Andy Freed

GIS Log

Week 1:

Wednesday: Today Chris and I met and discussed topics for the project. Chris had mentioned the possibility of creating a GIS for Fire Mountain Scout Reservation. He had mentioned the option last quarter, and with information he collected, I was confident that this could be a great project.

Week 2:

Monday: Today we met and worked on the scope and mission of the project. The rough list shows what we’d like to do.

Wednesday: Today we updated the goals, objective, and much of the nitty-gritty of the project. A glance as project proposal will show what we have decided on for the mission of this project. During class, we presented our project.

Friday: Today we met with C.K. Eidem, who is going to be our contact with the camp. He’s providing us with some great data that we can use for the project, as well as access to the camp. We discussed our intentions, and showed him our tentative plan for the project. He seemed to be pleased.

We also presented our full outline to the class again. Buckley wanted us to reorder some of the objectives and criteria, so we did that quickly.

Week 3

Monday: Met with Gene, Pat, and Kerry. We discussed our project in detail, and Pat commented on our outline. We’ve updated the text as to what he recommended, and have made looked at Gene’s 6 steps to database development. Found the Skagit County Building codes and shoreline regulations, this will come in useful for drainages and stream buffers.

Wednesday:

Today Chris and I discussed the elements of the databases we hope to create, as well as the themes that we feel are important to our GIS.

In looking for existing data for Skagit County, I stumbled across this site. I think it’ll provide useful, the metadata that accompanies the data. http://wagda.lib.washington.edu/data/skagit/skagit.html

We finished our first draft of the project report. It was quite an ordeal wording our goal in such a way that did not make Pat cringe. Rewriting this took the bulk of the first hour of class.

We asked Gene for his assistance in creating a data dictionary for the GPS units, so we can speed up the process of data entry on Saturday. He printed us a copy of a manual that will provide an excellent source of information.

Friday:

Today I loaded a data dictionary into the GPS I checked out. The features I am anticipating are:

Kybos, camp centers, hydrants, culverts, climbing tower, water tower, forest cover types, roads, extra points, and quarries.

We’re going down to meet C.K. Eidem in Mount Vernon, and we’re going to take a quick tour of the camp to get oriented, and split up the workload.

Saturday:

Today we split up and collected the data we decided to collect, which is what we entered in the data dictionary. I mounted the GPS unit to my bike and rode to the more distant locations, including some of the older campsites, quarries, logging roads, and some of the newer camps. We were able to get both quarries, hydrants, and the water and climbing tower information also. I included all the culverts I could find as well. The real challenge is going to be making this data look good once we download it on Monday.

Week 4

Monday:

Today Pat told us to created a detailed schedule for the week, which he have completed. He also informed us of a poster project we will be a part of it. It’s for some science contest, and everyone is required to submit a poster depicting his or her project, done or not.

We downloaded the GPS data into Pathfinder Office, and were delighted to see that it worked. We are uncertain as to what projection the Skagit County data is in, so we have not combined the GPS shapefiles yet. Correcting the GPS data was easy, as was exporting to ArcView shapefiles. The GPS themes are directly below the county data, by a large distance. Gene suggests using Projector! To convert the county data to USSP WA North, in case it is in South, which the DNR has been known to do. We’ll continue with that later.

I wrote to Skagit County GIS to see if they had any metadata for the datasets we received from C.K. I also asked if they had additional datasets available for public use.

Wednesday:

This morning I downloaded some DEM’s of the Sedro-Woolly South Quad, and used 3D analyst to view them. I think they will be useful at some point in the future. We may be able to use them to show slope of the camp. I got the DEMs from gisdatadepot.com. This might be useful for erosion or some other analysis.

This afternoon I had to help Lauren create a TOC for her proclibs. After that I got to work. I received a message from Skagit County GIS telling me that Skagit County publishes their GIS data to UW’s website. Some quick checking reveals that it is there, and it’s in .e00 format.

With some help from Kerry, I was able to convert the very large data sets from .e00 to ArcView shapefiles. Sometimes things go very well, and just by chance, both the GPS data and the Skagit data are both in State Plane, and use the 1927 datum. They both matched perfectly.

I also discovered some new DEM files that might be of use later. The DEMs seem to be in Meters, and the grids cannot be reprojected, so they may not be as useful as thought before.

I was able to digitize property boundaries for the camp, and I will create metadata for the GPS data tomorrow when Chris and I join our GPS data.

Week 5

Monday:

Today I worked on the soil coverage from 12:30 to 4:00 pm. This included converting poly-lines to polygons using the X-tools extension, as well as looking up the soil attributes in the USDA Soil Survey book for Skagit County. I added the information to the .dbf for the soils coverage that included slope, texture, name, permeability, runoff, and drainage. I also created metadata for the shape file, using the federal (green book) standards.

I also managed to get those pesky Skagit coverages from C.K. into State Plane 1927, Wa. North. They had been in Wa South, like Gene suggested. They will be of some use in some way, if we can figure out what the attributes are.

I also scanned a DNR air photo that shows roads. I’ll try and rectify it for the roads.

I worked from 12:30 to 6:00 pm.

Wednesday:

Today I worked on creating a roads coverage using the transportation coverage we got from C.K. and using the DNR air photo I scanned last time. I was able to use ImageWarp to warp the DNR photo to match the transportation coverage very well. Using the photo, and some maps of the camp, I was able to digitize the roads that were not included on the Transportation coverage from C.K. I also included their names and their road type in the database. This took about 3.5 hours. I’m also going to write Skagit County GIS to see if they have any elevation coverages that they would be willing to share. I hope they feel benevolent.

Chris and I also borrowed a pair of GPS units for the fieldwork we plan on completing on Friday. I’m going to enter the data dictionary very quickly now.

Friday:

Chris and I met at the camp at 1pm to collect some more GPS data. It rained, so we had to carry the units in zip-loc bags. I used my bike again to move quickly. We managed to collect points for buildings, campsites, tree cover, docks, dikes, activity centers, roads, and a few miscellaneous features. Surprisingly, the unit kept satellites tracked from inside my bag while I was riding between points. Amazing. We finished around 3:15, so by the time we got back to Bellingham, class was over. What a pity.

During the evening I looked at aerial photos of the site on teraserver, and found an excellent photo that made it easy to determine vegetation cover. With the notes and points we collected, we’ll be able to create a vegetation layer using Corel Draw and import it as a .dfx file.

I also found a program called MacDEM that views and manipulates DEM files on my Mac, so I was able to view a DEM of the site that I got from the UW site. I was able to export the DEM as a binary file, and a tiff file, both of which may be useful, since the quality of DEM in ArcView using spatial analyst seems low. We’ll probably combine the GPS data on Monday, given that we have enough time.

Week 6

Monday: 3hrs + 5hrs

Morning: Today I came in around 8:30 and downloaded my GPS data, and used differential correction. Once again, I am amazed at the accuracy of these units. The data combined seamlessly with my existing coverages. The roads coverage I digitized on Wednesday wasn’t working, so I found a copy on the workstation I had used last. It worked, and saved me 3+ hours of re-digitizing. I also created some metadata for the quarry coverage we created with GPS data. I’ll continue creating metadata as time allows. I only wish some of our sources had created it.

Afternoon: I continued combining GPS data into logical shapefiles after a poster presentation lecture from Pat. Gene is going to make the plotter available to use for posters if we want. ArcView format is preferred.

I combined all the drinking water features into a single shape file, all the lake controls (intake, diversions, outflows) into a single shapefile, and updated some of the hydrology coverage using aerial photos and GPS data. It’s a pleasure to see roads, culverts and streams match up though. I also started digitizing the vegetation layers from an aerial photo from terraserver.com. I’m using CorelDraw first, and then I’ll redraw the shape files once I’m in ArcView. We will probably have 5-8 vegetation coverage units. Tomorrow I’ll start working on the ArcView side.

Wednesday: 2hrs

I continued working on the vegetation cover map today. I imported the .dfx file into ArcView using CadReader. I warped the .dfx to my existing coverages, and then converted all the lines to polygons using X-tools. Now I am cleaning up the lines by hand and putting additional polygons in to represent cover types that were not included. I will continue this project on Thursday or Friday.

Friday: 3hrs

The bi-weekly report is due today. Chris left for home, so I’m going to compile a report and present it to Gene & Pat. Chris left me with his logs for the last two weeks, including proclibs for CadReader, and Data Dictionary creation. I was able to compile the report in an hour, including an image of a DEM with some coverages. Eye candy, really. Pat was willing to look at it early, but wanted me to update the schedule so it showed what has been accomplished, and what we still needed to do. I updated as directed, and was amazed how close to schedule we are at the end of the 6^th week. I added some information for future weeks to the schedule though. Gene was happy with the report, and we discussed the poster. I met with Pat during a test in his noon class. We discussed analysis for the poster, and he approved the report. I was out of there by 2pm.

Week 7

Monday: 4hrs

Today I finished the vegetation coverage. I may add to the database. We have some planting date information, which might provide help determine age of trees, and potential harvest dates.

Chris and I also discussed what analysis we would do for the poster, and did rough sketches for layouts. We aren’t able to use the plotter because Gene will be busy the next several days. Cut and Paste time.

Tuesday: 5hrs

Chris and I finalized our selection for poster subjects. We are going to have an Abstract/Intro, Data source discussion, Improvement upon Original Maps discussion, sample analysis to show the use of the GIS for management decisions, and our conclusions about the project.

I used Geoprocessing Wizard to perform analysis on stream buffers, road buffers, and soil drainage types, all which are important in determining which outhouses will need contained or drained. I created 2 layouts, which were eventually replaced by 1 with 2 maps on it.

Wednesday: 9hrs

Poster time. I started a layout of the poster using CorelDraw, just to get an idea of the way that the poster will look. The layout was very helpful with fit, color matching, and may be printable at a later date.

I printed two new layouts that more effectively show the final analysis of outhouse containment, and have better color coordination with the poster materials that Chris bought. The maps look much better anyway.

I wrote discussions on Data sources, introductions, abstract, and combined the images on my CorelDraw poster mock-up. Once all the sections were printed, we began the cutting, matching and pasting process. It took a while, but the product looks very nice, and I feel that it communicates our purpose and information clearly. We’ll see what Sigma Xi thinks.

Amazingly, we finished at 9:30, and were very comfortable with being done so early.

Thursday: 3 hrs

Chris and I showed up about the same time. We chatted about our presentation until about 12:30, when we took the poster over to display it. The poster looked very nice, and was among the few that were not plotted. We presented our project to a number of passer byes, and to Patrick and a prospective employee of the school. Kerry drilled us too. We both had to leave at 2pm to go to another class, but returned afterwards to collect the poster and discuss our plans for the weekend. I am leaving for a Soils field trip, so I will not be able to do any work until Monday. Enjoy the weekend.

Week 8

Monday: 4hrs

Today Chris and I worked on separate coverages. He worked on wetlands, and I worked on utilities, which I scanned from a paper map that was created by Reid, Middleton, & Associates. The map was somewhat simplified, and there had been several pencil additions, but I hand digitized it as best I could, using relative positions of buildings, hydrants, and roads. This theme should be improved if it is to be used.

Wednesday: 6hrs

Today I returned to the map library to get more information from the USDA soil survey. I was able to get information on wildlife habitat, recreation development, building development, and sanitation. This information will be very good for the database. I entered it into an excel file, then saved the file as a .dbf. I joined the soils attributes with the USDA information, and now you can easily classify soils by their building characteristics, permeability, likely plant cover, erosion, and other characteristics.

Next I worked on creating Metadata using the metadata collector extension in ArcView. I created metadata for the roads, utilities, soils, hydrology, quarries, and other themes. We have over 20 themes at our disposal now.

Kerry helped me use Arc Info to project a DEM in State Plane, and now I can easily add themes to the DEM, and it will allow us to determine slope and other elevation features of the camp. The combination of themes and the DEM is stunning. By setting the 3D properties of various themes to match the DEM, the feature will appear on the surface of the DEM. This will be great for creating maps. I’m working on the Proclib for using Arc/Info to project now.

Friday: Today we put together the bi-weekly report for Pat. He seemed impressed with the amount of work we’ve accomplished, as are we. All we did for the report was update our schedule and discuss what we had planned for the rest of the quarter.

After the report, we continued working on meta-data. The metadata collector extension has been a real asset in this case, as it lets us reuse contact information.

I also managed to get the DEM that Kerry helped me project to use feet for elevation instead of meters. It required using 3D Analyst, and using the map calculator. See the procedure library on how to complete this function.

Also, I got tired of keeping track of the hours, and because I’m not getting paid, I figured what the hell.

Week 9

Monday: No School – Memorial Day. Backed up project to CD.

Tuesday: Spoke with Chris about plans for the week. We will continue with metadata creation until it is finished. We expect to be done on Wednesday or Friday. Time restrictions regarding other class work has limited work today.

Wednesday: Chris and I continued working on metadata for 4 or more hours. A prospective employee presented on campus, and we attended his presentation. His work and methods were not beyond our skill level. Afterwards, we briefly spoke with him about our project. He seemed interested, and impressed at our devotion to metadata.

Thursday: 3 hours to finish the metadata. I finished the last of my 24 metadata files. I also created some new themes, which included slope, aspect, and contours at 10’, 20’, 40’, and 100’ intervals. I also stumbled across the fire hydrants theme that had disappeared at some point over the last couple weeks.

The complete list of themes I have prepared includes:

Campsites, Roads, Utilities, drinking water, camp boundary, hydrology, kybos (outhouses), lake controls, quarries, soils, tree cover, activity sites, buildings, a TIN in feet, culverts, property gates, slope, aspect, DNR orthophoto, fire hydrants, and contour lines. Between Chris and I, we estimate over 40 themes for the GIS.

For information on writing metadata, see the procedure libraries.

Friday: Updated project log, and created more procedure libraries. We are going to meet another prospective employee today, and show her our work.

Today I continued working with the DEM and converting some themes to polygons so they could be extruded to give them 3D features. The Buildings look great, and I was able to join the buildings database with the buildings polygon theme so they share features.

Andy Bach stopped by and suggested overlaying an aerial photograph on the DEM to see how well it fit. It fit quite well, and looks great. Colorizing the orthophoto in Photoshop may give a nice result for presentation.

Aileen Buckley is the GIS Teaching candidate today. I presented our project to her, and she was concerned that the 1:20,000 scale data we were using was too vague for true analysis for a camp that was only 1 mile wide. She is correct, and that limits our project to value mostly as reference. However our project still has value as a template for the camp. This GIS will aid the camp in its management decisions, and the positional accuracy is something that the current maps of the camp do not offer.

Week 10

GIS project log

Monday: Today Dr. Medler discussed his program at Rutgers University. The program combines different presentation technologies and analysis tools for GIS. His program interests me because we do not discuss the use of 3D modeling, or other techniques that I’ve been messing with in my spare time.

We met with C.K. on Friday, and he asked that I try and produce a USGS like map for the camp. I spent about 3 hours today creating that map using the brown contours and green background, which is familiar to anyone who’s used these maps. Using ESRI fonts provided me with plenty of icons to present camp information. The output is nice, and will please C.K.

Chris and I are finished creating themes, and have finished our metadata and procedure libraries. I still need to write a procedure library for 3D analyst. I’ll do that tomorrow. My sister is having surgery, and I need to leave.

Wednesday:

Today I performed an analysis to determine possible sites for future development by the camp. The analysis is an example of what can be done with the GIS we developed. For information on the analysis, see my notes.

I also helped Heather with her bathymetric 3D model. The depth units were so small that they didn’t appear to be 3D. A vertical exaggeration of 7x provided visible relief. Map Calculator is very useful for manipulating Grid data before you convert it to a TIN. You can use the Map Calculator to convert units, or make the values negative, like the bathymetric map.

Thursday:

Today I put another 3D scene together in an effort to create a VRML fly-around. I cannot find a player that will install, or will play the .wrl files that the Spatial Analyst exports. Sadly, I don’t think they fly-around will work for this presentation. I saved the first project of the quarter today. I have been using the same D:\temp\andy folder for several weeks now, so I shouldn’t have any file addressing problems with the project.

Friday:

Chris and I are comfortable with the amount of documentation we have completed for procedures and metadata, and we are updating our weekly reports. They will most likely be combined over the weekend, and a final report and presentation will be made on Wednesday.

Right now, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I can’t think of anything useful to do for the class. I think I’ll mess around with the Geology 447 Mt Baker information now.

Week 11

Sunday:

Today I compiled all the GIS data that we have collected, created, and tried to format them in a CD friendly fashion. I have split the CD into several folders. Andy & Chris to keep our individual work separate, Coverages for all the camp data, html for the project web site, ArcExplorer for the software (legal to distribute?), Procedure libraries for instruction, and maybe some more later.

Monday:

Today I fashioned a Web Site that will reside on the CD. It will also be our presentation format. The web site mimics a slide show, but is much more informative, and accesses our data. I’m quite pleased with it. The final CD will be svelte.

Tuesday:

Chris and I reconvened to make sure all our information was up to date and accurate, as well as edit the final dialogue. I created a map to show the ideal sites for building that was the result of the building site analysis. We also improved the conclusion. You’ll see what it says tomorrow. In fact, I’m so tired of writing that you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to read the rest.