Week 4 Lab Assignment - ArcGIS Tutorial

A couple quarters ago, I kind of made up my mind to complete the GIS&T minor without having yet taken any GIS courses. Now that I have had my first ArcGIS experience, I am relieved to find that I am in fact very interested in how GIS can be used as a very helpful tool. Like any new computer program, it took me a while to get accustomed to using it (knowing where to locate the proper tools, etc), but once I got the hang of it, creating the various components of the maps and graphs became quite fun. 

I actually drew a lot of similarities between editing the maps with ArcGIS and editing images through the GIMP image manipulation program. Both utilize layers, which ended up making the way that one navigates through the layers and utilizes the tools quite similar. Actually, if I had to compare ArcGIS to computer programs I've used previously, I would say that it's a mix between Stata and GIMP. This makes sense when you think about what ArcGIS and maps in general are: data (Stata) displayed using images (GIMP).

I thought that the ArcGIS tutorial gave a good overview of the various GIS tools and how to use them. They showed a wide enough variety of tools to give a good idea of the ways in which GIS can be applied, but didn't require me to do so many complex things that I just got confused and overwhelmed. As I was creating this map, I was trying to think of other ways that I could display similar information, or ways that I could utilize similar maps to show different sets of data and data trends or patterns. I am glad that we were required to go through the tutorial three times though, because each time it became easier and easier. I found that I was able to do more of the editing without referencing the tutorial sheet as often. 

Nonetheless, issues that I predict will frustrate me down the road include being able to keep the size and scale of everything consistent and being diligent about the little details (the length unit sizes, etc). On the other hand, perhaps because I have quite a bit of experience with image design, the design and stylistic component of making maps seems the easiest to me. I liked adding the little stylistic elements, such as the legends and shadows and whatnot, and playing around with the colors. I look forward to our next labs and future opportunities to get creative with making maps!