Intro to GIS: Week 6 Lab Assignment

In this week's lab, we learned how to navigate sites, such as Labins.org and FGDL, to obtain our datasets for create our maps. Through these sites we were able to get aerial raster images, transportations routes, and the state of Florida's county boundaries. Along with obtaining the datasets for our maps, we learned how to create XY coordinates from degrees, minutes, seconds coordinates with specific formulas to alter them. We added these XY coordinates data into ArcMap where we had to Define the projection as WGS84 and then Reproject it to State Plane North. These XY coordinates show the locations of the petroleum tank storage contamination monitoring stations.

The area that I focused on  in my map was Pensacola in Escambia County. I utilized the Labins.org and FGDL sites to get my datasets for my map. I had to convert majority of the datasets to State Plane North so the layers would line up properly in the map. The XY coordinates data for the petroleum tank storage contamination monitoring stations was provided by Florida Department of Environmental Protection. For ArcMap to read the data, we had to add two columns. One for x coordinates and the other for y coordinates. Formula was also used in these columns to convert the degrees, minutes, seconds coordinates to decimal degrees which ArcMap will be able to read. The next step after this is what got tripped me up on this project. When I uploaded the XY data, I didn't define the data properly which lead me into a minor crisis until I got clarification on how to correct this mistake from Amber.