Week 4 Lab: ArcGIS Intro

ArcMap and GIS in general are powerful tools, with great potential but also some large difficulties. One of the main strengths of GIS and ArcMap is the ease of editing. Using hand-drawn maps it is impossible to quickly reconfigure elements but with a click and drag on ArcMap one can move elements and even rearrange orders of layers. Drawing a parallel line is not a difficult and time consuming process, requiring geometry and a steady hand, but is as simple as checking the draw parallel box. GIS makes cartographic actions that would have once required extensive time and skill available to even amateur users.

One of the most fascinating applications of GIS, however, is spatial analysis. This is possible only on a computer and only with advanced software such as ArcMap, but it opens up whole new possibilities for geographic knowledge. With a few clicks I was able to produce a chart displaying the number of each type of parcels within the noise contour for the airport, valuable and relevant information that would have required a lot of time and energy to make without ArcMap. Since charts like the one I made are the ultimate reason why we are performing spatial analysis in the first place, to answer geographic questions, GIS and ArcMap’s ability to answer them directly and easily makes them an invaluable tool.

There are drawbacks to GIS and ArcMap however. One of the main strengths, the amount of manipulations possible, is also a drawback. There are so many tools oftentimes it can be difficult to figure out which one is best to use in a situation. I also had a slight interface problem with the zoom function. Many times it was hard to know if I was zooming in the workspace or the actual map, leading to problems I later had to fix. Finally, the computing requirements also present a large drawbacks for many users. While working in the computer labs I had no problems, but trying to use remote access on the internet slowed down the process considerably. In addition, people who don’t have access to relatively new, powerful computers will be unable to use GIS and software such as ArcMap to their full potential.

Even with these drawbacks, GIS and ArcMap are overall valuable tools which are being used to expand our geographic knowledge. Questions that would have before been time intensive to investigate are able to be easily done. Analysis is possible with built in wizards, and in a few clicks it is possible to create valuable info-graphics or whole new layers. This is best evidenced by this week’s lab, where with only 3 hours of time I was able to use the data to create a report that could be used by policy makers to decide if they want to build the airport extension. That is the ultimate purpose of GIS, and geography in general, to give us better ways to understand our world.