Final Project - Week 13 Lab

This lab was our final project and took a total of three weeks to complete. While it was appropriately the most difficult and time consuming lab, I realized how much more effectively I could complete the required tasks vs. the earlier weeks, even though those labs required much less input.

The lab was separated into four objectives and I decided to complete what I assumed was the most difficult portion first; objective 3. This section required downloading datasets from FGDL, which in previous labs has proven to be tedious at times. This case was no exception. I found data on both the number of daycares in Florida and the number of public and private schools in Florida, but when I opened the files on ArcGIS, I realized that the school shape file was in the form of polygons instead of points. However, I was able to obtain the required information from this polygon file so I left it as it was. 


Another interesting interpretation I had with this objective was putting buffers around each school and daycare. At the time, this is how I interpreted the instructions and it resulted in the same numbers. It was not until completing the homes and parcels objective that I realized I could have also put the buffer around the corridor. Here is my map for this objective:

                                         

The next section of the lab I completed was objective 1. This lab required information on environmentally sensitive lands and wetlands imposed by the transmission line. I initially planned to separate this information into two maps, but I felt the related data meshed well in one map. I used the clipping tool to determine how many wetlands and uplands were within the corridor as well as how many acres of conservation lands were within the corridor. Here is my map for this objective:

The next objective I did was finding the transmission line length. Since this was not a task we had completed in previous labs, I used ArcGIS help thru a google search to find instructions. First, I converted the polygon into lines with a specific tool. Then, I needed to edit the ends and delete the end lines so that the center line could be created. The first few times I attempted this, the delete button was not available when I needed to delete. It took several restarts to finally get the result how I wanted. The line ultimately measured approximately 25 miles. Here is my map for this objective:
The final map I completed was the homes and parcels within the transmission line. Since most of the skills used in this map were from the week before, this map was not extremely difficult. Most of my problems occurred when marking the houses since the rasters caused ArcGIS to run slowly. Here is my map:

Overall, I appreciated the skills used for this lab. The most difficult part for me was the background phase because in the past I haven't decided what measures to take in advance and instead implemented trial and error. The easiest parts of the analysis phase were the parts that were used most recently rather than the ones that required the most expertise.


These are my links to the PPT file and the transcript. I called the help desk and the I drive is no longer in service as of December 4th, so I uploaded them to my google drive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FbxC8OxxrRpXinZ4K1wYVxbuZF0yazch/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IHQebyzus7G-ps2WvgntwA2vMLeBkNdG/view?usp=sharing

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