Map Critique

Map Critique Module: 1

This week's class was an introduction to Cartography and Map design principles. We covered some basic cartography terms, the early cartographic contributors, the history of mapping practices, the different types of maps throughout history, and the common map design principles. 

For this week's lab we were assigned to review and evaluate maps that we could choose. Below are the two maps that I have chosen for my Well-Designed Map and my Poor Designed Map.

This is my idea of a Well-Designed Map.

Map Synopsis: The title is easily identifiable in the top middle of the layout, the layout has two maps to look at which one includes the top ancestry population for each state which is in the top right corner, and the main map shows all the counties in the US and the highest population of each ancestry county by county. The map legend is in alphabetical order of each ancestry and the other symbol has a footnote to show all the other ancestry's that don't have their own symbol. 

This is my idea of a Poorly Designed Map.

Map Synopsis: This map is very messy at first glance and has no title which leaves the reader confused on what they are even looking at. This map is a map of all the hotels in Barcelona. The map only shows one main street and plaza area, leaving the location markers for the hotels in open white space on the map. The only people that may have use for this map would be locals in the Barcelona area that already know where these locations might be. The scale of map should be bigger to include the other hotels on the map that are not on it and have arrows pointing 250m and 300m. The scale bar for map should be smaller as well.

 About Brandon Tims

My name is Brandon Tims, and I am a Natural Science major with a minor in GIS. I have had some experience with GIS throughout my time at University of West Florida, such as, all the classes to complete my undergraduate certificate in GIS, and for my internship last semester I completed 28 different courses through ESRI and obtained a certificate of each course upon the completion of each course. I would describe myself as a very ambitious, outgoing, great teammate, and highly motivated to achieve the goals that I set for myself and the goals that I receive from others. I joined the GIS program at the University of West Florida. I loved the first couple of GIS courses I took and loved how you could use maps to show data and tell a story through a map. I hope to gain my undergraduate GIS certificate, add and learn more about ArcGIS tools in the system, and make connections in the department to help me further along in my career job wise or project wise.

 

Here is a link to a story map I have created to show all of the places I have lived and got to visit in my life currently: https://arcg.is/9zjq10

GIS Online Portfolio

GIS Online Portfolio 

This assignment I was tasked with making a GIS online portfolio. Using Wix I was able to create my own GIS portfolio Website that the public can view at any time. Please use the link bellow if you would like to visit my Portfolio website! I plan to update it as I get more experience in the GIS field and have some of my own work and projects to add in My work section.

Portfolio link: Home | Brandon Tims Portfolio (btimd1129.wixsite.com)

GIS Day Family Presentation

GIS Day Family Presentation

For my GIS day I conducted my own event at my house with my family and girlfriend. The event took place in my living room and the format of the event was an informal discussion. The topic for my GIS day event was Carrers in GIS, I felt like I always struggled to explain to people what my degree was and what GIS was, so I took this time to try and explain what GIS is and what careers I could possibly work in or with in my future of pursuing a GIS career. 
GIS Day:
Organizations across the globe are increasingly relying on GIS and location intelligence to make better decisions. As a result, careers in GIS are in demand more than ever. Equipped with data visualization and spatial analysis skills, GIS professionals qualify for occupations in countless fields. Some examples of these fields are Climate Scientist, Conservationist, Forester, GIS Manager, Health Geographer, and app developers. 
-Climate Scientist- The National Climatic Data Center uses the world's largest climate data archive to provide climatological analysis to all sectors of the economy. Using these climate archives allows us to better understand climate and the future change for climate change. In GIS we can use maps to show temperatures of the atmosphere and ocean to better track climate using weather stations on ground but also satellites using thermal imagining. Some other examples of GIS use for climate include drought prediction mapping and tracking ice loss in the arctic region to better predict climate change in the lower atmospheres.
-Conservationist- Conservationist travel the world using data collection and mapping technology to identify and preserve national parks for future generations. Natural ecosystems around the world are beginning to collapse. These ecosystems are losing species, water areas for these animals, and overall, their ecosystem is beginning to collapse due to human encroachment of their land. These ecosystems need to be protected and GIS has been an aid to helping these ecosystems. Conservationist while in the field collect data and using GIS to create maps for the that data begins to show patterns of what is happening in that ecosystem to help the conservationist understand that ecosystem and how to help aid in finding solutions to help the ecosystem out in the future. 
-Forester- Foresters manage the use and development of forests and natural resources, using GIS technology to improve the lands health and productivity. Foresters collect the data for forest areas and using GIS they can collect data from trees in the area and get a better spatial representation of the area that they are working in. GIS can also help the foresters better plan for a management strategy for the area in interest.
-GIS Manager- GIS Managers leverage location technology to plan, assist, and improve their cities. GIS is a combination of maps and technology; it allows people to look at and analyze anything in the world spatially. The power of GIS is the information behind the map such as ownership of land, size of land parcel, soil types, and also determine whether a certain area of property is a good location for a developer. GIS managers can work with multiple organizations in cities to help organizations use GIS in their work to determine better actions to take for their projects.
-Health Geographer- Health Geographers deploy a powerful combination of GIS, remote sensing and GPS technologies to prevent diseases and stop them from spreading. GIS can be used in health to provide hospitals where there are high populations, to plot where diseases begin to contain the spread of certain diseases and deploy counter measures to help these communities who need vaccines or other health measures.  
-App Developer- App Developers and Computer programmers are problem solvers, using coding to build interactive web maps that visually represent geographic data. App developers and computer programmers use geospatial data from GIS programs and turn them into interactive maps using code that the public can use online such as google maps and apple maps or even more specific maps such as what colleges are offering certain majors and narrow the list of colleges down to colleges that specifically offer the major, you're looking for.

This was my GIS day activity I presented to my family, and it has helped me explain better what my career field does and how it interacts with other career fields. I also believe that it showed my family how important this field is to society and how versatile the GIS field can be used and now fully support me in perusing this degree.

GIS Internship 3

 LinkedIn Profile 

My approach to creating my LinkedIn profile was to treat it as my resume at first and apply everything that I had written down in my resume in each section of LinkedIn. My about section I treated as, what job/internship I am currently looking for and little details about me. I wanted people who look at my profile to be able to easily see what I am looking for but also what skills and abilities I have picked up along the way. In the experience section I filled out all the previous jobs I had worked, description of what I did at each job, and the skills that I used while working at that certain job. The skills section I tried to add as many skills as possible from as small as working independently to certifications I had earned through school. 

I am currently working through my group 2 work but have ran into an issue with ESRI maintenance subscription and it has held me back from completing any further courses. I do plan on turning my mid-semester check-in but I have only completed one model so far because of my issue that I stated above.

GIS Internship 2

 GIS Job Search Assignment

Some of the key takeaways I had from the GIS job search assignment was that there are some certifications that I should look into getting to improve my ability to acquire a "dream job" position. I need to finish my part 107 UAS certification. Doing this assignment also made me realize just how qualified I am for a lot of these positions posted online and by acquiring a couple more certifications I would be completely qualified to be hired for the position I want a UAS Unmanned Ariel Systems pilot. 

GIS Internship 1

     This semester I am tasked with finding an internship in the GIS community to further develop my skills and abilities in GIS. As of writing this the teacher advisor for the course Ms. Bloechle is helping me find an internship by emailing people, she knows around the area that might have an available spot for me. Two places she said might be available are the Escambia County GIS Manager and SRC. I have also on my end tried to reach out or find connections to get myself an internship but have had no luck with either no response or they have no positions open/available. As a backup plan in case, I cannot find or acquire and internship, I will join group 2 and work through the virtual campus on ESRI to complete my internship requirements. The GIS user group I was invited to join was the Northwest Florida GIS User Group. I am excited to learn and maybe get involved in the group to further my knowledge in GIS and learn more about the Northwest Florida area.