Cartography Student Spotlight: Final Week!

GIS3015 Cartographic Skills, Instructor, Mrs. Penelope Bishop

Flow Line Mapping

In the "Flow Maps" laboratory assignment you will be creating an Immigration map using the most recent immigration data available from the US Department of Homeland Security. You will be mapping Immigration into the United States by country of birth for the Year 2007.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Assess design issues for flow line mapping
• Construct a flow map utilizing proper design techniques
• Apply style and visual effects in Adobe Illustrator

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following students were chosen for their exception work on the Flow Line Mapping assignment:

Erin Marie Ganzenmuller 

About Erin: Erin grew up in Ohio then joined the Air Force where she was first stationed in Omaha, Nebraska and was deployed to Iraq for seven months. She currently lives in the Panhandle of Florida brought here by her husbands' orders, but she still misses the midwest(when there is a bit less snow on the ground).

While in the military, Erin worked in Intelligence. However, military life and Intelligence didn't quite suite her so she decided to pursue other options. For a few months she worked at Fontenelle Forest where she had the wonderful opportunity of teaching children about nature, taking care of the resident rehabilitated wildlife on site, hiking through their trails (even in the snow), and meeting their wonderful staff of passionate naturalists.

Erin's husband then got orders to Hurlburt Field a couple of years ago. They live here with their cat, Charlie, and two dogs, Toto and Zoey. Erin enjoys traveling, learning new things, hanging out with my husband and critters, keeping up on shows like The Walking Dead, and napping. Erin has also recently started particapitating in Geochacing, and find it a fun GIS related hobby.

Erin is currently enrolled in University of West Florida's Undergraduate GIS Certificate program as well as with American Military University, pursuing an Associate Degree in Human Resources. She holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Hazardous Waste Management from AMU. She really likes school. And Starbucks. And memes...

What we like: Throughout the completion of this project Erin exercised extreme craftsmanship and demonstrated her comfort in Adobe Illustrator.  To execute this module, students could either maintain the continents in place with each other or move them around; with the latter being a bit more challenging.  Of course, Erin went for it!  She employed a great color scheme and laid everything out with close attention to design, allowing her flowlines to truly stand out on the map!  For all those information buffs out there, Erin included all relevant map information such as the projection, which is very important to include in a map of such scale.  Overall great work Erin!

Dot Mapping

In the “Dot Mapping” lab, we will explore Dot Density maps and their construction.  Working from an original MS Excel sheet, we will represent the 2000 population density of South Florida.  Dots will be further modified in their weight, size, and placement in respect to other layers and cartographic design principles.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Assess design issues for dot density mapping
• Utilization of the Excel to Table tool
• Construction of a dot density map using ArcGIS
• Editing of Dot weights and size
• Managing Dot Placement

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following students were chosen for their exception work on the Dot Mapping assignment:

Stewart Boyd 

About Stewart: Stewart is currently working as a licensed professional engineer in Terre Haute, Indiana. He uses maps on a daily basis for everything from mineral reserve analysis, groundwater tracking, geologic modeling, to the delineation of wetlands and streams, and etc.  Stewart primarily uses AutoCAD Map for his daily activities, and AutoCAD has been integrating GIS into its functions.  The GIS databases provided online, primarily through government websites, have made his job a lot easier on a day-to-day basis. Stewart is taking these courses to make certain he has a good understanding of the resources available and hopefully to become more efficient in his day to day duties. And by the way, he really likes making maps! Welcome back to the spotlight, Stewart!

What we like: This exercise was a bit challenging as Arc performance with the masking tool could be glitchy, but Stewart battled on and created this masterpiece!  His map is deceivingly simple at first glance, yet contains a wealth of information--that is not easy to achieve!  By implementing a grey scale he was able to include all relevant geographic information without overwhelming the eyes.  The inset map helps the viewer understand the map's overall location and the road features and major cites help viewers understand population density associations.  Very polished map, well done!

Good luck on finals!  Check back in a few weeks for summer spotlights!

Introduction to GIS Student Spotlight

GIS4043 Geographic Information Systems, Instructor, Mrs. Amber Bloechle

Week 13: Georeferencing, Editing, and ArcScene

This week we:

• Georeferenced data using the Control Points tool 
• Recalled the acceptable static features that can used as common points 
• Georeferenced an unknown raster image of the campus to known vector data (i.e. buildings & roads) 
• Interpreted Residual and Root Mean Square errors 
• Digitized new building and road features 
• Practiced polynomial transformations 
• Created hyperlinks in ArcGIS to data stored on a personal drive 
• Created Multiple Ring Buffers 
• Practiced customizing an ArcMap toolbar 
• Practiced overlaying data in a 3D environment 

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this lab students should be able to:

• Define Georeferencing
• Georeference data using the Control Points tool and understand how to distribute control points
• Recall the acceptable static features that can used as common points
• Georeference an unknown raster image of the campus to known vector data (i.e. buildings & roads)
• Interpret Residual and Root Mean Square errors
• Practice and recall the methods used to reduce error
• Digitize new building and road features
• Edit data features and attributes
• Practice polynomial transformations
• Create hyperlinks in ArcGIS to data stored on a personal drive
• Create Multiple Ring Buffers
• Practice customizing an ArcMap toolbar
• Practice overlaying data in a 3D environment

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following student was chosen for their exception work on the Georeferencing, Editing, and ArcScene assignment:

Erin Marie Ganzenmuller

About Erin: Erin grew up in Ohio then joined the Air Force where she was first stationed in Omaha, Nebraska and was deployed to Iraq for seven months. She currently lives in the Panhandle of Florida brought here by her husbands' orders, but she still misses the midwest(when there is a bit less snow on the ground).

While in the military, Erin worked in Intelligence. However, military life and Intelligence didn't quite suite her so she decided to pursue other options. For a few months she worked at Fontenelle Forest where she had the wonderful opportunity of teaching children about nature, taking care of the resident rehabilitated wildlife on site, hiking through their trails (even in the snow), and meeting their wonderful staff of passionate naturalists.

Erin's husband then got orders to Hurlburt Field a couple of years ago. They live here with their cat, Charlie, and two dogs, Toto and Zoey. Erin enjoys traveling, learning new things, hanging out with my husband and critters, keeping up on shows like The Walking Dead, and napping. Erin has also recently started particapitating in Geochacing, and find it a fun GIS related hobby.

Erin is currently enrolled in University of West Florida's Undergraduate GIS Certificate program as well as with American Military University, pursuing an Associate Degree in Human Resources. She holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and a certificate in Hazardous Waste Management from AMU. She really likes school. And Starbucks. And memes...

What we like: Erin went above and beyond this week! Erin's UWF campus/ eagle nest map absolutely spectacular. Her main map provided an easy transition to her inset regarding the geographic location of the eagle nest. SHe also accurately identified the buffer zones in her legend as 'Conservation easement' and 'Protection area'. She created a clean, easy to interpret map We also like the icon she chose to show her aerials in her legend on the ArcScene map. Way to rock it, Erin!

Come back next week for the Student Spotlight from Cartography!

Internship Student Spotlight

GIS4944/5945, GIS Internship, Instructor, Mrs. Leah Lewis, GISP

GIS Internships - Let's get to work!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following student was chosen to highlight their current GIS internship experience.  

Warren Rich 

About Warren: Warren is currently an archaeologist at the University of Vermont conducting lab work and field survey. He became exposed to GIS through archaeology, and throughout this program he has realized the vast potential for its usage in many different fields. Warren has already used the skills learned here to assist colleagues in personal and professional research using GIS, often showing them new things and more efficient ways to complete tasks. Ultimately, he hopes to use GIS on a daily basis as a career, whether in archaeology or another field.

In his current role as an archaeologist, Warren spends most of his time participating in ongoing research pertaining to least cost path analysis in the prehistoric Eastern Woodlands, managing and updating state archaeological databases, digitizing and working with field data collected from archaeological excavations, and assisting in GIS related tasks in the office.

When asked if he would consider himself a raster or a vector, Warren said he would consider himself more of a raster, many different pixels (often times at very different resolutions) which can complement each other in order to create something meaningful.  Vectors are a little too one track for him.  Welcome to the spotlight, Warren!

Cartography Student Spotlight

GIS3015 Cartographic Skills, Instructor, Mrs. Penelope Bishop Mitchell

Isarythmic Mapping

The Isarythmic Lab is designed to work with the varying isarithmic symbolization methods as well as use the Spatial Analyst extension to establish contour lines over raster data.  Students applied the hillshade effect to both contiguous tone and hypsometric tint symbologies, creating an informative map of Washington state precipitation.

Student Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the PRISM Interpolation Method
• Work with continuous raster data
• Implement continuous tone symbology
• Utilize the Spatial Analyst Extension
• Implement hypsometric symbology
• Employ hillshade relief
• Use the Int Tool to convert floating raster values to integers
• Manually classify data
• Create contours using the Contour List Tool
• Use the Spatial Analyst Toolbar to create graphic contours
• Compile maps using craftsmanship to create unique and polished Isarithmic maps
• Summarize and present lab objectives and outcomes

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

The following student was chosen for their exceptional work on the Isarythmic Mapping assignment:

Laura Simpkins

About Laura: Laura lives in Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia with her husband and 2 kitties. She has an undergraduate degree in environmental science from University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Laura has interned with the park service at Grand Canyon NP and worked for the WV dept. of environmental protection in watershed management. Currently she is an environmental educator at a children's museum. She loves working with kids, but is ready for a new adventure. Laura joined this GIS program to gain some technical skills to help her set out on a new path hopefully in environmental resource management. She is interested in native plants, wetlands, rivers, streams, creeks, cricks, and playing in the woods. Welcome back to the spotlight, Laura!

What we like: This lab focused on different methods of isarythmic mapping and emphasized the use of the hillshade effect with two different symbologies.  Armed with precipitation data acquired from PRISM, the students were tasked creating contour lines of rainfall values for the state of Washington.  Laura was selected for this week’s spotlight due to her attention to detail when creating these deliverables.  Her legend was very neat and displayed the color ramp at equal intervals, she also made sure to include the necessary projection information, not leaving any data out!  When using the create contour lines tool in ArcMap, the contour interval is not automatically noted in the final output.  Queuing into this detail Laura goes the extra step to label the contour lines as to paint the complete picture for the viewer!  Finally with the deliverables met Laura establishes the relative geographic extent by placing a basemap and labeling larger cities.  These reasons paired with extraordinary craftsmanship is why Laura was chosen for this week’s student spotlight!  Great work Laura!