Category: Course Student Work

Week 5

 

Chapter 4

 

I felt much more confident this week after all of the exercises last week! In 4-1, I had a lot of trouble creating a project. I tried this several times, and each time it wasn’t even opening the basic US map like the book said it should. I ended up completely restarting on a different computer and got it to work. The tasks in this tutorial felt a little tedious but I think I got them to work eventually. In 4-2, there were a ton of issues but I think that I was able to get things figured out, most of the issues where when tyring to type in expressions and just overall finding things. Section 4-3 was very helpful to look at different clauses and I can see why they would be useful. Sections 4-4, 4-5, and 4-6 didn’t give me a ton of issues and were pretty straight forward. 

Chapter 5

 

This chapter was not too bad. 5-1 was cool to compare different world maps, I honestly did not know there were so many of them. 5-2 was also useful for US specific changes. 5-3 was very useful to learn all about layers.  In tutorial 5-4, I had some trouble finding the XY Table as it would not show up after right clicking Libraries. I found it was actually labeled under “Create Points from Table” and then “XY Points.” After this fiasco, I was unable to find the proper Library data set to input into the table? I realized this was already there and then was able to get the library data points to display. I was then able to add the school districts. 5-5 was useful for using Census maps which will be very helpful in the public health field. 5-6 helped me understand raster files much more in-depth which was useful because it was a hard concept for me to grasp before.

Chapter 6

 

Section 6-1 was pretty simple, although I did have some trouble getting the labels to work so I just skipped that step and moved on to the next tutorial. 6-2 and 6-3 were pretty self explanatory and I didnt have any issues. 6-4 was also super quick and helpful. The append tool seems pretty useful to bring some different tables together. 6-5 and 6-6 were useful for both using different features and being able to intersect them as well as learning about land use features. In 6-7, was also useful for comparing the services of fire departments. 

Chapter 7

 

In 7-1, the vertex points gave me a lot of trouble. I had a really hard time getting them to drag properly. I feel like this tool could be a lot easier to use if it was designed a bit differently. I figured out the reason I was having so much trouble was because I had sketch proportionally on.  7-2 was pretty useful for actually learning how to create the polygon tools themselves. 7-3 was also cool to learn about all of the different tools to add to these features. 7-4 at the first mention of CAD gave me flashbacks to learning Autocad in my high school engineering class. It is okay thought, we persevered. It honestly took me a hot minute to get the transform feature to work properly but I got the CAD image to line up!

Chapter 8

 

8-1 was pretty easy. I had some trouble here and there finding some buttons but it wasn’t too bad. 8-2 was also pretty easy and I did not come across any issues.

 

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4 was relatively straight forward. I experienced no difficulties importing data, however it was time consuming and had a learning curve. I find myself spending less time searching for things like the catalog pane or the toolbox.

Chapter 5: 

Taught me how to work with world map projections… i was unfamiliar with how many way the map was projected. It was interesting to see even on a continental level the states change via world map… I also had a learning curve with working with the tabular data.

Chapter 6:

Chapter Six was all about creating a neighborhood.  It was cool to be able to work with the fire departments and police station layers. 

Chapter 7:

This was my favorite chapter/ most interesting to me. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the tools to create maps. I however was left with some questions like when and why should i be using these tools. 

Chapter 8:

This chapter although being small was very insightful. I got to work with zipcodes from my home state and even ended up working with zipcodes from an area at which i used to live which was super cool. 

For each chapter I have thoughts and things I thought were interesting. Firsty for chapter 4 I will not lie when I say this was probably the most difficult chapter for me as I had a hard time navigating through the outside databases and figuring out the downloading system. Once I was able to figure it out I will say this seems very useful when applying this to a plethora of data sets. Chapter five I also struggled with importing data however I again did figure it out although I did have a hard time putting in outputs as it kept given me errors and not allowing me to run the program. For chapter 6 I like how I was able to see and click through points/streets to find more information. This chapter I had a hard time with the outputs but I eventually figured it out and I will not lie I felt extremely satisfied with myself. Chapter 7 I like the ability to use shapes and using tools that allowed me to draw my own shape. I will admit I forgot where the transparent function was so I decided to go with the hatching setting to still give that. Finally chapter 8 was interesting as it had a lot to do with zip codes as well as creating bookmarks (in a way). Overall I really enjoyed chapter 7 as it gave some fun creative aspect to GIS. I seemed to struggle the most with output inputting, I kept running into an error wall and I could not find out why. I also seemed to struggle with finding the output variables, as they did not seem to pop up. Regardless I was able to achieve results, something I will have to look in to/practice more is the output data set.

Below I have attached pictures of my work through various stages of chapters 4,5,6,7, and 8.

 

Chapter 1

I was pleasantly surprised by how straight forward the tutorials are. However, it was a struggle for me to begin going through with them. I had a few problems with my hard drive before I could even get started. It is USB-C only, which requires a port that is not on the computers. So I got an adapter assuming that it would work as it has in the past. This was in fact not the case. The adapter allowed the computer to recognize that the hard drive was connected, however it was not accessible on the computer. I then had to get a USB hard drive to start the work. Once I had begun I immediately started to enjoy the process of learning the software. I have taught myself programs such as Adobe After Effects, Sony Vegas Pro, and Final Cut Pro in the past, but those were all essentially me going through the programs randomly under the guise that “you won’t break it.” This was a much smoother and enjoyable experience by miles. I did not have any issues going through the motions of the tutorials from this chapter aside from one specific instance. In Tutorial 1-3, when obtaining summary statistics I had initially gotten the wrong value for the Mean (3174.1) rather than that of what was given in the textbook (4516.6). All other of the statistical values were correct. I ran the Summary Statistics tool for a second time and I was given the correct values for all of the Statistic Types. I honestly don’t know what happened the first time. I found myself getting comfortable navigating through the different windows of ArcGIS very quickly. 

Chapter 2

Getting into the second chapter of the textbook, I had to use a little more brain power to complete the tutorials. I was still having a pretty easy time completing the tutorials, however there were more instances in this chapter where I had to reread the instructions to understand what the actions I had to complete were, rather than just going through the motions. I had made very minor mistakes throughout these tutorials. One example of a mistake I made was when creating the definition query (Tutorial 2-3) I had missed that the program automatically set the ‘OR/AND’ option to AND, preventing the facilities from showing up on the map. However I quickly was able to troubleshoot what I did wrong and successfully create the query. After this, the next problem I ran into was directly after in Tutorial 2-4. When I opened the project the “Neighborhoods” feature had an exclamation mark next to it. When I moved into the Symbology pane I was greeted by a lovely message telling me that the “Neighborhoods” layer did not have a valid data source. I troubleshooted in the program before Googling my issue to see if anyone else had run into this. Luckily for me there was a posting on the Esri website from someone with my exact issue. They had solved it by dragging the Neighborhoods feature class from the catalog pane into the contents pane. After this I deleted the original useless “Neighborhoods” feature. From here it was smooth sailing for me in Tutorial 2-4. The next issue I ran into was in Tutorial 2-6. When importing the symbology to use the swipe to compare feature I missed a step. I forgot to set the Target Field to U18MHHFOOD. Due to me forgetting to set this field correctly the swipe feature did not work. After importing the symbology again, I realized my mistake and corrected it. After this the swipe feature worked perfectly for me. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter two of the tutorials. They were challenging enough in comparison to Chapter 1, however they were not overwhelming in the slightest.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 started off okay for me. The first few steps of Tutorial 3-1 went smoothly. This was until I reached the point where you create and insert a chart. I was able to open Chart Properties and enter the data that was provided for me. However, when the instructions begin to refer to the chart being on the screen (Adjust the size of the map pane so that the  bars on the chart are at the height you prefer) I cannot see the chart. After searching throughout the different tabs, I was able to insert the chart. However, this is not the completed chart, as I need to select the top 10 states for the chart to reflect the information the tutorial intends it too. After a very prolonged and unnecessary moment of frustration, I remembered to try and restart the software. After I restarted the software and opened the project, the chart appeared exactly where it should have been all along. Tutorial 3-3 was surprisingly challenging for me. I think that because I am used to using modern forms of social media that I assume I can use any website. While this is almost always true, I am not a natural at blog post style websites. However, once I got the hang of the phrasing the book was using it was smooth sailing. Tutorial 3-4 was very enjoyable. It wasn’t perfect as I am obviously still learning, however I enjoyed utilizing the different elements on the dashboard and incorporating them. As I had gotten the hang (generally) of how the usability of this website works in the previous tutorial I could just complete the tutorial without fighting with the website.

In chapter 1 I had some difficulties learning how the program worked but when I figured it out it felt very rewarding. I found arcGIS to be very inaccessible, they use very technical language that someone who doesn’t normally work with computers won’t understand. The textbook tutorial is also very vague with its instructions at times, but they are also helpful at certain points. The instructions are also outdated and not the latest version of the program. I liked learning about how to navigate the maps, and it was really cool learning how to change the maps from 2D to 3D. In Step 2 of Use a pop-up window, There was no website hyperlink for me to click and explore, so I couldn’t open that. I also forgot to save tutorial 1-3, which doesn’t affect me but now I don’t know how to get that back. 

Chapter 2 I had an issue at the start of 2-2, the labeling and layer groups Weren’t working and wouldn’t show up on the map. Some of the instructions were telling you to do the same thing with different contents but explaining it in different ways which made it really confusing. I did like that it was New York and we used the same colors the New York City Planning department uses. It was interesting learning about choropleth maps and how they use color to represent numeric values, it makes it easier for a visual learner to understand the map and learn the information it is giving. This chapter really helped me understand how the maps work and helped me get more comfortable with the GIS application 

In chapter 3 we learn the really important skill of transferring our maps off GIS and sharing them with people who don’t have access to it. The 3-3 tutorial was really cool because it was basically teaching you how to create a website. I struggled to find out how to place the table and the map side by side. I also didn’t have the pie chart from one of the steps, but it didn’t affect the dashboard.

Chapter 1: Introducing ArcGIS

I found Chapter 1 to be really easy as it was just basic stuff that I have seen in other programs.  Chapter 1 focused on explaining the basics of the ArcGIS software along with explaining how to navigate maps.  Another thing that is shown in the tutorial for Chapter 1 is the introduction of feature classes and how they are displaced on the map and in the software itself and the way that it is ordered.  This chapter also looked into how to access the map and the various things you can do within.  Then bookmarks were discussed and how they are useful for zooming in and highlighting a specific area of a map so that you don’t have to spend time trying to find it again and is essentially like a shortcut.  Going back to the feature classes, this chapter also explains how to label them and how to symbolize them by going over how to rename and choose the symbol and other small details of a feature class.  I didn’t have any issues with tutorials 1-1 to 1-4 and overall found it to be very simple and fun.  I found the part where you have to change the colors to symbolize feature classes to be fun.

Chapter 2: Map Design

Chapter 2 was also really easy to go through.  This chapter further looked at symbolizing maps along with showing how to create other map types.  The first few sections of this Chapter focused on symbolizing maps, and gave an extensive look into labeling.  Labeling and symbolizing maps is super important because it allows for the map to be more accessible and easy to understand.  For labeling this chapter explained how to choose different categories for labeling depending on what you want to be displayed on the map.  For example in this chapter it explains how to choose zones for labeling the areas in the city which uses specific zoning codes which allows for easy readability for developers and planners and also makes the map look less cluttered and easier to follow.  The following sections of this chapter discussed choropleth maps and dot density maps along with how to display data using graduated and proportional point symbols; this is helpful on a 2D map as it allows you to see different attributes that are in a single layer.  Choropleth and dot density maps are both helpful as they visually provide information that you wouldn’t otherwise notice.  Overall I found this chapter to be easy to follow and I enjoyed labeling and changing the symbols for the various feature classes.

Chapter 3: Maps for End Users

I found chapter 3 to be easy to follow as well.  This chapter focused on ArcGIS online along with how to build map layouts and charts.  I found building the layout to be the easiest part as it reminded me of using Adobe programs with the guidelines and the overall distribution of where the maps and legends go.  Likewise creating the charts reminded me of using other Microsoft programs.  The third tutorial in this chapter focused on how to create a story which I assume is basically just a website but it was very interactive and easy to navigate through.  It was similar to a program I have used before called Notion with the text blocks and other elements that were available to be used for creating the story page.  The final part of this chapter was creating a dashboard.  This chapter focused on how to share files and this part also follows that by showing how to create a dashboard which according to the chapter “are visual displays of data feeds in an easy-to-understand format”.  Overall this chapter was fun and I enjoyed following the tutorials.

                                                                         

Chapter 1:

Apart from having some general issues with logging in the GIS interface is not that hard to use coming from someone who is not technologically inclined. Chapter 1 felt as basic of an intro as you could get introducing main concepts and vocabulary. I felt as if the tutorials were the perfect way to Synchronize what I was reading onto what I was doing I was not left with any questions in chapter 1 I feel confident in my skills from chapter 1.

Chapter 2:

Chapter 2 was significantly more in depth, however, made a great stepping stone from chapter 1 chapter 1 allowed me to familiarize myself with the interface, i.e. contents and catalog screens chapter 2 served as a steppingstone in allowing me to use the feature layer, labeling and data section. Creating labels for specific markers on the map and also allowed me to figure out how to change colors and label different features.

Chapter 3:

Chapter 3 was short, but overwhelming tutorial one took the maps that we’ve made and put them on a sheet of paper and made charts with them tutorial two and three were more abstract in the way that you were publishing and downloading maps which I struggled with for a little bit But the book is a good job at keeping you on track Tutorial for was creating a dashboard which was just as frustrating as tutorial two and three but I reason through.

Chapter 1

This chapter introduced the fundamentals of ArcGIS, focusing on changing basemaps, adding features, and understanding how to manage map layers. A major takeaway was the importance of selecting the right basemap to provide context for spatial data. As I progressed, I learned how to zoom, pan, and adjust layers to highlight key information while reducing unnecessary clutter. Accessing and working with the attribute table was especially useful, as it allowed me to filter and sort data efficiently, making it easier to identify patterns like areas with high population density. I also explored how to customize map symbols, adjusting colors, shapes, and labels to improve map clarity. The introduction of the 3D view was a highlight, as it provided a new way to visualize spatial relationships and added depth to the mapping process. While there were some challenges, such as software crashes and missing features, the overall experience helped me gain confidence in using ArcGIS for basic data visualization and organization.

Chapter 2

The second chapter expanded on symbology customization and refining how data is displayed on the map. I practiced adjusting colors, shapes, and symbols to better distinguish between data layers, which improved overall clarity. Learning how to configure labels and pop-ups made the maps more interactive by allowing users to see important details, such as names and statistics, when clicking on specific features. I also experimented with definition queries, which allowed me to filter and display only specific data that met certain conditions. This helped refine the map’s presentation and ensured that only the most relevant information was visible. Additionally, I explored different classification methods, such as quantile intervals and defined intervals, to better visualize data ranges. Importing and adjusting symbology for comparisons, like income levels versus population density, was another key skill I developed. Creating dot density maps helped me visually represent quantities more effectively, and learning how to control labels based on zoom levels ensured that the map remained uncluttered.

Chapter 3

This chapter introduced more advanced ArcGIS features, such as comparing maps on the same sheet, publishing maps, and creating dashboards. The ability to view and contrast multiple datasets side by side was particularly useful for identifying spatial patterns, like how population density relates to infrastructure distribution. Publishing maps was another key skill, as it allowed for sharing data with others while managing visibility settings. This is especially important when presenting projects or collaborating with teams. One of the most practical tools covered was creating dashboards, which provide interactive visualizations using charts, graphs, and maps. Dashboards make it easier to track real-time data and present findings in a clear and concise format. While I encountered some technical challenges, such as missing legends and occasional software errors, this chapter significantly improved my understanding of how to manage, analyze, and present geospatial data effectively. I now feel more confident in using ArcGIS tools and look forward to applying these skills in future projects.

Finally using the ArcGIS application simply could not be exaggerated as a breath of fresh air. Apart from a couple of instructions that didn’t work exactly as instructed, the process of getting through there first three chapters was a really fun and far more understandable than some of the reading from previous weeks. The first and biggest thing that surprised me when I first started using the app is how similar it is to other data organizing and creation software like Microsoft Word or Google Sheets.

Everything at first was obviously very confusing and overwhelming to look at, but as I progressed through the tutorial finding all of the different buttons and options quickly started to become natural to me. One of my favorite functions of the app in how easy it is to organize multiple pages of information in a very small space. The right tool bar area makes it super easy to organize all your different windows and conveniently stores them in a row on the bottom of your screen for easy selection between them. This made the few moments here and there where I was jumping from window to window trying to find the button I hadn’t heard of before a lot less stressful that it could have been by a long shot.

Some of the negatives that I’ve gathered from this so far have been the amount of options that there are. I can see it being very easy to completely confuse one tool for another or to find myself looking in the wrong properties tab for an option that’s really similar to another and in a similar looking window. However, I am excited to learn more as I think the more I use and understand the app that I will be able to accurately and efficiently differentiate between all of the different options you have at your disposal. One part that really did kinda confuse me and make me feel off track was some of the online stuff in the third chapter, it wasn’t super hard, just annoying having to navigate both the internet and ArcGIS. I hope the other half of this course feels more simple.

Chapter 1: I began by successfully signing into my account on ArcGIS in SCSC 207. Then, after downloading the necessary files, I was still unable to access the proper data in the program, so I began running an update to the ArcGIS software on the desktop. This took a significant amount of time so I then attempted to switch computers. I was in the lab for over an hour and could not manage to get the map to open properly or display any of the data. Eventually, I was able to get it to show up but, I am honestly unsure what we did that got the program to actually display the data. In the first tutorial I learned how the general program works, saving my project, and using a few different tools. The next tutorial taught me how to make a bookmark, zoom, change my layers, and select an attribute. In the third tutorial, I continued to use the attribute tables. I learned how to manipulate the data stored in these tables and change the view available within them. I also learned why manipulating this data may be useful in the context of census data. I did encounter an error message that I did not understand when trying to save my changes to the municipalities attribute table, but I do not think it will significantly impact the rest of the tutorial. I also learned how to find the summarized statistics for data used in my map. In the final module, I learned how to add more feature planes to my layers.

Chapter 2: The first tutorial helped me learn to change the colors of different areas in a map, in this case based on land use. The following tutorial gave me the skills necessary to label these areas and assign pop-ups within them with additional data. The third combined these to help me manipulate the symbols used for different types of assistance organizations and manipulate the map to better find these places in Manhattan. Unfortunately, I was unable to complete most of the fourth tutorial because there was an error with the tutorial data, and the file did not contain the neighborhoods data that was necessary to complete the work. I did read this tutorial so that I now understand more about how to create a 3D map in the program and how to manipulate the view of this map to get the proper visualization of the data. For the fifth tutorial it was really interesting to see how symbols can be used to better visualize and compare data within the map by comparing the food insecurity of the two groups overlaid as differently sized circles in their residential areas. Tutorial 6 was very interesting because I learned how to assign graduated colors to values in the program, and how to duplicate this on another data set and compare the two easily. Tutorial seven was helpful in understanding the dot density plots that were discussed in the reading section from last week because I hadn’t really read too much about or used that type of map before so it was really interesting to get to make one and look at how the data appears. For the 8th tutorial, the notes about labeling and zoom were helpful, however, I could not locate an “out beyond” button in the visibility range group which made it difficult to take all the necessary steps for this tutorial.

Chapter 3: In the first tutorial I am learning to make a layout using maps that were created in the GIS program. Unfortunately, I ran into an issue with the renaming of my layout so it is just called layout, but I will try again next time on the naming issue. Learning how to add the maps to the layout, resize them, and move them around is nice to know how to do when thinking about the practical uses for GIS knowledge and creating figures from data in the future to use in real life. It was also good to have the knowledge of creating a bar graph from the data and turning it into a graphic which will be useful in the future if/when I ever need to use data from GIS in a figure for research purposes. Unfortunately, due to the delays I had with my technically difficulties in getting started this week, this was as far as I was able to make it in the tutorials, I will begin with 3.2 next week and I intend to start earlier to accommodate for the extra workload I am putting on myself next week and to allow for anything else that may go wrong in the future.