Week 10

Here are two of my maps for Week 10. It's been a pretty frustrating week, but one thing that I did learn is if something doesn't seem to be working the way it should then start fresh. Save the layers and close Arcmap and change servers. It's as if Arcmap freezes up but you can't really tell except that things aren't working the way they are supposed to.

This map shows the frequency of Auto Thefts during certain times of the day. As you can see, evenings tend to have the most, followed by afternoons.


This map shows the police stations of Washington, D.C. and the crimes committed in the area. With this map, you can see where the most crimes are committed and where there may be a need for more police stations. I recommend the two locations symobolized with a yellow star for new police stations. I chose these two locations because they seem to have a high crime rate and could use some more protection. The graph shows you each police station and the amount of crimes committed near each one.

Week 6 - Alachua County

These are my 3 maps of Alachua County. The top map shows a comparison between the evaluation criteria being equally weighted or proximity having more weight. I still ended up choosing about the same locations either way. The second map shows all four comparisons. And the last map is just a base map.

I had a few troubles with the instructions and got lost a few times, but just had to go back and reread. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with ArcMap right now. It seems like you could use this software for 20 years and still not know all of the options and intricacies.

Deep Horizon Oil Extent Animation

Deep_Horizon_Oil_Extent

The Role of GIS in Disaster Response

Today, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) plays an important role in disaster response and recovery. For example, it can be used to assess the extent of damage, provide infrastructure data to response teams, assist in the allocation of aid funds, and keep the community informed among many other uses.

GIS is used to assess the damage from a disaster by providing visual maps of the area of damage and the extent of the damage. In the Deep Horizon Oil Spill, GIS has been used to provide information to the public as well as recovery and aid units. Using GIS, we know the location of the pipe, the spread of the oil and the possible trajectory of the spill. This data has been integral in allowing communities along the coasts to prepare and be proactive in mitigating the damage as the spill progresses.

Response teams use infrastructure data to speed up their recovery efforts. It can provide them with information on damaged roadways, water infrastructure and electricity grids. With this information at hand they are able to make the best decisions for the speediest recovery. With infrastructure data, the Deep Horizon recovery has been able to find the best locations for ports, command centers and staging areas.

Part of disaster response and recovery includes allocating the aid funds and assessing those in most need of aid. GIS is able to provide visual information of the most damaged areas, and those most in need. Once the Deep Horizon well is shut down, assessment of the damage and hardest hit areas will be next in the recovery steps. The government and BP will have to make decisions on who, where and how the aid will be distributed.

Using GIS, the government and BP have been able to keep the world informed about the Deep Horizon oil spill. Maps have been used to display the movement of the oil, the extent of the shoreline damage, and damage to sensitive wildlife habitats.

These are two ESI maps created for Navarre, FL used to aid in the cleanup of the Deep Horizon Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I was excited at first to do this project, but it proved to be the most challenging. I had trouble reprojecting the raster file and I'm not happy with the results of these maps. The raster file just doesn't look right and I'm not sure how to make it look any better.

Week 3 - Coastal Flooding from Hurricane Katrina

I didn't really have any trouble with this week's assignment. I used the map cache tool that was posted on the discussion board. What a lifesaver...or at least a frustration saver.

It seems that it could take years and years for a person to learn all of the functions and tools within ArcMap. It's nice to know I'm catching on to some of them.

Final Project

Presentation

Summary

Week 11 - Labels, Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst

Here are my 5 deliverables for Week 11. For me, this was a very valuable module. It clarified and expanded on many tools used within ArcGIS.

Week 9 - Vector Analysis II

Question 1:
Which tool did you use? I used the intersect tool.
Was there any noticeable difference between its results and the results from the instructions? I ddin't notice any difference other than it took less steps to achieve the same results.

Question 2:
Which tool did you use here? I used the erase tool.
Why? The erase tool removes any areas that overlap and I wanted to make sure that the portions of the conservation areas were removed from the buffer zones so they would no longer be possibilities.

Question 3:
How many features are in this layer? 79
What is the area of the largest feature? 7,765,034.493 meters.
What is the area of the smallest feature? 748.114 meters.

Spring Break Fun!

I'm a procrastinator! I have run out of time to finish this map the way I wanted to. I would have liked to have added the cities and roads and perhaps do an inset of the state of Florida. But, one good thing is I did learn how to join tables and summarize data.

Week 7 - Data Editing in ArcGIS

Just trying to catch up finally. This wasn't difficult, it's just trying to commit all these new functions to memory that is tough.

Week 6 - Georeferencing Rasters

I really enjoyed this lab. I think it's amazing the things we can do with technology. I didn't really have any problems, except for a couple times I couldn't get the rasters to show up with the road and building files. Sometimes I tend to move around too fast for my own good. I must remember to slow down a little.
On the first raster I had an RMS of 4.35183 and the second raster I had an RMS of 3.05197, and used the 2nd Order Polynomial.

Week 5 - GIS Data Search

I used the Albers Conical Equal Area Projection for this map. I found all of the data I needed in the Florida Geographic Data Library and in the Florida Land Boundary System (LABINS). It took me a while to figure out how to get all of the separate layers to work together and to find the right maps. I definitely learned a lot working on this Lab. I decided to put all of the requirements on one map. It might be a little too much for one map, but I wasn't sure.

Week 4 - Haiti Partcipation Post

This map shows possible road closures because of debris.

This map shows all of the makeshift tent cities that arose after the earthquake.

This map shows major building damage.

This map shows the faultline, the population density and some of the major buildings that were damaged.


I found these 4 maps on the New York Times Website. I found them fascinating! Although you can't see them on the pictures I posted, they did have legends and explanations on the website. I thought these were very informative and great at showing the damage that was done, the aftermath and the difficulties that rescue workers were having because of the closed roads. Here's the link to it, just in case you want to see the site with all of the legends.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/18/world/americas/0118-haiti-assess-maps.html#tab=0

Week 4 -- Projections

I found this map a little bit harder to grasp. I'm still unsure about the differences between the different projections. It took me a long time to decide the best way to display the information. My questions were: Should I add a data table at the bottom of the page with the different areas, or should I put it in the legend. I ended up deciding to just put the data in the legend because it looked simple and clean.

Module 3 - Map 3

Here are my three maps of Mexico. I didn't really have too much trouble with this Lab, except for trying to decide on color ramps. I did have a hard time figuring out how to change the Legend around for Map 2. My legend was showing the "Authority" and River ranking. I finally figured out that I have to change the style of each one separately.

Module 3 - Map 2

Module 3 - Map 1

Week 2 Lab

This is my map of the World Population. I chose the peach color ramp because I thought it would make a good contrast with the blue background and not look too busy...simple is better. I didn't really have any issues, except my own frustration with the slowness of the connection to the ArcGis. It looks like I will also be learning patience this year.

Module 1 - Deliverable 2 Youth Center Locations

Here is the map of the Youth Center Locations. I had to move the legend around to make it fit correctly in the header. Otherwise, I didn't really have any trouble with this. It may take some time to learn all the in's and out's of ArcMap, but as they say....practice, practice, practice.

Module 1 - Deliverable 1 San Diego Zoo

Well, I had some trouble figuring out how to get the jpeg from the H drive to this blog, but after reading some posts I figured it out. I downloaded Filezilla and was able to easily transfer the files.
I started to post a map, then decided I better read the Map rubric. It's a good thing, because I was all wrong. I fixed the map by using the layout view instead of the data view.