GIS 121 Module 1

Summary

This was a good introduction to ArcGIS, creating our class blogs and what is expected about journaling and uploaging maps to our blogs. Th “OH SHIT moment” came when I looked at Pete’s GIS 111 course blog and found a long list of learning objectives and terms to know. And that was just the one for the first module of the course. I’d better get started writing answers to learning objectives and terms to know definitions.

The class schedule was not so clear.

Journal Entry 1

This is my second GIS class this semester with Pete, who uses a fun approach to teaching and is enthusiastic about maps, mountain biking and kayaking. It felt like Christmas when he gave us a one year educational version of ArcGIS.

This class, GIS 121-Georeferencing and Mapping, will use a less step by step approach than GIS 111-Intro to GIS. We will be focusing more on Cartography and technical issues of coordinate systems and map projections. We will be learning about the science in the process of making maps. For both classes we will set up a blog on blogger.com, where we will post a weekly journal along with the maps we produce in the learning exercises. In the journal we can comment on what was clear and what was muddy about the class lectures and the exercises.

In class Pete gave us a quick tour of ArcGIS and explained how it is an integrated collection of GIS software products. For ArcGIS Desktop, ESRI offers three license levels that increase in price and functionality (ArcView for $1.5k, ArcEditor for ? and ArcInfo for $9k). All three license levels include the same core applications, ArcMap and Arc Catalog. ArcMap is the application for making maps and analyzing data. ArcCatalog is the data management application. Both applications access ArcToolbox, which provides a menu of geoprocessing tools that use wizards do things, such as, change map projections, convert file formats. Like most things in life, when you pay more you get more bells and whistles. For a price (about $2.5k) you can buy optional extensions that perform tasks such as 3D analysis.

Pete talked about the importance of file management and how ArcCatalog differs from Windows Explorer. ArcCatalog has unique capabilities for recognizing and managing spatial data.

In ArcMap we looked at the differences between the Data View and the Layout View. In Data View you can do everything except compose a map or report. In Data View you can have more than one map with each map organized as a data frame. The Layout View is a virtual page where each map from the Data View can be placed as frame which can be resized and moved around the page. The Layout View is where you add map elements such as a legend, north arrow, titles and a scale bar.

We downloaded some files from the Buncombe county GIS site and made a map the Blue Ridge Motel Landslide. For homework we created our blog, posted our first journal entry and uploaded a jpeg image of the landslide map.