Data Search - Mid Term Lab

Week 7 & 8 – Data Search

For this week’s lab assignment, we were each given and a specific county in the state of Florida. I was given Liberty County.  We needed to search for three different types of data for the county.  Vector data which can be cities & towns; publicly owned land such as parks; and lakes, rivers, and major roads.  Environmental data such invasive plants, strategic habitat areas and land cover. We also needed to show two types of Raster data aerial photography, one of Digital Orthographic Quarter Quadrangle (DOQQ), and one of Digital Elevation Model (DEM).

When I first started this lab assignment I research to find out more about the county. Assorted websites showed that Liberty County is the least populous county in Florida.  As of the 2010 US Census the population was 8,365.  A large part of the Apalachicola National Forest resides in the county.

This was not an easy assignment. The data had to be gathered from multiple locations such as; LABINS, FGDL, FNAL and USGS. You also had to re-project the data to a standard projection such as NAD 1983 – 2011 State Plane Florida. In addition, the data had to be shown in such a manner on your maps that will make sense to your audience.

The tree maps below show the information for Liberty County, Florida, in the three data forms chosen: Vector, Environmental and Raster.

Introduction to Projections - Part 2

Week 5 – Projections Part 2

For this week’s assignment, we continued working with map projections in ArcMap. In addition, we also downloaded shapefile and aerial images from different websites. Land Boundary Information System (LABINS) and Florida Geographic Data Library (FGDL). We also had to create an Excel spreadsheet with Latitudes and Longitudes in Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds. After that we had to format them in Excel, and then convert the information to Decimal Degrees and format in Excel once again. 

Using some of the data we downloaded, we had to re-project the data to the coordinate system that we were using. The other data we had to define the projection so it lineup correctly with the other information.

For the Excel spreadsheet we had to convert the Latitudes and Longitudes from Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds, to Decimal Degrees.  Then you were able to add the spreadsheet date to ArcMap to give you point features for the locations. 

This was a long lab assignment but a very good one. This has helped me immensely to understand in depth, about projections and how to use them. 

Introduction to Projections

Week 5 – Projections Part 1

For this week’s assignment we learned about map projections and how they work. As part of our lab assignment we were asked to show three different projections side by side:  Albers, UTM and State Plane.  We were also asked to highlight four counties in Florida. The counties were Alachua, Escambia, Miami-Dade and Polk. We were asked to show the projection comparison by area in square miles for each county.

Albers Equal Area Conic: Is used by the US Geological Survey (USGS) for maps of the conterminous United States.

UTM: Universal Transverse Mercator is one of the most used map projections; mainly used for rectifying remotely sensed data and large scale topographic mapping.

State Plane:  These are individual state’s projections; they are based on the state’s shape and geographic location.

Sharing GIS Maps and Data

Week 4 – Sharing GIS Maps and Data

For this week’s assignment we were asked to come up with a Top 10 List of some of cities I have visited over the years.  We used Excel to rank the list and then we added the address, zip code, and the state. We were also asked to add the URL address, which is the website address.  I used each city's City Hall website for my list.  We also used ArcGIS online and Google Earth to show the locations of the cities for the list.

ArcGIS online allows you to make maps online and have the ability to share them with the public if you choose to. In addition, with ArcGIS online we were also able to Geocode the address for the top 10 list, and showed the locations on a map. 

My ArcGIS Map:    http://arcg.is/2kQONnn

For Google Earth we used ArcMap to make a KMZ file. This is a place marker that can have some data attached with it.  It’s an easy way to share information with others. This allows them to see the location and click on it to see the attached data.

GIS Cartography

Week 3 – GIS Cartography

For this week’s assignment we learned more associated tools in ArcMap and we also learned how to add graduated colors to make a population map of Mexico.  The graduated colors help to see areas that are more populated from than areas that are not.  We also made a map showing the rivers, railroad tracks, and federal roads, and the urban area in Mexico.  The third map was a topography map of Mexico. This map helps you understand the high and low regions of the areas of Mexico. I liked making this map. The most I like was going through the color ramp and trying to find the best color for your audience to understand your map.

Introduction to GIS

Week 2 – Introduction to GIS

For week two assignment we learned about essential map elements and we learn how to use associated tools in ArcMap.  Some essential map elements are a title, scale bar, and north arrow. These items should always be part of your map. Some of the associated tools we learned about, were adding a new data frame to the layout area, we also learned how to clip unwanted data from a given area.  We also learned how to add an insert map. Insert map is a smaller map featured on the same page as the main map: it helps to focus your attention to a given area on your main map.

This was a good lab assignment. I have been using ArcMap at work for some time now. Most of what I know is from what I learned on my own and from several seminars I have attended.  Learning how to clip on wanted data will be a big help when I am making maps for work.  I am looking forward to further my knowledge about ArcMap and how to get more out of it. 

Overview of ArcGIS

Week 1 - ArcGIS Overview

For our first assignment we were given an overview ArcGIS from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). ArcGIS has many components, the two we will work with the most are ArcCatalog and ArcMap.  ArcCatalog is use to organize, manage and view the data you have.  ArcMap is where you use the data to start making your map by importing your data.  For this assignment we used shapefile: which are vector type layers made up of as many as 6 files.  ArcMap has two areas: data view and layout view.  Data view is the area where you import your data and where a lot of tools are, to help you display the data in different ways so you can understand it better by changing its symbols in size and color.  In data view we also used the attribute table which is where you can view the date and the information that’s part of it. Depending on the shapefile it can have a lot of information or very little. It generally looks like a spreadsheet with rows and columns and heading for the rows.

The layout view is the area that is use for making of the map for display or printing.  It’s like having a piece of paper in front of you and you put the information for the map in its palace you can add titles to your map, insert a north arrow, scale bar and a legend and change the background color of your map and add text to your map if needed.  For this assignment we were asked to map a simple map. I am sure by the end of this course they will have a lot more details.