Week 6 ArcGIS

ArcGIS is a very powerful tool in the right hands. I found the tutorial to be very detailed and well organized. I found myself able to retain the information later in the tutorial from previous lessons. The main purpose of ArcGIS is to visually display thousands of pieces of information compiled in tables in the form of a map. Although it was a very time consuming operation, I feel as though I gained a vast amount of knowledge that could not be taught in a class room. Theory on GIS is helpful, but the step-by-step guide really allows you to get in there and get your hands dirty with the program.

Just from doing this simple tutorial you realize the potential ArcGIS can have. With all the layers of information, you can a seemingly endless amount of comparable data on one visual map. the problem is, entering all that data manually can be exponentially tedious and time-consuming compared to working with the data. Unless you have a team of grad students working for you as slave-labor, it could take years to enter the amount of data you need. This is where the Arc Catalog comes in to save the day. The Arc Catalog has tons of information stored as a geodatabase. But it would seem to me that the most valuable information, is new information that is not available from the public. Publis information may be plentiful, but it also may not be accurate.

I tried to operate ArcGIS remotely, but it was too slow. I'm not sure if this was due to the internet connection, or the fact that ArcGIS may be a large program that requires a lot of computer resources. Because of this I did all my work in the lab, which I think helped me out by forcing me to take my time and work deleteriously.

I could see ArcGIS as a very powerful tool for a city planner. You could lay out an entire city "on paper" and keep in fully manageable down to the last detail. With the layering of ArcGIS, you can have buildings, streets, sewers, topography, and climate all on the sheet; then you just select which layers you would like to appear and you have a map you can work with. But, to me, the most powerful tool if ArcGIS, is the ability to update that information. In todays world we need up-to-the-second information and ArcGIS can allow this. This is how websites can operate that show you the climate over the entire globe or fires in certain regions, by haveing constantly updated information made possible by ArcGIS software.

Erin is the best TA. Let's get a 10/10 on this one instead of any 9.7/10!!