Category: Course Student Work

Chapter 4: 

This chapter on spatial databases was definitely more challenging than the earlier ones, but it ended up being the most useful so far since I can actually see myself using this stuff to import data and analyze certain trends in real situations. Learning about attribute queries and how to link tabular data to map features was really interesting, especially since I didn’t realize before that SQL coding could be used in GIS to work with attribute values. The crime mapping exercise was probably my favorite part because it made me think about how law enforcement and public health officials could actually use this to identify problem areas and figure out where interventions are needed most. I had some issues in this chapter with finding certain tools but overall it wasn’t too difficult

Chapter 5: 

This chapter provided valuable insight into map projections and how different projection systems minimize distortions depending on the scale and region being mapped, which helped me understand why we use specific projections for US based versus global datasets. Learning to work with coordinate data from GPS units and external databases to create point feature classes was particularly interesting to me. The chapter’s explanation of spatial data sources and coordinate systems was a bit confusing but not too bad, and I can see how these skills will be directly applicable to the final project. 

Chapter 6: 

This chapter introduced me to geoprocessing techniques for manipulating spatial data, including tools like Pairwise Dissolve for aggregating block group attributes to the neighborhood level and Pairwise Intersect for summarizing feature class data into grouped datasets. What really stood out was how these various tools work together in practice and build off each other. I’ve noticed I’m getting a little more comfortable navigating the software overall as I can now quickly identify which tools I need and where to find them which I wasn’t as good at in past chapters. While I still encountered some technical issues this week, they were significantly fewer than before, and I’m feeling more confident applying my statistics and mapping skills as I work toward the final project. 

This tutorial book continues to go in depth on how to use GIS and how to use all the little features it has. Chapter four was tough for me; I was struggling to find a few of the attributes or tabs it was asking me to find. When I got to the portion where it asks you to delete the unnecessary portions of the “Tracts” tab, I was unable to, as the “delete” selection was greyed out. I am unsure of where I went wrong, but when I opened the attributes table for “Tracts,” it only showed one variable, while the attributes I was not able to delete were showing in another tab. When attempting to add the “GEOIDNum” field, it also did not show up in the attributes table. This very well could be user error, but I will have to go back to the first part of chapter four.

Chapters five and six, however, went very smoothly! The tutorials were lovely and worked exactly as stated in the text. I do like how the tutorials give you the opportunity to test the lesson with a different outcome at the end of each section. I do find it quite helpful. Chapters five and six dive deeper into the more technical side of using GIS programs by showing us how to change numbering settings, sort through information (by data, type, quantity, etc.), and change layering and location specifics. I am quickly realizing just how many options there are in ArcGIS and can see how each of them is extremely useful to the overall function of the program. I am excited to try to start a map from nothing but data, as everything has been handed to us thus far, but I definitely need more practice with the basics first.

Chapter 4’s tutorial 3 was the most interesting of all the ones that. We’re in this specific chapter. We looked at a bunch of crimes in Pittsburgh and broke down how to examine each one and where they occurred. In this tutorial, we split many of the crimes into exactly where they occurred, when they occurred, which crimes they belong to, and how many of the crimes were specific types of crime. If it were a burglary or a robbery, we would have to look specifically for those things and pinpoint them on this map. They asked us to define where each of these crimes occurred by entering specific codes. Chapter 4 felt much smoother while doing all this compared to chapters 1-2 and 3, after spending lots of time in the lab trying to figure out how to make sure these run right and that I had done them correctly. Chapter 4 went by very quickly and felt like I was moving through it effortlessly, so it didn’t take me too much longer than the previous chapters. 

Chapter 5 Tutorials We’re very simple compared to the other two. The first one they asked us to do was to center the United States in the world, which took very little time.  The second tutorial of the chapter was also quite simple and specifically had us center the world as they have it is on the globe, which was more of an oval shape. The other tutorials we looked at in this chapter led us to examine the census data for NYC. One of the last ones we looked at was the spaces in Minnesota. 

 

In Chapter 6 tutorials, the ones I remember, we looked at the NYC boroughs, put the name “Upper West Side” on the map, and specifically marked out the neighborhood in downtown NYC. Also, in a different tutorial in chapter 6, we pinpointed multiple of them, Firehouses and police stations in that area on points which. We use a method that lets us pinpoint all of them very quickly, so we didn’t have to pinpoint one after another, since there are multiple firehouses and police stations. . 

Chapter 4:

This chapter pushed me a bit more than the earlier chapters, but I still enjoyed working through it. I thought it was really cool how the chapter showed different ways to control what you can see and can’t see on the map, especially when sorting layers or adjusting visibility settings. Some of the steps were a little harder to follow compared to previous chapters, so I had to slow down and double‑check what I was doing. Even with that, I liked experimenting with the symbology options and seeing how those choices changed the look and meaning of the map. Overall, the chapter helped me think more about map design and made me feel more confident using ArcGIS Pro.

Chapter 5:

This chapter focused on finding what features fall inside a specific area, which made the analysis feel more practical and straightforward. I worked through exercises that involved selecting features within boundaries and summarizing what was inside each region, and I liked how clear the results were. Compared to the previous chapter, I found these steps simpler and easier to follow because the workflow felt more direct. It was satisfying to see how quickly you can answer real questions just by defining an area and using the different tools. Overall, this chapter helped reinforce the basics of spatial analysis and also wasn’t too hard to follow. 

Chapter 6:

This chapter covered comparing features across different layers, which made the analysis feel more detailed and data‑heavy. I worked through exercises that involved joining tables and looking at relationships between datasets, and it was interesting to see how much information you can uncover when layers are connected. I found this chapter harder to navigate because some steps expected you to remember tools and menus from earlier chapters really well. A few times I had to look back or look up how to get to a certain table or window, which slowed me down. Even with the extra effort, the chapter helped me understand how powerful table relationships are in GIS and why they matter for deeper analysis.

Chapter 4

I found this chapter a little hard to navigate solely because of the “adding clauses” section of the tutorial. However, other than that, I was able to do the rest successfully. I now feel more comfortable working with GIS in general, and I feel capable finding and completing basic tasks.

Chapter 5

After Chapter Four’s difficulties, this chapter and tutorials made me feel a lot better. This chapter was all about spatial data. The Hammer-Aitoff projection is also pretty cool to be able to create. The only discrepancy I had was specifying the display units for the map, however, other than that, it was fine.

Chapter 6

This chapter is about geoprocessing. This chapter was also a little harder than I anticipated as well. The pairwise dissolve tool was okay at first, but the more I used it the harder I found it to navigate. Overall, I feel good about this week’s chapters and feel more confident in my GIS abilities

Chapter 4 (3.4): 

In this chapter, I was able to gain more insight into working with File Geodatabases throughout the different exercises and learning modules. I learned more about spatial databases and databases as a general skill and tool used when working with maps and GIS. In the first chapter, I learned more about importing data into a new ArcGIS project as a means to create a map and input data for different skills. I had issues in this section when it came to importing data as well as in some ways following the directions given to me in the book and project manual. Even though I understand both that I need these methods to learn and later create my own maps and images using data, I still get confused. I then learned how to modify attribute tables, with attribute tables being used to portray and display a lot of what is used in GIS ( in columns of data in tables). While doing this chapter, I felt more equipped when dealing with maps, that’s not the say that confusion didn’t arise at different points, especially as I was navigating between the instructions and the actual assignments, trying to get my work to match everything that I was in the readings while not knowing if it was entirely right or not. Later in the chapter, I learned more about carrying out attribute queries which is the use of linking tabular data to the spatial features in feature classes. In the actual lesson, I used SQL criterion with the attribute name as well as other factors. I hadn’t previously realized that coding or script could be use in GIS as a means to symbolize attribute values that are found in maps. 

 

Chapter 5 (3.4)

 

In this chapter I learned about world map projections and the different map windows that can be used in GIS to display and show information. One of the maps that was demonstrated to me was the “fly to Hammer-Aitoff (world)”. I was initially confused on how this information was resourceful to me but then assessed by situation and again understood that any and all information that I am learning in GIS is useful to me, seeing as I didn’t know anything about GIS or mapping before taking this class. I then started working with US map projections that are used commonly in the United States. Connected to this, I learned about using a projected coordinate system and the subsequent parameters that are associated. Lesson two was one of the easier sections from this chapter, which I  was very glad about. I then learned about projected coordinate systems which are used for medium and large sized maps (localized). I personally had issues adding layers and importing data, and came to find out I had been saving and putting data in folders wrong that entire time I was doing these assignments. I didn’t want to restructure my approach to everything after having come so far, so I had to change my approach and understanding of importing and naming data that is being put on my map. When talking about importing data, I also had issues with the fifth lesson in this chapter when I had to export data from an outside source for the first time to then bring it back to the map. In this chapter I also had to work with excel and tables from that which I was confused on, I had a hard time figuring out how to find my data in my files while also trying to properly insert it into my map. 

 

Chapter 6 (3.4) 

 

In the last chapter of this section I was sleep deprived while working on it so I made it harder and more frustrating than it had to be. In the first tutorial, I had issues with understanding the instructions while simultaneously getting error signs and messages saying that the data was not being inserted correctly. In the second tutorial where we were extracting and clipping features, I first had issues with learning how to properly select the areas and regions that I needed from the map to then be used for more information. I will say that it most definitely feels liberating when you understand what you are doing or when you finally get the issue sorted out that you were stressing over for an hour. I will say that I was glad I didn’t have to go out onto the web as much for this chapter while doing the tutorials, that’s not to say that it made the assignments easier or took less time to do. In this chapter, I also had issues when trying to interpret the directions both outwardly and incepted in the “your turn” sections. I’m not sure if it was because I was working on this until 5 am or if I was just extra angry, but every time I couldn’t find a function or feature within the first maybe 15 seconds of reading the instructions, I immediately began clicking harder on my computer and having to take deep breaths. This was especially true for when I was working with the different tools in the tool box and I continued to get error signs while my data and codes were processing because I was inputting something incorrectly. 

(I also again forgot to take pictures of my work and I fear its to late to go back and capture pictures of anything, trust and believe I’ll add pictures to next weeks work though 🙂

Chapter 4

I had similar issues as last time with the instructions not being specific enough. For example the text said to “Search for and open the Export Table tool,” when I searched for it three different “Export Table” tools came up and the text did not specify which one was the correct one. I had to go through each tool to figure out which one was the right one. After trying the two tools that were still active I got error messages for both of them. There were times where I had to guess what the textbook wanted me to do. I had a really hard time with this chapter. It was very confusing. After meeting with Dr. Krygier I realized that it wasn’t as much the content in the “Your Turn” section that was confusing me but just the way they worded the instructions that I had no idea what to do with. 

Chapter 5

This chapter went a lot smoother but I did have some issues with instructions telling me to open something with no other instructions and I had no idea how to proceed. This chapter has been the easiest for me thus far with little snags. It is really interesting how many applications GIS has and the many different ways it can be applied. 

 

Chapter 6

We learned a lot of different tools in this chapter. We learned how to combine and dissolve data. The pairwise dissolve tool was easy to use. This chapter went over how to merge, extract and add features. 

 

Chapter Four:

Chapter four primarily discussed opening previously edited GIS files within ArcGIS pro as well as converting data to suit the needs of the project. I will admit this was a very intimidating thing for me to work on, I’ve mentioned I’m not one for computer science. Interestingly this was actually the easiest part of the chapter as the tutorial was very clear on where/how/whatever to do to import the data into a new map and converting it accordingly.

The latter half of the chapter discussed different ways to interpret quantitative data specified on the map. I absolutely hate mathematics with a passion so naturally this was not a very fun thing for me to do. This was especially evident given that the tutorial has the rather uninteresting example of making census records which did not help. (It was like getting a word problem in a math class.) Though this was somewhat remedied later when example turned to different types of crimes committed in the area in question.

 

Chapter Five:

I absolutely loved this chapter! It was an absolute breeze to get through and I very much so appreciated the amount of different projections the software offered. It was absolutely fascinating to read about the  different practical applications for each projection and how they will influence the geographic results. Then the chapter when on talking about adding data layers and used another census example, this one was significantly easier to get through then the previous one given the lack of quantitative data however.

 

Chapter Six:

This chapter was rather trivial in my opinion. (My opinion might change when I start working on my own project within this software however) The labeling of land use characteristics as well as assigning the different fire department precincts to the neighborhoods was a very interesting example and a welcome change of pace. I feel like the whole tutorial on merging water features could have been significantly shorter and I really wanted this chapter to elaborate more on what the potential benefits are of just having one “area” of water. I hope my mind will be changed on that opinion as I progress but at the moment I am struggling to see a useful application for that feature.

Chapter 4: Not a terribly difficult chapter, although I had some issues with the tools on the last two tutorials.

Chapter 5: Significantly more difficult chapter, the first few tutorials were not hard and could be completed relatively quickly. Tutorial 5 took almost 45 minutes to complete and a number of instructions were difficult to follow. Tutorial 6 was also lengthy and difficult. On a more positive note, I feel like I am gaining a lot more familiarity with this software.

Chapter 6:Chapter 6 was the easiest for me, I had no trouble getting through any of the tutorials and was able to understand the instructions well enough to complete the tutorials in a timely manner.

I was excited to get into the real GIS work last week and ran into some technical difficulties, so I apologize for the delay in this post. This group of chapters was extremely helpful in understanding and navigating the ArcGIS Pro app. Initially, I thought the app would be simple and easy to use, but there is much more to it than I expected. However, all these tools are very useful to engage in the full application of GIS. The ability to change formatting as needed and control the layering of each aspect is impressive for creating the perfect visual, regardless of the need. The step-by-step style and many tutorials, including very simple steps is a very nice way of learning GIS programs and helpful for me personally as a very hands-on learner. I really enjoyed how interactive the maps remained even after creation. Being able to zoom in, click on points, and review specific information on an area with a click of a button really shows how incredibly useful GIS is to a multitude of different applications. I also did not know that GIS can be used to make graphs or informants other than maps. Chapters one through three covered a lot of information on the basics of GIS, and it was a very helpful introduction for someone who has utilized very little of these programs before.