ArcGIS Chapter 15

This exercise was fairly easy as I just had to follow what was being taught in the tutorial. There were no discrepancies between the tutorial and the software, so it was actually a relief.  I added two proposed parcels in the subdivision. I also measured the distance and the length and the intersection of two circular graphics to understand the plot was fun and interesting. This will be very helpful for developers and property owners for planning purposes.

ArcGIS Chapter 14

This chapter was about building geodatabases. There are many different formats for organizing spatial data into feature classes, some of which are shapefiles, coverages and CAD files. Geodatabases is one of them. But unlike a shapefile, geodatabases, coverages and CAD files contain several feature classes.

Part a was a little difficult for me because the software would not allow me to import Coverage to Geodatabase Wizard. I had to play around a little and make a few changes (that I don’t even remember) to complete this exercise.

The next part of the exercise taught how to create feature classes and specifying the feature class geometry — point, line or polygon. Fields and domains are then added to store attribute information. A field is defined by a name, data type and properties that vary according to both. A domain is wither a list or range of valid values for an attribute.  A domain can be applied to more than one field in a feature class and more than one feature class within a geodatabase.

Delaware County Data Review

Delaware_Address_Pts

This is a map that shows the different address points (or building structures) within Delaware County, Ohio.

Delaware_Annexations

This data set shows the locations of different annexations and conforming boundaries in Delaware County.

Delaware Archeological

This shows the different archeological sites in Delaware County.

Delaware_Bench_Marks

This map shows all the bench marks in Delaware County.

A benchmark is a point whose position is known to a high degree of accuracy and is normally marked in some way. The marker is often a metal disk made for this purpose, but it can also be a church spire, a radio tower, a mark chiseled into stone, or a metal rod driven into the ground.

They are used by land surveyors, builders and engineers, map makers, and other professionals who need an accurate answer to the question, “Where?”

This website shows a gallery of benchmarks: http://www.geocaching.com/mark/gallery.aspx

Delaware_Building Outlines

This map layer marks the different points in Delaware County where buildings are located and makes an outline of it.

Delaware_Census_Block

This map layer marks the boundaries of Delaware County. The area is broken down into blocks so it is easier to conduct census. If the census of Delaware needs to be taken, then it will have to be within this block. Maybe it also shows areas where the population density is high?

Delaware_Census_BlockGroup

The map layer again shows areas broken down by the US Census bureau to help in conducting the decennial census.

Delaware_Census_Tract

This map layer shows the tracts or areas in Delaware County broken down by the US Census Bureau to help them conduct the decennial census. Each tract shows the road center lines and political boundaries of Delaware County.

Delaware_Farmlots

This map layer shows the location, sizes and boundaries of different farm lots in Delaware County.

Delaware_Floodplain_100 yr

This map layer shows the 100 year old flood plains in Delaware County. It is shown in blue and the tracts are shown in green.

Delaware_Floodplain_500yr

It shows all the 500 year old flood plains in Delaware County. They are far less and smaller than the 100 year old ones.

Delaware_Floodways

As can be assumed from the title, the map layer shows all the flood ways in Delaware County. They are shown in purple.

Delaware_Historical_Local

The map shows all locations within Delaware County that are of historical significance to its citizens.

Delaware_Historical_National

The map layer shows all locations within Delaware County that are of historical significance nationally.

Delaware_Hydro

The map layer shows all the major water ways in Delaware County.

Delaware_Hydro_Detail

This map layer shows an additional detail to the Delaware_Hydro map — it shows the Delaware Run.

Delaware_Landmarks

There are many map layers within this category. They show different landmarks within Delaware County.

• Bldg 1_Base: A point coverage containing Hospital/Urgent care, EMS, Fire departments, Township halls, Fairgrounds or track.
• Bldg 2_Base: A point coverage containing County Buildings, City Buildings, State Buildings, Weight Stations, Interstate Rest Areas, Libraries, Interstate Exit # 131 and Interstate Exit # 121.
• Cemetery_Base: A point coverage containing all Cemeteries within Delaware County.
• Churches: It contains all of the Churches in Delaware County, Ohio.
• Golfcourses_Base: A point coverage containing all Golf Courses within Delaware County.
• Parks: It contains a polygon shapefile and a point shapefile containing all parks within Delaware County.
• Schools_Base: A point coverage containing all Elementary Schools, Intermediate Schools, High Schools, JVS, Private Schools and Colleges within Delaware County.
• USPS_Base: A point coverage containing all Post Offices within Delaware County.

Delaware_Municipalities

This map layer contains the location and boundaries of all municipalities within Delaware County.

Delaware_Natural_Heritage_ODNR

The points indicate the different locations within Delaware County that are natural heritage.

Delaware_Orthophoto_2008 and Delaware_Orthophoto_Detailed_2008

An orthophoto  is an aerial photograph geometrically corrected such that the scale is uniform: the photo has the same lack of distortion as a map. Unlike an uncorrected aerial photograph, an orthophotograph can be used to measure true distances, because it is an accurate representation of the earth’s surface, having been adjusted for topographic relief, lens distortion, and camera tilt.

Look at this link for more details: http://online.wr.usgs.gov/ngpo/doq/doq_basics.html

The data layer shows orthophotographs of the periphery or boundaries of Delaware County.  All distortions due to terrain have been corrected and the area is seen in its true state as an almost straight line.

Delaware_Parcels

This map layer shows the different parcels within Delaware County. These parcels were created to facilitate and enhance the property appraisal process.

Delaware_Precincts

This map layer shows each precinct voting boundary in Delaware County.  The dots on the map show polls.

Delaware_Public Land Survey System

This data set helps to identify the two public land survey districts in Delaware County. It was first hard to determine how the data set was shown. Then it became clear that one PLSS was shown by drawing equal sized squares and the other PLSS was shown by drawing unequally sized rectangles. This data set also shows the size and boundaries of each PLSS.

Delaware_Railroad

This map layer shows all rail road lines running through Delaware County.

Delaware_Road_ Center_Line

It shows all the roads within Delaware County. It can be used extensively for geocoding, mapping and transportation analysis.

Delaware_Road_Right of Way

This map layer shows all road within Delaware County that are right of ways.

Delaware_School_Districts

It shows all school districts within Delaware County.

Delaware_Soils

It shows all the different soil types within Delaware County.

Delaware_Subdivision

The map layer shows the location of all subdivisions and condos in Delaware County.

Delaware_Tax District

The map layer shows all tax districts in Delaware County.

Delaware_Topography

This data set shows contour lines for Delaware County. The topography shapefiles are subdivided into separate township files. The townships are Berkshire, Berlin, Brown, Concord, Delaware, Genoa, Harlem, Kingston, Liberty North, Liberty South, Marlboro, Orange, Oxford, Porter, Radnor, Scioto, Thompson, Trenton and Troy. (Liberty Township has two shapefiles.)

Delaware_Townships

This shows the 19 different townships in Delaware County, their boundaries and sizes.

Delaware_Townships_Historical

This map layer shows the 18 original townships in Delaware County before the tax district changes affected their shapes.

Delaware_Watersheds_ODNR

The map layer shows the different water sheds in Delaware County.

Delaware_Wetlands

As the name indicates, the map layer describes the different wetlands found in Delaware County.

Delaware_Woodland_ODNR

This data set shows all the woodlands within Delaware County.

Delaware_Zip Codes

The data set shows the different regions within Delaware County according to their zip codes.

Delaware_Zoning

• Historic District: Maybe this data set shows Delaware City within Delaware County.
• Zoning: This data set zooms the area and shows details of Delaware City?

ArcGIS Chapter 13

This chapter was all over the place. When I first read the introduction of the chapter, I thought we will be working with colorful world maps since the first 4-5 pages were filled with those. Then I opened the exercise and the screen looked like a scanned version of a paper document with Alaska and Hawaii marked on it according to its geographic location.

But the exercise was relatively easier to execute. I did not face any problems with it.

ArcGIS Chapter 12

This exercise taught me about analyzing spatial data. I learned that a buffer is an area drawn at a uniform distance around a feature (I remembered that by thinking of a circle and its circumference). Overlays are areas where features in two layers overlap and create a new data set from these overlaps.

I think this exercise is helpful for a number of purposes. Knowing the areas where trees cannot be cut is useful for planning and developing an area and can be used for various other studies. This exercise kept making a LOT of changes to the maps and I had to keep checking every time to see what changes were being made with each step. Though I understood the overall agenda and usefulness of this exercise, it am still fuzzy about what I actually did.

ArcGIS Chapter 11

It took me more time than usual to get through this chapter. Creating graphs in the second part of the exercise was particularly challenging because I could not match what was being said in the tutorial to the software. This was surprising because, so far, the tutorial has been very simple to understand and the graphics shown in the books almost always matches what I see on the computer screen. Once I figured out the discrepancies, everything fell right into place.

ArcGIS Chapter 10

This exercise reminded me of Chapter 8, but here we were selecting features based on their spatial relationship to other features. Maybe this is what they use in Google maps or map quest to show where a location is and what is in the surrounding area — restaurants, rivers etc.

But I think this was, by far, the most entertaining exercise I have completed. It was fun to zoom into different areas on a map and find buildings. Like Google Earth except I feel I am doing more than just moving my cursor and zooming in.

ArcGIS Chapter 9

This exercise was all about joining and relating tables.

A table join attaches the attributes of the non-spatial table to the layer attribute table. For example, since each country has only one capital, it is possible to join the attribute value (Paris, London, etc.) to the record (France, England, etc.).

A table relate selects records in the layer attribute table to see the matching records in the non-spatial table. Fro example, since a country has more than one major city, tables will have to be related than joined.

It was a little challenging at first to create tables that relate information. I am sure it must be hard to find the connection between the metals in Mississippi and the buffers near the waterways. The second part of the exercise was relatively easier.

ArcGIS Chapter 8

This exercise was all about looking for features that were not displayed on a map. There are many ways of retrieving such information:

• Identifying Features: Clicking on features to display their attributes.
• Selecting Features Interactively: Click on features to highlight them and look at their records in the layer attribute table.
• Selecting Features by Attributes: Write a query that automatically selects features meeting specific criteria (example: 3-bedroom houses with swimming pools).
• Finding Features: Provide ArcMap with some information and see which feature it belongs to.

How to create reports was, I think, very simple and did not need to be guided every step of the way by the tutorial.

ArcGIS Chapter 7

This exercise was not as thrilling as the last few. It was helpful to learn about labeling and where and how to place labels so it could be read more clearly. Also, it was fun to label the names of states in ginger pink which was one shade darker than the color of the states itself on the map. Though I did not enjoy the exercise as much I did the rest, I knew it was critical to scale maps and to place labels accurately.