The Arch GIS program is truly amazing yet complicated. There are many sections that I had problems with, especially the file locating part. It seemed that every single layer of data and every section on the left hand side (table of contents) had to be individually saved and transferred to the USB or it would not allow me to edit anything.
I would complete everything step by step and go back and the information would be gone! This was extremely irritating and a waste of time.
I was not able to put in the road even though I fully understood how because the "Arterial_new" layer would not come up on my environmental snapping list or target section. I tried saving it to my F drive tons of times and it would not show up. Every other layer showed up, except for the one I needed to. My friend and I worked on it together from start to finish and we both had the exact same problem.
The tutorial was very direct and detailed but it didn't conceptually explain what was happening. I feel that we should have started with the data itself and gone from there. That way we would understand how the data got where it was and what it means in relation to the maps that we were manipulating. I found myself not even really knowing what I had just done even though the map looked the way it was supposed to. I'm sure some other students had the same issues given no prior experience with the program.
The program itself seems very useful and a wonderful tool for presenting spatial data. I can't wait to be able to understand the software and navigate it somewhat smoothly. The ability to manipulate each aspect of the map and add multiple layers is crucial for representing different data on the same map. I love being able to use color to represent different values spatially. Overall, the program seems usable and highly functional. I just hope that I will be able to grasp it and navigate it successfully in the near future.
I would complete everything step by step and go back and the information would be gone! This was extremely irritating and a waste of time.
I was not able to put in the road even though I fully understood how because the "Arterial_new" layer would not come up on my environmental snapping list or target section. I tried saving it to my F drive tons of times and it would not show up. Every other layer showed up, except for the one I needed to. My friend and I worked on it together from start to finish and we both had the exact same problem.
The tutorial was very direct and detailed but it didn't conceptually explain what was happening. I feel that we should have started with the data itself and gone from there. That way we would understand how the data got where it was and what it means in relation to the maps that we were manipulating. I found myself not even really knowing what I had just done even though the map looked the way it was supposed to. I'm sure some other students had the same issues given no prior experience with the program.
The program itself seems very useful and a wonderful tool for presenting spatial data. I can't wait to be able to understand the software and navigate it somewhat smoothly. The ability to manipulate each aspect of the map and add multiple layers is crucial for representing different data on the same map. I love being able to use color to represent different values spatially. Overall, the program seems usable and highly functional. I just hope that I will be able to grasp it and navigate it successfully in the near future.
Good job. Learning a new program or skill can be difficult and frustrating at first. Stick with it!
ReplyDeleteYour write up is missing a discussion of generally the pros and cons of GIS and remember to proof your map so that the legends are clear and don't include names of files.
9.4/10