GIS Online Student Spotlight - Kasey Helms

Congratulations to Kasey Helms on being named Student Spotlight for her outstanding work in Applications in GIS/GIS 5100.  

 

Kasey is enrolled in the Graduate Certificate Program.  She recently finished eight years in the Navy, serving the last year in Bahrain.  While overseas, Kasey earned her BS in Environmental Studies and worked as an analyst.  During this job, she was first introduced to power of GIS.  Kasey enrolled in GIS Online Program because he hopes to transition into a civilian job in the GIS or analyst field.  Kasey currently lives in Southern California with her two water-loving dogs.

Thank you for your service Kasey and welcome to the spotlight.  It can get pretty hot in here.  Let's hope the year in Bahrain helped prepare you for the heat!  To follow Kasey's work throughout the program, check out her blog at Kasey's GIS Adventure. 

Module 1:  Suitability Analysis

Instructor:  Dr. Paul Zandbergen

Suitability Analysis, sometimes referred to as a multi-criteria decision making, is a “classic example” of GIS that was developed in the early days of the technology. Students were introduced to different types of suitability analysis and the typical workflows used to implement suitability analysis. In this module, students practiced a couple of different suitability models in both vector and raster.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Perform suitability analysis using both vector and raster analysis tool
• Prepare data for use in suitability analysis
• Compare different approaches to suitability analysis, including Boolean and scoring
• Compare vector and raster tools to complete specific steps in suitability analysis
• Adjust specific parameters employed in suitability analysis, such as scoring and weighting

For the final map deliverable, students ran the weighted overlay tool twice, comparing an Equal-weight scenario with an Alternative scenario. Kasey did an excellent job with not only her analysis, but final cartographic submission. Her symbology choice effectively communicates areas which are most suitable from first glance. Also instead of leaving the tabulated areas from each scenario buried in the process summary; she decided to include this table on the final map document thus associating a quantified area with each color swatch in the legend. Kasey’s final submission is an excellent example of when good analysis meets great design, awesome work Kasey!!

Next week, we will spotlight a student from GIS 4102 - GIS Programming taught by Dr. Derick Morgan.