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Blog Post 4: Final Maps and Reflection by Andrew Brunner 12/7/22

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  1. I personally am very proud of how my map and poster came out. While it is my first GIS project completed, I am happy with the outcome. Especially since I manually collected data with a GPS and experienced some technological errors, but was able to overcome them and produce a working project. I am most proud of my poster and its organization. While I think my map could need some tune up, particularly small touch ups including finding the optimal 'search radius for the kernel density' or even knowing if I should have zoomed in a touch more with my extent indicator.  2. If I were to restart this project again, I would not change much honestly. I thought the time sequence of submitting certain blog posts worked very well. However, I may have collected the data a bit earlier when all the invasive species were 'in bloom'. I went a touch late so this may have skewed data a bit. 3. I learned that no matter how frustrating GIS can be, there is usually a quick fix around and...
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Blog Post 3: Draft Maps

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  1. The most surprising aspect of my project so far has been my ability to actually map my own data and actually transform this into a logistical map. Of course the map is not complete yet, however I was surprised that I was able to accomplish this. Moreover, the line that is bisecting the screen at the top is a major flaw that I need to edit out, but have not found out how to go about doing this. I am curious to see how well I will be able to finish the last blog post and final map. 2. The most challenging aspect of this project thus far has been the use of multiple software's to complete the data analysis component of my project. I had to manually map my data at the Schodack Island State Park with the help of a GPS unit. Next, I had to use a similar format to Lab 2 which dealt with Excel and GPS coordinates. I was able to generate the map above using a software called BaseCamp which allowed me to track exactly where I walked on the trail system. Therefore, finishing the final co...
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Blog Post 2-Maps of Data

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                          Above are a draft of my maps for the course project. The top map refers to Schodack Island State Park with an extent indicator to geographically reference where this park is in New York State. The data used for this map was found on ArcGIS Online and it is a simple trails map of the region. To add, the bottom map is a 'track log' that has been produced with the help of a GPS unit and a computer software called Garmin. While there is still much revision needed for both maps, producing these maps allows myself to better visualize the dataset and helps me plan for completing my course project. Additionally, I plan on adding coordinates (in latitude and longitude) to the map below, to indicate presence of invasive species that I had marked down when I went to walk the trails.. Unfortunately, a portion of the trails were blocked off as a result of hunting and construction ...
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Final Proposal

Introduction: The Schodack Island State Park is a 1,052 acre park that spans across three counties, Columbia, Greene and Rensselaer. The extensive trail system at the park and offer amazing views of the Hudson River, since the park is located right on the coast of it. Amenities there include hunting, birdwatching, camping, hiking and much more (https://parks.ny.gov/parks/schodackisland/maps.aspx). Being such a fairly local state park for those living in the Capital Region, this park for a day trip or even a weekend getaway. However, invasive species are a devastating feature that have invaded the park's boundaries. An invasive species is a living component such as a plant or animal that is non-native to a specific area and causes harmful effects to the environment that it is introduced to. Objectives: With this project, I hope to map the trail system along with invasive species present on the trails. Using a color scheme to differentiate high and low presence of invasive species on...
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