This week's module taught me how to transform a raster image to a spatial reference system in ArcGIS. An aerial image of the UWF main campus was georeferenced using control points. The lab instruction's tip of spreading the control points throughout the map was very useful, and I found that 6 to 10 control points worked best.
This week's module taught me how to perform geocoding via address matching. I had to create a map of schools within Manatee County, sourced from a list on the Florida Department of Education's website. I copy and pasted this list into an Excel sheet. This dataset of schools and addresses needed some cleaning, which I enjoyed learning how to do.
Some of the addresses were PO Boxes or out of county mailing addresses, which required manual address matching. This step reminded me of my time in the FLDEP's Hazardous Waste Program, where I used to have to verify hazardous waste generators' physical locations through Google Maps.
Find a link to my online map here at the University of West Florida's ArcGIS Online website.
This week's module taught me how to perform spatial queries through a flood zone risk assessment simulation. I also created a map by using variable buffers to determine campsites that met multiple criteria.
These campsites are areas that were within the road and water buffers. I also had to take conservation areas into consideration, and for that I used the Erase tool to exclude these conservation areas from the potential campsites. I chose a red to yellow scale for the campsite areas, highlighting the largest in red. The campsite's actual location was initially unknown to me, but by adding a base map and zooming out, I was able to determine that this campsite is located within the State of Mississippi. I sourced the state's county borders map from MARIS at maris.mississippi.edu and used it for the inset map.