Lab #4

My experience with ArcGIS was quite interesting. The first time around, I found everything really confusing and frustrating. I felt like this lab was just a test of my patience and ability to follow directions. I had to follow the directions very carefully to ensure that I did not make any mistakes. For example, for the first exercise, I forgot to change the scale on the map from feet to miles. I did not realize I made that mistake until the end and I was not very familiar with the application so I did not know how to go back and fix it. I felt like it was really easy to miss some steps as well when I scrolled down the pages. This application also felt really time consuming since the it took me almost 3 hours to go through the tutorial the first time. I realized that GIS was not as easy as I expected it to be, and this ArcGIS application was a lot more complicated than the computer programs that I am familiar with.

However, this application amazed me in many ways. First of all, the tutorial was very helpful, despite how frustrating it was in the beginning. It got easier the second and third time around when I got used to using the application and became familiar with where the buttons were located. The tutorial was very user-friendly since the directions were clear, and it even had pictures showing exactly what the steps should look like on the computer. Because I am interested in geography and I enjoy looking at maps, I found this lab very enjoyable. It exposed me to a totally different perspective on maps. Now, I realize that creating maps is not as easy as I thought it would be. It takes a lot of time and effort. Other than that, I think these maps created from GIS can be very useful to geographers and landscapers because they can use these maps to analyze spatial relationships easily. Also, the part I thought was interesting is how there can be many layers embedded within each map. This feature can be useful to see the relationships between each layer.

There are countless potential for using GIS as we can see from this application. When an individual learns how to use this application, they are able to create maps and images that can display a lot of information. But, these maps can be very overwhelming to someone that has no background in geography. When my friend saw this lab that I was working on, he was amazed by how I was able to create such complex images with ArcGIS. However, for experts, they are able to use this application to create maps that benefit our daily lives. These maps created from GIS can help to visualize and organize a lot of information about our landscape.

Despite its usefulness, there are also some pitfalls that can be associated to GIS and the ArcGIS application. A major pitfall that I have already addressed is how complicated and frustrating this application can be. It is not the easiest computer program to be used by people that are not experts in the field. Because there are so much information being exposed, one can be easily confused and overwhelmed by the amount of information. An individual must have some prior knowledge about geography and computer programming in order to use this application successfully. Another pitfall is that in order to be familiar with the program, an individual must repeat the tutorial many times like we did in lab section. This makes the application very time consuming. This program requires an individual to spend long hours in front of the computer, which often causes a lot of frustration and stress. However, I enjoyed this lab overall!