I completed the GEOG 291 Quiz and reviewed the syllabus
My name is Elijah Grennell. This year I’m a junior, and I’m double majoring in Biology and Environmental Science. I’m from Whitehall, Ohio, which is a little east of Columbus. I’m interested in doing Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) after I graduate from college, primarily in manufacturing. As for why I’m taking this class, yes, it’s a core requirement for Envs. But I wanted to learn more about GIS.
3)
I’ve never heard of GIS until I added Environmental Science as a major my sophomore year. Since then, I’ve heard it all the time from students and faculty; however, I never actually knew what it was. Originally, I thought that GIS was only used for things like research projects that either big companies or universities conduct, but after reading the chapter, I now see that it can be anything. This reading helped me visually understand what GIS is. Before, i though GIS was just one basic overall map that only generally showed a specific item or topic that you were focusing on. However, now I understand that it is more of a group of maps that contain information to help gather awareness (or that’s what I got from the reading…)
One thing that specifically stood out to me was how it can be used to locate clusters of infectious diseases. The idea of mapping out either the locations where the disease/sickness sprouted or spread seems interesting but also quite difficult. Since I want to work in EHS, I think GIS would be a good skill to learn now rather than later. This is because the primary role in EHS is to maintain a safe and suitable environment. If I learn to understand and actually do GIS work, it would allow me to do things such as mapping hazards and air quality around job locations.
Another thing that I found interesting while reading is the origin of GIS; in the chapter, it says that GIS originated in architecture around the 1960’s because of a guy named Ian McHarg. He wanted to find the most straightforward and convenient place to build a new highway, so he made an overlay of drawings/maps of the surrounding area. Just the thought that such a simple idea has now taken such a significant role, not only in architecture but in almost every aspect of everyday life. I also liked that in the article it’s stated that although it was made for architecture, any group could have come up with the idea.
4)
This study researched two species of lizards, Agamidae and Lacertidae lizards found in Turkey, and then tracked their locations. Their goal was to track the lizards and observe their preference in habitat in order to use GIS to find similar ones. I chose this because I was initially looking for GIS tracking of reptiles as a form of indicator species for environmental change; however, I couldn’t find any. This was still interesting though.
Mert, A. & Kirac, A. (2019). GIS as a tool to map habitat suitability for two lizard species using environmental factors. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 28(2A), 1330-1336.