Suitable Bear Habitats in Northern Michigan

lab4 map, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The objective of this project for GIS 335 lab 4, was to use a varitey of tools in the ArcGIS program to determine which areas with in Marquette County, Michigan were suitable habitats for bears. Once the habitats were found to be suitable then we were to see which ones were within DNR management land so that they could be notified. This lab required usage of many tools and specific skills. I learned how to properly use intersect, buffer, and clip really well and when to intersect instead ofjust spatial join. The map resulted in a clear representation of where the suitable habitats were located and where the DNR should focus its efforts on. All data was found from http://www.michigan.gov/cgi. Lastly for a full representation of the steps I took to gather this information above will be a post of my final data flow model used for lab 4.

Lab 3 map

Lab 3 map, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The purpose of this lab project was to show how prevalent error occurs when collecting data in the field. We learned how to collect data on Trimble Junos and what methods work best for what kinds of data you want to be collecting. My collection of points was particularly awful because I chose to add points continuously. Adding points continously leaves room for more errors. It also did not help that the morning that I collected my points it was raining which can interfere with the satellite signals. As you can see from where my pink polygons are, they are far off from where I was actually trying to collect data. I learned that if I wanted to collect more accurate data that I should have used point vertexes to collect my data instead.

WI lab 2

WI lab 2, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The goal of this map was to create a visually pleasing map of Wisconsin by using a new set of skills we learned which was downloading data from an outside source, reading and understanding its metadata, and placing it into a Cloropleth map. I found the result to be quite interesting in the fact that there was no surprise for me that the total population was higher in the counties with the largest families. However the total number of family households did not seem to fit a pattern. The one thing that surprised me was that Dane county where Madison is did not have a high family household ratio. The only explanation I could think of is that it is a large college town where maybe single young students make up the major of there population.

Exercise 11 Arcmap

Exercise 11, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

In exercise 11 we were asked to familiarize ourselves on how to make chloropleth maps in Arcmap. In this particular exercise we were to show the distribution of ethnicity throughout a major city and I chose to do Denver, Colorado. At first it was difficult to learn how to navigate Arcmap but once I got the hang of it, it was much easier to complete this map then our original chloropleth map.

Percentage of African Population Living with AIDS

Ex2 – Reference Map I, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

In this project we were required to create a bivariate map on a subject of our choice. I chose to do the population of African countries and what percentage of their population was living with AIDS. Finding the data was a little difficult because some countries do not keep statistics, but in the end I was pleased with the outcome. I was surprised to see some of the highly populated countries have lower percentage of people with AIDS. I wish I could’ve found the data for the four countries without data, but despite the missing data I am pleased with the end outcome of this map.

North Carolina Chloropleth Map

North Carolina, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

In this exercise we were to learn how to create a chloropleth map manually in Illustrator. We were required to use two different class break methods. Two maps were to be classified by the quintile method and the other two were to be classified by standard deviation. This map was not a difficult one,but extremely time consuming. Having to look up each North Carolina county four times took forever!

Proportional Symbol Map

Proportional Symbol Map Wisconsin, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The requirements for this activity were simple: we were to create a proportional symbol map on anything we wanted. I chose to do the percent of people who claim to be German in WI. I chose this becasue WI is known to be a state with high rates of German ancestry. One thing I struggled with while making this map was reflecting the data into the proportional circles.I was unsure on how to scale them correctly at first,but eventualy got the hang of it. Overall I am pleased with this map, I think it has a nice overall effect. I enjoyed seeing that Milwaukee area and Madison had the most German heritage, but was surprised to not see a larger amount of german heritage in the LaCrosee area seeing as they host the annual Oktoberfest each year.

Map projections: South America

Final south america, a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

This map activity was ment to teach us how to use Arcmap and learn about all the different map projections there are. Our goal was to export 10 different map projections and overlap them so that you can see how they differ from one another. This map was difficult for me because at the time I was unfamiliar with how to work arcmap. I had issues with the outlines overlapping eachother, however once I figured it out it became quite simple. The only thing I would change is my text. My colored text is blurry because at the time I had accidently left the fill option on in Illustrator. Lastly I would have created a text box around the text to clean up my map and not make it seem so cluttered.

Reference Map 2: Hometown

Madison 2 [Converted], a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The hometown reference map was an exercise that was supposed to familiarize us even more with Illustrator. We were to use the five essentials of map design while creating this map but if I could redo this project I would choose a more centralized section of Madison because in this map the visual hierarchy is focused on the lakes and not the buildings and places of Madison. This project was surprisingly difficult and time consuming for me. It took more time than I expected to draw out every building, street, park, and landmark. Overall this assignment taught me how to have a better eye for the five essentials of map design and how to use Illustrator properly. It also made me appreciate the time and effort that goes into small maps such as these that you would find in brochures or on pamphlets.

GPS Map: Native American Mounds in Madison WI

Indian Mounds with scale [Converted], a photo by banheraa on Flickr.

The purpose of our GPS map was to familiarize ourselves with the GPS systems and how to use them alongside Arc map which mapped our collected data. We could either go map way points or a track/path. I was visiting my hometown, Madison WI, for the weekend of this assignment and decided to map the Native American effigy mounds that are so prevalent in Madison. Due to the sheer size of Madison I was only able to map the north and east side mounds. I found that they tend to be located near bodies of water. I wish looking back I would have added a little color to the text boxes to brighten the map, but in the end I enjoyed this exercise. It was fun to travel around Madison and learn more about GPS systems and my hometown.