This ArcGIS lab has been the most trying lab yet. The program is very detail oriented, and tedious steps are required to make everything go correctly. Missing just one minor detail can throw off the entire map. To add to my personal exasperation, Blogger would not allow me to post more than one image within the same post, so all 5 screen shots of my lab as I progressed throughout the lab are seen in the following 5 posts.
As we only got through a small portion of the lab in class, the majority of this lab was learned by myself on my own. While the tutorial is extremely detailed and very helpful, instead of being a fun exercise in learning new computer software the lab became a tedious exercise with only one goal in mind, completion. Although I have now gone through the tutorial three times, I still find the steps to be a procedural guide and not extremely helpful in understanding the program. Yes, I was able to create the required maps for this particular example and could make these exact maps again, the tutorial provided little comprehensive guide for understanding the program of ArcGIS as a whole. Instead of clicking on buttons because the tutorial said so, I wish that there was explanation provided of what each button did or accomplished, so that I may utilize these skills in making my own maps in the future.
Additionally, the exercise itself of following the tutorial took out the fun part of learning new software: one's own individual creativity. In making your own maps, you get to decide what is important enough to include, what colors to make the various items, what design to use, what symbology to use, what legend to use, how to display different key terms, what to label, what to title, and every other minute detail with your project. This requires individual thinking, creativity, problem-solving--human skills that I have and would love to employ. Rather, this project was just filing through various steps to create a map of a fictional town that I have no connection to and don't get to make any decisions whatsoever. In this scenario, I could have literally done this as a 5th grader and feel that I personally have gained little knowledge from working with this system. Yes, I am slightly more familiar with the program ArcGIS, but I would be much more so if I had just sat and clicked randomly on different items and seen what happened for a half hour (which I ended up doing on my own just so I have an idea of how the program works).
Lastly, I believe that this tedious, minute-detail oriented process offers a lot of valuable information about GIS at large. Yes, it is important to follow procedure, but what makes the process of creating maps fun and useful has to do with individual characteristics of the map-maker, making decisions, and being a person. Details are vital; the smallest details can through off the entire GIS map projection. Learning how to join tables and make graphs is fantastic, I can see the relevance of these skills to future map-making projects. It is about detail, it is about procedure, but most importantly I believe that map-making is a reflection of human knowledge and progress. When we look to the simplicity of the previous empires, we look to the ancient maps and see how much more we know today. GIS is changing the game; now we can access more accurate maps than ever before. When people look back on the maps of today, what will they say about our level of knowledge?
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