GIS 1 Lab 5

Goals and Background

The purpose of this lab is to use my knowledge from our lectures and tutorials to choose the appropriate vector geoprocessing tools with in ArcMap to extract specific information.  The second portion of the lab, I will use basic python script to run geoprocessing tools to extract specific information.

The first part of this lab will have me locating suitable habitats for black bears in the given study area with in Marquette, Michigan.  The second part of this lab will have me locating the best locations for lake resorts withing the state of Wisconsin.  The second part will also have me creating a map of air pollution along the interstates of Wisconsin.

Methods

Part 1:  

The first and second section of this lab required me to relate locations of black bears to the specific habitat/landcover (Minor Type field) they were found in.  I was given an XY table in the data that contained the coordinates of bear locations with in a specific study area in Marquette, Michigan.  I created a feature class from the XY table.  I selected the projection and coordinate system that matched the other shapefiles I was given in the dataset.  I then added all the feature classes I was given in the feature dataset.  Then I used Select By Location to find which specific habitat/landcover (Minor Type field) the bears were located in.  From this selection I created a new feature layer that contained the bear ID number and the specific habitat information.  I then used the Summarize tool within the attribute table to determine how many bears were located with in each habitat section.

The third part of this section required me to determine how many bears were found within 500 meters of a stream when their GPS location was collected.  My first step was to create a 500 meter buffer around the given stream data.  I used the Buffer tool and the built in Dissovle tool to create by buffer area.  I then used Intersect with the buffer area I just created and the feature class of the bear locations to determine how many bears were within 500 meters of the given streams.

The forth section of this lab required me to determine suitable areas of bear habitat based on the findings of the first three sections.  Based on the locations related to habitat/landcover I determined that of 91% of the bears were located in 3 specific types of habitat/landcover.  I used Select by Attribute to single out these specific categories and created a layer from this selection.  I also determined that 72% of the bears were within 500 meters of the stream.  I deemed this distance from the streams as an important habitat characteristic and decided to use it for determining suitable habitat/landcover.

The fifth section required me to use the information I had already collected and use it to make a recommendation to the Michigan DNR for a bear management plan.  I had to find suitable habitat that was located on their management land.  I was given a feature class of the Michigan DNR management land in the data I was provided.  The management area I was given was for the entire county of Marquette, Michigan.  The study area was only a portion of the county.  I used the Clip tool to remove the management land that did not fall within the study area.  I then used the Dissolve tool to remove the internal boundaries of the management area file to speed up the processing time of future tools, as I was not concerned with the specific units with in the management land.  I then used the Intersect tool to find the management areas that were within the suitable bear habitat that I had found from the fourth section.

The sixth section I had to eliminate the areas of the DNR management land that were within 5 kilometers of Urban or Built up land from my previous findings.  I used Select by Attribute to select the the Urban or Built up land from the landcover shapefile.  I then created a new layer from this selection.  Then I used the Buffer tool and the built in Dissolve tool to create a 5 kilometer buffer around the Urban areas.  In my final step I used the Erase tool to remove the management land that fell with in the 5 kilometer buffer of the Urban areas.

The seventh and final section of part 1 I had to create a map displaying my results.  i added a locator map to display where the study area fell with in Marquette, County.  I then added a legend, north arrow, neat line with a background, and a scale to the map.  Per the assignment instructions I had to create a flow model of the methods that I used to create the map and include it on the layout with the final map.  I used the Model Builder tool within ArcMap to create the model.

Part 1 Final Map w/model layout

Part 2:

The second part of this lab has me creating a map of areas with high potential for the establishment of suitable resorts.  The resort areas should be around a lake that has an area that is greater than 5 square miles and not more than 10 miles from the city.

Using the data I was given, I imported the cities, interstates, lakes and counties shapefiles.  Using the Python window I created a script using the Buffer tool that would create a 10 mile buffer around the given cities from the data.  I then created a script using the Select by Attribute tool to select the lakes that were greater than 5 square miles in area and create a new feature layer from this selection.  I then created a script to exclude any lake that did not meet the predefined criteria.  I used the Clip tool in the script to preform this operation.

Buffer Tool Script

Select by Attribute Script

Clip Script

I then had to create a map to display my results.  I added a neatline, background, north arrow, scale, and legend to the map.  I then exported the map file to an Adobe Illustrator (AI) file to allow me to better label the lake names on the map.  Using "AI" I labeled the lakes that met the defined criteria.

Lake Map

The second section of part 2 I had to create a map modeling air pollution around Wisconsin Interstates.  I was instructed to produce a map that showed the area within 6 miles of the interstates and break them in to 6 impact zones based on their distance from the interstate.

Using the Python window I created a script using the Multiple Ring Buffer tool to create a 6 ring buffer that had a distance of 1 mile between the rings based on the location of the interstates.  I then had to create a map to display my results.  Like my previous maps I added a legend, neatline, background, north arrow, and a scale to the finished map.

Multiple Ring Buffer Script

Pollution Map

Sources:  

Part 1-- Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Part 2--  Price, Maribeth. 2014. Mastering ArcGIS. 6th Edition data CD. McGraw Hill.  Lake features are from Wilson, Cyril 2012, A comprehensive Lake features for Wisconsin, unpublished data.

GIS 1 Lab 4

Goals and Background

The purpose of this lab is to build our understanding and increase our skill for using the query function within ArcMap.  In this lab we will be preforming multiple criteria attribute queries, along with spatial queries.  I will be using the information from the in class lectures and Tutorial 6 of our textbook Mastering ArcGIS to complete this lab assignment.

Methods

   Part 1. 

      Question 1.  For this part of the lab we were instructed to use data that was downloaded from our textbook cd.  We were to import the counties feature from the USA geodatabase.  I then had to preform a query that would return the counties with a population between 3000 and 4000 people in 2010 and also all counties in 2010 that had a population density of at least 1000 persons per square mile.  The multiple criteria query that I came up with looked like the following, POP2010>= 3000 AND POP2010<=4000 OR POP10_SQMI>=1000.  I was then instructed to create a map showing the counties that fulfilled the criteria of the query.  I added a neatline w/background, title, legend, north arrow, scale, and my name to the finished product.

Question 1 Map

      Question 2.  For this question I was instructed to use the same data as question 1.  I was instructed to create a query that would return county records for Wisconsin, Texas, New York, Minnesota, and California where the male population was greater than the female population and also for these states, the counties where the population of seniors (age 65 and above) is over 6,500. After clearing the search from the previous question I created a multiple criteria query which appeared like the following,STATE_NAME IN ( 'Wisconsin', 'Texas', 'New York', 'Minnesota', 'California') AND MALES > FEMALES AND AGE_65_UP >6500.  I was then instructed to create a map showing the counties that fulfilled the criteria of the query.  I added the same features as question 1 to the finished map.

Question 2 Map

      Question 3.  Question 3 had me add additional parameters to the query in question 2.  I was instructed to add the counties from Washington, Maryland, Illinois, Nebraska, District of Columbia, and Michigan that contained a population of seniors greater than 6500 that reside in counties with more than 30,000 housing units.  The query I created looked like the following, STATE_NAME IN ( 'Wisconsin', 'Texas', 'New York', 'Minnesota', 'California') AND MALES > FEMALES AND AGE_65_UP >6500 OR STATE_NAME IN ( 'Washington', 'Maryland', 'Illinois', 'Nebraska', 'District of Columbia', 'Michigan') AND AGE_65_UP>0 AND HSE_UNITS>30000.  I was then instructed to create a map showing the counties that fulfilled the criteria of the query.  Like the previous maps, I had the same additional feature to complete the map.

Question 3 Map

   Part 2. 

      Question 4.  For the second section of this lab we were instructed to download data that was provided to us from our instructor.  Question 4 asked me to create a query that would return cities in Wisconsin with a 2007 population between 15,000 and 20,000 people, area of the city that is at least 5 square miles in land area, and also where the female population is greater than the male population and lastly the cities must be within 2 miles of a lake.  I imported the Wisconsin, cities, and lakes shapefiles from the data I had downloaded.  I create a query to extract all of the counties that met the criteria with the exception of being withing 2 miles of a lake.  That query looked like the following, ("POP2007" >= 15000 AND "POP2007" <= 20000) AND "AREALAND" >=5 AND "FEMALES">"MALES".  Using the cities that were selected from the query I then used a spatial query to return those cities that were within 2 miles of a lake.  I was then instructed to create a map displaying the cities that were returned from the query.  I was instructed to add the Roads shapefile for display purposes to my final map.  The original files were in NAD 1983 UTM ZONE 15N projections and the map was tilted off center.  To create a more visually appealing map I decided to change the projection to NAD 1983 StatePlane Wisconsin Central FIPS 4802.  I first changed the data frame to StatePlane projection and then I projected all the layers to the same projection for the best accuracy.  I also added the same additional feature to the final map as the previous questions.

Question 4 Map

      Question 5.  For this question I was instructed to calculate the total length of a list of rivers that was given to me.  I created the following query to select the named rivers, "PNAME" IN ( 'CHIPPEWA R', 'EAU CLAIRE R', 'EMBARRASS R', 'FISHER R', 'HUNTING R', 'KINNICKINNIC R', 'MAUNESHA R', 'MILWAUKEE R', 'MOOSE R', 'NAMEKAGON R', 'PELICAN R', 'PLATTE R', 'POTATO R').  After selecting the rivers through the query I created a new feature that contained only the selected rivers.  In the attribute table I created a new field to calculate the length of the rivers.  Using the field calculator function I calculated the length of the rivers to the nearest mile per the instructions.  Using the summarize feature in ArcMap I was then able to calculate the total length of the rivers that were selected.  I was then instructed to create a map that included the major roads and lakes as a backdrop for the map.  This map was in the same projection as the question 4.  I projected in the same as I did the map for question 4 to make it more visually appealing.  I again added the same additional feature to the final map.

Question 5 Map

Sources

Price, M. (2014). Mastering ArcGIS (Sixth ed., pp. 9-326). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Data used was given to me in a zip file and downloaded to my computer.  Available upon request with the permission of my instructor.