Cartography Week 7 - Chorpleth Maps

Here are my two maps for this week's assignment.    I feel much more comfortable with the layers aspect of Illustrator now.   Next week I am going to really try to concentrate on some of the design features of Illustrator to make my maps a little less plain.

Here is my Process Summary for this week's lab:

Process Summary

1.        Copied the data from the R: Drive to my S: Drive

2.       Started ArcMap

3.       Added the state_pop shape file

4.       I used the PROJECT tool to change to North_America_Albers_Equal_Area_Conic

5.       Changed the symbology to “Quantities” and chose a graduated color scheme

6.       I looked at the natural breaks.  Whenever I tried to adjust the breaks then it said that the classification was “Manual” rather that natural breaks.   So I left this at the 5 natural breaks it recommended.

7.       I set up my layers including breaking our Alaska and Hawaii to their own layer as well as the continental US.   Next I will get the scale bar to work with the continental US

8.       I really feel like I have become more familiar with Illustrator over the last couple of weeks.   It seems like making sure you have your layers set up really simplifies things.

9.       Now starting Part 2

10.   Opened Excel and the tab.xls file

11.   Set up a column called Population change and set the formula to =C2-D2

12.   Set up a column called Percent change and set the formula to =F2/D2

13.   Changed this column to a percentage

14.   Next I copied the data to a new tab and totaled my state values based on the region for the gray scale map.   These are my results:

New England	5.4%
Middle Atlantic	5.5%
East North Central	7.5%
West North Central	8.9%
South Atlantic	18.8%
East South Central	12.2%
West South Central	17.8%
Mountain	33.0%
Pacific	15.1%

15.   First I worked on my Deliverable 1 (Color).   I made sure to move the colors in the legend together like the text recommended.

16.   Since it also had negative values, I also used the word “to” instead of dashes.

17.   I made sure to note that Alaska and Hawaii were NOT to scale

18.   I made sure to include all of my required map elements

19.   I copied this project over to start my gray scale map

20.   I consulted Color Brewer and it suggested these five colors for a black and white system:

21.  

22.   I actually pasted that screen shot into my map and used the eyedrop tool to get the colors for each level

23.   I exported both my maps to JPG and created my blog post

24.   Updated all deliverables to dropbox

25.   I feel like I am comfortable with the layers aspect of illustrator now, and now I want to start working on the tools in Illustrator that will make my maps look a little less “plain”

Week 7 - GIS Data Search Lab

Hi fellow Argonauts.   I had a good week GIS-wise this week.   I really enjoyed both lab assignments.  I'm even starting to feel a bit more comfortable in Adobe Illustrator (Not comfortable enough to use it without being required to though.....) 

Here are my maps for this week's assignment.   I really wanted to get all the required elements into 2 maps instead of three, but I couldn't pull it off.   So here are the 3 maps:

And here is my Process Summary for this lab:

1.       Read the Lab Instructions through

2.       I see that my assignment is Jefferson County (the neighboring county to the one I live in)

3.       Reviewed the Process Summary questions as instructed

4.       Copied over the data from the R: drive to my folder on s:

5.       Opened ArcMap

6.       I noticed that the data wasn’t called “ClipPractice” or a file called ClipData so I grabbed the Datasearch.zip file and will see if it is the right one.

7.       Enabled the “Spatial Analyst” extension

8.       In the lab notes I see we are to add FL_railroads and Flager_County layers, but I see Flagler_county and rails_2008.   Again I am going to assume these are the proper files.

9.       Yes, it looks like the data matches the lab instructions.

10.   Opened my ArcToolbox

11.   Opened the search window and used the search tool to find and open “Clip (Analysis)”

12.   I selected rails_2008 as my input feature

13.   For “Clip Features” I chose Flagler_county

14.   I set my Output feature class at S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\Flagler_railroads.shp

15.   I clicked OK to run the tool

16.   Answered Question 1

17.   Answered Question 2

18.   I used the search tool to find the “Extract By Mask”

19.   Started Part 2 of the assignment to collect the necessary data as it relates to Jefferson County

20.   Started by getting the County boundary layer from last weeks assignment as suggested on Page 5 of the lab instructions

21.   Started a new MXD and added this data

22.   Did a Select By Attributes function to highlight Jefferson County

23.   Created a Layer from Selected Features of Jefferson County

24.   Exported the data out to a JeffersonCounty shapefile

25.   Removed the original cntband layer

26.   Removed the selection layer

27.   Zoomed to extent

28.   Visited FGDL to see what data I might find there

29.   Filled out the Metadata for CITIES

30.   Used the “Clip” tool to exclude non-Jefferson Points and saved the results here: S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\MainProject\JeffersonCities.shp

31.   Removed the cities_feb04 data

32.   For Public Lands I found the “FLORIDA PARCEL DATA BY COUNTY – 2010” data and downloaded it for Jefferson.   It had info on ALL parcels so I thought it was too much but then looked at the data and saw that there was a PUBLICLND field that had several codes in it.   I selected by attribute to chose all the one that had a non blank value in this field and then researched the metadata

33.   I created a layer from the selected features and then exported it out as JeffersonPublic (I like to have the source data all in Shapefile form).   I removed unnecessary layers from the map.

34.   I looked at the metadata to see what the PUBLICLND codes were and found the following (To use for my Symbology)

Value	Description
F	Federal
S	State
C	County
M	Municipal, City, Town
D	Special Taxint District
W	Water Management Districts
P	Other Public

35.   Gathered my metadata for this layer

36.    Next I researched Roads and found the FDOT Major Roads in Florida layer and downloaded

37.   Use the clip tool to get the data into S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\MainProject\JeffersonRoads.shp

38.   Cleaned up unneeded layers from the map.

39.   Filled out Roads Metadata

40.   I’ll want to come back to do the road symbology.

41.   For the Hydrography I found the “USGS 1:24,000 HYDROGRAPHY – POLYGON” and downloaded the proper one for Jefferson county.   Looking at the symbology to only get the major features

42.   Filled out metadata for Surface Water

43.   For my first Environmental layer I found a good one on Invasive Plants called - FLORIDA INVASIVE PLANTS - JUNE 2010 by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory

44.   Filled out the metadata on this

45.   Clipped the data and saved it here: S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\MainProject\JeffersonPlants.shp

46.   Cleaned up map

47.   Next I looked at the Strategic Habitat Conservation areas and found the INTEGRATED WILDLIFE HABITAT RANKING SYSTEM (IWHRS) FOR FLORIDA – 2009 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

48.   I used the “Extract by Mask” tool to create S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\MainProject\JefHabitats

49.   metadata on this layer

50.   Next I downloaded my DOQQ info

51.   I did this by going to the LABINS web site and determining the number of the quad I wanted to get around the Monticello area.   Mine was 5132

52.   Downloaded all of the associated files for the 5132to this location: S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\DownloadedData\DOQQ

53.   Tried to add it but saw that I will need to reproject first.   Dug up my lab notes from last week

54.   Opened ArcCatalog

55.   Verified that the Spatial Reference was undefined on the DOQQ’s

56.   Modified the Spatial Reference on all the images to be NAD 1983 HARN Florida GDL Albers (Meters)

57.   Verified visually that the DOQQ was lining up with the layers now.

58.   Now I am reading the instructions on how to get my DEM

59.   I found I needed to use Google Chrome to get to the site rather than IE

60.   Zoomed into my county

61.   Chose the area to download

62.   Clicked the Download button

63.   Unzipped all my data here S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\DownloadedData\DEM\NED_38365443

64.   I added the DEM to the project and built the pyramids

65.   Made sure that Spatial Analyst was enabled and used the Extract by Mask Tool. And moved the data out to:   S:\IntroGIS\Week 7 - GIS Data Search\MainProject\JefDEM

66.   Followed the directions to reproject the DEM.   The bottom part of my DEM is very dark, so curious if this is supposed to be this way or not.  

67.   I went and looked at the Seamless viewer again and indeed this is the case.   There is a big drop-off where the land gets very low and flat

68.   Answered questions 3, 4, and 5

69.   Now that I have all my data, I need to figure out the best way to lay it out.   I want to minimize the number of maps used while not sacrificing any information.

70.   First I want to determine what my “Base” layers will be.  This will help me determine how many maps to make

71.   I have sketched out on a piece of paper my vision of my design.  

72.   After a few hours of work I have 3 maps that incorporate all of the elements of this assignment.   I really tried to get it down to two maps, but couldn’t do it without making the maps unreadable

73.   Verified all of my metadata

74.   Turned in my assignment to Dropbox and Blog.

Projections Part 2

Here is my map and my process summary for this week's lab.   I apologize in advance for the length of the process summary.

Here is the Process Summary



1.Read the entire lab summary through briefly to get a feel for what I’ll be working on.

2.Started again, this time reading more in depth

3.Answered Q1

4.Went to the Labins.org site and saved the bookmark both on my local machine and virtual desktop

5.Clicked on DOQQ

6.Clicked on the 2004 RGB Albers Units:MT MrSID link

7.I looked at all the information on this screen and even see that the agency I work at provided some Metadata for this

8.Click on the Quad Name Locator link

9.Read the info on this page

10.  Clicked on the “Florida Quad Map Link” to pull up the map

11.  Opened the PDF tools to have easier access to the zoom tools

12.  Zoomed in on Escambia county

13.  I found the Cantonment quad and saw that the number for it was 5359

14.  Went back to the previous web screen where I could click on the “Enter FTP Site” link and did so.

15.  Opened up “g53”…. The lab instructions had a typo that said it would be “q53”

16.  Created a folder called:  “S:\Aerials”

17.  Here are the files that I downloaded to S:\Aerials

s:\aerials\q5359se.sdw

s:\aerials\q5359ne.sdw

s:\aerials\q5359ne.sid

s:\aerials\q5359nw.sdw

s:\aerials\q5359nw.sid

s:\aerials\q5359se.sid

s:\aerials\q5359sw.sdw

s:\aerials\q5359sw.sid

18.  Opened ArcMap

19.  Dragged one of the aerials to the map and did get the error message that was expected.

20.  Pressed OK to continue

21.  Notice that the Scale is grayed out since we haven’t told it what the projection is.

22.  Looked back at the http://data.labins.org/2003/MappingData/DOQQ/doqq_04_alb_sid.cfm web page to see the Datum and Units

23.  Shows as follows:

24. 

25.  Removed the aerial from the MXD

26.  Opened ArcCatalog Pane

27.  Navigated to s:\aerials\5359ne.sid and opened its properties

28.  Noticed that the Spatial Reference is “Undefined”   It might as well say “Unacceptable” because that is how we will treat it

29.  Read about the HPGN and HARM relation.   This is one of those issues I see at my office when talking to the GIS folks where I was always unclear about what HARN was.   This is the reason I am taking these classes is to learn more about things like this.

30.  Set the Spatial Reference Property to NAD_1983_HARN_Florida_GDL_Albers (Meters) on each of the 4 files.

31.  Created a new MXD

32.  Added the four images to the MXD and then zoomed to extent

33.  At this level I now DO see a scale set of 1:67,668 for full extent and 1:33,854 for one of the quads

34.  Made sure that the cursor coordinates were showing Meters

35.  Added the Bing Aerial Map as a Basemap

36.  It seems to line up very well with the quads.  Roads all line up for example.

37.  Answered Question #2

38.  Went back to the Labins.org home page.

39.  Clicked on the DRG

40.  Clicked on the  “State Plane - NAD83 - Collars Removed” link

41.  Read the info about the DRG and noted the following:

Projection:		State Plane
Datum:		NAD83
Units:		Feet
Graphics Type:		TIFF
World File:		TFW
Collar Status:		Removed

42.  Entered the FTP site

43.  Answered Question 3

44.  I also got this information about the Florida North Zone

45. 

46.  Went into the NORTH folder under the FTP here: ftp://146.201.97.137/drg/StPl/north/

47.  Downloaded the two files to:

48.  S:\aerials\mrg5358.tfw and s:\aerials\mrg5358.tif

49.  Set the projection property to be “NAD 1983 StatePlane Florida North FIPS 0903 (US Feet).prj”

50.  Added the file to the MXD and select YES to build the pyramids

51.  Added a Bing Maps Road basemap to the mxd

52.  It looks like the roads are lining up nicely.

53.  Closed ArcMap

54.  Opened the link to http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp and saved it on my home PC as well as virtual lab PC

55.  Searched for  cntbnd   and found several results

56.  Downloaded the County Boundaries and unzipped them to “S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\cntbnd_jun11”

57.  Opened ArcCatalog

58.  Checked the properties on the shapefile

a.      Name: cntbnd_jun11

b.      Projection: Albers

c.       Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

d.      Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983_HARN

e.      Datum: D_North_American_1983_HARN

59.  Found the Quad Index and save to S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\qd24

a.      Name: qd24

b.      Projection: Albers

c.       Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

d.      Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983_HARN

e.      Datum: D_North_American_1983_HARN

60.  Found and downloaded the data for “FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MAJOR ROADS IN FLORIDA (RCI DERIVED) - FEBRUARY 2011” to “S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\majrds_feb11”

a.      Name: majrds_feb11

b.      Projection: Albers

c.       Linear Unit: Meter (1.000000)

d.      Geographic Coordinate System: GCS_North_American_1983_HARN

e.      Datum: D_North_American_1983_HARN

61.  Answered Question #4

62.  Looked at the “BALD EAGLE NESTING TERRITORIES - FLORIDA 2009” info from the web site

63.  Examined the Full Metadata

64.  Answered Question #5

65.    Opened up Microsoft Excel

66.  Set the column headings to show

point_id

lat

long

xdegrees

xminutes

xseconds

xcoord

ydegrees

yminutes

yseconds

ycoord

67.  Set up the data as shown in the lab

68.  Set the X Coordinate function to be :  =-(D2+(E2/60)+(F2/3600))

69.  Set the Y Coordinate function to be : =(H2+(I2/60)+(J2/3600))

70.  Saved Excel file as S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\tabular.xls

71.  Answered Question # 6

72.  Opened a new ArcMap document

73.  Selected File> Add Data > Add XY Data

74.  Set the Coordinate system to be:  GCS_WGS_1984

75.  Answered Question #7

76.  I added the data to the map using the settings listed

77.  Clicked OK to continue

78.  The points were added to the map

79.  Exported it to S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\EagleNests.shp

80.  Added a Base map of imagery and changed the symbology to see where the Eagles were located

81.  Part 3 – Project Assignment – Created a directory S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\MainAssignment

82.  Went to the Labins web site

83.  Opened the Florida Quad Map an saw the files I wanted to get were 5258 and 5259

84.  Downloaded the following files:

·        q5258ne.aux

·        q5258ne.sdw

·        q5258ne.sid

·        q5258nw.aux

·        q5258nw.sdw

·        q5258nw.sid

·        q5258se.aux

·        q5258se.sdw

·        q5258se.sid

·        q5258sw.aux

·        q5258sw.sdw

·        q5258sw.sid

·        q5259ne.aux

·        q5259ne.sdw

·        q5259ne.sid

·        q5259nw.aux

·        q5259nw.sdw

·        q5259nw.sid

·        q5259se.aux

·        q5259se.sdw

·        q5259se.sid

·        q5259sw.aux

·        q5259sw.sdw

·        q5259sw.sid

85.  The details on this data are as follows:

Projection:		State Plane
Datum:		NAD83
Units:		Feet
Graphics Type:		MrSID
World File:		sdw
Resolution:		1-Meter
Color:		"True Color" (not CIR)

86.  Copied the folder for the County Boundary, Major Roads, and Quad Index to S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\MainAssignment

87.  Looking at the DOQQ I see they are in State Plane, NAD 83 Feet.   My other layers are in Albers with GCS_North_American_1983_HARN.  Some Reprojection will be necessary.

88.  Opened up ArcMap and used the Toolbox to go to the Projections and Transformations Toolset.  Selected Features and used the Project Tool to set it to “NAD_1983_HARN_StatePlane_Florida_North_FIPS_0903_Feet”

89.  Set this on all 3 layers (County Boundary, Major Roads, Quad Indexes)

90.  Got the Excel file from the R: drive and unzipped it here:  S:\IntroGIS\Projections-Part2\MainAssignment\ProjectionsPartII

91.  Added the two columns for the ycoord = =(L2+(M2/60)+(N2/3600)) and xcoord as =-(O2+(P2/60)+(Q2/3600))

92.  After I pulled in the XY data as GCS_WGS_1984 I exported it to a shapefile before reprojection

93.  Here’s my transformation screen for the XY Data:

94. 

95.  After I did each reprojection, I exported the data to a shapefile in my project directory so that I can work with it more easily.

96.  Now created a new MXD and brought together all of the necessary shapefiles

97.  Worked on cleaning up the map for a couple of hours

98.  Submitted my project to Dropbox and Blog