Potentials and pitfalls:
Unlike maps and neogeograhy, GIS is effective to organize
and convey complex data. There are two different views in ArcGIS, layout and
data view, which allow users to edit maps based on their desire in an organized
way. By checking or unchecking the icon, layers can be shown and hidden. And
layers are helpful in displays and presentations, because they demonstrate
different purposes of the same location. For me, the tutorial is completely new
to me, as I have never used ArcGIS before.
GIS is a great tool for the public and the government. By
simply clicking and importing data, people can easily see the geographic
distribution and their spatial information. For example, the information of
land use is influential when the government is deciding where to build the
airport. Functions like this significantly help us in our environmental impact
assessment. Moreover, GIS has a great potential of creating or editing points,
lines or arcs on a map. This way, the information on the map will be constantly
renewed and won’t be outdated. In this case, governmental officials realize hot
a proposed airport expansion would affect the area.
Nevertheless, there are pitfalls in GIS as well. The entire
process of GIS tutorial is complicated and I am sure that, without several
times of practices, only a few are able to memorize the entire system creation
process. Also, it is easy to loose track of my storage information. Once a
point is missed or messed up, it is most likely the entire work is vanished.
GIS is not a user-friendly software. The tutorial started pretty easy to
follow, but gradually became confusing so that I had to figure out on my own.
In addition, misinformation is also a great pitfall. Anyone
who has the access to my storage in the computer lab can change anything on
what is been saved. And if I want to email it to my mailbox, it takes too much
space and will easily loose inputs. Despite all these pitfalls, I certainly
enjoyed the GIS tutorial. This is a new technique and will definitely be
helpful in the future.
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