Get the GIS of it

 For this lab, I was to determine the horizontal accuracy and precision of various data points taken with a GPS. The horizontal accuracy is determined by finding the average point from the data points taken and measuring its distance to the reference point. To determine horizontal precision, buffer zones can be used to show the distribution of the data points around the average. The distance between the reference point and the average location point is 10.71 meters and the vertical accuracy is within 4 meters. My results used the accuracy of the GPS unit to find the point that would represent the precise point that they are centered towards but not the exact location where they should have been.  In general, the points taken with the GPS are accurate but not precise.

For this suitability assessment, I needed to find the areas that black bears would most likely move through to get between the protected areas. -          I began by reclassifying the landcover and elevation rasters with their suitability values. I then used the Euclidean distance tool for the roads raster before reclassifying it with its suitability values. After that, I used the weighted overlay tool to combine the 3 rasters using the specified percentages before inverting it using the raster calculator tool with the equation [Cost_Surface = 10 – “Weighted_Suit”]. Using the newly created cost surface and both park areas, I created 2 cost distance rasters using the cost distance tool and then combined them using the corridor tool. I then reclassified it to represent the best possible corridors and changed the symbology.

A suitability analysis for property development is shown below. For this analysis, I started by converting the slope DEM and soil layers to rasters, and using the Euclidean distance tool for the rivers and roads layers, before reclassifying all rasters (landcover, rivers, roads, slope, and soil) by their suitability rating. I then used the weighted overlay tool to generate the two images seen in the map above using two different sets of weight percentages (equal and varied respectively). 

     For this week's assignment, I  completed a small part of a post-disaster evaluation for an area of coastal New Jersey that was affected by Hurricane Sandy.      The image above depicts the coastal area near Atlantic City, New Jersey where the hurricane made landfall before the storm. Outlined in grey is the study area for completing a structural damage analysis. After overlaying the parcel information, you can see the outlines of each property within the study area. I switched back and forth between the Pre-Storm and Post-Storm images to determine the damage level for each structure on each parcel.      With the key provided above, you can see the differing structure damage levels for each parcel within the study area as I saw fit to code them. Most of the severely damaged or destroyed structures seem to be closer to the coastline on initial inspection. To determine the damage level based on proximity to the coastline we will need t...