Lab 4; Due 11/1/10

This week I was afforded the unique privilege of working with the program ArcGIS. Overall, I found the experience to be tedious and dry. Granted, I wasn't working on my own project and was completing a general tutorial, so perhaps my lack of interest stems from my lack of engagement with the topic of study. The tutorial was, however, very explicit in its instructions and very easy to follow. After completing it thrice, I felt like I could complete the exercise a fourth time from memory. I attempted to connect my Mac remotely to complete the lab, but after many failed attempts I ended up having to come to campus to finish. In retrospect, I should have come to the SSC labs first instead of attempting to connect remotely; connecting remotely was a sufficient waste of time and the labs are a phenomenal resource.

Logistics aside, the ArcGIS program is pretty amazing. It seems like it has unlimited potential to overlay spatial data and present it in an understandable format. I had no idea how much it can do. It can make roads, legends, scales, spit out formulas, merge data tables--thousands of other things, I'm sure. I enjoyed seeing the end product of my work: the maps. It was nice to see that tangible output, that visual aid. GIS goes beyond data tables, beyond Excel, and shows people what they want to see. Who wants to analyze tables of data? No one. Let Arc do it for you, and analyze the picture. People always love pretty pictures.

ArcGIS is a computer program, and thus dealing with its pitfalls takes a large amount of patience. Computers are tricky; one click of the mouse can delete everything or ruin all that you've worked to finish. I suppose all that can be avoided by saving with frequency, but it was still frustrating at times. Little glitches are inevitable in any software, and I ran into them occasionally when working through the tutorial. Zooming was particularly troublesome, and the colors were limited. (Granted these are trivial, personalized complaints.)

I'm excited to work more with the program, as I know it has the capacity to accomplish amazing things. I can't wait to input my own data, and work with issues that apply directly to me or what I'm interested in studying. As a geography student, I recognize the potential GIS has for improving/adding to research projects and papers. As a person in society, I feel lucky to play with and learn about this expensive and widely used program. My brother in law works with GIS daily, and he loves his job. GIS is an up-an-coming field; the job market loves to see "ArcGIS" under the skills section of a resume.

I guess what I'm saying is that GIS has different potentials and pitfalls for everyone depending on their personality and their place in the world. For me, it probably doesn't mean a career in spatial data analysis and overlay. It's kind of dry, tedious and frustrating. Still, I'm happy to be learning about it. It's an integral part of a well-rounded geographic education, and it has the capacity to help me in life. Maybe.
Check out my maps below. (Note that when saving as a jpeg file, the graph lost its color profile.) Stay posted for next time, loyal reader!