Abby Charlton – Week 4 (Second try Posting…Wifi hates me)

  1. Chapter 1
    1. This chapter is all about introducing the beginning aspects of ArcGIS, including reintroducing the vocabulary, concepts, and theories that were introduced in the Mitchell readings. 
    2. Vector data is made from point, line, and polygon data
    3. Features are the aspects of data that you want to highlight, and then the features that you want to group together will be put into a map layer
    4. Features have locational data and attributes, which are the data behind the locations. An example of a feature and its attributes is mapping where trees are in an arboretum, and then including height, species, and bark depth with each tree. 
    5. Vector data works best with boundaries, such as city mapping, buildings, etc. Raster data works the best with things that do not have boundaries, such as natural phenomena. These natural phenomena include wind speeds, elevation, temperature, and precipitation. 
    6. Raster data is the created through a series of cells 
    7. In this chapter, we learned how to open data and familiarize ourselves with map viewer on ArcOnline. We learned skills such as changing symbology, managing clusters, and messing. 
    8. DCPublicSchoolMap
  2. Chapter 2 
    1. This chapter teaches the basic technical elements of ArcPro–the desktop version of ArcGIS. These basic technical elements include introducing us to the top ribbon tools and the sections that make it up (map, analysis, view, insert, etc), as well as how to connect a folder to the project and changing the basemap and labels of a map. 
    2. The third exercise kind of branched off of the basics and starting working with more data in order to create a 3D scene. We also learn here how to mess with the set-up of the screen and where to move content panels, catalog planes, and the map plane, which was useful when setting up the dual screen between the 3D city map and the 2D one. 
    3. For some reason, a few of my files didn’t appear when I first connected the folder, so I had to reconnect. I am not sure why, but this problem continued to happen in the following chapters. 
    4. Map1_3D
  3. Chapter 3
    1. This chapter was showing us how to make different maps and how to create and use layers. 
    2. In the beginning, the downloaded data from ESRI did not have the .aprx file, so I had to manually add each file by using the Add Data function in the Map panel. This took more time than planned due to the error (I do not know why the .aprx file was missing), but I was able to configure it so that I could use it for the geodatabase skills. 
    3. Next, we learned how to make choropleth maps that represent obesity in the state of Illinois. In particular, we continued practicing with attribute tables and started with the “join” function. 
    4. Question: in what circumstances would I need to package the map for sharing?
    5. Illinois2
  4. Chapter 4
    1. In this chapter, we continued with geodatabases, except this time, we learned how to actually make one. Again, the .abrx was missing, so I had to manually include the data once more.
    2.  We also learned how to establish an attribute domain, which limits which attributes are shown in the table. This is an interesting tool because it simplifies the data to what features I actually wanted to focus on. 
    3. We also created line features, which I found to be quite difficult at first. I think this difficulty came most from the little steps that are necessary, and I am mostly new to the software, so it was difficult to locate where each task or icon was. 
    4. Creating and editing the polygons is another skill practiced a lot in this chapter. A note for me in this case is to zoom in (this is common sense really) because I accidentally connected the wrong vertices, and then later on my sketches were a bit off. I believe these will also get better with practice, as these are my first attempts at doing either of those tasks. 
    5. What is the significance behind the titles/names of functions? Map2
  5. Chapter 5
    1. In this chapter we learned about different types of commands within ArcPro, and while I was hesitant in the beginning about the difficulty, I was surprised to find it was much easier (not easy though) than I expected. 
    2. Tasks are interesting–With their semi automated nature, they decrease user error, which I think is useful. There are lots of little mistakes that can be made when running this type of software, and when repeating tasks yourself, it can be easy to make one of these mistakes. However, you should carefully look over each segment in building queries within the task because they rely on specific characters or details to actually run. 
    3. *I forgot to export my map from this chapter, but I will add it soon*

1 thought on “Abby Charlton – Week 4 (Second try Posting…Wifi hates me)”

  1. all good. please ask any lingering questions you would like me to tackle in person – or email. I’m scared off trying to type stuff up here given the crashes and loss of my beautiful prose.

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