GIS 4035 Lab 5a

For this week's lab, we were introduced to ERDAS IMAGINE and worked through the basics of the program. While we only touched on minor parts of the program, it seems like there's a lot to learn about it, and I rather enjoyed working with it.

For the last exercise, we were to import a raster dataset into ERDAS, and from there add a new field to its attribute table and, by using the inquire box, select a section of the data to export into ArcMap to create a new map.

This was my final product. I tried to select a portion that included a good variety of the features contained in the data, to better see how everything transferred over from ERDAS to ArcMap.

Remote Sensing Lab 4

For this lab, we were to take our map from last week and check the accuracy of our classifications. To do this, I created a new shapefile that consisted of 30 random points on the map. From there, I used Google Maps to get a better view of the location of each point and check whether it really was what I classified it as. It was a fairly straightforward assignment and all went pretty smoothly, for the most part. This was the finished product:

Module 11: Sharing Tools

For our final assignment in GIS Programming, we were to take a toolbox, tool, and script and share it for others to use, after password protecting it. Even though this one was brief and simple, it was still interesting to learn how to do it. I've learned a lot of useful skills in this class that I'll hopefully be using a lot in the near future. Overall, this class wasn't nearly as painful and stressful as I expected it to be. 

This is what was created when the tool was ran in ArcMap:

Participation Assignment 2

This article is about the use of GIS to select harvesting sites for stormwater runoff in urban areas. With increased urbanization throughout the world, groundwater resources are being hit harder and harder. Harvesting stormwater runoff helps relieve some of the pressure on groundwater resources, and helps relieve some of the environmental impact of stormwater runoff. 

This particular study took place in Melbourne, Australia and involved four primary steps. The first one was to acquire data and identify criteria for suitable harvesting of stormwater. In this step, maps were generated with data such as local rainfall and water demand. The second step was to estimate the environmental flows of the urban waterways. The third step created screening parameters for potential harvesting sites. This took into account things such as demand and distance from collection sites to the aforementioned demand. The fourth step created a ranking system for all of the harvesting options. After these steps were completed, maps were created with layers featuring data for amount of runoff, demand, areas were stormwater could be caught, and drainage networks. 

This was a pretty interesting article. It was refreshing to see GIS being used for what seems to be a very sustainable water resource. I would imagine that in the future tools like this will become more and more common as water resources become increasingly scarce. 

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/science/article/pii/S0301479713003514

GIS Programming Module 10: Creating Custom Tools

For this week's assignment, we were to take a stand-alone script and create a new custom tool with it. After completing the exercise and rereading several parts of Chapter 13, this was a relatively easy assignment. The only frustrating problem I encountered was editing the code, specifically the order of each of the GetParameters. Once I figured that out it all ran smoothly. Here are the screenshots from the results of running the tool:

GIS Programming Module 9: Debugging

For this week's assignment, we were given three scripts and had to debug and handle the errors in each of them. For the first two, we just had to locate the errors and modify the script so it ran correctly. This was a bit tedious, working through each line, but wasn't too horrible. 

For the third script, we just had to make it run by adding try-except statements to it. After a little trial and error, I managed to get it to work without too much stress. 

This was a surprisingly fun exercise. After getting my undergrad in journalism, I really enjoy reading/editing things. While this is a bit different, it was the same principle so I made the best of it. 

Here's the results from each script:

Module 8: Working with Rasters

For this week's assignment, we were to create a new raster from the data provided. This new raster was to highlight the areas that had forest landcover at 41, 42, and 42, slope between 5 and 20 degrees, and aspect between 150 and 270 degrees.

After working through the exercise, this assignment was pretty painless and stress-free. This is an image of my final product: