Dataset of the Day: It’s Lacrosse Season

Spring is around the corner and what does this mean to me? Yes it is lacrosse season and one of my favorite things to do is catch an early season college matchup. But, where can I go to watch a game? I decided to use the help of Finder!, Maker!, and also LaxPower to find a game close by for this upcoming Saturday.

The first thing I do is check out the game schedule calendar on LaxPower’s website. Here I can get a list of games that are occurring on a specific date. I then find the lat/lon locations of these sites and map them with other pertinent details that include: matchup, time, city, state, etc … Then I load all the information into Finder! and Maker! and here is what I get: (Click on the Maker link for an interactive map, Click on the map below for a larger view of the map)

Data Layer in Finder: NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Matchup Locations, USA, 2.21.2009 and map in Maker: NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Matchups, 2.21.2009

I coach high school lacrosse and I constantly tell my players to go out and watch college games and learn from them. Only trouble is I don’t know where and when games are going on that are close by for my players. Now with Finder! and Maker! I can be on top of all games and help my players catch a game that is close by to them. Here’s an example for this week.

Since I coach in Washington DC I zoom into the Washington DC area. Here, I am able to find that I have two games relatively close by. One game is at Catholic University and one is at the University of Maryland, College Park. Now I can alert my players so that they can watch a college game and learn from what they see.

I am planning on do this on a regularly basis on all Saturdays throughout the 2009 College season. I will continue to map the locations throughout the season and put them up on Finder! and Maker! every Monday for the upcoming week as I have done for this week. To see my weekly list simply go to Finder! and/or Maker! and type in “lacrosse matchups” in the search box. Then choose the appropriate date.

I think my locations of playing sites are fairly accurate but I know they are not all perfect. This is where I need help. If I have a location wrong please tell me and I can make the necessary changes. Thanks in advance! The more help the better!