Lab 11- Working with Vectors

Every time I hear vector, this is what I think of, Vector from Despicable Me.  Overall this lab was not bad, it was actually kind of fun because we got to see some of the power of ArcMap, which is mindblowingly powerful.

This week we had to use a selected set of data to create a map of some buffered campsites located in Mississippi they had specific distance requirements from the roads and water sources.  I did like the actual lab but have noticed that we are being expected to be more self sufficient which would be great if I was taking both classes this semester but since what I'm learning in this class is not really being reinforced through the other class it is quite difficult for me to remember how to accomplish certain tasks.  I try my hardest to not go back and look because I need to find it on my own in order to remember it.  The actual lab itself was fairly straightforward other than one section where we needed to use a different Overlay tool to accomplish the same task  that we accomplished through the Union tool.  This was difficult for me because I am not very good with logic so I belive that I used every single tool until I found one that worked exactly the same and the Union.  It was the identity tool and I'm not sure if I did that part correctly but I suppose there is only one way to find out!  Until next week GISsers!

Ugh, Lab 7/Midterm

I will start with this, I did NOT like this lab.  I found this lab to be quite difficult purely because of the having to search for data and I felt like the directions were not clear on one part.  I was assigned Nassau County and we needed to represent a few data sets in the lab.  They were: 

Required Data Sets

The issue I had was with the Public Land.  I originally though that we needed to include all publicly owned parcels within the county.  In the Navy there is a saying to describe over-thinking something, it is "You're nuking it"  which is exactly what I did with that part of the lab.  I was able to find data sets with a description that fit the requirement however, that was not so with the public land data set.  I still am not sure if what I put in the map is correct or not :/.  I decided to do 2 separate maps. The first one is using the raster data.  The Digital Elevation Model or DEM and the Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads or DOQQ and then another representing the rest of the data.

Raster Map

Vector Map

I believe that my maps turned out quite well and I believe that I accomplished the objectives of this lab.  I am looking forward to not having to complete this lab again though.

Sigh....

Oh, this lab was the bane of my absolute existence for 2 days...but I got it done!  Always looking for the silver linings!  I don't know that I would say that I am a better GIScientist after this lab but I do think that my GISninja skills improved.  The purpose of this lab was to take downloaded information and produce a map with the information in the same projection.  Which I did accomplish, but I'm not sure if it is correct or not.  I did not like the lab instructions because they were so ambiguous, not sure if that was on purpose or not but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.  I wish that at least the projection they wanted was specified because I chose one and went with it.  This is the production of me just going for it:

Combination map

Now with my gripes out of the way I can tell you what I liked about this map.  The creative control and being set out on our own was nice although frustrating at times.  Also, past examples were provided as a basis for what excellent maps through poor maps looked like.  I sure hope mine falls somewhere in the excellent category because it would be nice to have done a good job.  I absolutely loved the mix of map to imagery because if I do pursue this as a career then I would like to work with imagery, although it would be of the ocean but still!  I feel that this lab could also be used as an introduction to analysis maybe of the number of stations within the quadrangle that the mapper chose.  Well stay tuned for next weeks midterm and hope that I'm more comfortable after this lab.  If that is the case then this lab did its job!

Comparisons!

This weeks lab was all about comparing projections.  This is a very powerful tool because it can make or break your map.  With the wrong projection data may be distorted, therefore it is very important to choose the correct projection for your project.  Some projections are better suited for specific tasks than others.  For example the World Geodetic System 1984 is used for the GPS and by NASA satellites.  Other projections are suited for mapping a specific part of the world.  This lab concentrated specifically on examining the differences between four counties in Florida.  It used the square mileage of each county to show the differences between each projection type.  Below is the output I created.  We were left to our own devices when it came to the creativity aspect of this project which I really did like, it is a change of pace and shows that we are getting more self sufficient with ArcMap.

Projection Comparison.

The only issue I had with this lab was after running the projection tool it didn't add the data frame automatically. Which wasn't a big deal except I didn't get a pop-up notification that the tool even ran correctly so I ran it multiple times before realizing that it was correctly outputting the data and that I needed to manually input it.

ArcGIS Online

This week was a little less involved than last week.  We learned about creating and sharing map packages online.  This is a vital tool when you need to present or collaborate with multiple parties who may or may not be in the same location.  It was fairly simple to create map packages, we needed to create 2 separate map packages

Use and modify map and tile packages

The above map package will be used to identify climbing spots in Yosemite National Park.  It was a very good introduction to using and sharing map and tile packages.

Optimize a map package

The above map package was significantly more involved.  We constructed a map that showed the study of Ponderosa Pines in the Aguirre Springs drainage. This map can be used to monitor the sample sites by hydrologists, landscape ecologists, and hydrologists.  Overall it was a very good lab to show the power of the online collaboration tools as well as how easy it is to upload a map for collaboration. 

What Fun!

This week there were three maps created using some similar elements and I really enjoyed creating them.  All of them had to do with Mexico in some way elevation, population density, or urban areas.  I think that my favorite was the elevation map because that is more along the lines of the data that I one day hope to work in scientific data so I really did like this one.  Below are my map examples:

Mexico State Population Size

Urban Areas of Central Mexico

Surface Elevation in Meters of Mexico

One of the neat things about the Urban Area of Central Mexico map is that my cousins lived in Guadalajara for a few years and I was able to go visit them, it was a very neat experience.  Also, my sister did a study abroad in Puebla for a semester.  Previously I wasn't sure in Mexico where it was in relation to other cities but I have a better idea now!  Some of the challenges that I faced while completing this lab is that I was very nit picky about the display of things and worked very hard on the presentation of elements in these maps.  I will say that from my previous GIS classes, I am missing Adobe Illustrator because of the ease of manipulating things like text and colors.  I sure do hope that we get into that program in the class.

Week 2, Warming Up

This weeks lab was to create a map allowing the viewer to locate the UWF campus in reference to a map of Florida and Escambia County.

This lab was a good introduction to some more complex features of ArcMap such as clipping and working with multiple dataframes.  I belive this will come in handy later on this semester.  It was sometimes frustrating when you wre trying to work with a feature only to realize that you were working in the wrong data set.  Overall I belive that this lab was very helpful because I finally figured out how to change cursor modes after a bit of frustration.  I belive that this is one of the cleaner map layouts that I have produced during my time working with GIS data.