Getting to Know ArcPro

Assignment Introduction: 

What makes data geospatial? That is, what makes the data you worked with today geospatial in nature (think coordinates)?

Geospatial data is data that uses vectors and rasters to show how humans interact with the environment around them.

What makes data in a GIS different than a digital map?

Data in GIS uses coordinate systems to make a map but a regular digital map is essentially just a picture.

Why is having an understanding of geospatial concepts and geospatial data so fundamental to working with UAS data?

If you do not understand geospatial concepts, you wont be able to effectively portray/process UAS data.

What are some of the key geospatial concepts and fundamentals that this lab addresses?

This lab addresses the basics of how you can change the symbology of certain layers as well as the way they interact with the basemap. You learn how to make a simple project using ArcPro.

Fig 1. Interaction between base map, cities, and eco-region. 

Assignment Methods:

The goal of this assignment was to simulate creating a visual project to show the effects of a proposed road design through Rondonia. The data was gathered by various methods but should all be put onto one "poster" that could be presented to an audience. To do this effectively, the layers of the map should work together to communicate how much of the surrounding forest has to be cut down. This was done by using the analytical tools in ArcPro to calculate how much square kilometers of forest would be cut down. To make the poster more digestible, a scale and map key were added.

Fig 2. Rondonia border and major cities.

The first step was to use the borders to highlight Rondonia and all the populated cities. The symbology needed to be changed so that you could see the underlying imagery basemap. This was done by making the border a high visible color and making the infill transparent. The basemap was also change to an imagery map instead of a topography map such as the one in Figure 1.

The next step was adding other map elements. Minor roads, major roads, deforested areas, and the protected forests. All the symbology of these elements were changed so that they can be viewed easily. Figure 3 shows the map with all the above mentioned elements.

Fig 3. Rondonia major roads, cities. Protected forests are in green.

After having a good base for the map, the proposed road needed to be added. The image of the proposed road was a raster data type, to make this more editable, the raster image needed to be "changed" to a vector data type. To do this, the trace function was used to create a line that is approximately the same dimensions of the proposed road. Figure 4 shows the proposed road vector image.                                                                                

Fig 4. Raster image of proposed road.

After the trace was completed, one of the analysis tool was used to create an perimeter around the proposed road. Another tool was then used to calculate the area inside the perimeter. This is the area that would need to be deforested. Figure 5 shows the proposed road with the deforested area highlighted an approximate area that would need to be deforested.

Fig 5. Proposed road with the approximate at-risk area

Once the area was highlighted, the last step was to clean the rest of the project, changing colors and adding other elements such as: the title, scale, map key, and globe to highlight the project area. Figure 6 shows the final iteration of the poster. 

Fig 6. Deforestation in Rondonia

Assignment Conclusion: 

Summarize how ArcPro is a GIS software. What makes it stand out?

ArcPro is a GIS software because it uses coordinate systems, what stands out is that it has a ton of useful analytic tools that allow you to do many things with the geospatial data you collect. 

We talked about all the issues that can come up when working with UAS data in a GIS. After this intro to the software, reflect on how its complexity could create problems with using UAS data.

  

One potential issue that could arise is not using the correct coordinate system, or data type. This tutorial showed how to essentially use raster data to make vector data. 

Speculate how the data you worked with in this tutorial could be supplemented with UAS data.

If the data used in this lab was UAS data, it would have to be in a much more centralized area, but the main concepts could be applied. The data would just be collected via drone instead of satellite.