Lab 10

Part B

Part C

Lab 9B

1. How many counties does the State of Iowa contain? (1 pt)
          99 counties.
2. Which county in Georgia contains the largest number of people, as of the year 2001? (1 pt)
          Fulton County.
3. How many cities, with populations between 10,000 and 49,000, are located within the State of Washington? (1 pt)
          31 cities.
4. How many miles long are all of the interstates in Los Angeles County? (1 pt)
          4210.3 miles.
5.
6. How many acres of urban area lie within Los Angeles County, based upon your results from question #5? ( 1 pt)
          1,441,652.8 acres
7. How many zip codes have their centroid in Los Angeles County? (1 pt)
          522
8.
9. Which Native American Indian Reservations lie within 75 miles of the City of Thurso in Canada? (1 pt)
          Lac-Simon Reservation

Lab 9A

Part I.
1. Spatial scope - the degree of input data utilized to determining the values at output locations. The three types: local operations, neighborhood operations, and global operations.
2. Set Algebra (ex: =, >) & Boolean Algebra (AND, OR)
3. Adjacency, Containment, Dissolve, Overlay, Buffer, and Spatial Join.

Part II.
4. Yes.
5. PtDumeQuad, Vegetation, and Wetlands
6. 10,896 features.
7. 9 records.
8. 8 records
9. 404 selected.
10. 123 selected.

Lab 8

Boldstad Chapter 8 questions and answers
1. A database management system organizes and manipulates data. A DBMS uses specific software tools to managing tabular data - especially to retrieve and index data.

2. One-to-one  - only one record connects to another. 

    Many-to-one - multiple records connect to one other records in a different table.

3. They are popular because they make the data more independent and have a central control that allows for multiple users to access it.

Ormsby Chapter 8 & 9
4a. String data
4b. String data

5a. LU_Description, LU_General, LU_Type, Acres, Square Miles
5e. 92,236.77 acres

Lab 7

I. Chapter 7
1. The information comes from layer attributes.
2. Using the label tool, clicking on the cities you do want to label should label them.
3. Yes. Right Click > Nudge
4. Selector.
5. Map annotation and Geodatabase annotation.

II. Chapter 18
1. a. True
2. Yes, you can.
3. When you launch ArcMap, they give you the option to use a template.
4. Double click on the symbol under the attribute data and a new window should pop up, giving you the option to change the symbol, its color, etc.
5. Select the Symbol or use the drawing toolbar  > fill color.

III. Chapter 19
1. Determine the size and orientation of the map.
2. Layout view can contain multiple data frames, therefore it won't be the same as data view unless adjusted.
3. What type of measurement unit to use, the amount of dividers, and the amount of subdividers.
4. It shows you how the map will appear if printed.
5. Data view would move with the graphic, but in layout view, the overall map is independent of the movement of the graphic.

Part 2:
1. Choropleth maps classify numerical data into shaded categories.
2. Layer files allow you to define symbol assignments and different classifications
3. Layer files don't contain datasets; however layer packages contains the map layer and a copy of its data
4. Long Beach: 461,522
5. Los Angeles: 3,694,820
6. Document, URL, and Macro.

Lab 6

1. In your own words, describe how symbology can be influenced by scale.

Symbology can be manipulated so that certain names show up/disappear based on the current scale of the map.

2. What are two ways (one direct and one indirect) to access a layers symbol colors so that they can be changed?

You may either click on the symbol icon under the feature class to bring up the color options or right-click the icon itself and select a color.

3. How would you access the graduated symbols classification icon?

Right click feature class > Properties > Symbology tab > Quantities > Graduated Symbols
 
4. What are 5 other symbology styles (in addition to ‘Conservation’) that are available to customize your features?

Proportional Symbols, Dot Density, Quantity by Category, Stacked, Unique Values.

5. How could you permanently save layer symbology for use later on?

Save the layer as a layer file.

6. How can  pyramids help raster data display faster?

Pyramids contain many versions of the raster map, from coarse to fine, that help the map draw at a faster rate when you zoom in and out.

7. How could you quickly and temporarily change a layer name to aid display in the Table of Contents?
Double click on the layer name in the feature class and rename it.

8. What is normalization?

Normalization is dividing one attribute by another to find the ratio between them. One example, if trying to see if - between two countries - which one has a denser population.

Lab 5

I. Answer the following questions based on Bolstad Chapter 7 and lecture. 1. What are some advantages and disadvantages of using digital spatial data?

Digital Spatial Data is very efficient, readily-available, and by far the quickest source for data. A disdvantage to using it would be its less accurate sources (in some cases). Because it is so easily obtained, it can also be easily made by unreliable sources.

2. What are the most important questions you must ask before using already-developed spatial data?

You have to make sure that the source of the data is reliable, make sure that the projection is the type you wish to use, and make sure the data itself is the exact data you are seeking.

3. How do DOQs differ from regular photographs?

DOQs have removed displacement caused by terrain relief and camera tilts – thus, a more accurate “aerial photograph”

4. Choose three existing data sets and describe who produces them, what the source materials are and what they contain.

The NED (National Elevation Dataset) is produced by the USGS and uses aerial surveying.

Alabama DOQQ County Mosaics – a DOQQ dataset produced by the USGS and also uses aerial surveying.

Texas CLU bundle is a dataset also prodocued by the USGS that contains roads and calculated acreage of land in Texas.

5. What is the difference between DEMs and NEDs?

NEDs are produced by the USGS and is general elevation data that is the best raster data available of the US. NEDs are made up of DEMs, which are raster maps of specific relief areas.

 II. Step through the following instructions and answer any associated questions.

Basemap and Hydrology

b. What are the names of the feature classes in the hydrology dataset? c. For each one of the feature classes you just listed, describe whether it is a polygon, line or point layer.

NHDFlowline - Line
NHDPoint - Point
NHDWaterbody - Polygon
Watersheds - Polygon

3. Using ArcCatalog, answer the following questions.
a. Is topoq24.shp a raster or vector layer?

Vector

b. What is the GIS data format of topoq24.shp?

It’s a shapefile



It is vector data.
YES

e. Is there metadata associated with NHDFlowline?



g. Who created the NHDFlowline layer?
Yes
'US Geological Survey in cooperation with US EPA, USDA Forest Service, and other Federal, State and local partners'
a. Is there still metadata associated with the layer? River, Lake / Pond, Canal / Ditch, Reservoir, Springf. What are 3 keywords used to describe the NHDFlowline layer? d. What is the GIS data format of the NHDFlowline layer? c. Is there metadata associated with topoq24.shp?
noa. What are the names of the feature datasets in the geodatabase?

Lab 4

1. What is an ellipsoid? How does an ellipsoid differ from a sphere?

        An ellipsoid is a manipulated ellipse based on the region being projected. In essence, an ellipsoid is a sphere with flattened poles, and is considered much more accurate in mapping the earth.

2. What is the imaginary network of intersecting latitude and longitude lines on the earth's surface called?
  
        Graticules

3. How does the magnetic north differ from the geographic North Pole?

        The magnetic north pole is where compasses point to on earth whereas a geographic north pole is the pole on which the earth's axis rotates. They are not the same point.

4. Why are datums important? Briefly describe how datums are developed.

        Datums serve as a reference for ellipsoids and geographical accuracy. They are composed of a specific ellipsoid and specific points on the earth that specify the surface of the earth.

5. What is a map projection?

        A map projection is when the 3-dimensional surface of the earth is projected onto a 2-dimensional mapping area.

6. What is a developable surface?

        Developable surfaces are geometric surfaces in which the earth can be projected onto. Some examples include cones, cylinders, and planes.

7. Which lines on the graticule run north-south, converge at the poles, and mark angular distance east and west of the prime meridian?

a. Lines of longitude

8. Which of the following ellipsoids is now regarded as the best model of the earth for the region of North America?

c. GRS80

9. Which well known coordinate system would be appropriate to use for developing and analyzing spatial data when mapping counties or larger areas? Why?

        The state plane coordinate system would be best due to the fact that it increases in accuracy over larger and wider distances.

10. What is a great circle distance?

        It is the distance between two points on the earth via the earth's curvature.


A map projection is the building block of the major 2D maps that we all use on a daily basis. They come in all types of forms, projected onto different shapes (circles, cylinders, planes) depending on the type of map being created and its purpose. A map projection's significance lies in its determining how accurate a map can be.

The type of projection one uses depends solely on what type of purpose the map is going to achieve. No matter which type of projection is used, there is always distortion to some extent, as the irregular shape of the earth cannot be 100% fully illustrated on a 2D surface. Thus, different types of projections were created.

The equidistant maps I used were the Sinusoidal and Platte Carree projections. The Sinusoidal map shrinks at the poles, in an attempt to sort of mimic the spherical shape of the earth, though the distortion is heavy at the poles. The Platte Caree projection equally spaces all meridians on the globe, making the higher latitudes wider than they actually are.

For my conformal maps, the Mercator exaggerates the sheer sizes of Greenland and Antarctica, making Greenland almost as big as North America! The Fall Stereographic is similar, but distortion at the poles is much less drastic. For these types of maps, only areas around the equator are visually accurate.

For the Equal Area maps, though the Bonne and Mollweide both encompass the same area, the Bonne's extreme bending of the poles actually brings Baghdad and DC closer together, in contraste with Mollweide.

Lab 3: Data Formats and Models

1. What is a data model? Describe the two most commonly used data models.
 
      A data model is a model that illustrates a part of earth on a GIS. The two most common data models are Vector and Raster.

2. What is topology and why is it important?

          Topology is the relationship between points and lines on a data model. The main difference between it and the spaghetti model is that topology maintains relationships even with molding.

3. What type of data model would be best for representing hillside slope? Justify your answer.
 
      Raster, because the grids in raster maps are better suited for elevation than lines on a Vector data model.

4. Describe the relationship between spatial detail and cell dimension with regard to raster models.

       The less cells available, the less spatial detail is illustrated. In retrospect, small, abundant cells provide more spatial detail.

5. What are the four types of attribute data? Give an example of each.
  
          Nominal - place name
          Ordinal - ranking of nominal data
          Interval - temperature
          Ratio - sea depth

6. List two types of vector data file formats.
    
   .shp & .eOO

7. List two types of raster data file formats.

       .img & .TIFF

8. You can do all of the following in ArcCatalog EXCEPT:
 
      c. Select features

9. In the Chapter 4 exercises, does the World.mdb geodatabase contain a feature dataset?
    
      yup

10. What are the names of the feature classes contained in the World.mdb geodatabase?
 
      cities, countries, disapp_area, world30

11. What data format does the flight_path.lyr layer file reference?
  
     .shp

12. What are two ways to add data to an ArcMap document?
 
          1. Click on the (+) Add Data button
          2. Drag and drop from ArcCatalog

13. How many features (records) exist in the dissap_area feature class?
  
      699!

III. Complete the ESRI online module “Basics of the Geodatabase Data Model” and
post a screenshot of the certificate.

Lab 2: ArcGIS and ArcMap

1. What types of software products are included in ArcGIS and which one will we be

using most in this course?

 

       ArcGIS includes Desktop GIS, Server GIS, Mobile GIS, and Online GIS. We will be focusing mainly on Desktop GIS in this course, particularly ArcMap.

2. Would it be better to perform most of your data analysis and layer symbolization in

data or layout view? Why?

      It would be best to do it in layout view since it enables you to physically observe the data trends more than in data view.

3. What are two ways to obtain help for ArcGIS Desktop?

     Help > What's This? or Shift + F1

4. How are attributes linked to geographic features?

     They're linked in an attribute table via a "unique identifier"

5. What is the file extension of an ArcMap document?

     '.mxd' aka a 'map document' 

6. What are two ways to zoom in/zoom out on a map?

     View > Layout Zoom, View > Data Zoom 

7. List three operations available in the ‘context menu’ of a layer. Hint: Right‐clicking

with your mouse in the TOC should help you with this question.

     Label, Open attribute table, and Zoom 

8. If the check box next to a layer in the table of contents is grayed‐out, what does this

mean? How would you resolve this issue?

     If it's grayed out, it means you haven't saved the data into your file, therefore it is not able to access the data. 

9. What are the differences between large and small scale maps? Provide an example of

each.

     Large Scale = more magnification/bigger fraction. Example: map of Northridge

     Smalle Scale = less magnification/smaller fraction. Example: map of Russia

10. Describe the differences between features and surfaces. Provide an example for each.

     Features are specific points in a map, such as a city marking or a river marking. Surfaces are smooth, broad parts of a map, such as a lake or body of water.

11. A GIS is a useful problem‐solving tool. You can do all of the following tasks with it,

except one. Which one?

  

   a. Create project criteria

12. What are the minimum and maximum elevations of the cities Earhart visited? Briefly

describe how you determined these values.

     Minimum elevation visited: Sea Level, Maximum: 1045ft. Found in attribute table under elevation.

13. On the continent of Africa, what is the approximate distance (in miles) from Dakar to

Assab? What are two techniques (one tool and one process) you could use to figure

this out?

     4,016 miles (approximately). The measure tool can be used or referring to an existing attribute table of African cities and distance between them. 

14. What are two possible methods you could use to figure out the names of the cities

shown on the map?

     Identify > Click on city, or open up the layers to see how it's labeled.

15. Zoom to the extent of North and South America so that all the cities Earhart visited are

labeled. Capture a screen shot (Alt + PrtScr) of this view and paste into your Word

document (Ctrl+v). Turn in this screen shot with your answers from this sheet.

      (Unable to paste screenshot into blog...)

Lab 1b: What is GIS?

What exactly is GIS?

"A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information."

source: http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/index.html

"At its simplest level, Geographic Information Science (GIS) can be thought of as high-tech mapping, but the complicated software and the people who work with it are responsible for so much more than simply creating a map."

source: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/science/gis-major.htm

"a computer system capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying geographically referenced information; that is, data identified according to location."

source: http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/


Based on these three assertions of the meaning of GIS, all of them agree on the fact that GIS serves an important role in analyzing and capturing geographical information, yet they differ in the fact that a Geographic Information System is the actual program or method of GIS whereas a Geographic Information Science focuses on the actual science of GIS. Very similar, but different interpretations of the acronym.

Real world applications of GIS:

1.) Your friend invites you to a house party and gives you the address. You log onto maps.google.com to look up where the party is located. maps.google.com = GIS

2.) You're stuck in traffic and choose to exit the highway and find an alternate route. You plug in your GPS and let it do the work. GPS = GIS

3.) A group of researchers rebuilding New Orleans are trying to find which parts of the city are below sea level and which areas are in dire need of higher seawalls. They begin to construct an elevation map of the entire city. Elevation mapping = GIS


GIS vs "maps"

Differences:

1.) Maps are static, GIS are interactive
2.) Maps do not evolve, GIS is constantly changing
3.) Maps involve a solid medium, GIS can exist as a satellite.

Similarities:

1.) They both serve the purpose of providing direction and navigation.
2.) They both aim to plot out the surface of the earth.
3.) They both mark similar features (roads, rivers, etc)

Lab 1a: Interesting Maps

I found this map on another blogger's page and thought it was very interesting. It shows the most popular social networking websites by country. Not surprisingly, Facebook and Myspace are dominant in Anglophone countries, whereas Europe, Asia, and South America seem to all have their own sites more popular than Facebook!

This particular map I found on Geographer Garry Peterson's website, from a post dated in 2006. It's a map of the world based on population size. China and India (as well as parts of Europe) seem to be grossly overrepresented on this map, as countries with higher population densities tend to be larger than their counterparts. Note how small Australia, Canada, and Russia are!

This map is a map of far northeastern Asia at night, which I found from paradoxoff.com. What is interesting about this map is how industrialized and modern South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cities have become. Yet at the same time, almost the entire country of North Korea is shrouded in massive darkness.