Final Project - Finding morels in fire burn areas

http://students.uwf.edu/lrp7/morels.pptx

Washington DC Crime Analysis

In spite of all the glitches with this exercise, I really enjoyed the it.  I lived near DC for 6 years and have worked in and with Law Enforcement for nearly 12 years.  The kernel density tool is amazing and way beyond pin mapping.  I am looking forward to applying this project to my work.

 I found three areas that definately need a new station.  The first priority actually has more crimes where it would be the closest station because 189 crimes fell outside the buffer all at the southwest corner of their large beat.

I was a little suprised that the auto theft rate was highest earlier in the evening and fell off sharply after midnight.  I'll have to ponder the reason why.  Maybe many more people out and about plus tourist population. 

Site Selection - Walton County

http://students.uwf.edu/lrp7/Site_Selection_Walton_Co.pptx

Site Selection - Alachua County

This exercise showed me the awesome power of the spatial analyst tools.  The map on the left shows the results of a weighted overlay using the four data inputs from below giving equal weight to each.  The map on the right uses the same data inputs; however, the weights are distributed 40%, 40%, 10%, 10%.  I chose three parcels from each map that I viewed as the most suitable location for the client to choose a house.  It was interesting how the second weighted overlay narrowed the suitable sites to a smaller location.

Urban Planning

These maps were created using ESRI's Virtual Campus Course:  Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning Using ArcGIS 9.  All of the exercises introduced a couple of new techniques and reinforced some valuable techniques.  The Economic Performance map hurt my brain.  Quotient analysis was a new concept for me and the fields seemed very cryptic.

Role of GIS in Disaster Resonse

The roles of a GIS professional in disaster response are numerous and ever expanding. GIS is now an essential part of contingency planning and initial response to a disaster. The most important role of GIS professionals immediately after a disaster strikes is to determine where help is needed and direct responders in their rescue efforts. They must quickly estimate the impact of the disaster on the population, identify vulnerable citizens and determine the best routes for responders and evacuation. The GIS professional must be aware of the scale and scope of the disaster and know where response resources are located and their capabilities.


Once rescue operations are underway, emphasis can then be placed on mapping the impact on critical infrastructure, location of resources, and at risk population. GIS then has the task of mapping patterns of destruction to aid in long process of rebuilding.

GIS professionals from around the country deployed to Houma, LA to operate an enterprise-class GIS system for the Incident Command Post. Initially, the GIS staff supported Coast Guard operations on the water and with over-flight observations and mapping. The GIS team has created or amassed 150 layers of base map data and operational data which is available via the server to users at desktop level. Standardized map products are created on a schedule.
GIS professionals are mapping out the extent of the spill and predicting its trajectory and impact in the area. The GIS team had to assemble a variety of existing data on resources, their habitats and their human uses, and to collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data wherever possible. They are assisting with identifying possible restoration projects.

Animation

http://students.uwf.edu/lrp7/Deepwater_Horizon_Oil_Extent.avi

This lab showed us the basic use of animation in ArcMap.  We did not get into any fancy features and the data was simplistic.  I look forward to doing an animation project on one of the large fires we have had in Chelan County.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

 

The purpose of  this project was to provide maps for Waterkeepers to help direct resources to the most sensitive habitats.  I chose Perdigo Bay as my study area simply because of the unique geography.  This was a long and difficult project. In spite of all the frustrations, it was a very worthwhile project.  The first stumbling block was reprojecting the quad map used for the background into a useable coordinate system.  Another hurdle was decyphering data that I have never seen before.  I improved my skills at every task involved in this project because of repititon.  Several students posted some great tips, links and other resources that helped me along the way.

Hurricane Katrina Deliverables

This was a long and fairly complex assignment.  I really enjoyed the real-world aspect of the project.  The assignment was to analyze the effects of storm surge and inland flooding on the Mississippi Coast Counties after Hurriacane Katrina and prioritize the locations for disaster aid.  This analysis showed how devestating Katrina was on the wetlands and how the wetland damage will continue to impact how susceptible the land will be to future storm damage. 

The repetition of setting the document properties and environments on four seperate maps was worthwhile.  I now see how setting environments can eliminate a lot of work in analysis.  This project also reinforced creating metadata--something I am totally lazy doing. 

What is amazing and intimidating is how many tools are available in ArcTool Box.  What I couldn't figure out is how to export a useable table out of floodedlc (flooded landcover raster file).  The table dbf table I managed to export didn't include the two fields I added for calculating acres & square miles.  I ended up manually creating an excel table.

Florida Power & Light - Final Project

http://students.uwf.edu/lrp7/Presentation.pptx
http://students.uwf.edu/lrp7/Narrative.pdf

Here are the links to my final project.  There are several things I would like to have added or done differently but I ran out of time.  It was difficult to gauge what was enough.  Especially considering some of the talented over achievers in this class.  This was my first power point presentation and in these past three weeks I have learned lots.

Week 11 - Labels, Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst

This was a time consuming lab to work through.  I picked up some valuable tips along the way and realized I have just scratched the surface in labels and annotation. 

I had no idea the drawing toolbar was so powerful.  I learned lots in this lab.

I'm really looking forward to learning all the features of modeling.  I have so many recurring and time consuming tasks to automate at work.

Wk 9 - Vector Analysis II

This was a really valuable lab that taught some important and powerful analysis tools.  I look forward to trying the rest of the tools in the near future.  I was pressed for time having spent last week in Emmitsburg, MD attending a course at the Emergency Management Institute so I used the minimum amount of tools to get the lab done.

Q1. I used the intersect tool to join the water and road buffers and ended up with the same results as I did with the union tool.
Q2. I used the erase tool to remove the campsites that intersected the conservation areas. After adding the conservation areas layer, I was expecting a few more sites to be eliminated since there were six conservation areas.  Only three sites were completely eliminated while other sites reduced in size.

Q3. 79 potential campsites remained. The largest was 7,765,034 square meters and the smallest was 748 square meters. The smallest site looks like a sliver that should be removed with topology rules.

What I did on my Spring Break

This is a map of Gulf County showing the four largest land owners and their acreage owned.  I also calculated the sum of the remaining acres and included that in the legend.  This assignment was free reign with regards to which features to include.  I chose to not display any parcel lines because the data was about total acres.  After selecting a blue background, the gaps in the parcel layer showed several water features which added some nice contrast.  I added a county boundary but chose not to add any other layers since the objective of the map was met without any clutter or additional labeling.

Wk 7 - University of West Florida - Editing

 

This exercise used a couple of editing skills: adding new features and modifying a feature using screen digitizing. We also created a new feature class to add athletic fields.

I have a quite a bit of  experience with screen digitizing points, lines and polygons but was still able to learn a few things from the ESRI exercise.  I used the smooth feature with a 1 pt allowable offset for the road feature I added.

University of West Florida - Georeferencing project

These two images were geoferenced onto a rudementary buildings and road layer base.  I chose to display the buildings with a 60% transparency to allow the color to merge into the similarly colored roofs.  I chose a segmented road line so it would clearly show the imagery's road.  I am going to try exporting this map into Adobe Illustrator to clean up the line between the two images. 

Nassau County, Florida - Raster Sampler

This map was created using State Plane NAD 83 Floria East Projection.  The challenge was finding the raster data.  I struggled with the digital elevation model because I didn't recognize what I was downloading was a zipped file (no zipper) and I didn't have WINZIP installed on my computer. I chose raster files along the coastline hoping for the greatest variation in elements, e.g. cities, ocean, beaches.  Digital Elevation Models seem to have less impact in areas with limited elevation change.

I set the hydrology layer on top of the raster files with a 50% transparency to show how well the data lined up.  I placed a USGS 1:24,000 grid as a base which helped me fit map elements and show the alignment of the raster files.  I think the unique legend format works with this map given the blank spaces I had to work map elements into.  The DEM and DRG raster file extend into the next county which throws off the shape of the county.

Nassau County, Florida - Transportation & Conservation Areas

This map of Nassau County, Florida shows the cities, major transportation routes, rivers, wetlands and public lands.  When I first looked at this county outline I couldn't believe how windy the county boundary was until I added a hydrology layer and discovered the Saint Marys River is the county boundary for the most part.  I was considering off-setting the river from the county boundary but quickly discovered this would be a difficult task since the river crosses back and forth over the county line many times.

Haiti Map

I found this map on a Bing search for Haiti Map Images.  Both of the maps I found in the ESRI & US Army link were too big for me to upload to my blog.  This is a good map showing entrapments, medical facilites and encampments.

Week 4 - Projections

This map shows how different projections can slighly skew the shape or orientation of a feature.  The differences are not easily seen unless the layers were overlayed.  What was interesting is the difference in the square miles of the various counties.  This was a fun project and I enjoyed manipulating labels and the legend,

Mexico Elevation Map

This is an elevation map of Mexico using what I view as a color ramp for an arid climate.  I recently learned to select a background color for the entire data frame which proved helpful in surrounding Mexico with water.  I finally ended up with an even number on my map scale.

Central Mexico

The purpose of this map was to show the urban areas of Mexico with population greater than one million.  I had troubles fitting everything on the map using the required scale of 1:5000000.  I don't like the way my map title looks with this post.  I got more comfortable with annotation during this exercise.

Mexico Population Map

This map shows the population of Mexico by state.  I learned several tricks for manipulating the legend in this exercise.  I chose several of the default symbol styles for this map, e.g. Ocean, Cartographer, Country.

Countries by Popluation

This map displays the population of the world in 2007.  I chose an odd color ramp that puts emphasis on two categories:  the least and the most populated countries.

Possible Locations for a Youth Center

Module 1, Deliverable 2.  Possible locations to create a youth center based on available buildings, zoning and proximity to target age groups.  I'm not sure why I've never used a map template before today but I certainly will in the future.  I also learned how to select from selected features.  I've alway created a new layer from the selected features and then did my second query.

San Diego Zoo

Module 1, Deliverable 1.  A map showing the San Diego Zoo.  I wasn't sure what scale to use so I just made the label readable.  Not much value as a map since there are no road names or points of reference.  If I were to create this again, I would change the locater map to the City of San Diego and make sure the roads were labeled.

Ready to go

Looking forward to my new adventures in learning.