Advancing to our second week of Computer Cartography, the first module requires us to think about how we look at and interpret a map. Our task was to select for critical analysis and evaluation, both a map that we consider well designed, and another that is poorly designed. What a task that was, as there have been several over the years that fit both contexts. Trying to recall any [...]
When I saw that Computer Cartography was my next class in the UWF GIS Certificate Program, I got pretty excited. Cartography has been an interest of mine going well back to childhood. When my siblings got a sketch pad to draw art, mine instead was used to draw maps. This passion stayed with me into high school and then college, where I would often doodle a small map in [...]
The fifth module for Remote Sensing and Photo Interpretation introduced Supervised and Unsupervised Digital Image Classification techniques. These are automated processes for converting a spectral class, a group or cluster of spectrally similar pixels, into an information class, i.e. land use/land cover class of interest. Using multi-spectral data and spectral pattern recognition techniques, the algorithm may take many spectral classes to describe a single information class. Similarly one spectral [...]
This week's Remote Sensing and Photo Interpretation lectures and lab assignment introduced a myriad of information related to image preprocessing. Functionality and various atmospheric correction techniques were discussed, followed by in depth look at several vegetation indices. The textbook provided great detail of the spectral characteristics of vegetation, including how visible light interacts with tree leaves and canopies. The lab introduced data acquisition and the USGS Global Visualization Viewer [...]
The third lab assignment for Remote Sensing/Photo Interpretation introduces ERDAS (Earth Resources Data Analysis System) Image. The first part of the lab provided a basic overview of the program, initially with some rudimentary tasks involving Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery and a LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite image of forestland in Washington State. Working with the data from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, learned how to add [...]
The second module for GIS4035 Remote Sensing/Photo Interpretation introduces the USGS Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classification system. Originally compiled by James R. Anderson and associates, A Land Use and Land Cover Classification System for Use with Remote Sensor Data was published by the United States Government Printing Office in 1976. There are four levels in the hierarchy, with Level I categorizing LULC on air photos with small scale and low spatial [...]
A short two days following the completion of the Final Project for GIS4043, I am delving into Photo Interpretation and Remote Sensing (GIS4035). The first lab provides an overview on elements of visual image interpretation, with historical black and white air photos of Pensacola Airport and Pensacola Beach in Northwest Florida. The first aspect of aerial photography interpretation references the tone, or the shades of gray from light/white to [...]
The final project for GIS4043/Intro to GIS conducts analysis on the Bobwhite Manatee Transmission Project in Southwest Florida. Part of the Florida Power & Light (FPL) infrastructure, the 24.5 mile long transmission corridor was developed to serve growing areas of eastern Manatee and Sarasota Counties, including Lakewood Ranch. Additionally the new line offers redundancy during hurricanes, something tested since it was completed with Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane [...]
The sixth lab for Intro to GIS introduces Georeferencing, which transforms raster data such as an aerial photo or a scan of a subdivision plat, to closely match vector data within GIS. I am familiar with Georeferencing from my cartography jobs, where we often acquired subdivision and other development plats and digitized them for updating map products. Georeferencing utilizes control points, which match features on the raster image without any [...]
This week's lab project introduced me to Geocoding within ArcGIS Pro and some Excel spreadsheet tactics used to prepare the data for it. The focus of this project is to extract the geographic location for Manatee County Schools from the list posted on the Florida Department of Education web site. Started the lab with a simple copy and paste of the schools list, which includes 84 entries ranging from [...]
