GEO 583 Internet Mapping and Distributed GIServices
LAB 12: Web Log Analysis and Tableau
Created by Dr. Ming-Hsiang Tsou,
Department of Geography, San Diego State University
Due day: Next week before 12:30pm.
5 Points (total 100).
Server Log Analysis (Required)
1. Use the File Explorer to access the Y:\logfiles\ folder. There are seven log files from 2001 on the "map.sdsu.edu" server. (Each file represents one day log. For example, nc010416.log is the April-16-2001 log). Please compare the size of the seven log files and write down which one is the biggest file and which one is the smallest file. Tell us the date of the two files and Why the size is so different?
Can we predict the user activities on the map.sdsu.edu Web server this year during April 11 to 17 in 2001?
2. Open one of the weekly log files (in "weekly" folder) for 2007-April 1st. (go to Y:\logfiles\weekly\nc070401.log or copy_of_nc070401.log) in WordPad. Please write down One line of logs and see if you can interpret the meaning of this line. Then browse the whole contents in this file. Can you tell where these users come from? How long did each user spend on this Web site? (Calculate the time period between the first records to the last records with the same IP address).
3. Another types of server log analysis is to ask someone else to perform the task. For example, the exTReMe Tracking site or Nedstat web site.
The following is the example in our class web site.
Click on the
icon.
Examine the contents of these categories: Summary, Unique Visitors, Reloads, GeoTracking, System Tracking Could you summarize the user profiles of this web page?
Access the same log analysis in http://map.sdsu.edu.
Is there any differences in user profiles between this one and our class web site?
Access the Google Analytics and analyze the GEOG 583 class website.
(You will be provided an Gmail account to login.)
Other related web analysis tools:
ExTReME Tracking: http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/
Nedstat: http://www.nedstat.com/f31_index.htm
OneStat (http://www.onestat.com/).
What to turn in
Now, write down your answers on the on-line forum and print out a paper copy.
For the map.sdsu.edu Web logs:
1. Please compare the size of the seven log files and write down which one is the biggest file and which one is the smallest file. Tell us the date of the two log files and Why they are different?
2. Please write down one line of logs (from the weekly's log in this year) and explain the meaning of this log line. Try to find an user session and estimate how long did the user session is. (Calculate the time period between the first records to the last records with the same IP address).
Two different Web sites analysis:
3. What's the differences between our GEOG583 class web site analysis (eXtreme Tracking) and the map.sdsu.edu ? (Users's differences, geo-location, time, system tracking, User Browsers, etc...)
4. Use any Web search engine to find out another types of web analysis tools and write down its URL and have a short paragraph description about the product and compare it to Google Analytics.
