Reese's GIS Expedition

     This week,  in the fourth Applications in GIS lab, was about Hazard with concerns for Coastal Flooding .     In this lab, we primarily looked at the before and after of storm surges with Lidar, as well used the tools we learned in order to make maps with a certain height of water from a storm surge. In this post, I will go over all three parts of the lab.     In the first part of the lab we focused primary on  Mantoloki ng New Jersey from when it was hit by Sandy in 2012. This involved us downloading LiDAR data once more and transforming it with new tools, Spatial ETL tool, from a .laz file to a .las file. Once this was done we then observed the area to see the difference between pre and post sally. Next we then made the raster you see below. This was done by changing the lidar data to tin, to raster, and then subtracting pre from post. This then allowed us to see with our new color ramp from red to blue where the high areas of erosion a...

     This week,  in the third Applications in GIS lab, was about  Visibility Analysis.          For this weeks module, we took some ESRI learning courses to learn more about Visibility Analysis and how to use the tools within ArcGIS. This was broken up into three courses.       The first course was introduction to 3D virtualization, which took about 3 hours. This course focused on using the ArcGIS analyst extension and and screen viewer in order to use transform 2D data into 3D as well as view and interact with the 3D data. In using it we also learn how to organize, navigate, and view the realistic representation of the data we are looking at.       The second course was performing line of sight analysis, which took 1 hour. This course focused on using the line of sight tool and 3D analysis in order to determine visibility from certain viewpoints and performing more detailed analysis on the data. T...

This week,  in the second Applications in GIS lab, was about  Forestry and LiDAR .        In this weeks module we applied GIS with Lidar in looking at an area of land with concerns to     F orestry. This lab utilized a lot of geoprocessing tools to get the values we wanted to reach from the provided data. I will give a bit of an explanation of the lab as I show you the maps I made.      For this lab we retrieved the LiDAR data from the Virginia LiDAR application. This would be a chunk of land directly lifted from the Shenandoah National Park. From there, the retrieved .laz file would be converted into an .las file which you can see in the first part of map one. From there we wanted to calculate the forest height, so we changed the values of the .las file to get the ground and non ground put into a raster. These would be named DEM and DSM, which you can see one in the map one. From there we used minus tool to get the height file you ...

     This week,  in the first Applications in GIS lab, was about Crime Analysis.        In this weeks module it was an application in using GIS for Crime analysis. This was done in utilizing tools in ArcGIS to make hotspot maps of high crime density areas. As you can see below we used grid based thematic mapping, kernel density, and  Local Moran's I hotspot analysis. Personally, I believe of the three shown, that kernel density is the best for honing in on the density of crimes. Grid -based thematic hotspot mapping map Local Moran's I Hotspot Mapping map Kernel Density Hotspot Mapping map      Also, here is some analysis from the lab on these maps and how I got the ones you see above.       For grid based thematic mapping (purple), I first joined the grid cells to the 2017 homicides so I could have the homicides in a grid in a new shapefile. I then selected only homicides from the join and made a new se...

Hi, my name is Reese LeForce, and I wanted to share a bit about myself. I currently work for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) with concerns to Potable Water. I have also worked previously in the Stormwater department for a few years. I got into GIS to hopefully progress my career with the FDEP, and with the completion of the certificate, utilize GIS more within my work. Also, I may continue my education and get an environmental masters. Other than work, if I ever have the free time, I usually try and complete many of my ongoing projects of building model kits or finishing any games I have. I also try to make time to spend with friends and family whenever I can. I also have made a story map that goes a bit further in my past that I have linked  here . I hope you will engage with my blog and enjoy my GIS journey.