Lab #7: A look at the U.S. population by Race

In this map, it shows the Asian population across the US ranked by percentage. From the legend, you can see where there are higher concentrations of Asian populations. The map is not as clear as I wanted it to be, because I forgot to change one of the headings, so it is not very clear that the legend is referring to the Asian population only. If I had more time, I would have gone back to fix this minor yet significant problem.

Lab #4: Proposed Airport Expansion

Write a four paragraph review of your ArcMap experience that discusses the potential and pitfalls of GIS.

Working through the ArcMap tutorial was quite an experience. It was very time consuming and meticulous work; however, I do feel as though it was helpful and somewhat fun.

At first, working with ArcMap was very frustrating. There were so many small steps to work through. It seemed almost pointless. However, as I continued to work through the tutorial, it was obvious to see that in order to create more advanced maps or scales I had to know how navigate my way through the simple toolbars. I knew that no matter what I was being asked to do, I could figure out how to do it especially as I continued through the tutorial.

I know that we were asked to go through the tutorial at least three times, but I felt as though I went through it many more times! This was one of the pitfalls, because after I had been working on one of the maps for a while, I would make one simple mistake such as clicking the wrong icon on the toolbar and I couldn't undo my mistake. This was frustrating. After a few trial and errors I realized how to undo my mistakes or how to go back and fix them. So this is definitely a program that requires a lot of practice.

I think that one of the good things about GIS is that it really allows you to do a lot in terms of creating maps, legends, and so forth. It goes beyond a simple map creation and allows you to really create something that focuses on what you're interested in. For example, in this tutorial we were looking at the noise affecting schools and houses near the airport and increased traffic along major roads. By looking at this data and analyzing it using ArcMap, we were able to create land use maps and create a poster that illustrates proposed airport expansion.

Working through this tutorial and creating the poster also helped me to appreciate other ArcMap creations that I have seen. I would have never known how much work goes into creating such a simple looking illustration!

Lab #3: My Google Map "Tour of Athens, Greece"

View Tour of Athens, Greece in a larger map





This summer, I traveled to Greece. Our first stop was Athens. I was initially very excited about going to Athens, because I knew a little about the history so it seemed as though it would be quite a site. However, when I arrived at the hotel, I was a little disappointed; it wasn't as fascinating as I had thought. But once I began to explore the area and after making my way to the more touristy parts of the city, I realized that it really was an amazing city. There is a lot of walking in Greece, so using Google Maps I created a map that includes several "hot spots" in Athens.

Initially, it was difficult to map my route. I wanted to share the nice shops and amazing restaurants in Athens. The main issue I had while creating the map was that it was all in Greek! Of course, I remember the names of a lot of the places where I went, but it was hard to locate them amidst the many other locations that the map shows, so this was definitely one of the pitfalls. What was even more difficult was trying to pinpoint the location of places in areas where they didn't necessarily have a building. For example, on my map I marked a gyro shop. This was difficult to pinpoint because it is located in a shopping district. So it helped to know the overall location of the shopping district, but it was difficult to mark the exact location of the gyro shop. However, there was a plus side to using neogeography and that was that I was able to include a picture along with my marker. I'm sure not everyone knows what a gyro is (Greek "taco"), so it was helpful to be able to include a picture. Therefore, neogeography has much potential, because through the media attachments it helps to make sense of these places and the things you can find within them.

Lastly, I realized that one of the major consequences of neogeography is its power to not only locate places but the power of making sense of these places for others as well. I don't think I could have better explained to someone how to get from their hotel to the Parthenon. More importantly, I wouldn't have been able to direct them in a way so that they, too, could have the same walking tour experience that I had.