Part 2 – ArcMap Activity



GEO 265: Introduction to GIS

2 MIDTERM EXAM – Due Feb 14, 2011

Instructions

This exam consists of multiple parts that will be completed both in-class and outside of class. The entire exam is ‘open book’ meaning you can use your textbook, on-line resources (i.e. ESRI help), or any resources EXCEPT your peers. This is an individual assignment and all answers must be adequately cited or put into your own words. Plagiarized answers will results in a zero.

Follow the instructions at the beginning of each section. Your entire Midterm is due at the beginning of class on Monday February 14, 2011.

Deliverables

Answer the following questions and produce the following outputs. It should be typed and well organized. Submit your midterm according to the ‘How To’ guidelines on the course website.

PART I

GIS Applications

GIS is being used to tackle many issues and provide access to information throughout the United States. The Federal government has put together a web map application that provides data related to Recovery Act Spending.

Take some time to explore the website () and various maps, and answer the following questions:

1. In the Agency reported Data section, what state has been awarded the largest amount of funds?

2. In the Map Gallery, go to the Job Training Awards v. Unemployment map. Change the view to see unemployment by county. What trends do you notice throughout the country? Are there regions that have very high or very low rates of unemployment?

3. In the Map Gallery, find the Recipient Reported Awards Map. Under the “select award type” find all grants that were completed by the National Science Foundation. How many are completed in Oregon? Who were the recipients?

4. What state has the greatest number of non-compliers for the 3rd quarter in 2010? What is a ‘non-complier?’ (Hint: you will have to find this map in the Map Gallery)

5. In the Education Awards v. Population under 18 – what patterns do you see in the distribution of the population 18 and under? Is there a relationship between age & distribution of State Stabilization Fund Recovery awards?

Geographic Concepts

A. Briefly describe the following terms in a few sentences:

1. Feature Class

2. Geodetic Datum

3. Scale

4. Layer file

5. Georeferencing

B. Give me an example of:

1. Geographic Coordinate System

2. Projected Coordinate System

3. Geographic Feature

4. Discrete data

5. Continuous data

PART II

Downloading GIS Data & Projections

You have been assigned to make a map of the Heritage Trees in Portland. You will need to find two GIS datasets, assign a projection, and create a simple map.

1. Go to the Census Bureau website and download the ‘Oregon Urban Growth Areas’ shapefile (). Using the link on the left hand side of the page (download boundary files), navigate your way until you have successfully downloaded the file.

2. Open up a new .mxd doc and add the Oregon Urban Growth Areas shapefile. It does not have a defined projection. Using the information from the Descriptions and Metadata tab on the Census Bureau website, find out what projection the data is in and define the projection of the shapefile using the correct tool in ArcToolbox. What projection did you assign the Oregon Urban Growth Areas shapefile? What tool did you use to assign a projection and where did you find it?

3. Look at your data frame properties – Does your data frame have an assigned projection? Why or why not?

4. Whether or not your data frame already has an assigned projection – before adding the next shapefile, assign the projection, Oregon State Plane North (NAD83, Feet), to the data frame. Explain how you change the projection of the data frame.

5. Go to the Civic Apps website () and download the Heritage Trees shapefile. Add the dataset to your map document and Zoom into the Portland Metro area.

6. Change the symbol of the Oregon Urban Area to only have an outline. Change the symbols of the heritage trees into something more appropriate (for example, a tree)

7. Add a basemap to give the Heritage Trees some spatial context. How do you add a basemap? What basemap did you select?

8. Create a map. What view must you be in to create your map?

1. Show all 3 layers: Portland urban area, heritage trees, and a basemap (make sure they are all visible and clear)

2. Add a map title and your name

9. Export your map as a .jpg and insert into your Midterm document.

Part III

Using ArcGIS Tools

1. Download two datasets from the Oregon Spatial Data library: Ecoregions and City Limits 2009. Unzip the shapefiles and add them to an empty map.

2. From the City Limits files, select all cities larger than 5000 acres in size. Create a new data set from your selection.

3. Go to Ecoregions properties and click on the symbology tab. On the right hand column go to ‘categories’ and in the Value Field, select Lev3_name. Click on ‘Add All Values’ to get a unique representation for each ecoregion.

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4. Add a second dataframe to your map.

5. Add the two shapefiles – Ecoregions & the Cities Selection (from step 2) to the new dataframe.

6. In Layout View and change the page setup to Landscape.

7. The main data frame will show the Willamette Valley ecoregion with Large cities (zoom into this region), and the inset data frame will show Ecoregions and Large cities for the whole state of Oregon.

8. Add a title to the map and include your name somewhere in the map layout.

9. Export the map as a .jpg and insert into your midterm doc.

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