Introduction to GIS: ERE450/550 Lab Exercises

For Grading: Memo 50%; Answer Sheet 50%

NOTICE 9/20/06 – We are still missing assignments from some of you for Lab1. Late submissions are allowed, but will be penalized. You’re always better off handing-in incomplete exercises or late exercises than none at all.

Lab2_9_20_06.htm

PLEASE DON’T PRINT IN BAKER COMPUTER LABS, I WILL HAVE HARDCOPIES TO DISTRIBUTE ON WEDNESDAY 9/20/06

Hardcopies will also be available outside my office, 12C Bray Hall

For Grading: Table and Spatial Model 50%; Answer Sheet 50%

LAB 2 ISSUES – Page 6 Step 5 – Download the hydrography for Seneca and ONEIDA NOT OSWEGO. Step 6 should read Go “back” or click on the Map Browse tab, and then click on the Statewide Data tab. Find and add to your basket the Major Dams of New York State; New York State Average Annual Precipitation; 8-Digit Watershed Boundary New York State; and Soils (STATSGO Statewide). You should have 19 data sets in your basket. The scale of the large-scale hydrography is 1:24,000. I know it wasn’t specified in the metadata, but the source document a 7.5 minute by 7.5 minute USGS quad sheet was. These are 1:24,000. Lab 2: Pages 9-10 regarding the GIS data structure issues with shapefiles. First, use your folder not mine to see how many files there are. I have a lot more in mine for future purposes. You should only use my folder to avoid the downloading and such. Second, for question 13 it should read 3 datasets not 4. As always, email me with any problems. Extended Deadline – October 6 at 5pm 410 Bray Hall

Lab3_10-5-06.htm

PLEASE DON’T PRINT IN BAKER COMPUTER LABS, I WILL HAVE HARDCOPIES TO DISTRIBUTE ON MONDAY 10/9/06

Hardcopies will also be available outside my office, 12C Bray Hall

For Grading: Memo 40%; Map and Table 40%; Spatial Model and Answer Sheet 20%

Lab 3 due 10/23 by 8pm at Baker 149

LAB 3 ISSUES – Please read over the lab before doing it. This will be especially helpful to those of you that are requiring less direction. Use your notebook and the directions to simplify the steps of this lab. Second thing, make sure you check out the support page and helpful hints for software issues, but here are a few things to be aware of in this lab and others in the future.

IMPORTANT: You have to have Spatial Analyst ‘on’ to do this lab. From both ArcMap and ArcCatalog go to the Tools menu, select Extensions, and put a check mark (click) next to the name Spatial Analyst. To get the Spatial Analyst toolbar in ArcMap, go to the View menu, select tool bars, and put the check mark next to Spatial Analyst.

“Refresh” often -- Refresh in ArcCatalog can be used by right clicking on the folder that you are working or one level up in the hierarchy. Or you can use refresh from the View menu, but make sure the folder you are interested in refreshing is highlighted in the Catalog tree. You may have to refresh to see new work in your folder, view metadata, or after you use a tool. Refresh in ArcMap is the chasing arrows in the lower left corner of the data or map view.
Close and Restarting – If something doesn’t work sometimes you have to restart the tool, program, or computer. First try to close the tool and reopen it, second try closing the program and restarting it, third try logging off and logging back on the computer, and finally if all else fails shutdown and restart the computer. When you shutdown, don’t use the restart option….shut down, wait around 20-30 seconds and then restart. By the way, I’ve also heard that switching machines also may help.
Be very deliberate when doing raster calculations, this part of the software is VERY particular and you need to make sure the equation is almost perfect in syntax.

Other Issues: If you are having trouble using the classify process to do the reclasses, you don’t have to use classify…it just makes it a little easier. You can always just use the table that it gives you; do your Old and New values according to the exercise; and then delete the extra records by highlighting the row and using the X (delete) button.

10/18/06 – In order to do the last rasterization (Last one- SYRBND) on page 7 – You will have to copy SYRUTM27 from my folder to your RUSLE folder. It will not let you add a field to the data on my folder because it is a read-only file.

Lab4-10-20-06.htm

PLEASE DON’T PRINT IN BAKER COMPUTER LABS, I WILL HAVE HARDCOPIES TO DISTRIBUTE ON MONDAY 10/23/06

Hardcopies will be available outside my office, 12C Bray Hall in box on table in hallway.

For Grading: Map 40%; Answer Sheet 40%; Spatial Model 20%

Lab 4 Issues – For step 1 of the Edit Armories, instead of adding the syrarmory first, add the ono_u_col_index03 layer first. That way, you’ll get a data view projection that is in NAD83 UTM Zone 18N meters. The problem is that because the armory spatial reference was never defined, it starts your data view in degrees (geographic). No big deal if you want to change the spatial reference of the data view, see page 8 of the exercise discussion how to put your map into the NAD83 UTM Zone 18N meter spatial reference. Second, before calculating area for the dissolved flood data layer, make sure you projected (and NOT project define) to the correct spatial reference. If you are having software trouble, see notes for lab 3 and support pages.

FILENAMES – HYDROGRAPHY – USE THE ONONDAGA HYDRO STUFF (ONOLSHYDNET and ONOLSHYDSUR) in the HYDRO FOLDER INSTEAD of SYRLSHYDNET or SYRLSHYDSUR – error on page 4.

VERY IMPORTANT 11/8/06 – On Page 8 for displaying the whole blocks intersecting the flood zone, I have it backwards. Join the intersect layer to the syrblksutm83 layer!!!!! Any time you join, look for a field that both data sets have in common, and that has unique identification information. In this case use the STFID field to join the layers.

To create the interstate layer, the general (not exact – quotes missing) syntax for the query is CFCC = A11 OR CFCC = A15.

Project vs. Define Projection: THIS IS VERY, VERY, VERY important.

When you define the projection YOU tell it what it is, and it has no choice but to believe you. So if you tell a decimal degree layer that it’s meters, it will think it’s meters…..so 71.4 DD would be 71.4 meters. THAT’S NOT CORRECT!!!

PROJECT (the tool above define projection in the toolbox under Projections and Transformations/Feature) does the math and transformation to change DD to meters by conversion, so that you end up in the correct place in space.

Lab5-11_11_06.htm

Note that you don’t actually have to use the software to get 10 points of extra credit (worth one whole lab) by doing the spatial model.

Lab 5 Correction – The table for reclassing the land cover has a typo in it. The last one 93, should be 92.

Lab 5 Correction – On Step 3 under Analysis the reclassify note at the very beginning should be as follows: -1 to 0 reclass to 1.