Moose on the Loose: Ungulates in Provincial Parks in the Blind River Area

In this exercise, we will be examining habitat suitability for ungulates in the Blind River
area east of Sault Ste. Marie. Ungulates are mammals with hooves; they include sheep,
pigs, goats, donkey, camels, and horses, along with deer, elk and moose. We will be
identifying areas that are suitable for ungulates such as moose within provincial parks.
This will enable us to plan park activities and their impact on any roaming ungulates.
On a practical level in this exercise, we will be gaining practice downloading data from
internet sites, unzipping the compressed files, working with geodatabases, setting
projections, converting datums, and creating a map with symbolization.
Methodology
In conducting GIS projects and research, we can follow an overall process as detailed
completely below.
1) Define project purpose or research question or hypothesis
2) Decide how to represent the project, question, or hypothesis in the GIS (scale,
accuracy, raster or vector)
3) Obtain data by either creating or retrieving existing data
4) Format data and perform conversions (if necessary)
5) Convert datums (if necessary)
6) Implement forward or reverse projections (if necessary)
7) Finalize and complete attribute data
8) Analyze data
9) Obtain results
10) Interpret results to complete project, answer question, or accept/reject hypothesis
Algoma University GEOG 2017 Exercise #1
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Project Steps
Next, we will be downloading data for the project. There is a tremendous amount of data
available on the internet. However, you need to examine it closely to determine the data
projection, scale, datum, attributes, and data before importing it immediately. All your
datasets need to be of known parameters and compatible in order to draw appropriate
conclusions from your analysis.
**You may need to disable the popup (virus) blocker to enable the downloading of
files.**
Managing Files
We will begin by setting up a geodatabase in ArcGIS. A geodatabase is a type of folder
than can hold various data layers. Before that though, here are some guidelines
regarding folder and file naming to follow when working in ArcGIS.
1. Folder names should not have any spaces. For example, “My Files” should be
avoided, and “MyFiles” should be used instead.
2. Adopt the shortest file path names. For example,
c:/mydocuments/jan29/gis/assignments/exercise1/trial3” should be avoided.
Instead use f:/gis/ex1”
3. The files names should not be longer than 8 characters, and please only use
letters, numbers, and underscores.
Now, we will create two personal geodatabases for storing and organizing our
downloaded data.
1. Open ArcCatalog (or you can open ArcCatalog from within ArcMap).
2. Access your GIS folder in your Home Directory (create one for your GIS files if
you haven’t done so already).
3. Then, right click on this folder and select New>Folder, and call it ‘Moose’.
4. Right click on the ‘Moose’ folder again and select New>Personal Geodatabase,
and name it ‘MooseRaw’. Create another one Personal Geodatabase and call it
‘MooseEnd’.
Downloading Data
A. Next, we will be using a Natural Resources Canada free service called Geogratis
to download some data. All kinds of data are available on this site. Next, navigate
to: http://geogratis.gc.ca/api/en/nrcan-rncan/ess-sst/1b6e025a-0028-5177-8e40-5350c8fde096.html?pk_campaign=recentItem. You
should be directed to “Canada Land Inventory (1:250,000) – Land Capability for
Ungulates – u041j”. Read about the Canada Land Inventory at the top of the
webpage. Then, look down at the bottom of the page. Click the zipped (shp) file
to download. Save the file to the ‘Moose’ folder on your F drive.
B. Then, go to:
http://geogratis.gc.ca/api/en/nrcan-rncan/ess-sst/85143f8a-3f55-58d1-9e02-9eb29eec1cc8.html?pk_campaign=recentItem to download
a place name dataset. Read about the dataset at the top, then scroll to the bottom,
and click on the Download zip (shp) (first selection). Save to the ‘Moose’ folder on
your F drive.
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C. Now we will be accessing data on the Geography Network at
http://www.geographynetwork.ca/website/obm/viewer.htm to download
some further data. Zoom in so that it includes “Sault Ste. Marie” and is bounded
on the east slightly past “Espanola”. Make sure the Upper Tier Municipality
Layer is selected (Active). “Download Map Using DDE” (the icon at the bottom of
the table of contents to the left). You will be asked to join the Geography
Network. *Make Sure You Disable Your Pop-Up Blocker in Windows Explorer
(Tools, Pop-Up Blocker, Turn Off Pop-Up Blocker).* Follow the directions. You
can add the address of Algoma University (1520 Queen Street East, Sault Ste.
Marie, ON, P6A 2G4, Phone: 705-949-2301). The download format should say:
“ESRI Shape” and coordinates “Lat/Long NAD83”.Check I agree, and download
the data. An email with a link will be sent to you, double click on the Download
URL and save the zip folder to your ‘Moose’ folder.
Unzipping Files
We now continue by unzipping the files we downloaded. We begin by unzipping the
ungulate habitat data in Step A. Extract u041j to the folder called Moose\Habitat (create
folder called ‘Habitat’ within ‘Moose’). Next, unzip the data
“1M_PLACE_NAMES_2009.shp” in B to a folder called Moose\Populate. Next double
click on the zipped file containing ‘Municipal-Upper Tier’ files (that you downloaded in
Step C) and extract them to a folder called Moose\Municip. Retrieve a “FME” zipped file
from the Ex1data folder on the Courses (R) Drive that contains files with ‘Segment
Freeways’ and extract it to a folder called Moose\Roads.
1. Next, we’ll be moving our unzipped files to a geodatabase. In ArcCatalog, enter
the Moose\Populate folder. Add a connection to this folder if it is not present.
Right click on the file and select Export>Geodatabase (single)
2. Select ‘MooseRaw’ geodatabase as the output location (avoid double-clicking
when you select this location).
3. Select a name you will remember for the Output Feature Class (like ‘populate’),
then OK.
4. Repeat the above steps (1-4) for the Municip, Roads, and Habitat folders naming
them ‘Muncip’, ‘Roads’, and ‘Habitat’.
Map Projections and Datums
Next, if you are not already in ArcMap, open it up and click the ‘Add Data’ button
(yellow with plus sign) and navigate to MooseRaw geodatabase and add all four layers.
IF you were using ArcCatalog within ArcMap, all your layers should have been
automatically added. Right click on the Layers icon in the table of contents to the left.
Select properties, and then the “Coordinate System” tab. Next, expand the Layers folder,
and then expand each of the individual folders. You will see the following specifications:
Roads: GCS_North American 1983 (Geographic Coordinate System, NAD 83)
Municip: GCS_North American 1983 (Geographic Coordinate System, NAD 83)
Habitat: Unknown
Populate: NAD 1983 Lambert Conformal Conic (Geographic Coordinate System, NAD
83)
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We find that Roads, Municip, and Populate have a different datum than the Habitat
layer. So, we need to close ArcMap (do not save your work).
Then, we need to find out the format of the Habitat data layer. Go back into your
‘Habitat’ folder (under Moose) on your F Drive. Look for a file called:
“1Readme_Ungulate_geo”. Open it up and look at “Map Projection”, “Datum”,
“Spheroid”, and “Units of Measure” under “1. Coverage Specifications”. We can see that
it is in decimal degrees so it is in “geographic” format – meaning that it isn’t projected.
Then, we can see that the Datum Name is NAD27 (North American Datum of 1927).
First we need to define it as GCS, NAD27, as right now the software registers the format
as “Unknown”. You can close the file in ArcCatalog before attempting this operation,
otherwise you may receive an error. We do this by going into ArcToolbox, select Data
Management Tools, Projections and Transformations, and then “Define Projection”. For
Input Dataset, navigate to Habitat in the MooseRaw folder. For the Output Coordinate
system, click the white button on the right, then Select Geographic Coordinate System,
North America, North American Datum 1927, Select Apply, OK, then OK.
Now, we need to convert it from a NAD27 datum to a NAD83 datum. In ArcToolbox,
select Data Management Tools, Projections & Transformations, Feature, Project, Doubleclick, then navigate to Habitat in the MooseRaw folder. For output coordinate system,
click the white button on the right, then Select Geographic Coordinate System, North
America, North American Datum 1983, Select Apply, OK, then OK. Under geographic
transformation, NAD27 to NAD82 (NADCON) should be selected by default. This has
converted our datum from NAD27 to NAD83. It has registered a new file, with “project”
at the end. Use this file for any further operations. NOTE: if you are having problems
with this step, there is a converted file available for use on the F:drive, called
“habitat”. Try the above step yourself first though before using the provided file.
Now, right click on layers in the table of contents to the left. Select properties, and then
choose the Coordinate System tab. Next, expand the Layers folder, and then expand each
of the individual folders. You will see that the original Habitat now says GCS NAD27,
and the Habitat_project says GCS NAD83. You can always double-check your
projections by coming here.
Examine this map to see which UTM zone Blind River (just east of Sault Ste. Marie) falls
into https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geography/topographicinformation/maps/9779. You can open the map in a new tab to see it more clearly.
Now we will project each of our data layers into UTM coordinates. In ArcToolbox, select
Data Management Tools, Projections & Transformations, Feature, Project, Double-click,
then navigate to Habitat_project file. For Output dataset, navigate to your MooseEnd
geodatabase and save it as filename “Habitat2”. Select Apply, OK, then OK. For output
coordinate system, click the small white button on the right, then Select Projected
Coordinate System, UTM, NAD 1983, then NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_17N. This step has
projected Habitat into a UTM projection from a geographic coordinate system. Repeat
the steps above for your three other files, saving them to the MooseEnd geodatabase.
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Open ArcMap, and click Add Data and navigate to MooseEnd geodatabase, and bring in
all four files. Right click on layers in the table of contents to the left. Select properties, and
then choose the Coordinate System tab. Next, expand the Layers folder, and then expand
each of the individual folders. Each layer should now be “NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_17N”
and under “Custom” at the bottom the data frame should also be in
“NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_17N”.
Selecting by Attribute
Go to this link: www.abacusdatagraphics.com/abadata/helpfile/CLILegend.pdf
(Legend information for Canada Land Inventory AbaData datasets). Go to page 8 of the
document. We are interested in areas conducive to ungulates (Classes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).
Classes 6 and 7 have limitations for ungulates.
We go into ArcMap, click on “Selection” in the top tabs, and choose ‘Select by Attributes’
for the “Habitat2” layer. Check the box that says: “Only show selectable layers in this
list”, and add the following into the blank dialog box.
[CLASS_A]= ‘2’ OR [CLASS_A] = ‘3’ OR [CLASS_A] = ‘4’ OR [CLASS_A] = ‘5’. The
number values: ‘2’, ‘3’, etc. can be generated by selecting the option “Get Unique
Values”. The quotes must be included in order for this to work properly. This has
selected areas conducive for ungulates. Next we want to export this as a separate layer.
Close the Attribute Table. Right click on Habitat2, Select Data, Export Data, Selected
Features, Keep Coordinate system as is, save file as Ungulat3.shp into MooseEnd folder.
Remove your original Habitat layer by right clicking and removing.
Spatial Analysis: Intersecting
Bring in another layer from the Courses (R) Drive. This layer is in a folder called Ex1data
and is called ‘parks’. Project this file to UTM as outlined above and store it in the
MooseEnd folder. Add it into ArcMap with your other files. These are the provincial
parks. You will be intersecting this file with your ungulate habitat to find areas of
provincial parks conducive for ungulates. From within ArcMap, select ArcToolbox,
Analysis, Overlay, Intersect. Select your Parks file and Ungulat3. Save as a new name to
your MooseEnd folder. Accept the defaults and click OK and a new layer is created.
Designing Your Map
To add labels to populated places, right click Populate_Project, Properties, Labels, Label
field: NAME_EN, Apply, OK. To display the provincial parks transparently, click
Properties, Display, Transparent (change percentage). If you would like to clip your map
(eliminate additional material around main map), you can draw a rectangle around the
area you would like to display. Ensure the Draw toolbar is active, by clicking the
“Customize” tab, then “Toolbars”, making sure the “Draw” option is checked. You can
draw a rectangle, by selecting the “rectangle” icon on the draw toolbar and drawing a
rectangle around your desired focus area. Select the rectangle, then right click on layers,
properties, Data Frame, Clip Options, Clip to Shape. Under Specify Shape, select Outline
of Selected Graphic. Make sure you complete this operation in the “Data View” (it won’t
work in “Layout View”). You can also change the background to blue (to highlight
water), by selecting Data Frame properties, frame, Background, and changing colour.
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What to Hand In
1. [12 marks] Create a map that shows areas suitable for ungulates within the
provincial parks (with complete symbolization – North Arrow, scale, projection
name, title, legend, and your name). Hand in this map, along with answers to the
questions below. Save your file as a pdf (Adobe Acrobat file). To do this, select
“File”, “Export Map”, Save to your F:Drive (home drive), and then pick a name.
Save. Make sure you use appropriate sized fonts and adopt strong contrast
between the map elements.
Questions:
2. [10 marks] Review the assignment, and summarize the general steps (NOT
keystrokes) that you undertook in the assignment and the reason for each of the
steps. For this question, look carefully at the bolded subheadings organizing the
directions. I would like to see that you understand the assignment beyond the
keystrokes. You can include a flowchart if you like (not mandatory), but please
also include an overview in words.
3. [5 marks] Elaborate the relationships between the geoid, ellipsoid, datum,
projection, and coordinate system using the specifications of the final projected
Populate layer as an example.
4. [3 marks] Sault Ste. Marie is working to promote eco-tourism to the region.
Excursions to local parks appeal to some foreign tourists. Also, Sault Ste. Marie is
developing its airport as an international destination. Some tourists from
Germany are interested in visiting Sault Ste. Marie. What would be the shortest
route to Sault Ste. Marie from Frankfurt airport? Generally, how would you
determine this route? If the German tourists travel in a constant direction to the
Soo, what would this route be called and generally look like on a Mercator
projection map. What would be the general appearance of the shortest route on
the Mercator projection map?
Total: 30 marks