The physical geography course I took at Stockton College required that I take a lab course as well. In this lab course, there was a strong focus on being able to use the GIS software. Many of the labs I did for this course required the use of ArcGIS, ArcView, ArcMap and ArcCatalog. Each lab built off of the last leading to an amassed skill in GIS. The lab that included many of the aspects I learned was a lab that required me to collect data, add it to a map in GIS and manipulate that data to find specific features in the data.
In this lab in particular I used the different parts of the GIS software to view, manipulate and analyze the data and maps associated with New Jersey. In ArcCatalog I browsed for maps, data and geodatabases; copy and deleted data; created folders, data layers (shapefiles), and address locators; view and created metadata; and managed the data. When the data was added to ArcMap I manipulated data to solve geographic problems and present my results. A few of my results are below as well as the full lab.
I created a map to show the different municipalities of New Jersey and then isolated the municipalities with populations over 100,000 (there were very few):
I then manipulated the data to show areas in New Jersey with hazardous sites and highlighted the specific municipalities:
This lab and those like it have been instrumental in my understanding if the GIS software. This course and subsequent GIS courses I will take, will help me in my future environmental endeavors. Being able to create maps with data that can be manipulated on multiple levels will help in many fields that require the management of mass amounts of spatial data.
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