Monday, November 5, 2012

Lab Week 4-5


After going through the ArcGIS Map tutorial I came across benefits and pitfalls to the software program. The program has some beneficial aspects that make great maps such as how detailed the user can make a map. For example, when I was using the program, I was able to zoom in and out and adjust the scaling to make the text, markers, and other things clearer when I was trying to fix them.

Another benefit of the software was the link between map and data that I had to add with the noise contour charts. This was a great way to show the data that I was portrayed to the map and the area on the map. It showed the different level in the areas of the map. ArcGIS overall is a great program for detailed maps that involve different data

However, ArcGIS also has pitfalls such as it is very complicated to use and must be completed by following instructions. If it were not for the tutorial I would not know how to use the program, so it is clear that the program is not user friendly unlike the neogeography maps that we completed in last week’s lab. For example, opening the map was complicated and having to export and unzip files was complicated.

To continue, the program was so difficult that even using the tutorial as a guide was sometimes not useful. Such as when putting in the different layers of green on the map to show the different levels did not appear on my map and I could not find a way to bring up the illustration. There were also other common illustrative problems I encountered and is clear that ArcGIS is a useful tool for maps, yet lacks the simplicity for people to use.

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