Week 4 – Savannah Domenech – Geography 291: Geospatial Analysis with Desktop GIS

Getting to Know ArcGIS Chapter 1

Notes and Comments:

GIS is composed of five interacting parts: hardware, software, data, procedures, and people
Spatial data is information that represents real-world locations and the shapes of features at those locations and the relationships between them
GIS, like mentioned in the Mitchell book, is a visual, quantitative, and analytic tool
Geoprocessing is the manipulation of spatial data
Open data allows anyone to get authoritative data and information. ArcGIS Hub is a way the public can freely access maps and data
I find the concept of open data fascinating as one of the goals of it the book mentions is the ability to get right to problem-solving. We have so much data, especially in research papers, but I feel that it is hard to take action
It’s good to keep in mind that ArcGIS Desktop is a suite and not just confined to ArcMap and that ArcGIS Pro is part of the ArcGIS Desktop suite

Exercise Notes and Screenshots:

I couldn’t find the outline toggle in step 12 of Configure the map symbology so I skipped it; I do not believe it made a difference
Despite this book being pretty new, the names for a bunch of things are somewhat different than the book records them to be

Notes:

ArcPro and ArcOnline communicate with each other much better than ArcMap and ArcOnline as ArcPro allows you to sign in
ArcPro projects can contain multiple maps, geodatabases, folder connections, layer files, task lists, models, toolboxes, and more
The world symbol next to the “Explore” tool is the full extent button
The feature layer ribbon is activated any time a layer in the contents sidebar is selected
Extrusion is the process of stretching flat 2D features vertically so they appear 3D
To package a map there must be a description in the map’s metadata

Exercise Questions and Screenshots:

(Modify map contents 5) PM concentrations are highest in Africa
(Examine the contextual ribbon 2) If you close the content pane, go to “View” and click “Contents.” The Geoprocessing tool is next to the “Contents” button
(Examine feature attributes 4) Shanghai, China has the largest population
(Create a 3D scene) The height of the tallest building is 339.76

Notes and Comments:

Definition queries make certain features or areas invisible but they do not get rid of them
To subset from a data set you can use a definition query, the clip feature, or the select and export feature
Joining the join table to the attribute table requires that the attribute type is the same (e.g. text joins to text)
You cannot have spaces or more than 10 characters in the field heading in the attribute table
Spatial join allows you to join data based on location. You combine the target and the join layer into a new output layer
I can follow along easy enough but if you told me to do this on my own I would be clueless

Questions and Screenshots:

(Add data to project 5 part 1) The field name that indicates which state the county is in is STATE_NAME
(Add data to project 5 part 2) The number of Wayne county residents between ages 22-29 is 10,575
(Join data tables 3) Six years of data are represented
(Overlay additional data 1) No, I do not see a clear correlation between income and 2010 obesity rates. While many counties with high obesity rates have lower incomes a moderate number of counties with moderate to high incomes also have high obesity rates
(Examine infographics 3) 18.7% of households had an income of less than $15,000 per year
(Relate tables 7) There are 4 food deserts in Knox County
I had a problem displaying the proper amount of LILATracts so I skipped the labeling part

Notes:

Shapefiles store the data for one set of features
Geodatabases have the ability to store multiple datasets
Geodatabases are an ideal model for sharing data as shapefiles are much larger
Geodatabases have the ability to create an attribute domain which minimizes the potential for data entry mistakes by setting a range to which attributes in each field must be limited to
In the geoprocessing pane built-in tools are denoted with the hammer icon and script tools are denoted with the scroll icon
ArcGIS applies a projected coordinate system of the first layer to all added subsequent layers
Snapping allows you to connect features, without impossibly precise sketching

Questions and Screenshots:

Notes:

Tasks can be documented series of instructions that incorporate or call forth certain tools and commands
ModelBuilder is a geoprocessing environment that allows you to easily link one tool to another and run one set of operation after another
In the “Tasks” pane you can follow or define a workflow

Questions and Screenshots:

(Set up a project 4) The conflict events recorded in the dataset are battle (government regains territory), battle (no change of territory), battle (non-state actor overtakes territory), headquarters or base established, non-violent transfer of territory, remote violence, riots/protests, strategic development, and violence against civilians
(Author a task 12) 14,211 fatalities resulted from violent conflicts against South Sudanese civilians between 2010 and 2018
(Fill out the tool parameters 5) 71 fatalities resulted from violent conflicts against Rwandan civilians between 2010 and 2018
(Convert a model to a geoprocessing tool) 41 riots/protests occurred in Rwanda between 2010 and 2018 and 12 fatalities resulted from these events
(Use a custom script tool 1) The geoprocessing tools of “Select Layer by Attribute” and “Summary Statistics” are combined in the script
(Use a custom script tool 6) 26,323 fatalities resulted from violent conflicts against Nigerian civilians between 2010 and 2018