Lab 1: Base Data

GIS I Lab 1: Base Data

Background

I was told I was an intern for Clear Vision Eau Claire, a collaboration between citizens and the government to help improve the county of Eau Claire, working on the Confluence Project. The goal of this project was to build a new community arts center along with additional university student housing and commercial retail facilities. Two parcels have been purchased by UW- Eau Claire for this project and are located at 128 Graham Avenue, Hay Market parking lot and 202 Eau Claire Street. My first assignment as an intern is to develop a report which comprises of various significant information and maps regarding the Confluence Project.

Goal

The goal for this lab is to work with spatial data sets for the City and County of Eau Claire and integrate information about the Confluence Project to create 6 base maps.

Methodology

This lab had several objectives, each of which has a separate methodology.

Objective one: Explore various data sets for the City and County of Eau Claire

First, I began by creating a folder connection to the "lab1" folder in both ArcMap and ArcCatalog which contains two geodatabases for Eau Claire;
     2009_07_Eau Claire
     City of Eau Claire

By creating a folder connection, I was able to navigate the software more quickly. I was then asked to answer several questions about the City of Eau Claire geodatabase. I started by opening  "PARCEL_FEATURES"  feature dataset in the ArcCatalog. From here, I was able to determine how many feature classes and feature types were present in the dataset. By using tools learned in the previous MAG assignments, I was able to navigate/identify/preview various feature datasets and classes and their attributes/descriptions. Not all of the terms in this objective were clear. For example, I was unaware what each zoning codes meant and what their descriptions were. I looked at the "Zoning Districts and Maps" pdf provided to us to get a better understanding of Eau Claire's zoning codes and apply it to streets around town, such as water street and my own street.

Objective two: Digitize the site for the proposed Confluence Project

Once I created a blank geodatabase in ArcCatalog titled "EC_confluence" I began to digitize the proposed site for the project. I did this by first adding a blank feature class to the geodatabase with the name "pro_site" with a polygon feature type. I then added this feature class to a data frame a World Imagery base map in ArcMap. After locating the proposed site (128 Graham and 202 Eau Claire), I added the parcel area feature class and hollowed it to determine the perimeter of the two sites. To digitize the site I opened the editor toolbar and used the polygon construction tool. I used the end snapping and vertex snapping tool to create polygons around the two parcels creating a layer for the proposed site.

Objective Three: Learn about the Public Land Survey System

After reading and becoming familiar with the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) I inserted a new data frame in ArcMap with the world imagery as the base map. After finding the city of Eau Claire, I added two PLSS_townships feature classes from both the 2009-17-13 Eau Claire and the City of Eau Claire geodatabases. From here, I was able to determine what the difference was between a town and a township within the Civil Divisions feature class. During this objective, I learned that I could use the identify tool to describe locations within each township. Doing this allows for a more precise description of the location of the area at question whether it be a city, like Eau Claire, or a specific lot. There are specific ways to describe these locations in the township and range system. To help in this process, I turned to a website provided to me. This website helped in explaining the proper vocabulary and their meanings.

http://www.sco.wisc.edu/plss/legal-descriptions.html 

After dabbling with the identify tool, I made the townships hollow with a bright outline so that the underlying base map showed through. I added the PLSS_Sections feature class from both geodatabases and symbolized them by number and unique values based on Section Number. This allowed me to notice patterns within the map. Once again, I made this feature class hollow and added a new feature class, PLSS_Quarter_Quarter_sections from both geodatabases and moved them beneath the sections feature class. After making these feature classes hollow as well, I then used the identify tool again to create a description of the parcel through the given attributes.

Objective Four: Create a brief legal description of the proposed site

To begin this task, you need to find out the Parcel NO/ID for each of the two parcels of the proposed site for the Confluence Project. Determining the ID of each parcel is rather simple. Using the identify tool, I simply clicked on the parcel and the table of attributes has it right there for you. Parcel 1 (the 128 Graham) had a parcel number of 02-0365. Parcel 2 had a parcel number of 02-0363. I then went to the City of Eau Claire's Property and Assessment Search Website.

http://www.eauclairewi.gov/departments/public-works/engineering/mapping-services

From here, I was able to input each parcel number and a full report of the property. From here, I was able to put together the legal description for both parcel 1 and parcel 2. These legal descriptions contain information regarding the building (if any), the location, property class (commercial, residential, etc.), school district, and the value and sale history of the parcel.

Objective Five: Build a map of all the relevant base data for the Confluence Project

For this objective I created six maps in ArcMap, each of which contained different datasets regarding the Confluence Project. I started by creating 5 new data frames. From here, I changed the size and layout of the paper. I changed the size to 11x17 and the layout to landscape. I then resized and moved the 6 data frames so they were all the same size and evenly spaced. I put the world imagery as every base map of each data frame. To freshen up on how to create an appealing map, I watched the LAB1 demo video provided to me by Professor Hupy.

This video can be found here: http://youtu.be/p5UZYebNqJU


The first map was to consist of data of the Civil Divisions. The purpose of this map was to be a locator map of the proposed site. I added the civil divisions feature class and the pro_site feature class that I created in objective 2. I then added a title, legend, scale bar. When returning to the layout view of my 6 data frames, I realized that the scale of the map was so large that you could not see the proposed site on the map. To solve for this problem, I added a callout label indicating its location.

The next map was comprised of data referencing the Census Boundaries. Here, I added the BlockGroups and TractsGroup feature classes. In the Blockgroups feature class I chose to symbolize the variable of median age to show the average age of those located around the proposed site. This may help in determining what type of commercial places should be put into the project. This variable did not need to be normalized. I chose to symbolize median age as “unique values”. Because the median age was no more than 2 digits, I chose to use 3 significant figures in the labels to make it more eye pleasing when placed in the legend. Like in the previous map, I added a title, a legend, and a scale bar.

The next map was the PLSS features from objective three. This map just needed a scale, legend, and title.

The fourth map contains information regarding parcels for the city of Eau Claire. I added several feature classes; Parcel_area, centerlines, water, and pro_site. I made the parcel_area feature class hollow with bright outlines and changed the symbology of the other feature classes so that they were distinct from the imagery background. I then proceeded to make the map cartographically pleasing by adding a title, legend, and scale bar.

I then was asked to create a Zoning map. In a new data frame, after adding the world imagery basemap, I inserted the zoning_cla feature class. After looking at the attribute table, I pulled up the zoning codes for the city of Eau Claire so that I could better understand what each code stood for. I then went into the properties of this feature class and in the symbology tab I grouped the different zones based on the first letter of the code and created a unique symbol map. I also added the pro_site feature class along with the centerlines feature class. Just like the other maps, I added a title, legend, and scale bar.

For the final map, I was instructed to create a representation of Eau Claire’s Voting Districts. In the final data frame, I added the voting districts feature class and labeled each one by their designated ward number. I then changed the scale range of the labels and added a mask so that they were more legible upon the world imagery background. I added the pro_site feature class. This map did not need a legend, however, I did add a callout label to the proposed site because it was a larger scale map. I added a title and a scale bar to this map as well.  

Results

This lab provided me with a great deal of practice with map making. I was able to test my strengths in making an appealing map while also grasping a better understanding of my weaker areas to focus on for future assignments. Figure 1 shows the final product. As you can see, the compilation of the maps give a very general outlook on the Confluence Project. This is an advantage because then every citizen of Eau Claire should be able to look at them and understand their meanings. These maps also do a really good job of showing the location of the project and is a good representation of the area of Eau Claire surrounding the proposed site.

Fig1: This image is the final result from GIS I Lab1: Base Data

Sources

Hemstead, B. (2014). Plss - legal descriptions | plss. [online] Retrieved from:http://www.sco.wisc.edu/plss/legal-descriptions.html [Accessed: 01 Oct 2015].

Impressions, F. (2014). Eau claire confluence project | community involvment collaboration. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.eauclairearts.com/confluence/ [Accessed: 01 Oct 2015].

Legal Description and Permitted Encumbrances. (2014). [e-book] pp. B-1, B-2. Available through: Christina Hupy, Geog 335, UWEC [Accessed: 01 Oct 2015].

Lippelt, I. (2002). Understanding wisconsin township, range, and section land descriptions. [e-book] Madison, WI: pp. 1-4. Available through: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey [Accessed: 01 Oct 2015].

ZONING DISTRICTS AND MAPS. (2011). [e-book] Eau Claire: p. 510. Available through: Christina Hupy, Geog 335, UWEC [Accessed: 01 Oct 2015].