Portfolio

This portfolio presents most of the projects completed during coursework for the Graduate Certificate in GIS for Archaeology at the University of West Florida.  These courses included Cartography, Introduction to GIS, Remote Sensing, GIS for Archaeology, and Special Topics in Archaeology.  It also includes a project begun during the final semester, Spring 2017, when I worked as an intern at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts.  I created an Esri Story Tour based on a logbook of a voyage taken by Horatio Hathaway from New York to China and back in 1850-1851. This project is ongoing.

A link to my portfolio can be found here, and a short video explaining my favorite project can be found here.  The Story Tour, although incomplete, can be viewed here.

Creating this portfolio required me to reflect back on how far I've come and how much I've learned over the past two years.  The maps show steady progress in my GIS skills and abilities, and the variety of topics and purposes for which these maps were made is quite impressive, looking back.  I feel like I have accomplished what I set out to learn and more.  I also realize where my strengths and weaknesses exist as they relate to GIS.  Overall, the process of creating the portfolio has left me feeling proud and hopeful that I can get meaningful, satisfying work in this field in the future.

Final Project: Bobwhite-Manatee Transmission Line

For the past few weeks we have been using everything we've learned to create a PowerPoint presentation showcasing maps made with our new skills.  In this project, we were to present the best option for a corridor linking two electric substations with a new transmission line.  The study area included wetlands, conservation lands, and populated areas which needed to be taken into account.  Keeping costs low was another factor.

To begin, we created a model of the process we planned to follow to gather and analyze the data; it included possible GIS tools and methods that could be used.  Next we created maps based on criteria selected during the public input process.  Using GIS processes, the proximity of houses, schools and daycares was investigated.  Wetlands and conservation lands were identified so the impact of the transmission corridor could be minimized on these sensitive environmental areas.  Last, the length of the route was calculated.

Once the map were created, they were included in a Powerpoint presentation of the kind that would be given to a prospective employer.  Here is a link to the presentation and to the slide-by-slide report.

Presentation

Report

This was an extremely challenging  process, but one that felt, and probably was at least in part, realistic. What is presented here is my best effort, a good start.

Georeferencing, Editing, and ArcScene

This week we made two maps.  One was a 3D map of the UWF Campus showing the georeferenced buildings and digitized road created in the other map.  The aerial maps, buildings, and roads were "draped" over a Digital Elevation Map to create the 3D effect on the land features, and then the building heights were further adjusted to create more of a visual effect.

The lower map shows UWF Campus buildings that have been georeferenced in two ways, creating slightly different RMS Errors but with overall visual accuracy for both.  Two types of editing were done - a polygon was created to show the UWF Gym, and a line was created to show Campus Lane.  We also created a Multiple Buffer Ring around an area designated to protect an eagle's nest.

Vector 2 Lab: Buffers and Overlays

This week we created a map of possible campsite locations within the De Soto National Forest while being introduced to buffering and overlaying.  These tools are commonly used, and are key to the process of answering questions about locations using specific criteria.

Buffering was used to find areas which satisfied two criteria for possible campsites - being within a certain distance from water features and roads.  A distance of 300m was set as the buffer for roads, 150m for lakes, and 500m for rivers. 

Overlays were used to join layers using one of six possible tools.  The "Union" tool was used to join the two buffered layers from the previous step.  This created a new layer showing areas which were within both the road buffer area and the water buffer layers.

The next step was to exclude conservation land.  This was done by using the overlay tool "Erase", which selected particular areas to remove from the "possible campsites" layer.  This was a multipart layer which we converted to a singlepart layer so that individual records could be accessed and manipulated within the Attribute Table.  In the lab, we looked at the attribute "Area" to see which possible campsites had the largest and smallest area. The total area in square meters was also calculated.

These two tools are clearly very powerful and useful in a large variety of situations, in many industries and occupations.  I'm excited to explore ways in which they are used in archaeology.

Data Search Lab: Palm Beach

Palm Beach County, Florida...

 

 

The results of two weeks' lab work are displayed above.  If someone had told me I'd be able to do this after 8 weeks of study, I wouldn't have believed them.  If I had another couple of weeks, the maps would look better  - but all things considered, I'm quite proud of what I accomplished.

 

This week's lab asked us to search for specific types of data, download the data, put all data in the same projection, clip it to be within a specified county (Palm Beach in my case), and then make everything look sharp.  Some of the data was vector, some was raster.  Some came from Labins, some from FGDL, some from USGS.  One thing that struck me during this process - there is a TON of data out there, and it's quite interesting to check it all out.  There will come a time when I have the luxury of doing that, but not right now!

 

The repetition of adding data, checking out the metadata, reprojecting, and clipping made me really understand the process.  I don't have to look through old lab notes to do it any more, and I call that progress. 

 



Lab 6: Projections Part II

This map is the result of a huge number of steps and an enormous learning curve.  We learned how to access data online, download it, import it into ArcMap, and work with it to make sure all spatial references were defined.  One of the last steps was to make sure there was a common coordinate system and projection.  Many of the layers were in a different projection (Albers), it was necessary to reproject them so that they lined up correctly. 

Another important step was undertaken in Excel, where a formula was used to convert lat./long. with degrees/min./sec.  into decimal degrees.  Then the file, which specified the location of petroleum storage tanks in a monitoring program, was imported into ArcMap and saved as a shapefile.  Again, reprojection was necessary to make the STCM sites show up correctly.

Once the main map was constructed, the process of "owning my map" began.  I added two insert maps to show the location of the two aerial quads within Escambia County, and of Escambia County within Florida.  Because of the long shape of the quad map and the lack of white space on that map, I thought I'd place several of the other map elements on the right for balance. 

This was the most difficult and time-consuming lab so far, and completing it makes me feel like I have accomplished quite a lot.

Florida Three Ways

This week's lab was based on learning about projections, and using ArcGIS to reproject a data layer to a common Projected Coordinate System.  As the legends for each map indicate, there are slight differences in area between the three projections.

The process of actually making the map was easier this week - practice, practice, practice! My attempt at using Excel to make a chart showing the four area numbers was moderately successful, and certainly neater than using a text box, but lining everything up exactly right eluded me, even after over an hour of fine tuning the font, spacing between numbers, and text size.  The blue box wouldn't resize to exactly where I wanted it to go.  Still, the numbers do line up and the information is useful.

Lab 4: Map Packages

 

This week we explored ArcGIS Online and learned about Map and Tile Packages through two Esri Training Courses. 

 

First we accessed a course about the possibilities of creating and sharing maps using ArcGIS Online.  This will be useful in the future when collaborating with others on a project.

 

Following that introduction, we moved on to a course on creating and sharing map packages (MPKs), at the end of which we were required to create and share two maps, one of climbing points in Yosemite National Park, and the other of a study area for ponderosa pines in the Aguirre Springs drainage region in New Mexico.  We practiced following the standard workflow (planning-data-cartographic design- share) and optimized the Aguirre Springs map package based on who would use the map, and for what specific purposes.  We modified symbols and scale, then shared the MPKs after completing the Item Description which included adding our name to the "Tags" and "Credit" sections.  The Aguirre Springs MPK also included a text tile as an additional document describing the map.

 

 

 

 

These screenshots show the two maps I shared on ArcGIS Online.  The process was challenging, but straightforward using the directions.  As with other courses I have taken through Esri (Intro to ArcGIS and part of another course), the training videos and readings were clearly written and easy to follow, and the exercises were very useful.  

Three maps of Mexico

This week we made 3 maps to practice what we learned in "Own Your Map", adding a few more skills along the way.

The topographical map was my favorite because of the ability to play around with the color options.  Some really made elevation clear, while others made the more subtle changes disappear.

This map showing population ranges within the states of Mexico was challenging because of problems I had making the ranges into round numbers.  I wasn't able to do it the way we were instructed because the numbers automatically changed to things other than what I typed.  In the end I changed them within the legend by renaming them.

This map taught me the most about how to change symbols, both on the map and within the legend.  It took a LONG time, but I'm happy with the result.

I'm still taking a long time with the labs.  The discussion group helped a lot this week with the resizing and neatline issues I was having.  Finding the data source in the metadata/item description eluded me.

Week 2: Own Your Map

Own Your Map: UWF Campus Location in Escambia County

This week's lab focused on making a basic map in ArcGIS.  After resizing a large map of Florida to make it an insert map,  I added data to create a full size map showing the location of the UWF Campus within Escambia County.  Interstate highways and rivers were added, and I fine tuned the map by clipping the data frame so the rivers and roads displayed correctly within the shape of the county.  I edited symbols for the campus location, the interstate and the rivers, and changed the fill color of the county.  Then I added and edited essential elements: a title, legend, north arrow, scale, cartographer's information, map creation date, and data source.  The map was exported as a jpeg.

Something I haven't figured out yet is why the top part of the frame doesn't show up in the jpeg version.  Also, my filepaths are not as short as in the example from the Process Summary template, so I must be importing my data from the R: drive incorrectly.  It worked, but I ended up with an output folder of S:\csewall/IntroArcGIS\Lab2\02_OwnYourMap\02_OwnYourMap instead of having it neatly in the Lab2 folder I created.  When I tried to move all the data from the "OwnYourMap"folder into the Lab2 folder, the Escambia County map layer wasn't on the page.

The learning curve remains steep, but I feel like I'm making progress despite the obstacles and the few things that remain not quite right.

Week 1 Lab: Overview of ArcGIS

Map #1

It has been a struggle to complete, and perhaps it's not perfect, but here is my first map.  It was done with some serious limitations on my computer (a problem with the Dell XPS 15 monitor which makes everything in ArcMap and on eDesktop appear in very tiny font, with very tiny icons, giving me a very big headache).

The process of creating the map was straightforward, and the directions were very clear.  I added two data layers to the world map, spent some time learning about tool bars and the attribute table, worked with some of the graphic design elements, and saved it as a jpeg.

If I had been able to see more clearly, I probably would have been able to line up the bottom edge of the map correctly.   When I tried to get the data frame to fit inside the page, I was not able to find the "Distribute" and "Fit to Margins" option.

This was a good introductory lab. On to the next lesson!