Today was our third test for the semester. The schedule indicates that we need to have one more test but due only two more classes that is going to be pushing it. After everyone finished the test we had ourselves another lab exercise. This lab exercise was to test our knowlege on how to use a set of buffers on a simulated project for Henderson County. I will admit that this project was kinda hard for me but with the help from Pete I was able to finish the project. Below is a screenshot of the lab exercise as well as the information about the screenshot.
This is the screenshot of the lab exercise in ArcMap. As you can see, or may not see, this image shows all the layers that are used in the map. This image was taking before I added a title and exported the map to a jpeg for printing. The map shows some areas to help Henderson County decide on a location to build a new landfill.
We did not have class today due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. Thanksgiving was yesterday and AB Tech is closed the day before, the day of, and the day after Thanksgiving. This is a plus for me as it will give me and chance to study for the test next class period.
Today in class we did a online lab exercise that was created in another GIS class but was modified for our class. To view the lab exercise just click on the following words: Lab Exercise. The lab exercise is designed to test our skills with the ArcGIS software. If you look four posts above this you will see the map for this exercise. The question that you might be asking yourself now is "What happens if you come to a step in the exercise that you don't remember how to do?" The answer is that we have to either look back in the ArcGIS software book and/or go to the ESRI support page and find the answer in the online sections. During the lab the only parts that took long was downloading the parcels data from the Buncombe County site and exporting all my shape files from ArcMap into my Geodatabase. The downloading and the exporting took about thirty to forty minutes for each. Before the lab the instructor informed us that we were going to have a test the next time the class meets which will be on November 30th. I do look forward to the extra time to study due to me not doing so well on the previous two tests.
Today was the GIS day that has been advertised and talked about for a couple of weeks now. To say the least the event was full of activity. The day prior to the GIS day had its share of activity. That was the day that the equipment came in for the geo dome that was going to be setup and the AB Tech staff and I got the hallways and classrooms ready to receive the students and guests. I was able to play with the Garmin GPS units the Thursday before today so that when someone wanted to see them in action I was the dude to demo it. Some questions I was able to answer and some I had no clue as to the answer. Those questions I didn't know I would sent the person asking the questions to Pete and told the person asking the question that he was the "man" at answering any GPS question. One person asked me how she could use the GPS unit in her car or taking a trip. Another person asked me how he could use the GPS unit on a hike that he was planning to take. As the crowds thinned out during the course of the day I went over to the geo dome that was setup. This person that was doing the demo for the dome had a picture of Mars, Earth, and even our solar system. I wasn't able to catch all of the lecture but the part I did hear was that NASA is teaming up with the company that made the demo to get a better mapping software ready for use in NASA and in the civilian world. I could go on and on with the numerous people I have met and the activities I have seen but I won't. All I can say is that today was a day that can never happen the same way again. The next GIS day might have more presentations or more people at it but it will never be like the first ever GIS day at AB Tech that all of my instructors and my fellow classmates helped be a part of.
Today for class we had a activity day, so to speak. We got to play with some GPS units that AB Tech has managed to acquire. Before we got play with the GPS units we discussed some topics like what GPS system OnStar uses for commerical use. We also discussed more and more about the GIS day which is going to be next class period. After the discussion we took the GPS units and went outside. We acquired the satellites and then marked a wave point at the light pole that is facing the Balsam building. Then we decided to mark another wave point at the oak tree that is at the beginning of the drive for the nursing building and the balsam building when you are coming down Victoria Rd. After a couple of passes going back and forth between those points we decided to make another wave point. This wave point was located at a light pole in the parking lot for the Birch building. When we got finished with the wave points we went back inside and saw how to download the data from the GPS unit to ArcMap, Google Earth, and ArcCatalog. We were shown how to make several different maps and reports from those three wave points. We were also exposed to several different web sites that contain all kinds of maps and reports about GIS. Some of the sites allowed us to convert data to a .kml file for goggle earth. While we were outside there were talks about setting up a booth for dudes to take a GPS unit and try to navigate to some points around AB Tech. I kinda am looking foward to being outside and help some people learn how to use a GPS unit. I am going to have get with the instructor sometime next week so I can learn more about the software and the GPS unit.
The map on the left shows the Cherokee County with the aspect option of the ArcMap software. The map on the right shows the hillshade of the entire county. The different colors indicate the different hillshades for the county. Of hand I am not sure what the colors mean but if you would like to know then shot me a comment and I will get a legend on that map.
The map on the right shows a contour for the Cherokee County. This map was generated by taking the downloaded data and using the contour option in the ArcMap software. The map on the left displays the cut/fill for the entire county. The blue represents the net loss for the county. It is hard to tell but there is another color on the blue map. Pop quiz hotshot, can you tell me the other color?
The map on the left shows the hours of winter solstice for the Cherokee county. You aren't able to see it but the hillshade layer is underneath this layer. If you look real close you can kinda see it. This map does not show any title or legend on it. The map on the right shows the final version of the map on the right. This map has a title, legend, and miles chart. The map on the left is ready to be printed and used.
Today in class we went over our second test that we had. On the parts that I thought I did good on I did bad on but the parts that I thought I did bad on I did good on. Needless to say I am not going to post my grade on this blog site. After reviewing the test we got a demonstration on how to create a slope, hillshade, contour, and several other different maps. We were even shown how to download the hours of sunlight from any county in Western Carolina. After the show we were assigned to "play around" with the software for the remainder of the class. I decided since my grandma and two uncles live and work in the Cherokee county area I would do all of my maps for that county. The maps that should be displayed above this blog are the contour, cut/fill, aspect, and hillside maps. The hillside map may not be on the blog because I may not have saved just that map. I was trying to do the viewshade map for the hours of winter and summer solstice. Since the computer was taking a long time to calculate these maps I decided to abort those maps. When I tried the winter solstice calculation I got an error message about six minutes in it. During our lab time we were shown how to save a layer with our maps in that layer and we got more info on the GIS day. It turns out that our class is going to be broken up on that day. The instructor would like some classmates come from 8am-noon, some to come from 10am-2pm, and some to come the times between 8am-2pm. What I am going to do is report in from 8am-2pm since this is the first GIS that I have ever been to. I also heard that pizza is going to be served for our class. I only hope that there is enough pizza for the entrie class since most of my classmates like pizza.
