Lab 4

          

          For this week's lab, we followed a tutorial on the basics of using ArcMap in ArcGIS. We created a document with multiple layers and many types of data about a proposed road expansion in an airport. We also included data on population density and land use within the noise contour of the airport. Although the tutorial was detailed and straight-forward, since it was my first time using ArcGIS, I still found it somewhat confusing. It has a complicated user interface, which I found challenging to use; however, it is also what makes the program capable of so much.

          I ran into a few problems while doing the tutorial. First, the multiple different toolbars were somewhat confusing, because they had icons that looked the same, but had different functions. For example, in the layout and standard toolbars, there are both tools to zoom in and out as well as pan, but they work in slightly different ways. I am still unsure of exactly how they work. One of them zooms in on the whole document, while one zooms in only on the map, but keeps the data frame the same size. This led to confusion and accidentally messing up the view I had, which led to another problem. You cannot undo panning/zooming changes, something I found after trying to hit undo to get back to my original view. Undo seemed to only affect changes I made to the data/maps. It would be useful if there was an undo panning/zoom button because it is difficult to get the map back to exactly where you need it to be, and probably will have to tweak the location of the legend and scale line to make the map look nice again. One last problem I ran into was while exporting the file as an image. Even after trying to export it in multiple different file formats, one data frame remains in greyscale while the rest of the document is in color, as can be seen above.

          Despite these minor hindrances I ran into, it is clear that ArcGIS is a powerful program that is capable of a lot. This was only an introduction to some of its capabilities and functions, but it is a powerful tool that is able to be used for many things. Besides the direct application in fields like urban planning and construction, one of its most useful features is to analyze and synthesize data sets and compile them into one map. Given the huge amount of data available, such as census data, environmental data, or any other kind, the possibilities are nearly endless for what ArcGIS is capable of doing.

          Although the lab was time consuming and slightly complicated, I found it rewarding and fun to create and edit maps using ArcGIS. Because I only know some of what ArcMap is capable of, I am not sure what other kinds of shortcomings it may have. One thing is that it seemed to only have one view - a flat projected view. Depending on the type of maps being used, it would be useful to be able to change into a 3D isometric view. Overall, it is a very useful program, although somewhat complicated to use at first.