Category: Course Student Work

Chapter 7:

This chapter only had four parts, so it wasn’t that bad. I also found it to be pretty easy to follow along with; the book gave a lot of pictures, which kinda worried me at first because normally when there’s a lot of pictures, I assume I’ll be confused. But this time I wasn’t. It kinda felt like a lot of stuff we’ve been learning, but a little different.  I also like that it was talking about a campus; it made the map feel more relatable and useful.

Chapter 8:

This chapter might have been the fastest and easiest chapter, which makes sense since it was only a 2-part tutorial.  Either way, I’m still glad that, for being one of the last chapters, it was so short. If this had been an introduction chapter, it would’ve given me false hope that they were all this short. One part that kinda confused me, though, was the Geocoded Address. I’m not sure why I was so confused; my brain was just not piecing together what exactly I had to do. After that, the rest of the tutorial was pretty straightforward and easygoing.

Chapter 9: Was not a fan of this chapter,  Chapter eight made me think that chapter nine was about to be easy as well or maybe just short. But I was wrong, which I should’ve assumed; it was going to be a long chapter based on how much of a book there was still left after chapter eight.  Either way, I got confused multiple times; one of those times was on 9.3, when I had to do “spatial join service and pool tags”.  I was confused for the majority of that section, along with the section that followed. But I ended up getting through it; however, I’m not sure if I ended up doing it right or wrong.

Chapter 7 was the most familiar to me in the maps we’ve seen in GIS. I enjoyed the detailed map and getting to create our own shape of what was being presented. It was also satisfying to line up the CAD drawings on the map, and helpful to see this application on something like a college campus that is so relevant to us!

Chapter 8 was another incredibly applicable chapter, in my eyes. I think seeing uses that aren’t so incredibly scientific and interpretable by academics is really what has solidified my confidence and understanding of using ArcGIS and what these applications actually go towards. Seeing the real-time changing of labels of zip codes and street features/lines will definitely help me to interpret charts and maps of that nature in my own academic career. It’s also just super fun to play around with an area and features that are close to home!

Chapter 9 was a bit confusing at times, but definitely helpful and rewarding to get through. The concept of ‘multidimensional data’ seemed impossible to understand while reading through the chapter beforehand, but was actually so cool to play with and manipulate! It reminded me a bit of chapter 6, and was kind of an expansion on some of those tools and concepts. I say this also because it reminded me a bit of R coding, as well! Because I’ve taken so many classes with R, it was really easy for me to pick up on after giving each part some time. I’ve loved getting to work with this program!

Chapter 4 was probably one of the most difficult chapters for me, but also one of the most fun and rewarding to get through. Attribute Queries were the biggest help I found in this chapter for future GIS applications. Identifying trends/patterns applies to so many career paths! I am also doing a project for my Human Impacts class that uses GIS to explore the effects of deforestation, and many of the tools we used in this chapter were also relevant in that, which was cool! 

Chapter 5 was the most applicable chapter of all to me! In other classes, I’ve learned of the importance of familiarity to people who aren’t as apt to learning new things, and these maps and coordinate systems are extremely recognizable to lots of people. Seeing the warping between different projections was also very helpful in understanding how these specific maps can be manipulated. I loved the application of census data, and seeing how different types of data can be amalgamated or portrayed in similar ways!

Chapter 6 reminded me a lot of work I’ve done in other classes, such as coding in R. These tools were super cool to use and get comfortable with, and I found that it wasn’t as hard or intimidating as I initially thought upon skimming the chapter. Creating study areas and being able to layer features in a way that specifies the data perfectly was also just very satisfying. I can see exactly how these could be used in studies like deforestation, animal population, psychology, soil/air quality, etc.

The Preface and Chapter 1 of GIS Tutorial for ArcGIS Pro were incredibly helpful foundations for navigating ArcGIS and what it actually means to load in and manipulate the data. The instructions got progressively less direct as the chapter went on, which helped to foster problem-solving ability and a sense of confidence in using ArcGIS. Within the actual tutorial, I really had an ‘aha’ moment with the construction of maps and their many uses, and how different choices in even color or size will change how the map is interpreted by the viewer. This was my first time seeing the construction of a map with so many variables, and it was a great introduction to the rest of the course.  

Chapter 2 was a great segue into more in-depth applications of GIS. I loved messing around with how each of the zones was portrayed, and seeing how labels can be defined in different ways (and searched for to find them again later!) The questions at the beginning really helped me to visualize how these maps and changes to them are helpful in scientific studies: 1. What layer or layers are needed to represent the subject? 2. What spatial context layers are needed to orient map users to recognize locations and patterns of the subject features? Making maps usable and recognizable not only to fellow students and scientists but to members of the public who may want/need to interact with them is so important, and seeing the ‘why’ behind these tweaks and changes was crucial to my understanding of how we use GIS in social and scientific applications. 

Chapter 3 was similar to Chapter 2, but much more expanded. I loved learning about the sharing of these maps and charts, specifically, and how their interpretations can change (for better or for worse) once in the public eye.

 

Parcel: Grids that separate land based on ownership, value, and taxation in areas in Delaware County. Data is maintained and kept in Delaware’s County Auditor’s GIS office.

Street Centerline: Data of observed and existing locations of addresses and permits of pavement and private roads in Delaware County.

Condo: All records of condominiums in Delaware County.

Subdivision: All records of subdivisions and condos recorded and updated daily.

Address Point- DXF: Handling the spatial  and accurate division of addresses in Delaware County. Helps determine 911 placement and division.

Street Centerlines- DXF: The State of Ohio Location-Based Response System determines the center lines on pavements in Delaware County.

Zip Code: Data that contains and distributes zip codes based on census within Delaware County.

School District: Data on the school districts within Delaware County.

Building Outline 2021, 2023, 2024: Structure outlines in Delaware County updated in years recorded.

2024 Area Image: Shows above view of Delaware County

Recorded Document: Dataset that consists of vacations, subdivisions, centerline surveys, surveys, annexations, and miscellaneous documents in Delaware County

Dedicated Row: Dataset that consists of all “Right-of-ways” in Delaware County.

Township: Dataset that consists of 19 different townships in Delaware County.

PLSS: Stands for Public Land Survey System. Identifies boundaries n Delaware County.

Delaware County E911 Data: State of Ohio Location-Based Response System (LBRS) dataset of specially accurate representation of addresses in Delaware County.

Precincts: Dataset of voting precincts in Delaware County.

Delaware County Contours: 2018 two foot Contours in Delaware County

Original Township: Dataset of original boundaries in Delaware County before change in tax districts.

Map Sheet: Dataset of map sheets in Delaware County.

Farm Lot: Dataset of farm lots in Delaware County to officiate and identify all boundaries.

Annexation: Dataset of Delaware County’s annexation and conforming boundaries from 1853 to present.

Survey: Survey points of tax districts in Delaware County.

Tax district: Dataset of all tax districts in Delaware County defined by Delaware County’s Auditor’s Real Estate  Office

2022 Leaf-on-imagery: Image in 12in Resolution

Hydrology: dataset of major waterways in Delaware County.

GPS: Dataset identifying GPS monuments in Delaware County that were established in 1991 and 1997.

 

Delaware Data Inventory

Parcel: Data containing polygons that represent all cadastral lines within Delaware county.

Street Centerline: Data containing the center of pavement of all public and private roads in Delaware county. 

Condo: Data containing all condominium polygons within Delaware County 

Subdivision: Data containing all subdivisions and condos recorded in the Delaware County

Zip Code: Data containing all zip codes in Delaware county

School District: Data containing all school districts in Delaware county

Building Outline 2024: Data containing building outlines from all structures in Delaware County in 2024

Building Outline 2023: Data containing building outlines from all structures in Delaware County in 2023

Building Outline 2021: Data containing building outlines for all structures in Delaware County in 2021

PLSS: Data containing all the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) polygons in both the US Military and the Virginia Military Survey Districts of Delaware County 

Recorded Document: Data containing points that represent recorded documents in the Delaware County Recorder’s Plat Books, Cabinet/Slides and Instruments Records which are not represented by subdivision plats that are active 

Township: Data containing 19 different townships that make up Delaware County

Original Township: Data containing original boundaries of the townships in Delaware County before tax district changes affected their shapes. 

Dedicated Row: Data containing all lines that are designated Right-of-Way within Delaware County 

Precincts: Data containing Voting Precincts within Delaware County  

Delaware County Contours: Data containing 2018 Two-Foot Contours  

Address Point: Data containing a record of every known address in Delaware county.  

Map Sheet: Data containing all map sheets within Delaware County   

Farm Lot: Data containing all the farm lots in both the US Military and the Virginia Military Survey Districts of Delaware County 

Annexation: Data containing Delaware County’s annexations and conforming boundaries from 1853 to present 

Survey: Data containing shapefile of a point coverage that represents surveys of land within Delaware County 

Tax District: Data containing all tax districts within Delaware County  

Hydrology: Data containing all major waterways within Delaware County 

GPS: Data containing all GPS monuments that were established in 1991 and 1997 

MSAG: Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) polygon feature set of the 28 different political jurisdictions such as the townships, cities and the villages that make up Delaware County 

Municipality: Data containing all municipalities within Delaware County 

Railroads: Data containing the locations of railroads that lie within Delaware County 

Delaware County E911 Data: Data containing the State of Ohio Location Based Response System (LBRS) Address Points data set is a spatially accurate representation of all certified addresses within Delaware County

 

Delaware County Data Descriptions

Address Point: A record of every certified address in Delaware County

Annexation: This data represents Delaware County’s official annexations and boundaries. Ut is updated when the boundaries change, and is updated monthly.

Building Outline: This data outlines all structures in Delaware County, and is updated as needed.

Condo: This data represents all of the condos in Delaware County that have been recorded with the Delaware County Recorders Office.

Dedicated ROW: This data represents all of the public streets in Delaware County. It is updated as needed and published monthly.

Delaware County Contours: This data shows Delaware County’s elevation with contours.

Delaware County E911 Data: This data is another spatially accurate representation of addresses in Delaware County for use of the emergency response system associated with 911 calls. It can also be used for appraisal mapping, accident reporting, geocoding, and disaster management. This data is updated on a daily basis, and published monthly.

Farm Lot: This data consists of all of the farmland in US Military and Virginia Military Survey Districts in Delaware County. It is maintained as needed when new surveys have been recorded.

GPS: This data identifies all GPS monuments established in 1991 and 1997. It is updated as needed and published monthly.

Hydrology: This data consists of major waterways In Delaware County. It is updated as needed and published monthly.

MSAG (Master Street Address Guide): Data represents boundaries of cities, villages, and townships within Delaware County. Published monthly and updated as needed.

Map Sheet: data consists of all map sheets in Delaware County.

Municipality: data consists of all municipalities in the County

Original Township: Data consists of the original boundaries of the townships in the county before tax districts affected their shapes.

PLSS (Public Land Survey System): The dataset consists of all of the PLSS polygons that assist with identifying the boundaries of these areas within the Virginia Military and US Military survey districts in the County. It is maintained as needed and published monthly.

Parcel: Data consists of polygons that represent parcel lines. This is maintained by the Delaware County Auditor’s GIS Office. It is maintained on a daily basis and published monthly.

Precincts: Data consists of voting precincts and is maintained by the Delaware County Auditor’s GIS Office under the direction of the Board of Elections for the county. It is both updated and published as needed.

Railroads: Data Consists of all the railroads that lie within Delaware County.

Recorded Document: Data consists of points that represent miscellaneous recorded documents in Delaware County. It is used simply to locate these documents.

School district: This data consists of all of the school districts in the County. Updated as needed and published monthly.

Street Centerline: This data locates the center of streets/pavement in the county. It is a geospacially accurate representation of the location of roads, and assists 911 response, accident reporting, geocoding, disaster management, and roadway inventory. The 2D fields are updated daily, 3D fields are updated annually, and it is published monthly.

Subdivision: Data consists of all subdivisions and condos recorded in the county. It is updated daily and published monthly.

Survey: Point coverage that represents surveys of land recorded since May 2004. It is updated daily and published monthly.

Tax District: Data consists of all tax districts defined by the Delaware County Auditor’s Real Estate Office.

Township: Data consists of all Townships in Delaware County. Updated as needed and published monthly.

Zip Code: Data contains all zip codes established as of 2003. It is updated as needed with coordination with the US Postal Service and published monthly.

Parcel:

This dataset consists of polygons that represent the parcel lines within Delaware County; these are cadastral geometries. The geometries are maintained by the Delaware County Auditor’s GIS office.  

Street Centerline:

This dataset is based on the State of Ohio Location Based Response System; it depicts the center of private and public roads within Delaware County. 

Condo:

This data set consists of all condominium polygons within Delaware County, Ohio that have been recorded with the Delaware County Recorder’s Office. 

Subdivision: 

This data set consists of all subdivisions and condos recorded in the Delaware County Recorder’s Office. 

Zipcode:

This is a set of data that contains all the ZIP codes within Delaware County. 

School District:

This dataset consists of all school districts in Delaware County, Ohio.

Building Outlines 2024:

This is a set of data that consists of the building outlines as of 2024. 

Building outline 2023:

This is a set of data that consists of the building outlines as of 2023.

Building outline 2021:

This is a set of data that consists of the building outlines as of 2021. 

Original Township:

This dataset shows the original boundaries of the townships in Delaware County, Ohio, before tax district changes modified their shapes.  

Township:

This dataset consists of 19 different townships that make up Delaware County, Ohio. 

Precincts:

This dataset consists of Voting Precincts within Delaware County, Ohio. This dataset is maintained by the Delaware County Auditor’s GIS Office under the direction of the Delaware. 

County Board of Elections. 

This dataset is updated on an as-needed basis and is published as needed by the Delaware County Board of Elections. 

Delaware County contours:

2018 two-foot contours. In file geodatabase format. 

PLSS:

The PLSS is the Public Land Survey System, which consists of polygons. This dataset was created to help identify all the PLSS and their boundaries in both US Military and Virginia Military Survey Districts of Delaware County. 

Railroads:

This dataset allows a user to view the locations of railroads that lie within Delaware County.  

2024 aerial imagery:

This is a dataset of the aerial imagery from 2024. 

Delaware country E911 Data:

This data set is a spatially accurate representation of all certified addresses within Delaware County. This layer provides the capability to reverse geocode a set of coordinates to determine the closest valid address, for things like 911 calls. 

Address point:

This is a dataset that contains the centroid of a building as an address point. 

Map sheet:

This dataset consists of all map sheets within Delaware County, Ohio 

Farm lot:

This is a set of data that has farm lots from both the US Military and the Virginia Military Survey. 

Annexation:

This dataset contains Delaware County’s annexations and conforming boundaries from 1853 to present. 

Survey:

This dataset is a shapefile, which is from surveys that were scanned in and saved as PDFs. These represent surveys of land within Delaware County.

Tax district:

This dataset is defined by Delaware County’s Auditor’s Real Estate office, of all the tax districts within Delaware County. 

Hydrology:

This set of data has all the major waterways within Delaware County. This data was enhanced using LIDAR-based data in 2018. 

GPS:

This data has all the GPS monuments that were established from 1991- 1997.

Dedicated ROW:

This set is the set of lines that have the Right-of-Way within Delaware County. 

MSAG:

The MSAG is the Master Street Address Guide, which is a set of polygons of the 28 political jurisdictions. This dataset was created to show the process of locating boundaries within Delaware County. 

Recorded Document:

These are documents in the dataset represented as points. These points can be subdivisions, centerline surveys, or miscellaneous documents within Delaware County. 

Municipality:

This dataset consists of all municipalities within Delaware County, Ohio. 

Here is the photo of the layers of Parcel, Hydrology, and Street Center Line.

Delaware County GIS Data Inventory

• Address Point: spatially accurate representation of all addresses within the county that indicates the centroid of buildings. Used largely by emergency response teams.
• Parcel: polygons that represent all cadastral parcel lines within the county. 
• Recorded Document: Points that represent recorded documents in the county recorder’s plat books. Documents include: vacations, subdivisions, centerline surveys, surveys, annexations, and miscellaneous documents in the county as it relates to the cadastral landbase.
• Zip Code: All zip codes in the county
• School District: All school districts in the county
• Map Sheet: All map sheets in the county
• PLSS: All of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) polygons in both the US military and Virginia military survey districts of the county. Aids in identifying all of the PLSS and boundaries in both military survey districts in the county.
• MSAG: Master Street Address Guide polygon featureset of the townships, cities and villages that make up the county. Created to locate boundaries of the cities, townships, and villages of the county.
• Municipality: All Municipalities within the county
• Farm Lot: farmlots in both US and Virginia military survey districts of the county. Created to identify farmlot boundaries.
• Township: The 19 townships that make up the county
• Street Centerline: Lines running down the middle of all paved roads in the county
• Annexation: contains annexations and conforming boundaries from 1853 to present
• Condo: All condominium polygons within the county recorded by the county recorders office.
• Subdivision: All subdivisions and condos recorded in the county recorders office.
• Dedicated ROW: All lines that are designated Right-Of-Way within the county. 
• Precincts: Voting Precincts in the county
• Survey: shapefile of a point coverage that represents surveys of land within the county.
• Tax District: All tax districts within the county defined by the county Auditors Real Estate Office. Data is dissolved on the Tax District code. 
• Building Outline 2021, 2023, 2024: Building outline structures for all years. All years included for comparison.
• Railroads: Allows users to view locations of railroads within the county.
• Delaware County E911 Data: spatially accurate representation of all addresses in the county. Address points indicate building centroid. Used for appraisal mapping, 911, accident reporting, geocoding, and disaster management.

 

Property & Housing
● Parcel: The exact legal shape and boundaries of individual property or land plots.
● Condo: Outlines showing individual condominium units and complex boundaries.
● Subdivision: Neighborhood boundaries showing residential developments, their lot
counts, and creation dates.
Addresses, Roads & Infrastructure
● Address Point: Specific dot locations mapped directly to street addresses, used mainly
by emergency responders to find exact front doors or driveway entries.
● Street Centerline: Lines running down the middle of paved public and private roads,
used for navigation and route planning.
● Dedicated ROW (Right of Way): Lines marking public land set aside along roads for
streets, sidewalks, and utilities.
Administrative & Boundaries
● Municipality: Legal borders for incorporated cities and villages (like Delaware, Powell,
or Sunbury) that have local governments and taxes.
● Township: Legal local government districts dividing the county outside of city limits.
● Zip Code: Geographic zones created by the postal service to organize mail delivery and
group addresses.
● School District: Regional zones that decide which public schools serve children living in
specific areas.
● Tax District: Specific geographic zones where property owners pay the same set of
local tax rates.
Historical & Land Records
● PLSS (Public Land Survey System): A historical grid system used to divide and survey
public land, originally used to grant land awards to Revolutionary War veterans.
● Farm Lot: Historical land subdivisions created within the older military survey grid
system.
● Map Sheet: Index grid tiles used by local offices to split the county into manageable
paper tax map pages.
● Recorded Document: Reference points linking specific addresses to filed county land
records, like land surveys and legal filings