Author: kfcooper

Chapter 7

The flow chart on page 230 was very helpful in understanding which platforms do what for which types of jobs that need to be done. I learned about the two main types of web scenes, which are photorealistic (which aim to recreate photos and textures); this type of web scene would be used to recreate surroundings. I also learned about cartographic web scenes (which are used to take 2D data and make it 3D  by extruding values). VR was not something that I really thought of before when thinking about GIS and applications, however, it makes a lot of sense. The Venn diagram on page 241 was helpful in understanding where VR, MR, and AR lie as an XR and their scale between presence and immersive. The indoor GIS was also very cool to think about in terms of VR and other game-based applications. A potential application from this chapter would be using Delaware data to create a cartographic web scene of land ownership within the county to show which areas have the most ownership for potential tax reasons.

Chapter 6

Within the first few sentences of the chapter, this was immediately a topic that I had not really thought of before. It had never occurred to me that we would need to account for real-time movement for objects and such for some reason. I had to look up what the Internet of Things  was and learned that it is an entire network of devices. While reading this chapter, it helped me understand how my Maps knows where my car is and the dot on the screen moves as I drive and it makes much more sense! The section on Smart Homes was also something that I did not think would have a GIS application but here we have it! As a public health major, I found the section on the COVID dashboard to be very applicable and would like to use this model/idea for an application idea. I think it would be interesting to use this dashboard for binge-drinking data to understand how location can play an important role in being a potential risk factor.

Chapter 3

Learning about the experience builder was very cool, and I think that this type of tool will allow people who might not be familiar with GIS to fully engage with the maps and take an interest into the respective topic. The tutorials seemed to be very helpful when navigating the online interface. I also found that the question and answers section was useful for troubleshooting issues.

 

Chapter 4

I thought the little remark about the post PC era was interesting and actually very thought provoking. I tend to group all of technology together and honestly forget what it would be like to not have all of the devices that I have now. Mobile GIS seems to be very useful when you need to access data with the tip of your fingers. I also thought that the table that organizes the sharing of feature layers made it much easier to understand. The section on Rapid Data Collection was also very cool!

Application Ideas

I can see how both of these sections are useful for people out in the field or for people who might not be completely familiar with the backend of GIS and just need to access the data rather than build a map. I think an application for both of these sections would be in the public health field, where someone needs to access data about addresses and their specific municipality to understand where cases of a disease are clustered. Then, out in the field using some true boot strap epi, using the mobile app would allow you to access data and use this to your advantage when identifying issues.

Data inventory

I did this in 291!

Selecting Ideas

I am thinking of going the public health and epidemiology route to try to use concepts from chapter 3 with data from the Delaware Data Inventory in a way that could be applicable to the health department.

Chapter 1

I was surprised by all of the different web hosts and other internet usages for GIS that were discussed in this chapter.  The section on technology also provided a lot of insights on what all of this data can actually be used for as well. The overview of contents was very useful (data, layers, web maps, scenes, tools, and apps). The section on different types of layers was also very helpful in understanding how they can be applied to projects in the future.

 

Chapter 2

At it again with more information on layers in this very helpful section. The table on smart-mapping styles was also useful, and the description will be helpful when determining what type of map to use for a project. The pop-up function seems very similar to the desktop version. I also recognized the story maps from desktop, I think this is very useful for when you are trying to convey information to an audience that might not be very familiar with your topic.

 

Applications

I looked to the table on page 41 to guide some of my ideas for different types of maps. An application for a dot density map would be locations of pet stores where I can buy my cat toys in the area. Another application would be a heat map, which could indicate the number of cat owners in the area.

Hi! My name is Kelsea Cooper and I am a junior double majoring in Public Health and Genetics! I am from Kent, Ohio. I have a cat named Marlin (he is very mischievous). In my free time I like to read, craft, and watch TV!

I used the ArcGIS website a little bit in 291 but poking around the ArcGIS site was very useful. It was interesting to look through the gallery at some older projects just within the homepage. I also navigated to the training section which seems like it will be very useful to be able to go back to use in the future. I also checked out the Community and Forums tab which seems like it would be useful if you were having some sort of issue that you needed help finding a solution to! 

When reading through the “Introduction to ArcGIS Online” a section that really caught my eye was being able to use data in the field mobily by using the companion app and also making maps offline. I am sure that in some fields this is a very useful tool that makes data collection much easier and also saves them so much time! The explore content section that focused on maps also seemed to be very useful and would be helpful to look back on in the future. 

The overview course was very useful. I appreciated the knowledge check questions to make sure that I had an understanding of the terms being reviewed. I also appreciated the step by step guide to the tutorials. 

Applications:

In 291, I talked a lot about Public Health applications specifically related to tobacco. Public Health applications are my main interest, so for another application, I thought about alcohol consumption maps. This map from the CDC highlights the prevalence of adults who binge drink in the last 30 days (binge drinking is typically 4ish drinks in a two hour period depending on gender).

Another application is cat ownership in the US. This map shows the percentage of US Households with at least one cat. This data could be useful when having traditional conversations about cats vs. dogs.

 

Sources

CDC. (2025, February 25). Data on Excessive Alcohol Use. Alcohol Use. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/excessive-drinking-data/index.html

Cat Ownership by State – Maptitude Infographic. (2024). Caliper.com. https://www.caliper.com/featured-maps/maptitude-national-cat-day-map-october-29-map.html#:~:text=For%20National%20Cat%20Day%20(October%2029)%20we,(16.7%)%2C%20Maryland%20(18.6%)%2C%20and%20New%20Jersey%20(18.9%).

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