Nicole's Geographic Journal

Image 1      Image 2   With it being more than halfway through the semester, I would like to give an update on some of the GIS work I have been doing. Firstly, I have learned a lot about GIS use in agriculture through this course's 'Industry Highlight' assignments. GIS is being used to map fields, identify problem areas for pests and disease, help irrigate crops more efficiently, and much more. Drones are also becoming a useful tool in agriculture for these same reasons. I recently watched a tech session by Esri where a panel of speakers discussed  how they are working to get farmers and other agricultural businesses to use ArcGIS and other Esri products, since the industry can be reluctant to adopt new technology at times.      In addition to learning about GIS use in agriculture, I have been making some headway on my project as well. Image 1 shows the land use of the entire state of Florida, according to 2023 census data. To expand upon ...

      In this week's lab, I studied different methods for determining surface interpolation. Interpolation methods predict values at un-sampled locations based on data from nearby monitoring stations. In this case, I studied Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in Tampa Bay. I chose to include my Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) map because IDW calculates an unknown value as a weighted average of surrounding known points. This is shown  above in the map, where values closely relate to the known data points. I believe that this method resulted in the most accurate map for this lab. 

      For this week's lab, I compared TIN and DEM elevation models for elevation. I did this by creating and modifying TINs to examine their properties. The image above is from Part 1 of the lab, where I draped an image over a terrain surface. I did this by adding the TIN file to the elevation source so I could manipulate it better. From there, I exaggerated the terrain by increasing the vertical exaggeration. This was done to enhance the sense of depth, and allows the viewer to gain a better visual of what this  terrain looks like in real life. 

     For this week's internship assignment, I was tasked with finding a job posting I was interested in applying to, and determining whether or not I qu alified for said job.  The job I found was an Intermediate Environmental Scientist position with Soiltech Environment Group Inc. The successful candidate for this position would conduct site investigations and surveys, which includes collecting samples of soil, groundwater, sediment, and surface water. While this position is for an environmental scientist, it does have a GIS component, which is the type of job I am looking for. I chose this job because it would have me working in the field and in the office. My 'dream job' would be working in marine/environmental sciences collecting data in the field, with a GIS component. Some of the requirements that I currently have include using FieldMaps, and creating visual aids. I would need to acquire more experience in preparing reports for clients if I were to apply to this...

      In this week's lab, I used centerline and TIGER data to determine the completeness of road networks. The goal of this accuracy assessment was to determine the quality of road networks according to ad hoc methodology. This methodology uses a flexible, custom approach to spatial analysis. Meaning, this methodology is not a formal, step-by-step procedure, but rather a way to perform rapid analysis on the fly. 

      In this week's lab, I determined the accuracy of road networks. I did this by selecting test points of intersections on the ABQ_Stre ets_Sample layer, and then zoomed into each test point to determine the 'true' location of the intersection. I added XY coordinates to both the test points layer, and the reference layer, and calculated the accuracy statistics. The t ested horizontal accuracy of this dataset is +/- 423 meters at 95% confidence level.