You do not need to include the world map image because the grader has access to the same image.
• Please do not include a call to any of the functions in your file.
• At the top of your file, include the full names of both partners, credit (e.g. the Python documentation, the textbook, other sources, and individuals that you discussed this project with), project description, and date. If you use any online forum or textbooks other than ours, please include the website address/ textbook name.

Be sure that your module can run on IDLE on the computer lab machines (that is, IDLE 3.54).

Grading Rubric

If you submit your project early, you will get an early feedback on the accuracy of your work.

The grader will test your program against various input values. Check your work against the grading rubric project6gradesheet.pdf which the grader will use when grading your lab.