Module 2- Cartography

 

This week's lab had us focusing on creating a simple map layout with a focus on what is needed for a simple layout as well as appropriate style. I thought this was a fun assignment as it allowed for a little creativity and personal flair.

When creating a map project, it is important to ask some pretty basic questions; What do I want to map and why? What is the purpose? Who can use this map? How do I convey the information I want to, (i.e. will this be a stand-alone or a series? How many data frames? How will it be oriented?) In this case, we wanted to map the location of the University of West Florida's (UWF) main campus to help orient new students and visitors of its approximate location within the state of Florida. For this map, we used two data frames, the main frame highlighting UWF's location within Escambia County as well as the nearest cities and major interstates, and the inset frame showing Escambia County's location which is the most Western County in Florida. The date is being displayed in portrait rather than landscape because, simply put, Florida is taller than it is wide, so it made more sense to orient that data in this way.

For this assignment, I mostly stuck with the suggested map detail and color pallets, however, I'm looking forward to continuing to build my knowledge and confidence with this program and start incorporating my own artistic flair one day.

Module 1 - Overview of ArcGIS

The dictionary defines an odyssey as a long series of wanderings or adventures, especially when filled with notable experiences and hardships. Thus begins the odyssey into my pursuit of a master's degree in GIS; a journey sure to be rife with notable experiences and hopefully not too many hardships.

This week's assignments and lab was intended to get the class used to the workflow of this course, teach us proper file management, introduce us to the virtual desktop we will be using for this and future courses, and of course help us gain access and introduce us to the ArcGIS software via ArgoApps and Citrix.

In this lab, we were shown a few basics of how to create a map project using some data provided in the r drive. Once the data was displayed on the active view, we were then shown how to manipulate the symbols being displayed for a more organized and overall appealing map display.

This first week, while exciting to be back in the realm of academia, was not without its frustrations. I've had online and hybrid classes in the past, but I still had the option of face-to-face interactions with professors and classmates should I ever need help with anything. This fully online experience is still new to me and it's taking some getting used to. I have high hopes that I will settle into it soon enough.