GIS at OWU

Final Evaluation

tufferman — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:51:54 +0000

Class Readings:

Presentation of Readings

Otto Neurath’s Isotype – Presented with Dan Conroy

Delaware County Data Review

Jan 14: Relevant GIS Applications

Course Project

Feb 2: Course Project Initial Thoughts and Research

Feb 4: More Project Thoughts

March 13: Food Scraps Meeting Notes

March 30: Project Time Line

Project Time Line

tufferman — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:44:08 +0000

Will need to generate a written proposal to the university requesting funding for a campus wide composting program.

Week of April 6:

Background literary research about the costs and benefits of composting.
Research and gather information about other universities currently with composting programs. (Youngstown State University)
Research possible methods of composting and the monetary cost. (ex: Earthtub)
Get background information on amount of food wasted at OWU (Smith Hall food waste data)

Week of April 13:

Find possible grant money that the university could apply for in order to fund the project – The College and University Recycling and Waste Reduction – only available for public universities?
Calculate how much waste we could reduce by implementing the program
Calculate final cost of program

April 15 – April 20

Begin writing project proposal
Arrange all data and research into presentation format.

April 22:

Finish project proposal and project report with all data and background research on the topic

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp 8

tufferman — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:40:24 +0000

Querying Data

Chapter 9 was basically another refresher course as it reminded me how to select individual features and look at the attributes associated with the feature. You can do this by using the identify tool and you can also select multiple features in order to compare them in the attribute table. I also learned how to use the query tool to focus the search when looking for specific features. For example, you can search for homes that are for sale, under $175,000, and have 3 bedrooms. This makes searching for specific features much quicker and easier.

Food Scraps Meeting Notes

tufferman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:07:05 +0000

MORPC meeting notes relating to food waste project:

February 25, 2009 held at MORPC

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency are dedicated to reducing food waste through the use of recycling, composting, and better habits of reducing food waste. The Ohio EPA has a Central Ohio Food Scraps Diversion Task Force dedicated to this topic

According to the Ohio EPA, the main barriers to reducing food waste is the lack of infrastructure and hauling issues

Hauling

Price Barnes Organics – composting in Delaware
Kroger – compostible bags and on-site composter

Other sites of composting include the Ohio State Fair and other universties such as Ohio University, Baldwin Wallace, and Kenyon

Kroger

Pioneer in grocery store waste management – began a pilot program in Jelu 2008

According to Kroger, 45-60% of waste can be composted – this includes food but also includes cardboard and non-treated wood.

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp. 7

tufferman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:47:21 +0000

Labeling Features

This chapter was straightforward and fairly easy. I learned how to label features on the map and change their positioning, font, size, and color. In addition to this I learned how to convert labels to annotation which allows me to have full control over the labels making it easier to change the positioning of the labels rather than putting it in the hands of ArcGIS. Before the labels are annotated they may overlap one another and not be in the best positions for viewing.

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp. 6

tufferman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:22:06 +0000

Classifying Features and Rasters

In this chapter I learned how to classify features using the symbology feature in the data layer properties window. I am able to use different classification methods such as equal interval and natural breaks in order to divide values into different groups to be displayed on a map. I was also able to create different types of symbols in order to display data. There are graduated colors where data values are seperated into different groups based on quantitative values and then assigned different color values. There is also graduated symbol, proportional symbol, and dot density symbology.

This chapter was a quick refresher course on the types of maps I created last semester as I displayed population change over time in Arizona and New Mexico.

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp. 5

tufferman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Symbolizing Features and Rasters

In this chapter I created four different maps of Africa displaying four different forms of data; in each of the maps I changed the colors, shapes, and sizes of the different symbols representing cities, rivers, countries, and topography. The cities, rivers, and country data were all features on the map while the topography was displayed using raster data. Most of this chapter was spent changing the color schemes of the different data layers so that individual values can be visually seen on the map.

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp. 4

tufferman — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:36:34 +0000

This chapter was a basic introduction to ArcCatalog. It is an application for managing the geographic data which is used in ArcMap. I learned how to navigate the catalog in order to open and view data using the catalog tree on the left hand side of the screen. In the second part of the chapter I learned how to take data from ArcCatalog and use it in ArcMap to create entirely new data group layers. In the excercise we used close up data from the area of disappearence of Earharts flight.

Delaware County Data Review

tufferman — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:46:49 +0000

Delaware data layers:

Master Delaware Address points – this map layer contains all of the individual address points in the county; it includes both commercial and residential addresses.

Delaware Annexation – a map layer that displays the county’s annexations and conforming boundaries from 1853 to the present.

Delaware Archeological – this map layer contains points which show important historical/archeological sites in Delaware. There is no way to tell what these points actually represent, they are just points on the map.

Delaware Bench marks – this dataset displays the location of all the bench marks in Delaware county. GPS benchmarks are used to obtain height measurements throughout the county.

Delaware Building outlines – this map layer displays polygons that represent building outlines throughout the county, it includes both residential and comercial buildings.

Delaware census block – map layer that outlines all of the census blocks in the county created by the US Census Bureau.

Delaware census block group – this map layer displays the census block groups in the county which were also created by the US Census Bureau. The block groups are larger that the census blocks.

Delaware census tract – displays the largest type of geography in the county created by the US Census Bureau

Delaware farmlots – shows all of the farmlots in the US Military and Virginia Military survey districts of Delaware county.

Delaware floodplain 100 years – this map layer shows the 100 year floodplain area in the county.

Delaware floodplain 500 years – this map layer shows the 500 year floodplain area in the county.

Delaware flood way – map layer depicting the flood way area in the county.

Delaware historical local – shows points of local historical interest but the points are not associated with real data, they are just points on a map.

Delaware historical national – shows historical sites recognized nationally but they are not associated with real data, they are just points on a map.

Delaware hydro – a shape file that displays all the bodies of water in the county.

Delaware hydro detail – this file contains more hydro data including an individual file showing the Delaware Run and hydro arc, label, polygon, and tic. These extra files gives a detailed look at the water features in the county.

Delaware Landmarks – contains eight different files: bldg1_base shows hospital/urgent Care, EMS, Fire Departments, Township Halls, Township Halls/Fire Departments and Fairgrounds/Track. bldg2_base shows County Buildings, City Buildings, State Buildings, Weight Stations, Interstate Rest Areas, Libraries, Interstate Exit # 131 and Interstate Exit # 121. Cemetery_base is a point coverage containing all Cemeteries within Delaware County. Churches contains all of the churches in Delaware. Golfcourses_base contains all of the golf courses in the county. Parks contain all of the parks in the county. School_base displays all of the schools in the county and usps_base, which is a point coverage containing all Post Offices within Delaware County.

Delaware Municipalities – this data set displays all of the municipalities in the county.

Delaware natural heritage ODNR - The Delaware Natural Heritage Program conducts systematic biological surveys throughout the county of Delaware for the purpose of locating populations of rare or unique plant and animal species, and to identify and describe significant natural communities. This file displays these points of natural interest.

Delaware Orthophoto – the orthophoto layers give the viewer an actual image of the county, it is an accurate representation of the Earth’s surface.

Delaware parcels – this map layer shows all of the individual parcels throughout the county.

Delaware precincts – this map layer shows the boundaries of all the voting precincts in the county.

Delaware public land survey system - This data set consists of polygons depicting the boundaries of the two public land survey districts within Delaware County, Ohio.

Delaware Railroads – this map layers contains a visual representation of the railroad lines running through Delaware county.

Delaware road center line – this data layer displays a single line representing the center line for all the roads in Delaware.

Delaware road right of ways – this layer displays all road right of ways so it basically shows the outline of the entire road.

Delaware school districts - this map layer shows the boundaries for the different school districts in Delaware county.

Delaware soils – this data layer depicts all the different types of soils in Delaware county.

Delaware subdivisions – this layer shows the boundaries of all subdivisions and condos within the county.

Delaware tax districts – this layer contains all the individual tax districts withing the county.

Delaware Topography – this file contains all of the topography data for the enitire county; the topo shape files are separated into individual township files.

Delaware townships – this data layer shows the township boundaries for the county.

Delaware historical townships – this data layer displays the original 18 townships in the county (presently, there are 19)

Delaware watersheds – this map layer displays the watershed areas in the county

Delaware wetlands – map layer showing the wetland areas within the county

Delaware woodland – map layer displaying the woodland areas in the county

Delaware zip codes -map layer that displays the zip code boundaries in the county

Delaware zoning – contains both current and historical zoning boundaries for the city of Delaware.

Getting to know ArcGIS – Chp. 3

tufferman — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:28:18 +0000

The first chapter of the ArcGIS tutorial was very basic and short but it refreshed my memory on some simple yet important tools that are used in almost every application of GIS. This includes things like the magnifiers and identity tools as well as getting to know the attribute table and the layer property menu. This chapter gives a good introduction to the world of ArcGIS