McNichols Week 4

Chapter 1 –

Everything in this chapter was pretty easy and straightforward. The first time I tried running the program though it tried backing up my files and the computer froze. Getting to mess around in the 3D environment was cool, it reminded me of a project called 177776: The Future of Football, that I highly recommend reading. That project makes frequent use of models like the one we were working with in this chapter.

Chapter 2 –

My popups don’t seem to populate with any information, but as it hasn’t stopped me from what I need to do yet I’m finishing the work I’m assigned and will figure it out later. Ran into an error with tutorial 2.4 where the “Over age 60 receiving food stamps” layer didn’t have a valid data source, unsure how to fix that. The language in the text book of “Out Beyond” is outdated for Maximum/Minimum scale and I wasted a few minutes looking for a feature that’s not in the program.

Chapter 3 –

Sometimes the textbook refers to the Content Pane as the Catalog Pane and that’s caused me confusion. In 3.2 I am unable to share the maps because I don’t have publishing privileges. I don’t know what could be causing this issue, as I did all the registration steps that we needed to for ArcGIS. In 3.3 it said I am unable to log in to my account, not that my account didn’t exist, so I’m not sure what to do there but I did read the chapter. This barrier also means I can’t complete 3.4. I’ll come back for these assignments, but there’s other work I need to finish for this class first.

Gist Week 4

Chapter 1

This chapter went super smoothly for me and I ran into minimal problems if any. A couple times I used the search tool to find a specific button or task, but other than that it was straightforward to me. I included pictures of some of the maps/”your turn” section assignments. This chapter did take me a long time to complete, but I think it was mostly due to me trying to get comfortable with the software.

 

Chapter 2

This chapter is where I ran into more problems. First, I struggled to complete some of the labels, especially the water labels in one of the tutorials. Update, halfway through I realized that I just wasn’t pressing the “Label” button. Second, I got lost trying to make the streets into a ground layer. Third, I couldn’t do any of tutorial 2-4 (I think that’s the right one) because my Over age 60 neighborhood layer said there was no data source. Not exactly sure how that happened, but oh well. In this chapter I thought the swipe feature was really cool, and I’m excited to use that in the future.  Other than those few issues, this chapter was pretty smooth sailing and took a lot less time than chapter 1, since I was more comfortable with the system.

 

Chapter 3

This chapter went okay. The tutorials weren’t hard to follow I just ran into a couple issues that prevented me from completing the whole tutorial. In 3-1, I had problems creating and adding the charts. They just wouldn’t show up for some reason. Regardless, I was still able to get my layout with the two maps and legends completed. Tutorial 3-2 said I didn’t have sharing privileges, which I’m not sure how to fix, considering I created the GIS online account. I can try to figure it out later if need be. It also wouldn’t let me log into my ArcGIS online account so I am really confused about that. I’ll try again next week to see if I can figure it out. This made 3-3 and 3-4 relatively impossible for me to do unfortunately as well. Hopefully next week I can figure it out 🙂

Plunkett Week 4

Chapter 1: It was a slow start for me as I was getting used to where all of the buttons were. I had trouble with clearing the attribute table because it kept telling me the clear button was at the top and it ended up being at the bottom. It’s fun to mess around with the maps.

Chapter 2:
This one once again started smoothly but I can’t for the life of me figure out where the dialog launcher is. I also had to separately add the files for neighborhoods on 2-4 because it kept saying there were no properties.

Chapter 3:
This one took a while because uploading the maps online took almost 10 minutes each. I’m now running into an issue with loading the second map, it keeps disappearing while uploading which makes me have to re-do the steps. I’ll come back to the online uploads.

Villanueva Henkle Week 4

Chapter 1

Nearly everything went smoothly for me. Whenever I tried something, it worked, but I could not figure out to rename a column in the attribute tables using Aliases. Even with things being slightly different due to software updates to ArcGIS, everything was very straightforward.

Chapter 2.

Again, nearly everything went smoothly. Even though there were more new concepts and tools being thrown at me than chapter one, the work felt just as manageable. However, my 2-4 Tutorial file got corrupted, so I was not able to finish that specific tutorial. I really enjoyed learning about visibility ranges, and I can see myself using them a lot in the future.

Chapter 3

The first tutorial went just fine, but I must have forgotten to register for ArcGIS Online, as I cannot post any of my maps nor login. In spite of this hinderance, I did as much as I could on ArcGIS Pro and will make sure to go back and finish the online work once my account is setup.\

 

Baer Week 4

Chapter 1

This chapter went really well. I felt really cool making it. Everything was straightforward and I had no issues. It’s surprising to me how much really goes into these maps.

Chapter 2

Similar to chapter 1, I had no issues. The mapping was really fun and cool. The slider tool was really fun to play around with too. Some of the features that the book refers to are either labeled differently or in a different place, but I eventually found it.

Chapter 3

This is where I ran into some issues. ArcPro would not let me do online sharing, so i was unable to complete some of what was need for 3.1 –>3.4. However, making the layout was really interesting as wells as the bar graph.

Deal Week 4

Chapter 1

The only question I am left with after completing chapter one is I am wondering why for the last part of tutorial three my program completely denied opening up the 3D version of the Population Density map. I had to skip the whole view and navigate a scene section because it would not allow me to open the 3D map. I don’t have any comments or notes on this chapter, what needed to be done was straightforward and I got it done. The occasional pictures of how our screens are supposed to look was very helpful to me, it was reassuring to see visually I was not doing the work completely wrong

 

Chapter 2

The first issue I ran into with the chapter two tutorial was in part 3 in the symbolize figure and ground features. When I went to edit the symbology of the food facilities only soup kitchen was listed. There was no option to edit food pantry or food pantry.  The only one showing up was soup kitchen, and I ensured I had the right thing input into field 1 so I don’t understand why the other two symbols were not showing up. I do not know what is up with this chapter but I was also unable to complete tutorial 4 because it says I have insufficient data in the neighborhood section. I downloaded the map just the same as I have all the others so I don’t understand what I possibly could have done to cause this. This chapter was very frustrating to me as I had two separate occasions where it was just not working and there was nothing I could do about it. The rest of the chapter was not an issue for me though. The instructions were straightforward and I was able to successfully complete everything that was working.

Chapter 3

Tutorial 1 went well, it was not difficult and I was able to complete everything. The first issue I ran into with this chapter was in tutorial 2. It would not allow me to do any of the sharing stuff. It says my account does not have publishing privileges. This means I was also not able to complete the whole of 3-3 and 3-4.  I am frustrated, I don’t have much else to say about it.

 

McNichols Week 1

Hi! I’m Ethan McNichols, I’m a senior Environmental Studies major and double minor in Data & Society and Social Justice. I’m a member of OWU’s cross country and track teams, and on campus I’m involved with the TTRPG club (games like Dungeons and Dragons) and TCG club (like Magic the Gathering)

Prior to this course, I’ve had some amount of experience with GIS due to my summer internship at the Ohio EPA. I worked in the Stormwater program in the Department of Surface Water, and would use their internal GIS system primarily to locate permitted locations to conduct storm water inspections at. I also did some editing and correction of the dataset the software was operating off of, as there was a large batch of permits that had incorrect or missing location values. As the reading gets into GIS is an incredibly broad term and I’ve only had meaningful interaction with a very small part of that umbrella, so I’m excited to learn more throughout this class.  I think its interesting that some GIS scholars view its conception as an inevitability, the natural conclusion to the converging technologies and disciplines of the time, especially as it relates to the documentation and interaction with population data like the census. I really enjoyed reading about the back and forth about GIS as the visualization of spatial patterns and the “intuitive” reasoning that it interacts with, as well as the distinction between GIS as science and as system as the field has grown and established itself.

A use of GIS technology that I find incredibly compelling is the website Queering the Map, where a community-generated database of personal moments and stories with the user’s queerness are mapped onto relevant locations. We’ve got a few of these data points on campus at the dorms and SLUs, and there are a few more scattered throughout Delaware. The project is a documentation of a spatial relationship to queerness, the places and communities that hold those experiences.

The other GIS system I looked at was GIS for Climate, a database maintained by ESRI which contains filters for flooding projections in the United States, days above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and a lot of other climate change related spatial analysis.

Godsey Week 4

Chapter 1:

The first tutorial chapter went slowly but smoothly. I didn’t run into any issues or complications, but it took me a while to get through all four tutorials as I adjusted to the program. 

Chapter 2:

The second tutorial chapter went much quicker. In tutorial four, I encountered a problem with the database not being imported correctly, but I reloaded the tutorial and manually imported the data to fix this issue.

Chapter 3:

The third tutorial chapter went slower than chapter two, but I encountered a few issues. The first issue was in tutorial one; when creating the chart, I could not see it (pictured below). I went through the steps again but ran into the same issue and decided to move on. The second issue was during tutorial four; when creating the table, it would not appear on the same tab as the map as the bar chart did. 

 

Veerjee Week 3

Chapter 4: Mapping Density
Why would somebody want to map density? People map density in order to see the highest and lowest concentrations of certain features. This is done mainly to see some patterns rather than where these features are. It is easier to see density with different colors than using points on a map. There are 2 key approaches to mapping density, creating shapes through a density surface. And using a defined area, through either using a dot density map or through a shade based on a determined value. It is very important to keep the units consistent. When creating a dot map, it is important to have a decent conversion rate for the data. Such as 1 dot for 200, but this does sacrifice accuracy as instead of an exact location, the dot will go in the general area of the features. With the dots themselves, it may be keen to change how the dots look in order to exemplify a pattern, mostly through the method of sizing up or down the dots.

Key Takeaways:

  • Calculating the density value for inconsistent units
  • pop_density = total_pop / (total area / conversion ratio)
    • The reason for 27878400 is that is the total square footage in a square mile. So if I wanted to turn square footage to square mileage…
      • Population density = total population / (total area in greater units / 27878400)
  • The Balancing Act of Dots: The less a dot represents, the more exact the area will be, but the map will be full of clutter. There is a balancing act between amount & size to adequately show the desired pattern & data.
  • Search Radius: The larger the radius, the more generalized the patterns & density.
  • Displaying density: We can use either graduated colors or contours in order to display density.
    • To display the best amount of contour is a black, light gray, or white for 0, and a color as anything within the displaying pre-requisites.

Chapter 5: Finding What’s Inside
People map what is inside in order to compare several areas based on the interior of them. While seeing a pattern is important, providing information on what is inside of the mapped area can provide a crucial amount of context. If this were to be used for something similar to an official proposal, there may be explanations that are answerable by the context provided by the map. Why would there not be any sales data for a large amount of land within a town? There may be a large parcel of land owned by 1 person for a farm. Are features discrete or continuous? This can be crucial for the context that an interior map provides. The cartographer will also need to answer the question of what features deserve documentation. We may use different methods such as the raster method to take in information about the area that we have selected and overlay different sets of data over each other in order to get a result regarding the different sets of data that we are using for this location to see patterns. We can then use the information generated to either make a map using it or different types of charts hat display a few of the key indicators together.

Key Takeaways:

  • Discrete vs Continuous features:
    • Discrete features are unique & identifiable. These can be listed & counted. Some examples are addresses, towns, buildings, crimes, or known locations of animals.
    • Continuous features: Supposed to represent a seamless geographic feature. This can be elevations, sea levels, climates, etc.
    • Count v frequency:
      A count would be the knowledge of how many features are inside of a total area, whereas frequency would be knowing how many of a counted feature is inside of an area.
      Usage of the Raster Method: Using a combination of raster layers to compare each part of the cell with categories. It will then come up with an end result of some sort to put in the table. This is typically the most efficient way to display overlapping features.

Chapter 6: Finding what’s nearby

People usually want to find out what is nearby in order to use the patterns generated by the data to predict what may come up in the future due to various conditions being tracked. This is called the travel range, which can be measured through either time, distance, or cost. This information can be used to decide what to do & potential ways to combat potential problems that come up in the future. This is typically done by showing what is near by the area that is mappeed using methods used in chapters 2-5. Within the three key ways that I have listed, which are straight line distance, distance or cost over network, and cost over surface, once we have picked whatever method works the best, we can create a buffer to see what is within the distance through the method that we have chosen. There are several methods to measuring this distance through maps, such as point -> point, using color codes, or spider diagrams. Having a lot of data for this type of map is key, and needs to be gathered & separated accordingly to the needs of the maps.

Key Takeaways:
Three key ways to measure what is nearby:
Straight line distance: Used to see what is around the selected feature using a distance in order to create some sort of boundary or see what features are within said distance.
Distance/Cost Over Network: Measures travel based on things such as roads, typically used to see the cost/distance of travel between two+ points.
Cost over surface: Measures overland travel, such as a plane, to see the area within a range based on different costs.
Rings: Typically used for finding how much a value of features increases/decreases as the distance covered increases/decreases.
Buffer: Typically used to create a boundary of some sort, there may be multiple.
Bands: Good for usage in comparing distance.

Gist Week 3

Chapter 4: Mapping Density

 

This chapter covers why it is helpful to map with density, how to decide when to map density, two ways to map density, mapping density of defined areas, and creating a density surface. The chapter starts by showing how to calculate a density value for a location. To do this, you divide the total number of features by the region for every location. Then, each area is shaded in a different color. I learned that ArcGIS can calculate density for us, which is lovely! You can also make a density map with dots, where each dot is assigned a value, and then the dots are placed on the map accordingly. It was interesting to see the comparison between the examples in the book of a shaded vs. dot map and how each can be perceived differently. Density surfaces are created in raster layers. There is also a specific formula to calculate cell size. You start by converting density units to cell units, divide by the number of cells, and then take the square root. It is also essential to find a good search radius. Something too big can disregard local patterns, but something too small can prevent the more prominent patterns from being recognized. The weighted maps were also interesting, and the farther away from the search radius you get, the less detailed the densities would be. Visually, my favorite maps to look at were the graduated maps. Seeing patterns with a smoother gradient rather than sharp lines or an abundance of dots was straightforward. However, as with everything, each map type has a time and place. For instance, a shaded map might be more suitable for showing population density, while a dot map might be better for showing the distribution of a specific species. I appreciated seeing the connection to classes from the previous chapters and how that related to density mapping. I also learned that it is good to have more sample points to make the data more representative of the population since the date between points is an estimate. 

 

Chapter 5: Finding What’s Inside

 

This chapter is dedicated to the ‘Finding What’s Inside’ technique, which is a versatile tool for mapping an area to understand its dynamics. It also enables the comparison of different areas, making it a valuable resource. The chapter outlines multiple ways to apply this technique. The first method involves drawing an area boundary on top of the features. The second method uses an area boundary to select the features inside, and the third method combines the first two, creating summary data. You can also use this technique to identify patterns within a specific area or across several areas. The categories that are graphed within the area can be discreet or continuous. What’s intriguing is that the continuous data could also be data from a previous map created with GIS. These area graphs can be used to determine if an individual feature is in an area, provide a complete list of features contained in an area, or list the number of features inside an area/a group of areas. Since some linear/discrete data can fall partially within and outside of an area, you can select if you want to include all data that lives completely inside, all data that lives entirely outside, features that fall inside but extend outside of the area, or only include the portions of the data that exist inside the area. The first way to “find out what’s inside” is to draw areas on top of features. The next is to select features inside an area. Another way is to overlay the areas and the features. Different methods work better for solving various problems. When creating these maps, using thick lines to show the areas or shading is helpful. After making these maps, statistics can be extremely useful in determining the data’s meaning and assessing visual patterns. This chapter also details how to make various maps and the steps that go along with that. 

 

Chapter 6: Finding What’s Nearby

 

This chapter is about learning how to use GIS to visualize elements within a specific area. This can help monitor a location to understand what is going on inside. There are three ways to measure nearness: straight-line distance, distance/cost over a network, and cost over the surface.  You can measure with distance or price. Distance is self-explanatory, but cost can be time, money, or effort. It is essential to know if the area you are calculating is flat, planar method, or curved, geodesic method, as the calculations differ for both. The planar method is better for small areas where the curvature of the Earth will be relatively nonexistent (city, county, state). The geodesic method is used for much larger areas, like a region, continent, or the Earth as a whole. When mapping, you can choose to use a single or multiple ranges. Multiple ranges allow for more comparisons, which could be helpful for specific issues. With straight-line distance, the source feature and distance are measured. GIS will then find the features within that area. For distance/cost over a network, you must specify source locations and a cost or distance for each linear feature. Then, GIS shows which segments fall within those boundaries. Lastly, for a cost over a surface, you specify features and costs, and the GIS will provide a cost for each feature. Using GIS, you can also create a buffer as a permanent or temporary boundary. One example was creating a sound buffer for streets. When making the maps, you can choose only to show the features inside the map or the features inside and outside. Both of these options work well for different purposes. This chapter also gives a tutorial on how to create these types of maps and how to read the results. I found it interesting that GIS can help develop travel routes. This can allow first responders to reach their destination quicker, potentially saving lives. I also thought that specifying more than one boundary on the same map could also be useful for different situations.