Lab 1

Review of GIS 1

Overview

Objectives

The goal of this assignment is to review some of the foundational concepts of GIS 1. Through this assignment you should be able to

  • Differentiate the “Project” from the “Define projection” tool.
  • Understand the difference between a datum and a projection.
  • Create a dataset and add new features to it.
  • Choose an appropriate color scheme type based on the data.
  • Use SQL queries to select data.
  • Use the editor to digitize.
  • Make inferences about data without having access to metadata.

Instructions

Complete the following assignment using a word processing program, and store all data and files in your folder on the Q:\ drive. Each question is worth one point. When you are finished, upload your work to the dropbox on Canvas as a .pdf.

Lab questions

  1. What happens if a layer is added to a map but it doesn’t share the same coordinate reference system (CRS) as other layers already in the map? Do the layers appear correctly (i.e. in their proper locations)? Why or why not?

  2. What happens if a layer is added to a map but it doesn’t share the same datum as other layers already in the map? Do the layers appear correctly (i.e. in their proper locations)? Why or why not?

  3. Suppose a shapefile does not have an associated .prj file, but you know that the data was collected using WGS_1984. What is the correct tool used to define the CRS?

Find the mgisdata8e.zip file within the folder Q:\StudentCoursework\Haffnerm\DATA. Copy it to your personal folder on the Q:\ drive and extract it. Find the counties feature class in the Usa geodatabase, and add it to a new map frame. Name this frame “USA”.

  1. Add two other layers to the map that have different underlying spatial data file formats (different from each other and different from the layer already in the map) from any location you choose. Note the file format of each, and list the full file paths of the data sources (including their extensions if there is one).

Make the two new layers invisible (i.e. uncheck them). Create another map frame (analagous to ArcMap’s “Data Frame”) within the project and name it “Wisconsin Counties”.

  1. What is the current CRS of the Wisconsin Counties map frame (i.e., before any data is added to it)?

  2. What is the current CRS of the original map frame?

Export only the counties in Wisconsin as a shapefile then add it to the Wisconsin Counties map frame. Add a basemap (of your choice) to the map.

  1. Change the CRS of the Wisconsin Counties map frame (i.e., not the layer) to something more appropriate for Wisconsin (e.g., a state plane CRS). Which CRS did you choose?

  2. Change the symbology of the USA counties layer (in the original frame) and the Wisconsin counties layer to 10 equal interval classes representing the variable Median Age. Change the color scheme of both layers. Should a monochromatic or polychromatic color scheme be used? Justify your answer.

  3. What is the upper bound of the 2nd highest class in Wisconsin counties? Make the Wisconsin Counties layer 40% transparent.

Create a new Layout and add both map frames to the Layout if they are not both already present. Put the Wisconsin map frame at the top.

Add a title to the map. Add a scale bar and north arrow to both maps. Note: these should not appear the same in the two map frames (they should have different scale distances and may have slightly different north arrow directions).

  1. Export the map as an image and include it below.

  2. Use a SQL query (through “Select by attributes”) to select all counties in the United States that have a median age greater than 45 and a 2010 population per square mile less than 4. Additionally, exclude all counties in Michigan and Ohio. Include the text of your query below. How many counties fulfill the criteria?

  3. Add a field to the US counties layer and call it “PERHISP”. Use the field calculator to calculate Percent Hispanic using 2010 population. What is the mean and standard deviation of PERHISP?

Use SQL to select all counties that fulfill at least one of the following two criteria:

  • Percent Hispanic is greater than 20% and median age is greater than 40
  • Percent Hispanic is greater than 30% and median age is less than 30

  1. Include your query below. How many counties fulfill at least one of the two?

  2. Create a new polygon feature class in the Usa geodatabase and call it “Smiley”. Smiley will have three features: two eyes and a mouth. One eye should be located near the center of Eau Claire County, and the other eye should be located near the center of Shawano County. Make the mouth in such a way that it does not touch any other state besides Wisconsin. Take a screenshot of your map and include it below.

  3. Add a new map to the project. Download the file t.full.1stday_month_20121024.tif into your personal folder, and add this temperature data to the new data frame. What is the date of the .tif? What was the temperature in Fahrenheit in Eau Claire county on this day? Explain the steps you took to arrive at an answer. Note: for the purposes of this problem, you do not have to modify/transform any part of .tif’s CRS to extract the temperature.