Geography 291: Geospatial Analysis with Desktop GIS

Address Point: These are all certified addresses in the county, they are indicated at the building centroid. They are most commonly used for disaster management and emergencies.

Annexations: This data is the annexations and boundaries and is constantly being updated. The data is published monthly.

Building Outline 2023: This is the outline for all structures in the county. It is updated after new buildings or structures have been created.

Condo: This data is all condos in the county. It is recorded by the county recorder office.

E911: This uses the address points dataset. This data makes it possible to reverse geocode a set of coordinates. It is used for emergencies typically and is updated daily, and published monthly.

GPS: This data highlights all GPS monuments in the county that were established between 1991-1997.

MSAG: MSAG or Master Street Address Guide is a data featureset. It consists of 28 political jurisdictions and was created to help facilitate the process of locating the county’s boundaries.

Municipality: This is all of the municipalities in the county.

Parcel: Polygons that are all cadastral parcel lines in the county. The are maintained by the county GIS office and are stored in the recorder’s office.

Precinct: This is the voting precincts of the county. It is under the direction of the Board of Elections and is maintained by the GIS office.

Recorded Document: Points representing recorded documents in a number of county records. They can include annexations, surveys, and subdivisions in the county.

School District: This is all the school districts in the county and was created by the auditor’s office.

Street Centerline: The LBRS or Location Based Response System centerlines are the center of pavement on roads in the county. It was created using field observation and is intended for geocoding, disasters and emergencies.

Subdivision: This is all subdivisions and condos in the county.

Survey: A shapefile of point coverage representing surveys of land. Old survey volumes are not included, all of the points are of surveys as of May 2004.

Tax District: This is all tax districts and has been defined by the Real Estate Office; it is dissolved by the Tax District Code.

GIS Tutorial for ArcGIS Pro

Chapter 9: Spatial Analysis

This chapter introduces spatial analysis techniques used to examine geographic patterns and relationships. It covers essential tools like buffering, which creates zones around features, and overlay analysis, which helps combine multiple datasets to determine intersections. The tutorials walk through various spatial analysis applications, such as proximity analysis for service areas and clustering to identify data patterns. A major takeaway is that spatial analysis provides insights by identifying relationships between spatial elements. These techniques are useful in decision-making for urban planning, environmental assessments, and resource management. One challenge encountered was configuring buffer distances correctly to ensure accurate analysis.

Chapter 10: Raster GIS

This chapter explores working with raster data, which is crucial for environmental and topographic analysis. The tutorials focus on processing raster datasets, performing raster calculations, and creating heat maps using kernel density analysis. Additionally, it introduces the concept of suitability modeling by combining multiple raster layers. Understanding how raster data represents continuous surfaces like elevation and temperature is essential for GIS applications. Challenges included managing large raster files and selecting appropriate classification methods for visualization.

Chapter 11: 3D GIS

This chapter focuses on working with three-dimensional data to enhance spatial visualization. It covers tools for creating and manipulating 3D scenes, converting 2D features into 3D representations, and performing line-of-sight analysis. Tutorials include building elevation models and integrating LiDAR data for realistic 3D mapping. Unfortunately, the 3D feature is still not working on my side, which limited my ability to complete most of the exercises in this chapter. Since I couldn’t properly load or visualize the 3D elements, I continued reading through the material to understand the concepts.

Chapter 9

In chapter nine tutorial 3, I couldn’t find the travel settings group, so I couldn’t create the new map. There’s also no name or Average time to be able to align. I think it has to do with not having output fields or merge rules in the expand fields option. I also can’t find UseRate, so I also had to skip this part of section 3.

Chapter 10 

I didn’t have LandUse_Pgh from chapter 10 so I can’t put it inside the geodatabase. I Just used LandUse_Pgh.tif instead and hoped for the best, the rest was fine and making the model tool was fun and easy. 

Chapter 11

In chapter 11 it was fun exploring the maps and learning to navigate through them. In tutorial 4 I couldn’t click the bridges in the create features pane, so I had to skip over it.

This week I finally got all of the kinks out of my program and finally was able to do real work again (thank you for your help again haha). 

 

Chapter 9 focuses on spatial analysis techniques. The first tutorial covers buffer analysis, teaching me how to create simple and multiple-ring buffers to analyze proximity and influence zones around geographic features. Next, the chapter delves into service area analysis using the Network Analyst extension, where I learned to calculate accessible areas from a specific location based on time or distance, like determining the coverage of a service center or retail store. Another tutorial introduces gravity model calibration, where multiple-ring buffers are used to analyze how factors like population density or store location impact spatial interactions between locations. The chapter also includes a cluster analysis tutorial, which taught me about identifying spatial patterns and concentrations in data, such as crime hot spots or the distribution of resources. I overall learned essential spatial analysis skills, enabling them to apply these techniques to real-world problems in urban planning, environmental science, and other fields.

Chapter 10 focuses on analyzing and working with raster data. The first tutorial introduces map algebra, which is used to perform mathematical operations on raster data to analyze spatial patterns, such as calculating slopes, elevations, or vegetation indices. Next, the chapter covers reclassifying raster data, where I learned how to change the values of a raster layer based on specific criteria, such as reclassifying land cover types or soil classifications to simplify analysis. Another tutorial explores focal statistics and neighborhood analysis, teaching how to perform operations that analyze the values of cells in a raster based on the values of their neighboring cells. I found it cool that this application is useful in environmental studies like habitat suitability or pollution analysis. The chapter also includes tutorials on raster overlays, which demonstrate how to combine multiple raster layers to identify areas that meet certain conditions, such as finding regions that are both prone to flooding and have high population densities. Overall I feel more confident with raster data handling and analysis.

Chapter 11 focuses on working with vector data and performing advanced vector analysis. The chapter begins with a tutorial on overlay analysis. I was taught how to combine multiple vector layers to identify areas where features from different datasets intersect, such as determining regions with both high population density and environmentally sensitive areas. The next tutorial covers proximity analysis, where I figured out how to use tools like buffers and proximity analysis to identify features within a certain distance of each other. The chapter also explores intersecting and union operations, demonstrating how to combine different vector layers to create new layers that represent areas where features overlap or merge, essential for tasks like land use planning or conservation efforts. Additionally, I was introduced to spatial joins, a technique that enables the combination of attribute data from different layers based on their spatial relationship, like joining census data with geographic boundaries. Which I found particularly cool. Finally, the chapter covers density analysis. I was able to identify clusters or concentrations of features like the distribution of crime or disease outbreaks in certain urban areas using animation which I really liked!

Chapter 9: 

Chapter 9 focused on using buffers for proximity analysis once again in the city of Pittsburgh. This was interesting to me because I’m from Pittsburgh and it was cool to see proximity placed where I’m from.

Chapter 10:

Chapter 10 used Raster more than I had seen prior. I only ran into an issue when I accidentally deleted my raster set and had to go back and restart chapter 10 combined old techniques with new it was quite interesting. 

Chapter 11:

Chapter 11 involved 3-D GIS this was the most difficult chapter but most rewarding I mean take away from this class has been that GIS can be used for drastically more than what I ever anticipate

Chapter 9: Applying advanced GIS technologies

Chapter 9 focused on using buffers for proximity analysis and explained how to create different types of buffers.  I found this chapter easy to follow and didn’t run into any issues.  This chapter also looked into creating scatter plots and performing cluster analysis.  The only issue I was having was with my computer as the computer kept freezing.

Chapter 10: Raster GIS

Chapter 10 focused more on Raster rather than what we have seen so far with Vector.  This chapter goes over how to create a model along with  explaining raster datasets.  I found creating the model to be very interesting  and I also didn’t run into any problems with this chapter besides my computer just freezing again.

Chapter 11: 3D GIS

Chapter 11 was the final chapter and I found it to be the most fun and interesting one as it focused on the visual aspects and how to navigate scenes.  This chapter also looked into how to add trees onto maps and 3D buildings.  The only issue I ran into for this chapter was the last section of the part 6 of these tutorials for chapter 11 where I was unable to add the international building rule which was disappointing because I was excited to see what it would look like.  I also found the animation in part 7 of these tutorials for chapter 11 to also be very fun and interesting to go through.

Chapter 9

The first tutorial involved using buffers for proximity analysis. I was able to get more familiar with the pairwise tool and use previous knowledge to fly through this. Tutorial 9-2 was similar but this time we used spatial overlay to get statistics by buffer area.

I liked tutorial 9-3, I thought it was fun and different than other things we have done. I did have to really use my knowledge for some parts where they did not explain things as well as the past. Towards the end of the chapter, I was unable to calculate the Userate, as I tried to fix it I continued to get the same error code. This meant I was also unable to make a scatterplot. I tried your turn in Tutorial 9-5 It challenged me and I’m unsure If I got the right answers. 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 10

First tutorial started by inputting raster dataset into my project. I tried to do the Your Turn but got confused when I could not find the “Select Coordinate System” button. When trying to Symbolize my raster data set I could not figure out how to import from layer file. There was no button anywhere that said “options”. I had to symbolize the best I could by trying to match the colors myself.  I just had to continue on and in 10-3 I worked on building a risk index model. This tutorial had some new techniques as well as old ones and I was able to get through pretty quickly.

CHAPTER 11

In the first tutorial it taught me how to navigate a 3d scene with a mouse and keyboard which was very helpful. For your turn portion I was able to find my house and mess around with different basemaps. Tutorial 5 taught how to work with 3d features and add floors to existing buildings. I also found it fun when editing the height of the tower in the courthouse. Tutorial 11-6 incorporated many skills I already understood but I was able to learn how to create floors to the US Steel building.  As well as how to symbolize it to be more realistic and adhere to international building rules. The last tutorial was a great one to end on. It was interesting to learn you can make animations through the ArcGis Program. I wish I could have attached the animation, but I believe the file is too large to add into a post. Overall, I learned that this program is more than what I originally believed, going beyond my expectations.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9:

In Tutorial 9-1, I had some trouble with the tables. I only got the number of youths within 0.5 miles of a public pool. I did not get the other numbers. Tutorial 9-2: I couldn’t find output fields or the merge rule. I was completely confused for tutorial 3, but I breezed through 4.

Chapter 10:

While doing tutorial 2, the Threshold would not show up, I did everything it said to do. In 10-3, I couldn’t calculate the field for ZFHHCHLD. I kept getting an error.

Chapter 11:

I really liked chapter 11, specifically tutorial 1. being able to really see all the aspects in a different view rather than one map view was nice.

Chapter 9
This chapter introduced buffers, a tool in GIS used to analyze proximity by creating zones around specific features. Buffers are especially useful for urban planning and business decisions. The chapter expanded on this by covering multiple-ring buffers, which allow for a layered approach to proximity analysis. Another key topic was service areas, which measure distances based on road networks rather than straight-line distances, making them more practical for real-world applications like emergency response planning. Finally, the chapter covered clustering techniques such as K-means, which help group similar data points, and scatterplots, which visually represent spatial data relationships.

Chapter 10
Unlike previous chapters focused on vector data, this chapter introduced raster datasets, which represent spatial data through pixel values. Raster data can depict features like elevation, land use, and temperature. The chapter included hands-on practice with hillshade maps, which create a 3D effect for visualizing terrain. It also covered the Kernel Density tool, which helps estimate distribution patterns, such as population density or crime hotspots. A major section introduced ModelBuilder, a tool for automating GIS processes. While some students found it tricky, it proved valuable for streamlining data analysis and visualization tasks.

Chapter 11
This chapter explored 3D GIS applications, including terrain modeling and visualization. It introduced triangulated irregular networks (TINs), a method for representing elevation, and lidar data, which uses laser scanning to create highly detailed 3D maps. One highlight was working with 3D buildings and trees, allowing users to customize height, texture, and other attributes. The chapter also introduced animation tools, enabling users to create dynamic visualizations of geographic data. While some found the navigation controls difficult, the chapter provided an exciting look into the potential of 3D GIS for urban planning and environmental modeling.

Chapter 9

This chapter was quick and easy to follow. It focused on buffers, which help analyze proximity and find what’s near a location. I can see how they’d be useful for businesses and city planning by helping with location-based decisions. Another part of the chapter introduced scatterplots and the Multivariate Clustering tool to analyze data. I can see how these tools could be very useful to analyze data.

Chapter 10

This chapter covered rasters and was pretty short and simple. It was my first time working with raster datasets, and I learned how to import them, create hillshade maps, and generate elevation contours. It also showed how there are multiple ways to display the same data, depending on what you want to highlight. The second tutorial introduced the Kernel Density tool to create a density map. The last section focused on ModelBuilder, which was a bit tricky but well explained.

 

Chapter 11

This was a short but interesting chapter introducing 3D modeling. The first tutorial covered navigating 3D scenes, and then we learned about triangulated irregular networks (TINs). One of my favorite parts was creating 3D trees with z-enabled features. There were a ton of options for symbolizing different tree types, which I didn’t realize ArcGIS had. Later, I worked with LAS Datasets, which I found confusing but still managed to complete. The last tutorials focused on 3D buildings. I struggled with getting the correct Z height, but got the idea. The final tutorial let me create an animation.