Sunday, January 29, 2012

Cartography - Data Classification Lab - Week 3

Here are my two maps for the Cartography Assignment concerning Data Classification.   The first image shows all four methods on one layout using data frames:

And the Second Map shows what I believed to be the Best representation in this case.   I chose the Standard Deviation method:
Here is my Process Summary for this lab:
PART III: Process Summary Description
1.       Watched the lab video
2.       Read the lab guide
3.       Unzipped the data as prompted
4.       Set up the 4 data frames
5.       Set up each of the 4 methods of classifying quantities
6.       Worked on Layout Mode for handling multiple data frames
7.       Selected Best one and made second map with its contents
8.       Documented Metadata
9.       Exported Map
10.   Turned in assignment to dropbox
11.   Posted maps on Blog
 Map Document 1 Title = DataClassifyDRJAll4.jpg
Map Document 2 Title = DataClassifyDRJBest.jpg

Learning GIS Overview - Week 3

Part 1 - San Diego Tourism

Here is my Map that concerns the San Diego Zoo from the ESRI Lab exercise.   I modified some of the symbology (the airport and zoo).   I tried a blue background to make it seem like a sunny destination to visit.
Process Summary:
Exercise: Planning a Trip to San Diego

1)Opened the document.  Followed instructions to work with Frames, zoom, and pan
2) Turned on Hotels, Labeled them, used Find Utility.   Used Identify Tool to find Phone Number
3) Went through various example of using distance tool, and found some of the big landmarks
4) Worked on producing an interesting map of the Zoo Area (I choose to show it in relation to the   Airport and Hotels for more of a general “feel” of how far these features were apart as opposed to providing turn by turn direction.   I changed the inset map to be based on California rather than the whole USA.   I used some custom symbols for the Airport and the Zoo.
5)Had some trouble locating the metadata as noted above.
6) Created JPG map of final results for submittal.

Part 2- Youth Center
Here is my submission for the possible locations of a Youth Center based on Spatial information. I took some liberties in imagining that the organization was called the "Gold Star Center" to spruce it up a bit.



Process Summary:
Exercise: Find Potential Sites for a Youth Center
1. Opened the YouthCenter Map
2. Explored the various data as the lab suggested
3. Created the Union of the City Zone and Census data. This is VERY powerful
4. Selected by Attribute and refined that selection further by selecting from a selection
5. Selected by Location (again a VERY powerful feature. I come from a database background so seeing these new ways to query information really interest me)
6. Exported the important data out and modified the symbology
7. Started creating the map for the deliverable.
8. Filled out the Metadata tables of the deliverable (note that I am having trouble finding the dates that the data is relevant for).

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Own Your Map!

Here is my submission for the "Own Your Map" lab.   I consider myself "creative" but not necessarily "artistic", so I will probably struggle with good color schemes during these courses.  But I guess we have to start somewhere.   My "extra" features I added to this map were:
1. Identify the Capital of Florida with a star
2. Experiment with the background linear gradient to use blue instead of yellow and set it at an angle.
Here is the Process I used:
1.       Copied the OwnYourMap zip file from the R: drive over to the S: drive
2.       Extracted the data to the S:\OwnYourData directory
3.       Started ArcCatalog 10
4.       Found my project in S:\OwnYourMap
5.       Clicked the + button to see contents
6.       Looked at the three tabs (Content, Preview, and Description)
7.       I actually found it easier to find the information about the Metadata answers by doing a “Properties” on the layer of the MXD instead of looking at it in ArcCatalog.
8.       For the Time Period Data is Relevant I look at the attribute table for the Cities to get the 6/13/2007 value.  ** Note: I then modified this information after reading through step 7 and watching the video that Tanya provided.
9.       I struggled with knowing exactly what to do on this step and looked at the Discussion forum and saw that Tanya is going to post a video to clarify this step.
10.   I opened the OwnYourMap.mxd from my S: drive
11.   I did a “Save As” to save the map as OwnYourMap_DRJ.mxd
12.   I opened up Layout View
13.   I set my page settings
14.   I inserted the NEATLINE as prompted.   I hadn’t heard of this feature before.  Very helpful !
15.   I right clicked the data frame and then selected the Properties and the Size and Position Tab.  I initially tried to put the size as 7.5 x 10 but then realized since it was landscape rather than portrait, it needed to be 10 x 7.5
16.   I did the 3 alignment tasks (to Margin, to Center, to vertical center)
17.   I used the Full Extent button to zoom to the data.
18.   I inserted the title and played around with the font choices before setting on Arial Bold 24 in Black (I might change this after working on the map some more)
19.   I saved all my work throughout this lab
20.   I made sure to send the neatline object to the back
21.   I added the legend and then took the steps to ensure that the County Boundaries and Cities show up properly in the legend.
22.   I modified the properties of the legend boundary.   I haven’t set the fill yet until I see what else we will do style-wise in this lab
23.   I added a North Arrow as instructed.
24.   I added the scale bar (it was already in Miles), and stretched it so that the increments shown on it were 50,100, and 200
25.   I changed the “frequency” on the scale bar to “divisions” so now it just shows 0,100,200
26.   Now I spend about an hour just playing with the various features.   I wanted to try to be creative (even though I am not “artistic” when it comes to things like color scheme and such).  I tried to make a creative background that used the linear shading without that yellow color (Thanks Google).   I tried to use interesting fonts.   I learned how to differentiate Tallahassee as the Capital city and give it a gold star.   One thing I tried but was unsuccessful with was giving each county its own color.   I was able to do that, but it would REALLY impact my legend.  It would try to show the name of every county rather than just the title.   So that is something I hope to learn in future coursework. 
27.   I exported the JPG as requested.  Now will go back and research more about the metadata.
28.   I watched the video that Tanya provided which was VERY helpful.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Overview ArcGIS10 Lab

Here is my first attempt at creating a map for the Introduction to Geographic Information Systems class.

PART III: Process Summary Description



1)      Used the link to log into the Remote Desktop

2)      Started ArcGIS

3)      Coped the data from the R: drive to the S: Drive

4)      Unzipped the data to S:\Overview_ArcGIS\OverviewArcGIS

5)      Added the “World_Countries” layer

6)      I saved my work as S:\DJ\OverviewGIS\Lab1.mxd

7)      Practiced using the tools (Zoom, Pan, Etc.)

8)      Opened the Attribute Table

9)      Practiced Attribute Table Skills (Pan, ZoomTo, Sort)

10)   Practiced the Select and Clear Select tools

11)   Performed the Identify and Find tasks as prompted

12)   Switched the Coordinate system to Degrees/Minutes/Seconds to get answer to Q3

13)   Measured the length for Q4 (It was approximate since I just picked a straight line across the width at what seemed the widest point of the country

14)   Added the “Cities” layer to the MXD

15)   Changed the symbology on the countries for their 2007 Population numbers

16)   Experimented with Layout mode.   I had a little trouble her positioning the map in order to have it not overlapping the legend and north compass.   Ended up jumping back and forth between the view modes to position the data.

17)   Inserted the Layout elements as requested (Title, legend, scale bar, North Arrow, textbox for my name and data attribution)

18)   Reviewed the help system.    Wasn’t sure how to properly cite the source to avoid any plagiarism policies.   I tried to list them as exact quotes that were used for the purpose of proving we understood how to retrieve the data.

19)   I archived my data to my H: directory at H:\DJ\OverviewGIS       In this folder I have my Lab1.MXD, my Lab1.jpg picture, and I have made a subfolder for the source data for future reference.   
I really enjoyed this lab and it was a great introduction in how to use the tools that UWF is providing for us.

Map Critique Overview

Bad Map Example
I wanted to try to find an example of a bad map in the city where I live, Tallahassee, Florida.  The map I found was for a company called “Reddy Ice” and the map on their web site looks like this:
I selected this map because it could be made so much better with only minor modifications.  For example:  
  • What is the name of that main road to the south?  
  • Are there smaller roads that lead from this unlabeled road to the address?  
The size of the map could be expanded to show this information more clearly since there is a lot of unused white space on this particular web page.  
Good Map Example
The map I selected as an example of a "Good" Map is a spatial representation of Area Codes in the state of Florida as provide by http://www.insideflorida.com/map/florida-area-codes/    I have a pet peeve when I look at my phone and see an incoming call from an Area Code that I don't recognize.  A simple yet effective map like this can sit at my desk and show me at a glance where the call may be coming from if it is Florida based.

* Note on both maps:  Both maps were re-sized to fit the width of this blog.
One interesting thing I discovered during this lesson is the overwhelming use of Interactive maps (usually Google) by companies when showing their location to their customers.  I am going to make a point to look at more of the printed literature for companies and see how they handle their Cartography without these interactive tools.