Final Evaluation

April 29, 2009 at 2:54 pm | In Evaluations | Leave a Comment

W1 M J 12 – INTRODUCTION TO COURSE

W1 W J 14: SCHUURMAN CH. 1 - no notes

PERSONAL INTRODUCTION & GIS APPLICATION OF INTEREST

W2 M J 19 – MLK DAY

W2 W J 21:  de Smith et al. – no notes

W3 M J 26: MITCHELL CH. 1

W3 W J 28 – SNOW DAY

W4 M F 2: SCHUURMAN CH. 2 & 3

W4 W F 4: SCHUURMAN CH. 4 & 5 – no notes

CLASS PROJECT PROGRESS

W5 M F 9: MITCHELL 2-4 - no notes & CLASS PROJECT PROGRESS

W5 W F 11: MITCHELL 5-7 – no notes & CLASS PROJECT PROGRESS

W6 M F 16: ISOTYPE INSPIRED DISORIENTATION MAP – no notes

W6 W F 18: PRELIMINARY COURSE PROJECT PROPOSAL – sent by email

W7 M F 23: ARCGIS TUTORIAL

W7 W F 26: ARCGIS TUTORIAL – no notes

W8 M M 2: ARCGIS TUTORIAL – no notes

W8 W M 4: ARCGIS TUTORIAL & DELAWARE DATA INVENTORY

W9 M M 9: SPRING BREAK

W9 W M 11: SPRING BREAK

W10: NO POSTINGS DUE

W11 W M 25: MID-SEMESTER EVALUATION - sent by email (pdf.)

W12: PROJECT TIME LINE – no notes

W13: NO POSTINGS DUE

W14: NO POSTINGS DUE

W15: NO POSTINGS DUE

W16: PROJECT PROPOSAL – send by email

ArchGIS Blog Pt. II

March 4, 2009 at 3:07 pm | In Class Exercises | 1 Comment

untitled1

After completing today’s tutorial lesson I have become even more intrigued with what this software could accomplish. ArcGIS is very complex, however with a sound knowledge of the software it may be used as a powerful tool. Take exercise18c for example. This exercise we tracked the movement of Typhoon Etang east of the Philippines Islands. In this exercise we plotted the path of the typhoon and data from the storm, such as wind speeds at a specific date and time. This is a prime example of how useful GIS can be used as means of presenting valuable data. Animal conservationists may use GIS to plot the movement of certain animals in an attempt to learn more from their behavior and hopefully protect them from harm.

Delaware County Data Review

March 2, 2009 at 3:16 pm | In Class Exercises | 1 Comment

Master Layer – This layer illustrates all the addresses in Delaware county, which range from from residential to commercial usage.

Annexation Layer - I had trouble understanding what this layer represented because I didn’t know what annexation meant. However, after consulting metadata I discovered the layer represented areas that were politically added to the Delaware county.

Archeological Layer – This layer represents all the archeological sites located throughout Delaware county.

Delaware Topography Layer – This layer identifies topography of downtown Delaware, which illustrates the elevation of the land.

Bench Mark Layer – This layer deals with the all the point coverage of GPS monuments throughout the county, which you can clearly see the outline of the county border.

Building Outline Layer – This layer illustrates all the outlines of building structures throughout the county and it is clear the south of Delaware has the highest concentration of buildings because it is closer to Columbus.

Census Block Layer – This layer illustrates the county dissected into census blocks conducted by the US Census Bureau for analytical purposes.

Census Group Layer – This layer is very similar to the block layer, however the blocks are categorized into larger groups.

Census Tract Layer – Once again this layer is similar to the two previous census layers and categorizes the census blocks into larger census tracts.

Farm Lot Layer – This layer identifies all the farm lots located throughout the Delaware county.  Furthermore, upon reading metadata it indicates the boundaries of the farm lots in both US Military and Virginia Military Survey Districts of Delaware county, which I found to be quite puzzling. Why would this characteristic be a matter of discussion in identiftying farm lots.

100 yr Floodplain Layer – This layer identifies Delaware County’s 100 year floodplain boundaries, which almost dissects the county into five different areas.

500 yr Floodplain Layer – This layer is similar to the 100 year floodplain layer with only minor alterations.

Flood way Layer – This layer represents the boundary areas of Delaware county that gives way for floods to occur when water levels rise.]

Historical Local Layer – This layer identifies all of Delaware County’s local historical landmarks, which are mostly situated in downtown Delaware and Northern Delaware. I know that some of the landmarks are situated here on campus, such as Gray Chapel.

Historical National Layer – This layer identifies all national historic landmarks situated in Delaware County, which some are both local and national historic landmarks.

Hydro. Layer – This layer identifies all rivers located in Delaware County, which consists of four main bodies of river.

Hydro. Detail Layer – This layer identifies all water related features, such as creeks, ponds and rivers, located throughout Delaware County.

Landmark Building 1 Layer - By just looking at this layer I couldn’t identify what it was showing, however after opening the attribute table I was able to identify this as landmarks related to township services, such as hospitals, fire departments, EMS, etc.

Landmark Building 2 Layer – This layer identifies government related services, such as city buildings, county buildings, state buildings, libraries and much more.

Landmark Cementry Layer – This layer identifies all cemeteries located in Delware County.

Landmark Golf Course Layer – This layer identifies all golf courses located in Delaware County, which are mostly located in Southern Delaware.

Landmark Park Layer – This layer identifies all areas located in Delaware County that serves as parks.  When coupling this layer with the building outline they fit perfectly as if they were puzzle pieces. This is due to the fact that many of these parks don’t contain any building structures because they may be protected areas.

Landmark School Layer – This layer identifies all school systems throughout the Delaware County, which consists of private schools, colleges, high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools.

Landmark USPS Layer – This layer identifies all United States Postal Service offices within Delaware County.

Delaware Natural Heritage Layer – This layer identifies locations within Delaware County that serves as natural heritage sites which is comprised of protective native wildlife, plants and habitats.

Orthophoto Gen2/Gen3 Layer – This layer illustrates an aerial satellite image of Delaware County, where were ratified to produce an accurate image of the Earth by removing tilt and relief.

Orthophoto North Layer – This layer is the same as the previous ortho layers, however only the northern third of the county is shown, which was taken in 1995.

Orthophoto South Layer – This layer reveals the southern of the county, which was taken in 1993.  As mentioned earlier all orthophotos reveal an accurate image of the Earth by using an aerial satelitte image.

Parcels Layer – This layer identifies all parcels within the Delaware County, which were created in helping value property in the county.

Precincts Citywards Layer – This layer identifies each voting precinct boundary within Delaware County, which interestingly enough only cover downtown Delaware and some of its surrounding areas.

Precincts Polls Layer – This layer identifies all voting polls within the Delaware County.  There are very few voting polls located in the North with downtown Delaware being the exception.

Public Land Survey System Layer -This layer identifies the boundaries of two land survey districts, the US Military and Virginia Military Survery Districts. These sub-divisions were created when county boundaries weren’t introduced.

Railroad Layer – This layer identifies all railroad tracks within the Delaware County, which are concentrated running through the center of the county.

Road Center Line Layer – This layer identifies all road types within the Delaware County, which vary from state highways, US highways and township roads.

Road Right of Way Layer – The name of the layer is pretty self-explanatory, in that it identifies all right of way on all roads within the Delaware County.

School District Layer – This layer identifies all the school districts within the County, which dissects the county into smaller areas and permits children living within a certain area can only attend schools that are located within their respective area.

Soils Layer – This layer identifies all different types of soils found within the county. Multiple features of each soil type may be identified under the attribute table.

Subdivision Layer – This layer identifies all condos and subdivisions (apartment lots) within the county. The southern areas of the county have the highest density of subdivisions compared to the north where you would find farm lots.

Tax Distribution Layer – This layer identifies all tax district boundaries in the county, which dissects the the county into townships.

Township Original Layer – This layer identifies all orginal townships that were created prior to the tax district changes. Back then only 18 townships existed, whereas today there are 57.

Watershed Layer – This layer identifies all watershed boundaries within the Delaware County, which depicts the boundaries between neighboring drainage basins.

Wetlands Layer – This layer identifies locations within the Delaware County that are water saturated year round.

Woodland Layer – This layer identifies all areas within the county that are woodlands, which are scattered throughout the county.

Zip Code Layer – This layer identifies all zip code boundaries within the county, which features 42 different zip codes.

Zoning Historic Layer – This layer identifies historic zoning areas within the county, which were only a small area located within downtown Delaware.  Such zoning areas may have some importance for building constructions.

Zoning Layer – This is layer is an updated depiction of Delaware County’s zoning areas, which only mostly pertain to downtown Delaware and its neighboring areas. Roads and building lots are clearly visible.

ArchGIS Blog Pt. I

February 23, 2009 at 3:32 pm | In Class Exercises | 1 Comment

Africa Energy Tutorial

This is an example of some of the work I completed in the ArcGIS tutorial. This image is extracted from one of the exercises in chapter 6 that covered classifying features and raster. In this exercise we had to create pie charts to illustrate the sources of electrical power (fossil, hydro, or other) in each African country. Fossil is represented by red, hydro by blue and others by yellow. It is clear that in North Africa fossil is the main source of power, whereas Central Africa it is hydro. Being able to create detailed maps such as this one through the GIS software is very fascinating. I didn’t encounter any problems in completing this tutorial.

ArcGIS Tutorial

February 23, 2009 at 1:41 pm | In Class Exercises | Leave a Comment

Even though I am yet to complete all seven assigned chapters I found this program to be quite fascinating.  This happens to be the first time I have used a GIS software.   The tutorial is quite straight forward, but there are so many features to this program that it can get a bit overwhelming sometimes.   I’d imagine that it would be quite difficult to know all the ins and outs of this program, nonetheless I have found this program intriguing.   The detail one can extract from this program is amazing.   Following Earhart’s flight path and extracting data from her journey through this program was interesting, such as sea depths, locations she stopped and projected flight paths.  The ArcGIS software is so well organized and precise that users across numerous fields of profession may find this program useful.

Frisbee Golf @ OWU – Basic Notes

February 4, 2009 at 12:52 pm | In Class Project | 1 Comment

While reviewing the previous Frisbee golf project we noticed the course we have plotted is quite different from last years, however there are some holes that are similar to one another.  Similar to last year our course only consists of holes that are on the residential side of campus and one of the major considerations we have pondered upon is the expansion of the course covering the entire OWU campus (both academic and residential sides). 

After doing some research we found some really fascinating articles discussing the health benefits and the “green” benefits of Frisbee golf.

“Not only does disc golf provide a great outing of low-impact fitness-building, it encourages the player to keep at it longer. While any bout of exercise or individual sports practice might grow old after a half-hour, participating in a game of disc golf extends the session to an involving hour or two of gentle upper and lower body conditioning and aerobic benefits. Hand-eye coordination strengthens, as do concentration skills, all with less risk of injury than with many other sports. Even individuals with a low level of fitness or disabilities can join in, gradually increasing their activity as health recovers. The activity provides low-cost recreation to the community, while being low-cost for installation and maintenance.” Such benefits are important to park systems. Disc golf courses can cover a variety of terrains and no irrigation is required. Areas unsuitable for other activities can thus be used, affording players surroundings of natural beauty and inspiration that might otherwise be overlooked.”

Extract taken from “Disc Golf for Fun and Fitness” (http://www.naturalawakeningsmag.com/natural-library/september-2008/disc-golf-for-fun-and-fitness)

A Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) has been established and on their website they have a section dedicated to Green Disc Golf. One of their main objectives is stated as: “The relationship that the sport of disc golf has with the environment is an integral part of the golfing experience and is one of the core reasons we develop satisfaction from playing.”

Schuurman ch. 2

January 27, 2009 at 8:55 pm | In Class Readings | 1 Comment

GIS, Human Geography, and the Intellectual Territory Between Them

Part I: explores the relationship between human geographers and GIS scholars and its relevance to the development of GIS technology and applications as well. These two disciplinary niches have influenced each other, and continue to affect each other.

Part II: introduces some aspects of the unique intellectual territory of GIS including the bases for representation of space and spatial entities as well as the philosophical space in which these representations emerge

Origin of Geography and GIS

  • Geography began as a loose collection of scientists and empiricists interested in the physical nature of the earth’s surface. It wasn’t considered a discipline until at least the beginning of the 20th century. American Carl Sauer led the field in establishing geography as a discipline and by WWII human geographers were a significant piece of geography
  • GIS didn’t make a name for itself until 1964, but originated from quantitative revolution and a long history of cartography

Difference between Human Geography and GIS

  • tension between researchers in both groups were evident in numerous published articles
  • occupied different spheres until the late 1980s when human and cultural geographers turned their attention to GIS
  • cooperative exchanges between geographers and GIS researchers help bridge the gap between researchers in both groups
  • GIS was characterized by geographers as a mere technique, a geography based on “facts” that is incapable of “real” knowledge and meaningful analyses
  • Goodchild (prominent GIS researcher) argued GIS is most useful when it is guided by geographers, and the GIS is designed to be used in conjuction with knowledge rather than a substitute for it
  • several GIS researchers and human geographers arranged a conference in Washington State to debate the ongoing issue. This marked the beginning efforts of cooperation between the two groups
  • Concerns about GIS development: (a) technological design and logic have far-reaching and lasting effects (b) presided over by private sector firms, designed to solve corporate problems rather than social issues (c) inaccessible to most people in the world
  • in the end both critics and defenders of GIS are better informed about the agendas and implications of each others work

Epistemology and Ontology in GIS

  • Geographical relations are considered and depicted by both human geographers and GIS researchers along two philosophical axes: epistemology and ontology. Understanding these philosophical issues is a way to understand and interpret between the intellectual territories of GIS and human geography.
  • Definition of Epistemology: the methods that a researcher uses to interpret and study entities and phenomena e.g. realism, positivism
  • Definition of Ontology: refers to what something really is, its foundational essence
  • In essence, the epistemology or lens used to interpret the ontology has a profound effect on its interpretation. Different ontologies come into depending on the epistemology of the GIS user.

In GIS different models produce dissimilar ontologies for what are the same objects on the ground. Examples of data models:

  1. Vector data model – constructed from points, lines and areas
  2. Raster data model – divides the world into a sequence of identical discrete entities, by imposing a regular grid (well-suited for determining travel time or direction of water drainage)
  3. Object data model – alternative to the vision of the world as a series of locationally registered layers, each representing a single attribute

Generalization

Definition: the elimination of map detail as scale decreases.

As scale decreases, the level of detail also decreases. Reduction of detail is effected by different mechanisms (e.g. removal of spatial entities) and is also context sensitive. The problem concerning generalization is not representation but conflict between features and the need to incorporate contextual information about geographical objects


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

Human Geography and GIS in today’s world

Development of three new areas: Critical GIS, feminism and GIS, and PPGIS

  • Critical GIS is an internal movement that includes scholars who have research interests that fall within the realm of traditional GIScience. Researchers recognize the role that social pressures have played in their own research, and want to acknownledge this aspect of the science they participate in.
  • Feminism and GIS is a branch of GIS with many of the same goals, but with particular research emphasis that involves women as subjects as well as an examination of the extent to which women shape GIS at research and implementation stages. Mei-Po Kwan examined the spatial patterns of women’s movement outside the home based on travel diaries. Example of her works: http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/mkwan/Figures/Fig_links.html
  • PPGIS movement concerns the engagement of GIS with world issues e.g. Weiner and Harris’s investigation of the role GIS played in recent changes in land distribution in South Africa

Mitchell ch. 1

January 25, 2009 at 6:31 pm | In Class Readings | 1 Comment

GIS (geographic information system) is only 30 years old and GIS use has only recently become widespread across numerous industries and organizations.  GIS analysis is a process for looking at geographic patterns in your data and at relationships between features.

Process of performing an analysis:

  • frame the question – figuring out what information you need in the form of a question
  • understand the data
  • choose a method – decide what method to use based on your original question and how the results of the analysis will be used
  • process the data
  • look at results

The type of geographic features you’re working with affect all steps of the analysis process. Geographic features are either discrete, continuous phenomena, or summarized by area.  Geographic features can be represented in the GIS using two models of the world: vector and raster.  Features in the vector model is defined as a row in a table by x,y locations in space (co-ordinates).  With the raster model, features are represented  as a matrix of cells in continuous space.

Types of attribute values:

  • categories – group of similar things that help you organize and make sense of your data
  • ranks – put features in order, from high to low
  • counts and amounts – reveal total numbers
  • ratios – the relationship between two quantities, and are created by dividing one quantity by another, for each feature

Palestine & GIS

January 14, 2009 at 1:44 am | In Class Exercises | 1 Comment

The ongoing conflict between the territorial states of Palestine and Israel has always been an area of interest for multiple reasons.  I am of Palestinian descent and have an uncle that is head of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Palestine.  I have seen multiple maps created by GIS that portray the multiple geographic political changes Palestine have endured since the beginning of this ongoing conflict.  I hope the knowledge and experience I gain from this course allows me to create a better understanding of this tragic issue for myself and others.  Listed below are links and images that relate to GIS and its use in the Palestine – Israel conflict.

Links

  1. http://www.hdip.org/health%20&%20activities/gis.htm
  2. http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=9881
  3. http://www.yale.edu/gis/news_Israel.htm

Images

Note: Images were too large to be seen on post, therefore URLs for the images are provided below

  1. http://www.hdip.org/health%20&%20activities/maps/closer%20map%20in%20west%20bank%20(General).pdf
  2. http://www.hdip.org/health%20&%20activities/maps/closuer%20map-a4%202004.jpg
  3. http://www.hdip.org/health%20&%20activities/maps/sharoon%20proposal%202004.jpg

Introduction to Me

January 14, 2009 at 12:47 am | In Personal | Leave a Comment

Hello all, my name is Taleb Shkoukani. A junior attending Ohio Wesleyan University. I consider Indonesia to be my home, however I have lived in Chicago and the UK. I have always had an interest towards geography.  It fascinates me how it covers and relates to a wide spectrum of topics.

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.