Data Inventory & Final Exam

Updated: 2/13/2024

To finish off Geog 291 I’d like you to do a review of some of the GIS data available from Delaware County, Ohio, and then engage in a few made up applications, using the Delaware data and applying what you learned in the Mitchell and ArcGIS Pro books.

Delaware Data Inventory (start work week 5)

1. Go to the Delaware County Ohio GIS Data Hub and click on All Files
2. Review the available data (click on each and read the Data Summary): create (in your posting for the week) the name of each data layer and a few sentences about the data
3. Create a new folder on the external drive you have been using for the GTK ArcGIS Pro tutorial. Call the new folder Delaware GIS Data.
4. Download (to the Delaware GIS Data folder) (as .shp files) these three data sets: Parcel, Street Centerline, and Hydrology (search for this last dataset on the Delaware site if you don’t see it in the list). Create a new ArcGIS Pro project and open these three layers. Create a map that shows all three, save a screenshot and include it in your weekly posting.

Create Two Fake GIS Applications: Due Tuesday, March 5. Plan accordingly!

For the “final” in this course, I’ll have you choose two concepts/applications from the Mitchell book (chapters 3-7) and create a faux application showing how that concept could be applied using several of the datasets from Delaware County (and your knowledges from the ArcGIS Pro tutorial). Choose two of the five concepts/applications below.

Your final should be saved as a Google Doc and in the shared folder for the class. (Geog 291 Krygier would be mine). Email me when it’s complete.

The questions below require you to make up a fake  problem or scenario and then use GIS analysis to solve that problem. Feel free to be as creative as you want to be. Less boring is always better. Make sure to create decent-looking maps with appropriate symbols and legends as part of each step and include them with your answers. Ask for input and advice if you need it. I mean it. Don’t get hung up and frustrated. This is actually not difficult to do.

Select any TWO of the five concepts / applications below for the final:

1. Selecting and Classifying Land Uses: Create a map that shows the 6 different major categories of land uses (agricultural, mineral, commercial, residential, exempt).  These land use codes are in the Parcels data (the class column). Select one of the categories, and create a second map showing all the sub-classifications in that category. Refer to the Delaware County Land Use Codes (below) for category and subcategory information. Symbolize each category with an appropriate color. Add appropriate additional data (such as road centerlines) for reference and make your map look decent.  (approx. 1 page description + 2 maps)

Delaware County Land Use Codes: right-mouse click to enlarge, don’t click to not enlarge.

2. Making New Shape Files from Existing Shape Files: Choose two Delaware data shapefiles, select a relevant subset of the data on those shapefiles, and create new shapefiles of the subset of data.  For example, you could select all wetlands and soils within a particular township or all wetlands and soils of a particular type in the entire county.  Create a map using your new shapefiles, add appropriate additional data (roads, etc.), and describe how what you did could actually be useful. (approx. 1 page description + map).

3. What’s Inside? Review ch. 5 from Mitchell (“Finding What’s Inside”) and pay particular attention to the section “Three Ways of Finding What’s Inside” on pages 145-148.  Describe a scenario where this kind of analysis would help solve a particular problem, then perform that analysis using actual Delaware data layers.  More creative and sophisticated analyses will be rewarded.  Please model what you do after the examples in “Three Ways of Finding What’s Inside.”  (approx. 1 page description + map).

4. What’s Nearby? Review ch. 6 from Mitchell (“Finding What’s Nearby”) and pay particular attention to the section “Creating a Buffer” on pages 194-199.  Describe (1 page each) three scenarios – buffering point features, line features, and area features – where such analyses would help solve a particular problem, then perform those analyses using actual Delaware data layers.  Use multiple buffers in at least one of the examples.  More creative and sophisticated analyses will be rewarded.  Please include a decent finished map. (3 page description + 3 maps).

5. Mapping Change: Review ch. 7 from Mitchell (“Mapping Change”) and create a time-change map of subdivisions in Delaware Co.  View the subdivision file (in Delaware Data) and look at the table: there is temporal information here: the date that the subdivision was established (in a peculiar format).  Create a graduated color map of subdivisions based on this temporal data.  Classify the data so it makes some sense (1850-1900, 1900-1930, etc.) and choose an appropriate color.  (1 page description + 1 map)