Final Evaluation and Blog Links

Schuurman Ch. 1

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/schuurman-ch-1/

Many of the chapters in between I did not have a blog posting for. Sorry, since I never bought the books (Yes I am cheap), I had to borrow from people. Though I did read all the chapters and assignments.

Project Idea

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/project-idea-now-postermap-idea/

Mitchell Ch. 6

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/mitchell-ch-6/

Proposal for DisOrientation Map

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/proposal-for-disorientation-map/

Delaware MetaData

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/delaware-data/

ArcGIS tutorial

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/gtkarcgis-exercises/

Easy way to Clip a Raster!!

http://wgruzek.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/clipping-a-raster-file-in-arcgis/

GTKArcGIS Exercises

I have completed exercises 1-17 and still am currently working on 18-20. These exercises were very informative and helpful in expanding my knowledge of ArcGIS. Without many of these exercises I would be unable to use the full extent of ArcGIS. Though some of the exercises are very tedious, and some I will forget how to do, due to the complexity of them.  I look forward to using these newly acquired skills in ArcGIS in my class project.

Delaware Data

• Delaware Address points – This map layer shows the addresses of Delaware county. They are not the entire plot only the USPS address point.
• Annexations – This shows the townships in Delaware county.
• Aarchaeological – This map shows points (no data) of archaeological site in Delaware
• Benchmarks - This shows various “anchor” or reference points called Benchmarks across Delaware. These marks help to accurately mark areas and as a reference points when planning developments.
• Buildings Outline -This layer shows the outlines of all the buildings in Delaware County.
• Census Block – This shows the census block data that is provided by the US Census. It systematically breaks down areas to easily count them during a census.
• Census Block Group – This is a more general break down by the US Census. It is similar to the Block data but at a larger scale.
• Census Tract – This is even a more general break down by the US Census. Small scale than the Block Group data.
• Farm-lots – This layer shows all the lots of farms, despite if they have been broken up to form the downtown of Delaware. These are the original plots of Delaware???
• Floodplain 100yrs – This shows the flood plains in Delaware county if there was a 100yr flood, or a flood that would only occur once every 100yrs.
• Floodplain 500yrs – This shows the floodplains in Delaware County if there was a 500yr flood, or a flood that would only occur once every 500yrs.
• Flood-way – This is the areas around the rivers that would carry much of the flood water with a strong current. They are the adjacent streams and smaller rivers.
• Historical Local – These are local historical points in Delaware, though they are only points with no way to figure out which one represents what.
• Historical National – These are Nationally recognized historical points in Delaware County.
• Hydrology – This layers shows the normal hydrological features, rivers, lakes, stream, runs, in Delaware County.
• Hydrology Detail- This Layer shows in detail the Delaware run and other smaller hydrological features in Delaware.
• Delaware Landmarks – This layer shows various landmark features of Delaware, such as schools, cemeteries, churches, golf courses and many more.
• Municipalities- This layers shows the official municipalities of Delaware.
• Natural Heritage – This layer shows the natural heritage sites.
• Parcels – This layer shows the individual parcel throughout the county.
• Precincts – This layer shows the various precincts used in law enforcement and emergency services.
• Public Land Survey – This shows the general public land survey that is very broad covering the whole state.
• Railroads – This shows the rail lines that are located in the County.
• Road Center Line – This shows the roads in the county by using the center line as a the point of reference.
• Road Right of way- This layer shows the one-way streets compared to the two-way traffic streets.
• School Districts – This layer shows the different school districts in Delaware.
• Soils – This layer shows the different soil grades and types in the County.
• Subdivisions – This layer shows the different subdivisions across the county
• Tax districts – This shows the tax districts in Delaware.
• Topography – This shows the different topography (elevation change) in Delaware county.
• Townships – This shows the different townships and their receptive boundaries.
• Historical townships – This shows the historical townships lines and areas.
• Watershed – This layer shows the various watersheds and where they drain to.
• Wetlands – This layer shows the wetlands that are located in the county.
• Woodlands – This shows the woodland area in the county.
• Zip codes – This layer break the county into districts bases solely on the zip code of that area.
• Zoning – This layer shows the zoning of properties in the county.

Clipping a raster file in ArcGIS

After much frustration and confusing trying to crop a large raster file in ArcGIS, I finally found a simple way to do this. Here. After clipping this raster file, ArcGIS ran much smoother and quicker, and my project (showing machine space in the Central Business district of Delaware) is now under way. Hopefully, I will discover how to add a layer of images to ArcGIS.

Proposal for DisOrientation Map

Proposal for DisOrientation map

Jack Schemenuer – jaschme@owu.edu

William Ruzek – wgruzek@owu.edu

Aaron McCown – amcco220@gmail.com

1. How do freshman perceive campus and the activities that OWU participates in?

-How much information is unknown and should be know to the student body?

-What information do students need to know on a daily basis?

-Can OWU be mapped globally and locally?

-How can we map both humorous and functional data on the same map?

We intend to present this project and the resulting maps and/or poster to the incoming freshman. These will not only disorient them but help them become more connected to OWU community. Through a series of maps composed in an artful poster style the freshman will be able to understand the local and global interworking of OWU, as well as some fun facts about the student life and surrounding communities.

The current map given to freshman simply is a basic map of campus; this doesn’t help the freshman become familiar with campus life. The poster will be designed to overlay the several maps to a composite collection of maps. This will be quite similar to the DisOrientation map of UNC. The composite map/poster could possibly be composed of several other student made maps. Some of the elements or maps to this project would include:

Investments of OWU

Food source map of Chartwells

Frisbee Golf course map

Student’s mental map of campus (Senior/Freshman)

International Student

Study Abroad

Dining establishments and hours

Social location in Delaware

Recreational areas

Zombie Apocalypse scenario

Etc…

2. The knowledge of the local community varies greatly between freshman and upper classmen. Though most freshmen have a good idea of the academic areas of campus they are unaware of the OWU community and greater Columbus area. The knowledge gap of the community between upper classmen and freshmen will be reduced with the introduction of this map.

Though students are smart and aware of their immediate surroundings there are a plethora of unknown information and activities. These would include but are not limited to: Frisbee golf course map, OWU investment map, Chartwells food source map, International student demographic map, Zombie Apocalypse map, Etc… This project can work with the current Sagan National Colloquium on the Green Campus awareness and sustainability.

3. Data for different aspect of this project varies. Each map will require its own research and data collection. While some projects, Frisbee and Green Campus, are being researched by other students, we will collect the data for the other maps. By talking to the admissions office we will hopefully be able to find the locations of the international students on campus. For the investments and food map, we will contact Chartwells and the OWU administration for the companies’ location. The several “local knowledge” maps will be researched by informal data collect and a campus wide survey.

The cost and production of this map will be quite low. Once all the data/research is collected the only finally will be the paper and ink to print the collective map/poster. Depending on the amount and popularity of this map, this cost could be cheap or slightly expensive.

4. To analyze this data we will map out the addresses we find, and quantify the various surveys. This data will then be shown in various ways on a map of Delaware/Columbus area/World perhaps in a gradient map, choropleth map, or graduated symbol map. Some maps will be quite specific, while other will be general depending on the scale of the map.

5. We will generate a collective map/poster to distribute to incoming freshman. This map will show them both the academic/functional data of OWU, as well as colloquial knowledge. By arranging the various maps in an aesthetically pleasing way, this map/poster also is useful as a decoration. Other information about this end product is previously mentioned in this proposal. This poster/map will be useful to freshman as the planned housing change could be in effect next year.

Mitchell Ch. 6

GIS

• used to find a range or distance of a phenomena.
• Relationship or change in distance

Travel Range

-distance as time or as cost

ex. Fire Station and service to community

-Environmental purpose

-Economic

Measuring “Nearness”

• Set distance? Area of influence?
• Distance by bird or car? These two are completely different.

Distance or Cost

• Distance – Miles or ft
• Cost – Gas or travel costs

Information Needed

List

• a list of address’ in an excel type of format. These address are matched with a parcel ID, or FIPS code.
• Allows easy integration of data (ArcGIS)

Count

• A numerical number of a phenomena
• ex. Number of a certain type of emergency call

Summary

• Total amount divided by category
• ex. average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation

Type of Representation

• Inclusive Rings – Shows increase from small area to larger area. Doesn’t show the comparison between rings.

• Distinct Bands – Compare Rings/Bands. Each on top of another. Shows the difference between a smaller ring and a larger one. Used to compare between rings.

3 ways of whats nearby

1. Straight-Line Distance - Boundary a set distance around a source. Regardless of physical landscape or roads.
2. Distance or Cost over a network – Travel along a linear feature (roads) Helps show travel distance or cost of a location. Useful for business and customers.
3. Cost over a surface – Shows the average of both. Gradient look, more general approach.

Project Idea-Now poster/map Idea

After looking at the UNC pamphlet that you gave us in class, we decided to make our own rendition of that for OWU. This map poster composite would help freshman with some very useful information but humerus as well as useful. Some ideas for this map/poster would be the following:

Investment Map (same idea as before)

Food Map ( same as before)

Location of International students

- this would just be a simple map of the world, with points to indicate the home towns of the international students. This can easily be done with a  student directory. Simple enter the addresses into google maps, and map out the points.

Location of study abroad students

- Simply map out the location of the past few semesters of students that studied abroad. This will give the freshman an idea of where they can go. These locations are probably on record in the study abroad office.

Location of Study areas

-map out the most popular study areas, and where they are. This can be done with a survey through an email.

“Freshman/Senior” Map

-Map out what a freshman knows of the community, and then show how much a senior knows. This will be mostly funny, but also can show how much you learn over the years. Ex. The freshman map would be only a few parts of Delaware, no street names, etc.. meanwhile the senior map would include all the bars, Columbus and other places to have fun.

Places in Delaware

-a simple map of the places to go to eat, to party, to drink, to shop,.etc… several maps to show all these different locations and purposes. This could be done with an overlay on top of the Delaware street map, or though different colors.

Bike trail map

-Show the bike trail and other scenic walks. Possible Parks and recreational areas, maybe even organized by season.

Frisbee golf map

-show the holes and course of the Frisbee golf. Though many people play Frisbee golf they don’t know the current unofficial hole.

Most PS activity on campus

-map out where most of the PS (public safety) incidents happen. This could be done with mental maps and surveys. This would be humorous as well as useful.

Besides all these maps we would include other key information that freshman need to know. Key phone numbers, address’, and other information. All of these features both maps and info would be arranged/designed in a very modern fashionable way. This would make the poster both useful as well as aesthetically pleasing. This poster/map could be first be presented to the incoming freshman either from the admissions office or through the geography department (could make more people think about a geography major/minor)

Schuurman Ch. 1

Chapter one of Shuurman examines the effect of GIS on everyday life, as well as the methodolgy that accompanies GIS.

• Technical History – Layers, methodology of GIS (1962)
• Spatial Analyze – Examine the effects and causes of a given landscape

Is GIS a system or a science? A program or a methodolgy? Science and System.

GIS uses in the world. Everyday GIS is used or has an impact on your life. Traffic pattern, Agriculture, Utilities, etc.

OWU & Delaware Local & Global Impact: Ruzek & Schemenauer & McCown

- Green Space/Urbanization

Map out the changes in the green spaces in Delaware County or City, during the past 20 years. The possible data that we would use would be historical maps of Delaware, possible Land Use satellite images, and other aerial images. With this data we could find how the land use changed over the years and how the city grew.  New development could also be mapped and used to show the decreasing agricultural/green spaces in Delaware. Census data could also be used to show the urbanization of Delaware.

-Investments

Map the investments of OWU. Show where the endowment goes (in a geographical sense).  Request the investment information from the trustees and map out the headquarters of these companies. Once the locations are mapped, show the ties to OWU. Perhaps map this information  with a web or lines to the locations and the width of the line correspond to the amount of investment. This visualization could help show the money flow to and from parts of the United States and the World. We will also research what the companies do and show the distribution of the investments.

-Food

We will choose 5 of the most commonly consumed foods on campus, or controversially used foods. Beef? Milk? Once the foods are selected we will communicate with Chartwells to find where they buy their food. This could be found on the box or from what company they buy it from. Perhaps we will make a tiered level maps showing the first initial purchase and then where those companies buy the food from. This could easily shown on a map-mashup or in google earth.  Various other visualizations could be used to show this connection of OWU with the world.

Amazing Sites I have found

Wow

If you are any way interested in Geography check out this site.

http://flowingdata.com/

And this site is just awesome