Feel free to post a question about the syllabus to the About the syllabus discussion.
[x] Update your ArcGIS Online (AGOL) profile to include a personalized photo or avatar and your areas of special skills (e.g., "I'm good at data vis", "I'm a StoryMap master", or "I literally know how to use Python").
[x] Includes your preferred name (so we know who you are)
[x] Includes the same profile image you used for your AGOL profile (to help us know it's you)
[x] #17
Programming focus: you already have some experience using Python, so begin your journey by looking at Notebooks, the cloud-based programming environment for solving your geospatial problems
Analysis focus: you are comfortable with ArcGIS Pro and have little to no programming experience, so let's start with what you are comfortable with and learn out how to use ModelBuilder to create reproducible geospatial workflows
[x] Join the GroupMe chat (email your professor your preferred email for GroupMe)
Like a comment or just say "hi"
[x] Log into AGOL and make sure you are a member of the "AdvGIS - Fall 2021" group
[x] I completed the Ice Breaker challenge on the first day of classes
On GitHub
[x] Familiarize yourself with the Markdown syntax (see resources below)
[x] Introduce yourself to the class with a comment on the Welcome Discussion.
[x] (Wait until you hear from your instructor that it's okay to do this) Create a new issue on our repository's Issues, title it with your name (e.g., Davis's Checklist), copy-and-paste The Master Checklist content to the "Write" section, under Assignees: assign yourself, under Labels: checklist. Be sure to note your issue's unique number.
This is your copy of the master checklist
Use it to keep track of your accomplishments as you go through the semester
You may also see how your peers are progressing to judge your own time management
[x] Create your Report Wiki on our repository's Wiki page
This is where you submit your weekly tasks, goals, and accomplishments
See Home page for instructions
For Certificate Students only
[x] Save a copy of the Performance Accomplishments document and share it with your professor (with edit permissions so I can leave comments)
Update the Evaluee section with your name
[x] Sign up for your Semester Start, Progress, and Final meetings here
Note that you can adjust your scheduled times at any time; please inform your instructor of any changes.
The Consultancy
[x] Find a team (in groups of up to three people) to work together
[x] Form your consultancy.
It should have:
[x] Name: Geolytic Solutions The Geospatial Experts
[x] Prepare a publicly accessible progress report for your client meeting
It may be your website, slideshow, StoryMap, or another web-accessible document. Make it clear on your website how / where to access it.
Be sure to include visual aids
Remember that your client is not a GIS expert; tone your report for a lay audience
[x] Schedule a progress report meeting with your client hereWed Dec 1, 2021 at 10 AM via Zoom
[x] Write down your thoughts regarding the experience of working through this project and the client meeting in your weekly report
Copy and paste your response here:
My first reaction to this paper was excitement because I find dinosaur fossils mysterious and searching for them would be an adventure, but they are still very scientific, so I felt this was a suitable topic. It was refreshing to be able to explore a topic off the beaten path from the routine coastal and climate change issues I focus on at work everyday.
At the same time, this paper very much blended with and supported my work activities since our Center conducts a lot of suitability analyses for many different things such as habitat of a variety of organisms as well as prediction of future habitat scenarios in response to sea level rise and other climate change conditions, as well as suitability for septic systems, wells and other items we research. Other staff at the Center run the suitability analyses for these projects, however, I want to be able to understand them and be able to conduct them and contribute more at my job using GIS.
After reading the paper, I felt fairly confident that I understood the process.
In the data collection phase of the paper review, it became clear that the age of the paper would be an issue and that technology ages (fairly quickly). I found that most of the links to the datasets were no longer working. With the assistance of the internet, I was able to query and find most of the datasets in other locations. Learning to find data and sites that provide data was a great benefit of this project!
My largest geoprocessing challenge came from trying to reproduce the geology data. This data ended up being in an older ArcInfo Interchange Format (E00 files), not supported by ArcGIS Pro. Being unaware of these types of files was frustrating and consumed a lot of time trying to figure out how to access the data I needed. I eventually ran out of solutions and requested assistance from Shannon who discovered the older interchange file format. She showed me how to convert these files into coverages in ArcCatalog in ArcMap and then how to convert them into feature classes in a geodatabase, which then allowed me to import them into ArcGIS Pro where I could then convert the feature class into the raster data I needed for the project. This was a great example of how using GIS "takes a village" and asking others for input and assistance will always be a part of being a GIS user.
This project experience reinforced the fact that data has a shelf life and it quickly gets outdated.
Another point I had not considered or even thought important before doing this reproducibility project was that even though I have moved on to ArcGIS Pro, keeping a copy of ArcCatalog and ArcMap on my computer is essential if I may need to access older datasets.
Many of the exercises done in this and prior classes introduces you to geoprocesses or concepts but then you are sort of left without a complete picture. In doing this project, I felt accomplished after being able to locate the data used in this paper and I completely reproduced the suitability analysis. This was a great, complete, learning experience, where I got the whole picture, having to work out all the steps, solving problems along the way, and eventually generating an output, with something to compare it to for evaluation. I highly recommend this project. It was A LOT of work, but well worth the learning it afforded me. Since I had to do many of the steps on my own and research processes and solve issues, sometimes to the degrees of frustration, I will so much remember what I learned rather than having someone just tell me about the process or watching it in a tutorial.
Client Meeting Reflections: I had thoroughly reviewed this paper, found all of the data (even addressing the issues of out-dated data), and reproduced all steps of the suitability analysis using ArcGIS Pro. I felt confident understanding how the process worked and created a client meeting presentation to explain the process. I was ready to answer questions about the process and data, but the questions asked were broader, asking about the uses of suitability analysis and how to prevent or address the issue of out of date data. That last one is a good question and would be useful if solved. I felt the meeting went well, the reviewer stated the presentation clearly explained the process, so that was good!
[x] Rate your paper's level of reproducibility (based on your opinion)
The levels are:
S: satisfactory (methods are clear and reproducible)
M: marginal (it is hard to say because some methods are unclear and/or data are outdated or not readily available)
U: unsatisfactory (there is no known way to reproduce these methods)
Our consultancy gives our paper the rating of S for the following reasons:
When the paper was written, the datasets and the links to the data were current. Data collection would have been easy with the information provided in the paper at the time of publication. Information for all datasets was not totally complete. For example, the geology data and the land use data are clearly described as 30 m resolution, but some assumptions are made regarding other data. But this did not prevent the use of the data to reproduce the results. Also, the projection is never provided for any of the data, but once you start downloading it, it is all in the Montana StatePlane with the exception of the National Elevation Dataset. Suitability analysis was defined and the steps provided. The process was well outlined with some assumptions to be made, but not effecting the ability to reproduce the results of the paper. The paper did not say what GIS product they used to analyze the data layers, so what platform to use was up to the reader. The concept of the suitability analysis process was clearly provided in the paper. I was able to use the datasets identified in the paper (with some searching and converting, but not the fault of the authors). Tables provided the necessary values for re-classification rankings and weights to generate a suitability model similar to the results in the paper. I obviously could not reproduce the field testing portion of the paper used to confirm that the model accurately predicted the areas of Two Medicine Formation likely to contain fossils from areas that were less likely to contain fossils. I did not reproduce the revised analyses, since the process and concept were the same, with just different numbers. The authors clearly described the sensitivity analysis performed to understand the influence and accuracy of weighting used by creating several different suitability surfaces.
The Special Works Solutions
Prepare two methodologies for solving one of the special works projects
The special works project should emphasize a skill set that one of the consultants identified as a weakness in the pre-semester survey
Solutions may be typed or recorded
Solution Method 1:
[x] Solved to "basic" level
[x] Solved to "intermediate" level (tick both boxes)
Solution Method 2:
[x] Solved to "basic" level
[x] Solved to "intermediate" level (tick both boxes)
[x] Sign up here to schedule to contribute at least once to each of the five weekly topics.
If you are a certificate student, instead sign up for one topic each week.
[x] Each week, respond to and/or engage with the five weekly discussion posts.
If there is no natural response, then please respond with a reaction to the comment.
[x] I responded to more than five discussion posts on GitHub
[x] I responded to more than ten discussion posts on GitHub
[x] Share a selfie where you are holding or standing next to a physical item within Swem library (e.g., an open book, a painting, or a map) to our GitHub discussion board with a short description of the item and how it relates to a geospatial topic The Map That Changed The World
[x] Complete the Google Takeout challenge - Completed in class Nov. 2, 2021
[x] Find and share an article that has a geoethical concern and share it during your discussion topic week [Virginia Health Departments Data Tool for Reporting Children Hospitalized due to Covid] (https://github.com/orgs/cga-wm/teams/echo-squad/discussions/59)
[x] Listen to an episode of the VerySpatial podcast; use the search bar to filter results for "ethics" or other ethical term, phrase or idea
[x] I shared a discussion on September 23, 2021 that summarizes the ethics topic in the podcast linked above in class or on GitHub FCC Finds Wireless Carriers Broke Law
[x] This includes creating folders and/or updating item names
[ ] This includes updating the metadata (summary, description, terms of use, tags, and credits (attribution) appropriately on all shared items (organizationally, publicly or with groups)
[x] I shared a plan on how I organize my AGOL content and/or a system for tagging items in class or on GitHub
Complete at least three (3) hours or six (6) tutorials from one of the following sites: (1) Esri Academy; (2) ArcGIS Developer Guides; (3) Learn ArcGIS; (4) other approved resource (*include names of and links to each tutorial completed)
[x] I grant unrestricted permission to use media (e.g., web content, audio or video) I created for educational purposes
Note that you are not required to tick this box and, at any time, you may request that materials you made for this class be removed from use in past, current, and future classes
For certificate students only
Prepare solutions to two (2) special works projects.
Note that the same special works project cannot be used to satisfy both of the following.
[x] Create a tutorial (written, audio, video) that accomplishes the reproducibility of your methods and results
Geocoding Solution
[x] Complete a live demonstration of solving a special works project.
[x] Objective 1: include the benefits of independent and collaborative work
[x] Objective 2: prepare a definition of geoethics and provide example(s) that demonstrate what it means (include all necessary citations) GeoEthics: Sharing wildlife location data
[x] Objective 3: Highlight a skill that you learned this semester (e.g., time management, data management, programming or other); reflect on how you organized your AGOL content; and reflect on the three pitfalls of GIS:
Failure to know GIS (theory and lexicon).
Failure to communicate GIS (purpose, process and metadata).
Failure to execute GIS (using the right data with the right tools in the right way).
[x] Objective 4: reflect on your client meeting, what you would have done differently, and the challenges with communicating geospatial methods to a lay audience
[x] Objective 5: reflect on the benefits of programmatic approaches for addressing geospatial challenges and provide an example
Getting Started
On GitHub
For Certificate Students only
The Consultancy
The Reproducibility Project and Client Meeting
[x] Propose a paper for approval here.
Update your website with the following:
[x] Prepare a publicly accessible progress report for your client meeting
[x] Schedule a progress report meeting with your client here Wed Dec 1, 2021 at 10 AM via Zoom
[x] Write down your thoughts regarding the experience of working through this project and the client meeting in your weekly report
My first reaction to this paper was excitement because I find dinosaur fossils mysterious and searching for them would be an adventure, but they are still very scientific, so I felt this was a suitable topic. It was refreshing to be able to explore a topic off the beaten path from the routine coastal and climate change issues I focus on at work everyday.
At the same time, this paper very much blended with and supported my work activities since our Center conducts a lot of suitability analyses for many different things such as habitat of a variety of organisms as well as prediction of future habitat scenarios in response to sea level rise and other climate change conditions, as well as suitability for septic systems, wells and other items we research. Other staff at the Center run the suitability analyses for these projects, however, I want to be able to understand them and be able to conduct them and contribute more at my job using GIS.
After reading the paper, I felt fairly confident that I understood the process.
In the data collection phase of the paper review, it became clear that the age of the paper would be an issue and that technology ages (fairly quickly). I found that most of the links to the datasets were no longer working. With the assistance of the internet, I was able to query and find most of the datasets in other locations. Learning to find data and sites that provide data was a great benefit of this project!
My largest geoprocessing challenge came from trying to reproduce the geology data. This data ended up being in an older ArcInfo Interchange Format (E00 files), not supported by ArcGIS Pro. Being unaware of these types of files was frustrating and consumed a lot of time trying to figure out how to access the data I needed. I eventually ran out of solutions and requested assistance from Shannon who discovered the older interchange file format. She showed me how to convert these files into coverages in ArcCatalog in ArcMap and then how to convert them into feature classes in a geodatabase, which then allowed me to import them into ArcGIS Pro where I could then convert the feature class into the raster data I needed for the project. This was a great example of how using GIS "takes a village" and asking others for input and assistance will always be a part of being a GIS user.
This project experience reinforced the fact that data has a shelf life and it quickly gets outdated.
Another point I had not considered or even thought important before doing this reproducibility project was that even though I have moved on to ArcGIS Pro, keeping a copy of ArcCatalog and ArcMap on my computer is essential if I may need to access older datasets.
Many of the exercises done in this and prior classes introduces you to geoprocesses or concepts but then you are sort of left without a complete picture. In doing this project, I felt accomplished after being able to locate the data used in this paper and I completely reproduced the suitability analysis. This was a great, complete, learning experience, where I got the whole picture, having to work out all the steps, solving problems along the way, and eventually generating an output, with something to compare it to for evaluation. I highly recommend this project. It was A LOT of work, but well worth the learning it afforded me. Since I had to do many of the steps on my own and research processes and solve issues, sometimes to the degrees of frustration, I will so much remember what I learned rather than having someone just tell me about the process or watching it in a tutorial.
Client Meeting Reflections: I had thoroughly reviewed this paper, found all of the data (even addressing the issues of out-dated data), and reproduced all steps of the suitability analysis using ArcGIS Pro. I felt confident understanding how the process worked and created a client meeting presentation to explain the process. I was ready to answer questions about the process and data, but the questions asked were broader, asking about the uses of suitability analysis and how to prevent or address the issue of out of date data. That last one is a good question and would be useful if solved. I felt the meeting went well, the reviewer stated the presentation clearly explained the process, so that was good!
[x] Rate your paper's level of reproducibility (based on your opinion)
The Special Works Solutions
The Novel Datasets
Engagement
[x] Sign up here to schedule to contribute at least once to each of the five weekly topics. If you are a certificate student, instead sign up for one topic each week.
Question of the week.
Data share of the week.
Ethics consideration of the week.
Method of the week.
[x] Each week, respond to and/or engage with the five weekly discussion posts. If there is no natural response, then please respond with a reaction to the comment.
[x] Complete your weekly reports.
[x] Share a selfie where you are holding or standing next to a physical item within Swem library (e.g., an open book, a painting, or a map) to our GitHub discussion board with a short description of the item and how it relates to a geospatial topic The Map That Changed The World
Become More Geoethical
Managing Your Data
Getting Started With Notebooks
Additional Practice
Complete at least three (3) hours or six (6) tutorials from one of the following sites: (1) Esri Academy; (2) ArcGIS Developer Guides; (3) Learn ArcGIS; (4) other approved resource (*include names of and links to each tutorial completed)
Final Touches
For certificate students only