GIS 1 Lab 2: Downloading GIS Data

GIS 1 Lab 2: Downloading GIS Data

Geography 335

Greg Burgess

Goal

The goal of this lab was to get experience with importing and manipulating data from outside sources, such as the US Census Bureau. Using outside data from reliable sources is useful for expanding the amount of information a map can show. Therefore it is imperative that GIS students learn this skill. Another main goal of this project is to get a basic understanding of table joins. Being able to join tables allows us to further manipulate data. A secondary goal of this lab is to further develop map making skills, as being able to make cartographically pleasing maps from different types of data is a fairly important skill. Being able to make well designed maps is important for any map maker to be proficient at because it allows the map maker to convey large amounts of data in a clean, easy to read manner.

Methods

To accomplish these goals, data needed to be downloaded off of the US Census Bureau website (something that could not be done for a long time because of the government shutdown). Data searches in the US Census Bureau site were specified until population and housing data files of Wisconsin counties were located. For this project, we were looking for SF1 data, which is the basic standard Census data. This data was downloaded, unzipped, and saved as an Excel workbook file. Saving the file in the correct format makes the standalone Excel tables able to be imported into the ArcGis. The data only contains information regarding county populations and housing, and must be joined with a Wisconsin shape file before the data can be plotted as a map.
Once the data was joined, a cartographically pleasing map was made. To make the Wisconsin population and housing data more pertinent, it was normalized to the total population in Wisconsin. This made the data much easier to to read, dividing the counties up by percentage of the state population and percentage of the number of housing units in the state they contained. North arrows, scales, legends, and titles were added, and the layout was edited to create a cartographically pleasing map.

Results

The result of the joining of the US Census Bureau data with the Wisconsin shape files is two maps depicting Wisconsin county population and Wisconsin county housing data (Image 1). Note that the county population (shown by the map on the left) generally dictates the percentage of housing units that will be present in each county (shown in the map on the right), although there are some slight discrepancies in areas. Because of this, the shading in the two maps generally mirror each other.

Image 1- A map of the percentages of Wisconsin population in each county (left) and a map of the percentages of Wisconsin housing units in each county (right).

 

Source

US Census Bureau

Map Created by Greg Burgess

GIS 1 Lab 3: GPS Mapping

GIS 1 Lab 3: GPS Mapping

Geography 335 

Greg Burgess

Goals and Background

The goal of this project was to learn the basics of using a Trimble Juno GPS unit, as well as to get valuable field experience. This was done by gathering line, polygon, and point data by utilizing global positioning systems and ArcPad. Developing field mapping skills with GPS units such as these is important to any geographer, geologist or biologist who wants to get ahead in his or her field. A secondary goal was to practice creating cartographically pleasing maps. Being able to display data in a manner that is easy to read and understand is an important skill to have for any aspiring map maker.

Methods

To accomplish these goals, a geodatabase was created to house the feature sets, as well as the data we were going to collect. This was done by uploading an aerial photo of the UWEC campus, courtesy of the National Aerial Photography Program. Feature classes and associated infrastructure were set up for points, lines, and polygons. The database was then prepared for deployment and uploaded into a device for data collection. Checking out the data makes it readable by the ArcPad program installed on the Trimble units. This device was then taken into the field. 

 

For this project, points, lines and polygons were used to map trees, light posts, grass polygons and the footbridge connecting the Haas Fine Arts Center to the rest of campus. The trees and light posts were collected by standing in close proximity to the object of interest and creating a point on the GPS unit. The footbridge was mapped by creating a continuous line and walking the length of the footbridge. Grass polygons were collected by using two different methods: point streaming and point averaging. Point streaming continuously creates points on the map as the Trimble unit is moved in a polygonal shape. Point averaging requires the user of the Trimble unit to manually create points as he or she moves around the polygonal area of interest.  After data collection, the data was checked back into ArcMap GIS. Checking in the data makes it readable by the ArcMap system once again. Once this is done, the data was compiled into a map. A scale, a legend, and other basic features were then added to create a cartographically pleasing map of the University of Eau Claire campus.

Results

The result of the data collection and compilation is a map of the UWEC campus, seen below in image 1. Data has been divided into different shapes and colors depending on their feature classification. Note that the original aerial photo that this map is outdated, and the old Davies Center is still located in the center of campus. This causes the data to be inaccurate, as many of the lights, trees, and grass polygons, are now present where the old building was. The new Davies center, although it was not yet built in this image, has been outlined.

 

Image 1- A map of the University of Eau Claire campus, with buildings, grass patches, light posts, trees, and the footbridge identified. Map can be seen in a larger format by right clicking it and opening it in a new tab.

Sources

The aerial photo was provided by the National Air Photography Program (NAIP 201X).

GPS data collected by Greg Burgess on 10/16/2013.