GIS 1 Miniterm Project

Michael Lewis

2017

Geography 335 – GIS 1

Dr. Wilson

            The study area for this question is the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is commonly known for recreation and nature as well as its association with the “North Woods”. The state has a large agricultural sector as well as other activities like logging and mining. An active tourism sector and a reputable manufacturing sector help boost Wisconsin’s economy. While the majority of the state’s population live in urban centers, many of the homes owned in the state are vacation homes. With its reputation for second homes and cabins, my question pertains to site location for a future cabin. I am looking for land meeting a specific set of criteria for the future site of a cabin. By applying this criteria, and using the tools in ArcMap to analyze the study area, I’d like to narrow my search down extensively. The search criteria are as followed:

            The location must meet all of the requirements:

1.     Be within 3 miles of the Wisconsin River

2.     Be within 10 miles of a major road

3.     Be farther than 5 miles from a city

These criteria were formed in an effort to find a cabin that is good for fishing. As the Wisconsin River is a major river that runs through the middle of the state, it was the perfect river to use for my site location. Being close to a major road is necessary in order to lessen travel time when coming to or from the cabin. Lastly, by being greater than 5 miles away from a city, the cabin has the ability to be secluded and in an environment that has not been altered by humanity to extremely. This type of information can help potential cabin owners or anyone looking to find a location that is useable for activities like fishing, hunting, camping or hiking. Additionally, this type of information could be used for a company looking to put in a resort, as hunting and fishing resorts have gained popularity in recent years. This project is important in that it shows how someone can use software like ArcMap to run analysis on an area to find locations based on a set of criteria. It only touches the surface of the potential for real world applications of ArcMap.

Data:

The data used in this project and analysis included data on the Wisconsin River, major roadways in Wisconsin, and cities in Wisconsin. This data was taken from ArcGIS and was previously used in course assignments. The Wisconsin River data was taken from a larger dataset of major rivers in the continental United States. It was clipped in an earlier assignment and then using select by attributes, cut down further to just the Wisconsin River. The major roadways were cut down in a similar fashion, clipped to only the state in an earlier assignment to only include roads in Wisconsin. Lastly, the cities in Wisconsin was from an earlier assignment. All of the data is reputable as its source, ArcGIS is a foremost leader in geospatial data. However, it is naïve to not question the datasets and their sources. For example, I am skeptical on the cities data as it does not outline what constitutes a city and what does not. For example, it considers cities that have as few as 10,000 people. If this were what made a city a city, then this school, the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, would be considered a city. Next, the population data associated with it is from 2007, that is 10 years ago. This data is dated to say the least, and it would be more accurate of an analysis to use more recent data. Additionally, the same question can be asked of the major roads dataset, as it includes interstates, state highways and other roads. The qualifications for what is or isn’t a major road are left unanswered.

Methods:

To go about answering this spatial question, I used several tools to locate my preferred location. By using ArcMap and the tools offered, I could narrow down my site location to several suitable areas. First, I added all of my data to the map as to see what I was working with. I then used the buffer tools to meet the requirements set by the criteria. That meant a 3-mile buffer for the Wisconsin River, a 10-mile buffer for the roads and a 5-mile buffer for the cities. Then, by intersecting and erasing, I was able to locate suitable locations for the future cabin. Figure 1 below is a data flow model showing the flow of work and how I got to my final map.

Figure 1: Data Flow Model

Results:

            After completing my analysis, I found several areas that fit the expressed criteria. While my study area was large, I expected to find multiple areas that fit my criteria. In the end, I found 10 separate regions that would be suitable for the placement of my cabin. To many, it may look like I should have had stricter criteria or a smaller study area, but going into it, I did not have a preference to where in the state I should be. My hometown is Milwaukee, so with the wide array of locations presented, it allows me to pick and choose how far I want to be from home, or what region of the state I’d like to be in. After my analysis was complete, I was happy with my findings and noticed a trend of larger areas to the central and northern parts of the state. While this is not surprising, it was interesting to see how along a stretch in the center of the state, while it meets the river and road distances adequately, large sections are cut out by cities along the highways and river. With this map, shown in figure 2, someone can find a location fitting the criteria and go from there in search of a location to put a cabin.

Figure 2: Map showing suitable locations for a future cabin.

Evaluation:

            I enjoyed this project in its wide margins for doing what you want with it. Instead of step by step answering the questions provided for us during the course through tutorials and labs, we had the opportunity to use the software to explore what interests us. Classmates did analysis of invasive species, DNR management assessing, and other cross discipline studies. It was nice to see if we could use the software on our own and find ways to come to a final product on our own. If I were to do it again, I probably would have spent more time using outside data. Initially, I wanted to use land cover data, but ran into the same problem again and again of not having the knowledge to run analysis on raster data. Instead, I changed the scope of what I was doing to fit what I had learned in the course. I also would have tried to use more data that I wasn’t familiar with. Since we had used the data earlier, it made it less challenging to work with. In the end though, I am proud of what I created and the analysis I was able to run using the software to answer my spatial question.

References:

Mastering ArcGIS, Tutorial Data, 7th edition by Maribeth Price (2015) [DVD-ROM]. McGraw-Hill Higher Ed: Dubuque, Iowa.