Projections Part 1

Here is my map and process summary for this week's assignment about working with projections.   When I first was introduced to GIS a few years back, this was one of the most frustrating concepts to deal with.  As a database programmer, I want everything to be EXACTLY one thing.   With Projections, things are a little "fuzzier" as demonstrated with the calculated areas in this particular lab.   I thought this lab did a great job in exposing us to some of the key concepts we will need in the "real-world".

Here is my Process summary for this lab:

PART III: Process Summary Description

 

1. Opened ArcMap and completed the reading of the Help Topic to answer question #1

2. Opened the ArcCatalog panel

3. Observed the properties of the cntbnd shapefile

4. Added the Albers projected shapefile to the MXD

5. Noted the “Layers” property match those of the shapefile that was just added

6. Answered Question #2

7. Opened up the ArcToolbox

8. Expanded the Data Management Toolbox and the Projections and Transformations Toolset underneath it

9.  Opened the “Project” tool under the Feature toolset

10.   Experimented with the Search function to find tools (I have used this feature in my job duties and find it invaluable)

11.   Used the Project tool and set the output dataset to be: S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part1\ProjectionsPartI\cntbnd_utm16.shp

12.   Followed the steps to project to NAD 1983 UTM Zone 16N.    (As an aside some of these terms are ones I am really looking forward to learning more about because they confuse me at work: HARN, NAD 1983 vs. 27, etc…)

13.   Added the re-projected version to the MXD and saved my work.

14.   Added the additional dataframes and labeled as instructed.

15.   Moved the UTM Data to the UTM Data Frame

16.   Activated the UTM Data Frame

17.   I set my new State Plane layer to be stored at S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part1\ProjectionsPartI\cntbnd_stateplanen.shp using a projection of NAD_1983_HARN_StatePlane_Florida_North_FIPS_0903_Feet    (This is interesting because it is the same state plane reference I use at work 0903)

18.   Added the layer to the third data frame.

19.   Saved my work

20.   As I switch between the data frames I can see some very slight differences between them.

21.   Added the Area column to each of the 3 data sources

22.   Set my page to be landscape

23.   Set the properties on each data frame so they are the same size

24.   Set the scale on all three projections to be: 1:9,456,598 so that I can use one scale bar for the whole map

25.   Worked on setting al of the Key Map elements (Title, Neat Line, North Arrow, Legend, Data Source, Created By, Date)

26.   I save that MXD and copied it to a new one so that I can go back and export my deliverable to JPG

27.   I tried adding the Raster data to the Albers layer and got the error message

28.   Moved it to State plane and it put it in the proper place (Had to Zoom to Layer to see it)

29.   Removed the raster from both data frames.

30.   Looked at the spatial reference and saw that it was undefined

31.   Added it to all 3 layers and it put it in the proper place this time around.

32.   Found the “Project Raster” tool and set it to match the screen shot

33.   I set the settings as insructed.35.   Answered Questions 3, 4, and 5

34.   Filled out my Metadata chart

Layer	Data Type	Publication Information: Who Created The Data?	Time Period Data Is Relevant	Spatial Horizontal Coordinate System	Attribute Values
Cntbnd shapefile	Polygon	FGDL	June 2008	GCS_North_American_1983_HARN	67
uwf_n.jpg raster	raster	Not Specified	Not Specified	None Specified	Raster