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Reflections on My GIS Journey
As my time with the my introductory course to Geographic Information Science, comes to a close, here is a reflection of my experience with GIS and some skills I acquired along the way.
Anthropogenic Impacts on Southern Resident Killer Whales: Implications for Conservation Strategies
Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) are a cultural icon of British Columbia with only 74 left alive. For our final project, my team and I analyzed the three major threats to SRKW - lack of prey availability, vessel disturbances, and pollution. We hope that our analysis highlights the impacts of these disruptions, while encouraging adequate conservation strategies for the rehabilitation of our beloved orcas.
Environmental Impact Assessments with GIS: Understanding Implications of the Garibaldi at Squamish Project
The Garibaldi at Squamish project is a proposed all-year mountain resort on Brohm Ridge, 15 km north of Squamish on Highway 99. The project has been tentatively approved with 900 construction jobs and 2500 operative jobs to be made in the process. However, the making and manning of this resort will come at a cost of the area's environmental integrity. In this assignment, I have been tasked with performing an environmental impact assessment of the proposed project and its implications.
Visualizing Housing Affodability: Trends and Classification Implications
Despite being one of the most liveable cities in the world, Vancouver is also one of the least affordable. As a (pseudo) data journalist, I have been tasked to compile maps to accompany an article on housing costs in Vancouver. In this assignment, I explored the different classification methods when displaying data and how this may be governed by personal bias, agency disposition, and the intended message or purpose that underlies data representation.
Climate Change & Coastal Cities: Planning for a Storm Surge
I love Vancouver, but climate change poses serious threats, such as increased potentials of storm surges, to coastal cities like my own. Insight of these impending challenges, I have been tasked to map out areas at risk in the Greater Vancouver region. Using spatial analysis, map layout and editing tools, I created four maps showcasing the low-lying areas, flood-prone areas and major routes that would be jeopardized in the case of a storm surge.
Cartography
Cartography is the art of map making, where cartographic conventions and principles of data representation such as visual hierarchy and contrast are used to visualize data and information for a variety of audiences.
Data Acquisition
Asking questions and understanding data needed for problem solving, as well as finding appropriate, up-to-date and reliable data. Acquired data must be analyzed and understood (sometimes even needs fixing) for analysis.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
GIS is an application led technology with the ability to bring multiple layers of data together to visually present patterns or correlations. GIS technologies allows for a wide range of applications, helping to identify problems, monitor change, understand trends, perform forecasting and set priorities, as well as manage and respond to events.
Personal Reflection
Personal reflection requires asking yourself hard questions and comparing yourself with a "then vs. now" framework. Not everyone sees personal reflections as a skill, but I think it's one that should be celebrated.
Report Writing
Synthesizing, creating and communicating knowledge to a broad audience to highlight findings, challenges, and recommendations for future implications.
Spatial Analysis
Understanding the significance of scale, style, attributes, and classifications while editing and manipulating data. Spatial analyses is the key to gaining insight on and highlighting trends, patterns, and correlations that exist across space.
Geographic Information Science (GIS)
An exploration through the world of Geographic Information Science and ArcGIS software, where I learn the basics of map projections, data mining, and geographic analyses, among many other skills!