Graded assignment. Work in groups of 1, or 2, or 3. This
will be due next Wednesday, September 16. You will collect data on 9/3,
and then create the database and export to Google Earth on 9/10.
You are to design a GIS database for the signs on the Naval
Academy. Your database should be designed to answer the
following types of questions:
- Where are signs vandalized?
- How many signs do we have?
- How long before signs wear out?
- What are the conditions of the signs, and when were they
last checked?
- What type of sign is “stolen” for display in
dorms?
- What kinds of signs do we have?
You should not necessarily restrict your database to only
these questions, but should insure that you can answer
them. If your field survey cannot answer some required
questions, you can leave the fields blank, but you should have
the structure to fill them in later.
Deliverables:
- Include a hard copy
version of the database in your report (Excel will open the DBF file).
- A KMZ file with your database and pictures of each sign. Use small
thumbnail pictures.
- You will need 15 signs for every member of the group, and you must
insure that you have at least five "types" of sign. How you
define type is up to you, but you must be able to filter the database and
color the display based on meaningful types. Try not to duplicate the
areas covered by other groups.
- A discussion of what fields you included and why; you need at least 8
fields, at least four of which must be fully populated (a legitimate value
for each record). For
unpopulated fields, indicate what will have to be collected or added as time
goes on, and what they will add to the database and why you wanted them
included.
- A retrospective, once you have completed, on whether your
field selection was appropriate.
- A paragraph, that could be given the Director of Public Works (Navy
Captain) on why a GIS data base of signs might be useful to him, and why it
would be better than a regular data base. Include in this how you
could address the question of stolen signs.
Detailed directions for this exercise are in the MICRODEM help file. Go
to the Contents Tab, Tutorials and Labs, GIS, Using a GPS to create a
database. The computer will be very fussy in accepting your work.
Follow the directions, and save your work often.
You will have two choices for getting the coordinates into the computer:
- Write down the lat/long, and just type them into Excel. This is
old fashioned and brute force, but for a small number of points, it will
probably be easiest and fastest.
- Save the sign locations as waypoints, and then download them from the
GPS to the computer. There are directions in the MICRODEM help, and if
you have a lot of points, this is clearly the way to go. This is
probably easiest if you get the instructor to show you how to do it.
The number of points for this exercise is right in the middle, and it's
probably equally easy/hard to do.