Intro to GIS Final!

Our final project was to present our findings, skills, and analysis to produce data and maps regarding a proposed transmission line route stretching from Manatee County to Sarasota County.  The preferred corridor selected had to meet several criteria including having relatively few residential properties in proximity of corridor, avoiding schools and daycare facilities, avoiding environmentally sensitive land, and producing a transmission line within a reasonable budget. Please see attached hyperlinks to see my final project findings.

This was a great semester and I learned a lot about GIS.



http://students.uwf.edu/mcb41/introtogis/MonicaBlumberg_finalproject.pptx
http://students.uwf.edu/mcb41/introtogis/MonicaBlumberg_FinalProjectCommentary.pdf

Georeferencing, Editing, and Arcscene

This week we honed our GIS skills by learning how to georeference, editing, and Arcscene. The first map depicted shows a 2D view of the UWF campus as well as the Campus Ln. and Building 072 that were added via the editing session. The second map shows the georeferenced UWF campus and a bald eagle nesting site with buffer zone.

Geocoding Lab

This week we worked on Geocoding and ModelBuilder.  I had an extremely rough time with receiving  many error messages when trying to calculate the route.

Spatial Analysis of Vector and Raster Data

This week we had more in depth exploration on vector data and GIS tools like buffer, overlay, and python. The end result of our maps was to provide possible sites for new camping areas as seen in the above map.

World Heritage Sites Group 6 – Europe (Group Summary)

World Heritage Sites

Group 6 – Europe

Of the 962 World Heritage sites designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization (UNESCO), the “European group: was responsible for identifying and analyzing characteristics of 12 World Heritage sites. World Heritage Sites are natural or cultural locations that UNESCO classifies as having special cultural or physical significance. Our group was responsible for 12 European Sites which included: the Orto Botanico di Padova, Italy; the historic city of Trogir, Croatia; Canal du Midi, France; Delphi, Greece; Isle of Surtsey, Iceland; Srebarna Nature Reserve, Bulgaria; City of Bath, England; Kronborg Castle, Denmark; the Gran Dolina, Spain; the Garden Kingdom of Dessau- Wörlitz, Germany; Western Caucasus, Russian Federation; and the Blenheim Palace, England. This group was led online through the University of West Florida GIS program.  Each member was tasked to create a world heritage site map of an assigned location with a description of the site, a photograph of the location, and URL where users can find more information. The maps were shared amongst the group using ArcGIS Online web-maps, and combined they create a map gallery of the 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe. These maps can be used to share in-depth knowledge and external resources about UNESCO World Heritage sites. Additionally, the group was broken down into separate teams in order to focus our strengths to complete the project. Jobs included gathering resources, creating an introductory paragraph, correspondence, generating a group summary, and a group leader. By working in a group, students gained experience of collaborating in a team environment along with expanding their GIS knowledge.

ArcGIS Online Group Link: http://www.arcgis.com/home/group.html?owner=ntoscano&title=UWF%20GIS%20Group%206%20World%20Heritage%20Site%20Zone%20Europe         

                                                                                            

Map Gallery Preview:

Closing Remarks:

            This exercise was an interesting project for each of us, it demonstrated the many challenges of group cooperation and communication when using online tools, and paved the way for future collaboration. This lesson also presented an opportunity to learn about sites steeped in cultural history that many of us had never heard of before.

Resources for Group 6 EUROPE

Main Resources:

The two main sites utilized by all participating group members provided location information, historical material, and additional access to photos.

·         UNESCO, accessed Feb 16, 2013, http://whc.unesco.org.

This website contains information and reference map of all the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

·         Wikipedia, accessed Feb 16, 2013, http://www.wikipedia.org.

Wikipedia contains crowd sourced information on all of the World Heritage Sites. Much of the information is sourced and it provides an excellent starting point for further research.

Unique Individual Resources:

Below are resources utilized by the members for their assigned World Heritage Site.

·         “Delphi Archaeological Site”, ancient-greece.org, accessed 19 Feb 2013,  http://www.ancient-greece.org/archaeology/delphi-archaeology.html

·         “Botanical Garden of Padova,” Universita Degli Studi Di Padova, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.ortobotanico.unipd.it/en/index.html

·         “Canal du Midi HD,” Jack Johanson, posted to YouTube 4 Feb 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1zT3DA-8uo

·         “The French Midi Canal,” Philippe Calas, Apr 2005, http://www.midicanal.fr/

·         “Kronborg Castle,” Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.kronborgcastle.com/

·         “Kronborg Castle,” World Heritage Site, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/kronborgcastle.html

·         “History of Bath,” Mother Earth Travel, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://motherearthtravel.com/united_kingdom/bath/history.htm

·         “The Royal Crescent in Bath,” Pictures of England, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Bath/article/1044

·         “Royal Crescent,” Wikipedia, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Crescent

·         “Western Caucasus, Russian Federation,” Encyclopedia of Earth, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.eoearth.org/article/Western_Caucasus,_Russian_Federation

·         “Welcome to Trogir – Croatia,” Troigir, accessed 20 Feb 2013, http://www.trogironline.com/

   

Data for GIS and Data Quality

 

 The maps for this week show several types of data for Seminole County.  Data was downloaded from several sources including Labins.org and FGDL.org. This week was a tough run of trial and error trying to download the correct data and to make it work within two given maps.

Projections Part 2- AKA Hardest Map to Date

1.From http://data.labins.org/2003/ > Quad Index (pdf file)> find 2 adjacent quads 

in Escambia County, Florida. Selected 5160

Perdido Bay and 5159 Fort Barrancas.

2.From Labins select DOQQ using 2004 RGB StatePlane, FT MrSID for both quads. 

 Extract all files for both quads (NE,NW,SE,SW of types

3.USX, SDW,SID).  Saved to folder called s:Intro to GIS\Week 6\Projections Assignment

Information about the Data:  Projection:  State Plane

Datum:  NAD83

Units:  Feet

Graphics Type:  MrSID

World File:  sdw

Resolution:  1-meter

Color:  True Color (not CIR)

4. Check ArcCatalog to make sure file has the correct spatial reference.  

State Plane: NAD 1983 StatePlane Florida North FIPS 0903

5.Update projection of other files cntbnd.shp, qd24, and majrds_feb10

From the toolbox,  Double-click Project tool Project tool window – 

Add the one you want to change and Output Dataset USGS 24k

Quarter Quad Index\qd24_reprojected_StatePlane.shp

Output Coordinate System for Spatial Reference Properties> 

Browse Coordinate System >Projected

CoordinateSystemsStatePlaneND 1983(USFeet)

& NAD_1983_StatePlane_Florida_North_FIPS_0903_FeetAdd

Geographic Transformation |>NAD_1983 _To_HARN_Florida 

click OK to run reprojection process

6.Open all files in ArcMap.

7. Open Excel and import fileEscambia_tanks.xls.   

Add columns for Xcoor and Ycoor.  Use formulas for converting lat/long to decimal degrees (DD):

X = LATITUDE with FORMULA of DD=degrees + (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600)

Y=LONGITUDE with FORMULA of DD =((degrees + (minutes/60) + (seconds/3600)) *(-1)

The negative for Y is because the US is West of the Prime meridian so all longitude is negative.

Hover curser on bottom right of Xcoor column until a plus sign pops up.

 Click and drag to the bottom of the file data. Do the same for Ycoor.

8. Add Data to a Blank ArcMap page.  File ; Add Data>XY Data.  

Click Edit to define coordinate system and select Geographic Coordinate System

World WGS 1984.

Then Export Datq ;Export Data>Same data frame as Ouput

9. Open ArcTool box ; Data Management Tools  Projections; Transformations ;

Feature sub-;Double-clickProject tool Project toolwindow; 

Input Dataset as Export_Output_escambia_tanks.shp

 and Output Dataset as  Export_Output_escambia_tanks_StatePlane.shp

Output Coordinate System for Spatial Reference Properties;

Select;Browse Coordinate System ;Projected Coordinate Systems; 

State Plane; NAD 1983 (US Feet) > NAD_1983_StatePlane_Florida_North_FIPS_0903_Feet

;Add Geographic Transformation;NAD_1983 _To_WGS1984_5

;Click OK to run reprojection process

10. Add map essentials

11. Save and Export as JPEG

Projections Part 1

         This week we explored projection systems. The following is the process summary in order to create a map with three different projection types.

Process Summary:

1)Open cntbnd.ship

2)Add two new data frames by clicking insert, Add data frame

   3)Adjust/re-project cntbnd.shp to State Plane and UTM, then change label to match projection type

    4)Calculate geometry area for each county, display in miles (Escambia, Alachua, Miami-Dade, and Polk). Notice surface areas have different outcomes based on their projection type

5)Add scale, text, title, projection info,  name, date, and data source

6)Export map and upload to blogger

Creating and Sharing Map Packages

In this weeks lab we learned how to create and share map packages. This is an important lesson because map packages can be shared easily over the web. The directions in this exercise were extremely helpful in learning how to modify map and tile packages as well as how to optimize a map package.  I ended the lesson with uploading my maps to arcgis.com and shared them with the world. This tool will come in handy later on.

Intro to GIS: GIS & Cartography

This map depicts the population of the states in Mexico.

This zoomed in map shows urban areas with populations over a million as well as rivers, highways, and railroads.

This map shows the topography of Mexico with an elevation legend.

Own Your Map: Week 2

The above map shows where Escambia County is located in the small upper right hand box. Then further show the county in green and highlights the main highways, river ways, and UWF main campus. I ran into one issue with the file of Florida Counties not properly loading with a highlight of Escambia County. However, I was able to delete and reload the maps to solve the problem.

Week 1 Intro to GIS: My First Map

Week 1 has gotten off to a shaky start. Here is my first map using ArcMap 10.1. I have a feeling each of these maps are going to take more than four hours to produce.  Hopefully it gets easier with time. The directions are helpful guidance, but I ran into a few issues including getting the original file transferred and opened within ArcMap. Wish me luck!