Lab #4

GIS has a lot of potential because of the need for spatial data. GIS manages and manipulates spatial data that merges cartography and database technology. It has enhanced the efficiency and analytical aspect of maps. GIS is used for urban planning, land surveying, navigation, and the like. This means that the earth is much better understood than before.

GIS allows land surfaces to be quantified, such as how much tropical rain forest or wetlands are in certain areas. It can also keep track of temperature, rainfall, and fire in these areas. GIS is used to recognize spatial relationships like what contains what and how close is that to that. Geocoding is also very useful by giving an x,y coordinate to street addresses, zip codes, etc. GIS is also good at representing change over time. This is useful in predicting global climate change, growing seasons of vegetation, geological processes, and human activities related to land management.

Some pitfalls of GIS is that it can be hard to use/ heard to learn how to use. Also GIS programs are expensive. The software and hardware needed to use GIS systems can often be hard to get because of this.

GIS is and can be very helpful, however the ArcGIS program is not my friend. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to finish this lab. The directions were precise and easy to follow, but it all being new, required a lot of back and forth with the program and tutorial. Saving everything in the proper place was a lot harder than I thought. I thought that when I saved it on my F: drive that everything was on there but it wasn't so I lost a lot of my charts. Zooming in and out completely shifted the map around which set me back a few minutes several times. I haven't been so frustrated in a while, learning this new technology is a lot harder than I expected. None of it was especially difficult so I don't know why I took so long, but taking so long made me feel sad at myself.