Introduction:
For
the final project of the semester for GIS I, we were asked to come up with our
own question to research. Throughout the semester, we learned a variety of
different techniques and tools to facilitate answering spacially oriented
questions. Vector analysis and geoprocessing helped us assess and answer these
questions. For my project, I wanted to find potential areas in Minnesota my
parents could retire too. I created a set of criteria for the location based on
my parent’s interests and hobbies. For instance, my father really enjoys
playing golf, so that was something I thought would be important to him as he transitions
into the next portion of his life. Likewise, my mother likes to get out in
nature, so state, and county parks in close proximity to where they may move
would be important as well. Along with golf courses and parks, both my parents
like boating, so for them it would be nice to live within a short drive of a
lake to take the boat out on. The final thing I wanted to keep in mind, was
proximity to an urban area with a population > 50,000, so they could do any
shopping and have decent access to quality medical care which larger cities
tend to offer.
Data Sources:
This project required me to gather data from a variety of
sources. I connected to an Esri (2013) database through ArcMap 10.2.2. The data
I needed to complete my project could be found inside this database with
relative ease. Looking at the data I did have come concerns that I took into
account for the final map. Firstly, in the “park. DBO”, included state and
county parks, but made no mention of local or other types of parks in the
surrounding area. Secondly, since I wanted to find places that were not
federally owned in the counties. The public land I did find did not contain
land use information. So if I wanted to make a more complete map of actual
areas in county land that was for sale and not used for business or agriculture
I would have to add those criteria into the mapping process.
Methods:
To begin, I wanted focus my AOI on the counties in
Minnesota, I performed a select my attributes to get all the counties, made the
selected features a layer, then performed a clip tool for all the feature
classes (Cities, Lakes, golf courses, and Federal land). For my first three
criteria points (proximity to cities, lakes, and golf courses), I performed a
buffer around each for the desired area. After the buffer was completed, I intersected
all three layers into one. For the locations were they could move, I used an
erase tool on the federal land in the counties to get the areas that were not
public land. After the erase on the counties, I used a second intersect tool to
combine the (cities, lakes and golf courses) and the counties with federal land
erased. This gave me the possible areas in Minnesota that would be suitable for
my parents to look for homes to retire in.
Results: 
Evaluation:
In the beginning of the semester, this project seemed like a
massive undertaking, and would provide quite a few challenges to overcome. As
the semester moved on, and I learned a many more skills, I began to piece how
to complete an open research project like this. I started realizing the power
that GIS and ArcMaps contains. With all the power, comes limitations for
someone like myself with partial experience and minimal analysis problems. With
that being said, as I looked at the data and began to assess what I might be
able to actually achieve, my project started taking shape. When I had all the
datasets in ArcMap, my project unfolded in front of my eyes and I was able to
take advantage of many of the tools I learned throughout the semester. This
project has shown me how far I have progressed from just a few months ago. I can’t
wait to see where I’ll be in another years’ time.
