Lab 3: Projections and Field Maps

This week we had 2 labs. One involved projections and the other involved field surveys. 

This projections map was an interesting lab as projections were something that I hadn't thought about heavily. Most of my previous GIS jobs used the same projections and I had just assumed that was a standard and fairly accurate projection and most others would be about the same. I realized I was wrong when I compared 3 very different projections and found out they actually manipulated the areas of the counties of focus. Granted it wasn't a heavy disparity, but it was noticeable enough to the point where it made me think about the potential consequences these inaccuracies can cause like land disputes and improper distribution of resources. 

This is definitely a topic that  will probably revisit in the future as I would like to have more control in how my maps are shown. 

 

We also got to use ArcGIS Field Maps this week to collect data points. Unfortunately this was a bit turbulent as I found out that my new subdivision was not displayed in the basemaps available from ESRI. To further complicate things, I also live in a fairly empty place, there isn't really anything walking distance, and the obnoxiously hot weather was challenging me. As an alternative, I decided to get photos of my respective areas before hand and try to do some of it in a car. 

I documented some intersections and evaluated the conditions of them and how effective they were. I wasn't going off any standards but rather just my own opinions on how they were laid out. While I didn't like my end result, I am hoping to utilize this in my current GIS Analyst position as I work with construction and planning. I feel like we could use this to help document many of the projects, issues, and sites we have with our organization.