Week 5: GIS Data Search

Attached are three maps that resulted from gathering data from various file sources for Charlotte County, FL. I learned quite a bit about downloading data from the internet, and, specifically from the comprehensive data clearinghouse offered for the state of Florida. I had some difficulty with certain types of downloads...and am still trying to get the hand of downloading tar.gz files. In Map 1, I focused on roadways, cities, hydrography, and public land boundaries. I also incorporated wetlands and mangrove areas. The hydrography-lines was especially difficult to consider because it incorporates MANY lines throughout the county and I couldn't determine a way to distinguish prominent water features as compared to highway drainage canals...so I faded the blue color to diminish its appearance in the map view. Also, all of the canals along the coast are outlined in the county boundary, and since there are so many, they end up creating large blackened zones. Fortunately, I could cover most of that with other layers.



Map two exams zones of ecological concern based on identified frequencies of endangered wetland and upland plant species. I worked for quite some time trying to identify color combinations that would look balanced. Finally, given the shape of the county, laying out the map was challenging for me (i.e. when expanded to full width, it was not "pleasingly" tall). As a remedy, I tried to construct the legend and add other map features to give a better balance to the map layout.



Map 3 examines three different data types: DRG, DOQQ, and DEM. In retrospect, I should have probably selected map quads that would fall more toward the center of the county (i.e. to make the final map more aesthetically pleasing). As a remedy, I placed the legend in the right hand side of the county so that area of the map would not look open and void.



I have ALOT more to learn about this, but I certainly recognize the value of the wealth of information that is accessible for GIS.