Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Natural Hazards / Earthquakes

This weeks' assignment really was a great way to shake off the cobwebs from the break and start making some maps again.   We concentrated on using some tools in ArcGIS that I hadn't used before and that will prove VERY helpful in my current job.

For part 1, we considered the impact on infrastructure in the event of an earthquake near Memphis, Tennessee.   On this map, I decided to make it 11" x 17" rather than 8.5" x 11" to try to best display all three scenarios (dams, Interstates, and railroads).

For Part 2, we looked at the peak ground velocity of the aftershocks.  

For Part 3, we examined aftershocks that were greater than magnitude 3.0

And for part 4, we looked at the intensity of the aftershocks.


We also created a couple of graphs along the way using the built in ESRI tools:


Here is my Process summary for the lab this week:

Process Sumary:
 Earthquakes Part I
1)      Copied all the data from the r: drive to the s: drive.
2)      Unzipped the files
3)      Opened up the NewMadrid.mxd file
4)      Used the identify tool to research the data
5)      It appears that Memphis would suffer the most damage in an earthquake in this region
6)      Performed a select by location to see the areas that would be affected
7)      Next we learned about the summary feature which I wasn’t aware of.   I can see this being VERY useful in my day to day work.
8)      We can see that there are 91 areas that would be greatly impacted by this event
9)      Next we calculated the population density of the counties.  Again, VERY useful lab so far and I have just started !
10)  Next we intersected the county data (including population density) with the New Madrid data
11)  Created the PopMMI table
12)   Using the summarize tool, we can see that 60,088,857 people live in the affected areas
13)  Created the graph as instructed
14)  Added my numeric values to the Modified Mercalli Scale data
15)  Created my clipped Istaterisk layer
16)  Next I did a SELECT BY ATTRIBUTES to determine all the areas where the intensity was 8 or greater
17)  Then I did a SELECT BY location to see which Interstates intersected these areas
18)  Clipped this data to the map to see my At Risk Interstates
19)  Did a similar process for Railroads in the are that had an index of 10 or higher
20)  Finished this section by doing the dams at risk as well
21)  For my map on this section, I wanted to try to think outside the box a little bit so I choose a different map size of 11x17 instead of the normal 8.5 x 11.   I hope this was OK for this map which will display all 3 results on it.
Earthquakes Part II
1)      Now on to the second part of the lab
2)      Opened the Northridge1.mxd map
3)      Made sure the Spatial Analyst extension was enabled (Under Customize, rather than Tools)
4)      Symbolized the dots for the building damage and arranged layers as instructed.
5)      Did a select by attribute to choose only the red and yellow tagged buildings
6)      Set up the Kernel Density tool as instructed
7)      Cleared the selection and turned off unused layers
8)      Set the lowest level of symbolization to “No Color”
9)      Used the effects toolbar to set visibility to 15%
10)  Saved the Damage Pattern as a layer file
11)  Added the layer back in and symbolized
12)  Opened the Geology layer
13)  Examined the Liquefaction layer
14)  Tuned on the Stations layer
15)  Opened the Spline Interpolation tool
16)  Ran this tool with the recommended settings
17)  Created the PGV Layer and set symbols/transparency/etc…
18)  Prepared Map
Earthquakes Part III
1)      Now on to the third part of the lab
2)      Opened up the Northridge2.mxd map
3)      Added the text file while changing the Projection to WGS
4)      Exported this data out to a shapefile
5)      Removed the CSV file from the project
6)      Selected the Main Shock by doing a select by attribute
7)      Created a new layer to represent the Main shock and symbolized as a red triangle
8)      Created my map of Aftershocks greater than 3 and symbolized appropriately.   I am a little worried that my dots are in a “grid” format rather than randomly scattered, but hopefully that is how it is supposed to look.   I actually reloaded the project from the R: drive to ensure that this should be fine.
9)      I didn’t see any of the ArcScene in this lab which it referred to
Earthquakes Part IV
1)      Now on to the fourth part of the lab
2)      Opened up the Northridge3.mxd map
3)      Created the Summary table similar to the process we did earlier in the lab
4)      Created my Graph and exported it out as a JPG file
5)      Posted my contents to dropbox and blog
I really enjoyed this weeks’ work even though it was very time consuming.   I learned a lot of new tips with ArcGIS that I can start applying to by job already.    I hope this is a sign of what kind of labs to expect for this class, because it really is helpful.   I tried to make my maps a little different from each other just to try to get back into the swing of making maps each week.




Sunday, May 20, 2012

GIS Programming Orientation


The programming language I am really looking forward to learning this semester is Python.   Python is an open-source project and it is freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use.   It strives to achieve “readability” which means it is relatively easy to read someone else’s code to determine the functionality.  It is "portable" which means that the code can be used on several platforms with very little modification.    It is "versatile" because it can be used as a scripting language but also supports fully object oriented programming as well.   ESRI has leveraged the strength of Python into its product line by implementing the ArcPy package which can “perform geographic data analysis, data conversion, data management, and map automation1    Python is the successor to VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) as the primary development language within the ESRI product line.   ModelBuilder can be used to generate Python code from a GUI (Graphic User Interface) view.  
An example of a program that could be generated using Python would be a drive time estimator.   You could click at any point on a map and Python could then compute the drive time to a particular location.  Python would leverage the geographic information that ArcGIS can provide to retrieve these results.

It is a great time to learn Python with the release of 10.1 coming out next month. 

Some pages I found to help fellow Argonauts include:


 Sources:
1 –“A quick tour of ArcPy” by ESRI Help http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//000v00000001000000

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Why I am looking forward to APPLICATIONS IN GIS....

The topic I am most interested in studying is “GIS for Location-Based Services”.     According to the ESRI Web site: “With these servers and services, you can build new Web and wireless applications faster or enhance existing ones with location, addresses, points of interest, dynamic maps, and routing directions.”    In the last few years we have seen a surge in the number of companies that take advantage of dynamic location based applications.   Augmented reality will continue this evolution of providing spatial information to the mobile user based on location and context.  Consider this concept video for “Google Glasses” : Project Glass     This concept shows some of the benefits that could be seen by using a Internet-Connected Heads-Up Display (HUD).  Spatial information such as current location, routing directions (both outside and inside of buildings), proximity messages to both people and locations, and location based services such as weather could be made available to a user.   Application Developers with GIS knowhow will be required to make these bold concepts appear in actual commercial projects.    That is why I am interested in both my classes this semester: APPLICATIONS IN GIS and GIS PROGRAMMING

Thursday, May 3, 2012

GIS 3015 Final - Cartographic Skills

Here is my submission for the Final Project for GIS3015.

This is a map that was created to show the participation rate by state as well as the mean scores by state for the ACT standardized test available to High School seniors nationwide.