Good afternoon all,
This post follows up on this weeks Intro to GIS assignment which was broken down into two main topics: geocoding and Model Builder, both associated with ArcGIS. The majority of the lab was involved with geocoding, broken down into three sections: Building an address locator based on reference data, geocoding addresses with the locator and background road layers, and then network analysis with the road layer based on a created route. The model builder portion took an existing model and dissected its individual components and functionality via ESRI.com online training. The objectives for this week all supported an enhanced understanding of these topics. Data was provided by both UWF and the ESRI.com virtual training course. Lets look at each of the above concepts before getting to the map below.
What is Geocoding?
Geocoding is the process of finding a geographic location using an address, coordinate pair, or name of a place. Most of us have reaped the benefit of this type of system anytime we tell TomTom, Google Maps, or your phone to find you an address from where ever you happen to be.
What is Network Analysis?
To understand this we must first look at what a network is. A network is a set of interconnected lines and intersections. In this context we refer to the lines as edges, and intersections as junctions. As such a network is a representation of possible routes from one point to another along these interconnected edges, via the intersections.
Network analysis then is what we do to derive certain information about the network, whether it be as simple as finding the shortest route from point A to B, or understanding based on the network the next best place to put a Starbucks is not across the street from a Starbucks.
This post follows up on this weeks Intro to GIS assignment which was broken down into two main topics: geocoding and Model Builder, both associated with ArcGIS. The majority of the lab was involved with geocoding, broken down into three sections: Building an address locator based on reference data, geocoding addresses with the locator and background road layers, and then network analysis with the road layer based on a created route. The model builder portion took an existing model and dissected its individual components and functionality via ESRI.com online training. The objectives for this week all supported an enhanced understanding of these topics. Data was provided by both UWF and the ESRI.com virtual training course. Lets look at each of the above concepts before getting to the map below.
What is Geocoding?
Geocoding is the process of finding a geographic location using an address, coordinate pair, or name of a place. Most of us have reaped the benefit of this type of system anytime we tell TomTom, Google Maps, or your phone to find you an address from where ever you happen to be.
What is Network Analysis?
To understand this we must first look at what a network is. A network is a set of interconnected lines and intersections. In this context we refer to the lines as edges, and intersections as junctions. As such a network is a representation of possible routes from one point to another along these interconnected edges, via the intersections.
Network analysis then is what we do to derive certain information about the network, whether it be as simple as finding the shortest route from point A to B, or understanding based on the network the next best place to put a Starbucks is not across the street from a Starbucks.
Lets look at the map creation for this week before we get further into Model Builder.
This map is a combination of Emergency Medical Service sites for Lake County Fl, and an example optimum route both created in ArcMAP. You can see that the big key I want you to pay attention to for this map is the Point location and address for the EMS site. These addresses were geocoded using an Address Locator that I specified, and then located on the street feature class. The Route demo was also built from the Network Analyst utility in ArcMAP and placed as an inset for further clarification and enhancement. Also, the basic features presented here dont really need the lake data... but what is Lake County without lakes? Just county? So i added them in for an understanding of why its called what it is.
On to Model Builder.
This is a handy application for when you want to do the following according to ESRI's virtual training on the subject
This is a handy application for when you want to do the following according to ESRI's virtual training on the subject
- To see a visual representation of analysis and geoprocessing operations.
- To automate and manage geoprocessing workflows.
- To run a complex succession of processes as one tool.
- To plug in additional tools and parameters as needed.
- To be able to share geoprocessing workflows with other users by sending them the model you’ve created in Modelbuilder.
Here is an example of the model used this week and the final output.
As you can see this is a screen shot of ArcMAP, with this weeks Model in the lower portion of the shot. The blue ovals indicate input data elements, the yellow rounded rectangles are individual tools being applied at various stages, and the green ovals are data created as a result of a tool or process.
The fact that these items are all drop shadowed indicates that those elements have been ran. The overall very specific result is displayed above the model. An entire background area was reduced to identifying these few areas as the result of the model. Kudos to you model builder.
Thank you for your time.
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