GIS 510

Assignment 1 – The World of GIS

− TARGET: FRIDAY, AUGUST 25TH AT 11:59 P.M. EST

Objectives
After completing this assignment, you will be introduced to...
• Basic concepts about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and ArcGIS
• Shared ArcGIS Online Services
• Metadata
• Esri’s Business Analyst (BA) web application
• QGIS (open source Desktop GIS)

Expectation of your time:

We will cover a tremendous amount of material over the next 15 week.

Assignment 1 is rather long, but it will set you up to access all the software/apps needed for this
course. Given that GIS 510 is a three-credit course, please plan to spend at least nine (9) hours
per week engaging with the material.

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GIS Products to be Utilized this Semester

All around the world, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are applied to critical
problems on a daily basis, demonstrating the power of geographic tools and ideas.
This semester, you will leverage many different GIS resources. These tools will be both
web- and desktop-based. Before we start working with any one specific tool, it is important to
gain an understanding of the wide array of GIS platforms that can be used for spatial problem
solving. Below is a table of terms that are commonly juxtaposed in descriptions of GIS software.

Term Meaning Term Meaning

Open Source code is licensed to a Proprietary Source code is hidden from the
Source copyright holder. This code is public, and licenses are used to
often shared publicly. Access to restrict access. Customers must
the software is often provided pay either a one-time or annual
free of charge. fee for access.
Desktop Software is downloaded to a Web-based Software that exists entirely
machine for installation. GIS online. Data must be uploaded
analysis can occur either online into a web-based platform for
or offline. GIS analysis and display.
Domain- GIS tools that are built for a Universal Multi-purpose GIS platforms.
specific specific use-case, such as Depending on the data and tools
tracking animal migration, or involved, users can solve
locating potential oil drilling sites. problems across industries and
domains.

Assignment 1 is designed to examine the current state of GIS by introducing some commonly
used desktop GIS programs (both open source and proprietary) and web-based GIS
applications. As you work through this assignment you will get to see examples of these various
interfaces and you will become familiar with every resource that you will be required to use this
semester. This assignment is designed to help you get set-up for the rest of the course.

The open source desktop software we will use this semester is QGIS.

The desktop and web-based proprietary products we will use this semester are created by the
Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), which is a global GIS software supplier
founded in Redlands, California in 1969. This semester we will utilize:
• Esri’s Web Courses
• Esri’s ArcGIS Pro software
• Esri’s ArcGIS Online (AGOL) - for create your own Web Maps & Web Apps
• Esri’s Business Analyst (BA) web application, which is just a data and analysis-rich Web
App that has been customized for the business community

An ArcGIS Online Organizational Account is required for

completion of GIS 510!
Please see the Getting an NCSU Organizational ArcGIS
Online Account (needed to run ArcGIS Pro) Moodle Page, if
you have not done so already!
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Selecting Esri Web Courses to Support your Learning:

Students with considerable differences in GIS background enroll in GIS 510. Some students are
completely new to both the subject and to working with sophisticated problem-solving software,
while other students have been utilizing GIS for over 20 years. To ensure that the GIS 510
course material is engaging and targeted to your experience level, you will do the following:
For each assignment, you will go to the “Courses Supporting Assignments” tab of the
ESRI Web Courses for GIS 510 Google Sheet which lists the Esri Web Courses that
best support each assignment. The Assignment number is given in the left-hand field.
• Select one (or more) of the Esri Courses that will support your learning and successful
completion of each assignment (i.e., the courses that will benefit you the most).
• After completing the course(s), submit one (1) ESRI Web Course certificate on Moodle.
• Submitted certificates must be listed for specific assignment that is due to earn credit.
(i.e., don’t skip ahead to a course listed for A2 when you are working on A1)

How to select the best ESRI Web Course(s) to prepare you for each assignment:
• Courses in Green cover more fundamental concepts.
• Courses in Pink cover more advanced topics related to that specific assignment.
• Courses in Gray repeat some of the concepts covered in the Green Courses.

Novice - If you are a blank slate when it comes to GIS… AND…

• You can devote the time…
o Complete all of the Esri Web Courses highlighted in Green.
o Complete the Esri Web Courses in Gray only if you want to reinforce concepts.
• You have more limited time….
o Complete as many Esri Web Courses highlighted in Green as possible.
▪ Start at the top of the list and work your way down.
o Launch all of the Esri Web Courses highlighted in Green that you will not fully
complete and click through them to see what they cover.
Intermediate - If you have used GIS a bit, but you have mostly just figured things out as you
went (no formal training) or you have had a small amount of formal training… AND…
• You can devote the time…
o Complete all of the Esri Web Courses highlighted in Green, because there may
be some cool or helpful features or ideas you missed along your GIS journey.
• You have more limited time….
o Launch all of the Esri Web Courses highlighted in Green and click through
them to see what they cover.
▪ Complete at least one course to expand your existing knowledge.
Expert - If you have a ton of GIS experience (either formal or informal)
• Look over the titles and descriptions of the Green and more advanced Pink (if
provided) Esri Web Courses that are listed for that assignment. Either:
o Complete at least one course to help reinforce your existing knowledge.
o Or, if you feel confident in your mastery of the material covered in all of the
Green and Pink (more advanced) Esri Web Courses listed for a specific
assignment, you may select any Esri Web Course from the “Complete Esri
Web Courses Catalog July 2021” tab or a newer course you can find. Please
inform your TA is you choose this option, so they know your submission of a
Esri Course that is not on the list for that assignment is intentional.

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Overview of this Assignment’s Material Requirements

Here is a breakdown of where to use which resources in Assignment 1.

Part A
• For this assignment (and all future assignments), you will complete one Esri Web
Course, although you are welcome to additional courses.
• You will need your ArcGIS Online Organizational Account to access some
courses. See the Getting an NCSU Organizational ArcGIS Online Account
(needed to run ArcGIS Pro) Moodle Page for how to get this account.
• You will need access to ArcGIS Pro (version 3.1.2). See the ArcGIS Pro
Software Access Options document on Moodle. The WVD is a great resource
and easy to access if you can’t install ArcGIS Pro locally (or immediately)!

Parts B & C
• Access to the 1) Introduce yourself through food! GeoForm and corresponding 2) Get
to know your classmates Web App from the GIS 510 Assignment 1
Gallery (https://bit.ly/2MkkhS5).

Part D
• Access to ArcGIS Business Analyst (BA) web application, which is an ‘analytic
capability’-heavy web mapping application created by Esri. You must have completed
setup of your AGOL account to access this web mapping application.

Part E
• Visit the QGIS Website and download and Install the QGIS Standalone Installer
Version 3.28 (64-bit). You do not need to install any extra components (i.e., the state-
specific datasets). This is the most current stable version. You may also use any version
3.10 or above if that is what is available on the computer you are using.

Part F
• Visit Moodle and reflect on your experience with this Assignment.

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Part A: Esri Web Courses

Please reference the “Selecting Esri Web Courses to Support your Learning” section above to
help you determine which Esri Web Course(s) you should complete for this assignment.
Specifically, see the “Courses Supporting Assignments” tab of the ESRI Web Courses for GIS
510 Google Spreadsheet. These Esri Web Courses are the free textbook for GIS 510. If you
plan to work through all of the Esri Web Courses in Green cover, please start at the top of the
list and work your way down the list. Notice the Assignment number in yellow!

Each Esri Web Course will culminate in an exam/quiz. After successfully completing the
exam/quiz you can download a certificate or you can return to the My Learning Activity Tab
within the training web page to view and download your certificates for any completed courses.

These certificates are for you to keep as a record of your accomplishment!

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Part B: ArcGIS Online

ArcGIS Online serves as a central access point for ESRI’s web-based mapping products.
Applications such as Crowdsource Polling, Story Maps, GeoForms, and Web AppBuilder are all
part of the ArcGIS Online suite of tools. Different clients will find that different tools best match
their needs. For example, police departments may benefit from using the Web AppBuilder to
create an online map of crime data to share with law enforcement officers. The National Park
Service on the other hand may want to use a Story Map to highlight their 100-year anniversary.

In this section, you will use a GeoForm to introduce yourself to the class by filling out a form that
asks you questions about yourself and your favorite place to eat. Then you will spatially-locate
this data by placing a point on a shared online map. The goal is to learn about your classmates
by seeing where their favorite eateries are located. You can access both the GeoForm and
corresponding Web App from the GIS 510 Assignment 1 Gallery (https://bit.ly/2MkkhS5)

GeoForm is a configurable template for adding data to a Feature Service. This application
allows users to enter data through a form instead of a map’s pop-up while leveraging the power
of the Web Map and editable Feature Services.
1. Access the GeoForm directly (https://bit.ly/2MkkzIF) or by using the GIS 510 Assignment
1 Gallery (https://bit.ly/2MkkhS5). Fill out the all of the fields.
2. At the bottom, place a point on the map representing the location of your favorite eatery.
Once you have completed the GeoForm, your data will be added to a pre-structured spatial
database. This spatial database is utilized by a Web Mapping Application (i.e., a Web App) built
with Web AppBuilder, from which you can get to know your classmates.

• Access the Web App directly (https://bit.ly/2Mw5Ycd) or from the GIS 510 Assignment 1
Gallery (https://bit.ly/2MkkhS5).
For your records, take a screenshot of the Get to know your classmates Web App that
includes the map and your specific favorite restaurant information within the (pop-up) box that
appears after clicking on your point- this is not the attribute table at the bottom of the app. If you
are not able to see your specific data in the pop-up, try using a different browser or follow the
“Solution or Workaround” in this Esri article: Problem: Pop-ups do not fully display when
clicking features in a Web AppBuilder application

Quiz Question 1: What is Stacy Supak’s favorite dish?

Part C: Learning more about metadata

Currently, an incredibly vast amount of digital geospatial data is available from both public and
private agencies and organizations. Metadata are an extremely valuable resource for data users
trying to locate data on a particular topic or for a specific purpose. Browse these webpages to
learn what metadata are and how to use metadata:
• GIS Lounge – Metadata
• Create and Manage Metadata in ArcGIS Pro
• ArcGIS Pro Help - View and edit metadata

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Quiz Question 2: Follow the ‘Link to the Item Details page’ at the top of the Web Mapping
Application (from Part B). What date was the Web Mapping Application
created?

Part D: Esri’s ArcGIS Business Analyst (BA) Web Application

Esri is arguably the largest GIS software developer in the world. Their product line includes
approximately 90 products or services. Esri’s ArcGIS Business Analyst (BA) web application is a
GIS tool that delivers demographic, lifestyle, and spending data with map-based analytics for
location-driven market insights (e.g. retail site selection or customer segmentation).

Suppose you are trying to launch a company providing green home-building supplies and labor
to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. In order to secure financing for your first retail store, you must
write a business plan to secure financing. This plan must identify target customers and their
attraction to the store. Research on “green consumers” suggests these customers have higher
levels of income, education, and home values.
1. Go to ArcGIS Business Analyst (BA) web application. If the Business Analyst (BA) web
application does not load properly, try a different browser (such as Chrome, Firefox,
etc.).
2. Click ‘Create New Project’
3. Create a project named “Green home-building supplies” (this may take a few moments)
4. Open your new project
5. Zoom into the Minneapolis-St. Paul area using the Plus button on the top right of the
window or your mouse scroll wheel - click and drag the map to re-center it. Note: if your
browser window is not big enough, you may not see the Map Zoom controls. Note: you
may need to zoom out at a later step to ensure you can see all the selected boundaries.
6. Under Create Maps, choose Smart Map Search.
7. Select Browse All Variables

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8. Select three variables: [Most Recent Year] Median Household Income (Esri), [Most
Recent Year] Population Age 25+: Bachelor’s Degree (Esri) and [Most Recent Year]
Median Home Value (Esri). You can search for these three variables by name or find
them by exploring the categories. This is how you browse for variables by category
(income is shown)

9. After the selection of the three variables, you will see the number 3 in the basket in the
upper right side of the window. Then click apply.

10. You are now presented with a histogram for each variable’s attribute values, with values
reflecting both the current geographic boundary type (e.g., ZIP Code, Census Tracts,

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 Counties, etc.) displayed and the specific set of boundaries that are in the Current Map
Extent (i.e., where & how far have you zoomed in). Do the following:
a. Ensure you have ZIP Code as your polygon boundary. The type of boundary will
change as you zoom in and out unless you click on the lock icon to lock in a
specific boundary type. You should close the lock with Zip Codes selected.
b. Ensure your scale selections are the same as those shown in the screenshot
below (i.e., ‘#’ or ‘index’ or ‘%”)
c. Change your lower bounds for all three variables to match those in the image
below. You will need to press enter after entering each value to move the bottom
range value. Upper bounds should remain the maximum values for your
[Most Recent Year] data and the given map extent. It is OK if your upper
bounds are different than this screenshot.

11. Zoom out until you can clearly groupings of zip codes around Minneapolis-St. Paul as
well as vast areas with no selected zip codes (don’t zoom out too far or your boundaries
will change to counties it your boundary type is not locked). Then zoom in so that ALL of
the selected zip code polygons are within the view and less of the vast area with no
selected zip codes are showing.
12. For your records, take a screenshot of your BA browser window showing the variable
histograms and all the selected zip code polygons on the map (i.e., you may need to
zoom in or out). No zip code table or map labels need to be included.

Quiz Question 3: Where would you likely not want to place the green home-building supplies
and labor retail store? (Answer choices available in Moodle – that is why it
is good to look at the quiz first!)… see the Moodle quiz for options.

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Part E: QGIS (3.28)

QGIS is an open source Desktop Geographic Information System. Compared to

the proprietary ArcGIS Desktop, which has pricing levels that restrict feature
access, open source software can be freely used, modified, and shared by
anyone. Unlike ArcGIS that is only available for windows exclusively, QGIS is
multiplatform (available on Windows, OSX, and Linux systems). QGIS can also
handle all of the standard geospatial data types – vector, raster, etc. – as well as many types of
alternate files (including KML, DEM, and CSV). Further, QGIS is extensible, meaning that users
can create packages and then post them online to share with the community of users. Here is a
summary of the Pros and Cons of QGIS compared to ArcGIS:

QGIS Pros vs. ArcGIS QGIS Cons vs. ArcGIS

- QGIS is Free! - Community-based technical support only

- Extensible - Limited Online options
- Multiplatform - Limited Enterprise account management
- Uses nearly any spatial data type - Button-click based interface
- Button-click based interface - Inferior coordinate system interface
- Customizable - Irregular product updates
- Map production in a separate Window

To introduce you to QGIS you will download the collected student data from the Web Mapping
Application and load it into QGIS:
1. Visit the QGIS Website > Download Now > Download and Install the QGIS Standalone
Installer Version 3.28 (64-bit). This is the most current stable version.
• You can choose to install on Window, macOS or a handful of other platforms.
• If you are using the WVD, this version or an acceptable earlier version of QGIS will
already be available, so you will not need to download and install QGIS.
• You do not need to install any extra components (i.e., the state-specific datasets).
• You may also use any version 3.10 or above if that is what is available on the
computer you are using.

We will use QGIS again in Assignment 7 and 8. This is a great tool to have in your pocket, as it
is likely you will no longer have access to ESRI products after you graduate.

2. While QGIS installs, open up the 2) Get to know your classmates Web App. Reveal the
Attribute Table by clicking on the small tab in the bottom-center of the Application.

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3. Click the Options menu and select Export All to CSV. Click OK in the resulting Pop-up
menu. In some browsers, the data may open in a new tab. You can use File > Save
As… to save the data as a CSV. Once the download is complete, find out where the
data is saved using either your web browser or windows explorer.
4. Open up QGIS 3.28 (or version 3.10 or above).
5. In the top left corner click on the Project menu and select Project Properties to
familiarize yourself with that part of the user interface.

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6. Click the Plugins Menu and select Manage and Install Plugins…
7. In the search bar at the top of the Plugins window, search for ‘QuickMapServices’

8. In the results sidebar, click QuickMapServices plugin, then click Install plugin in the
bottom right corner of the window. Once the Plugin is installed, a checkmark will appear
next to the QuickMapServices icon. Close the Plugins window.
9. Click the Web Menu and navigate to QuickMapServices plugin > Settings > More
Services tab > click Get Contributed pack > click Save > Close the Settings

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10. Open Web > QuickMapServices > Google > and select Google Road
11. A world map should appear
in the Map View component of
QGIS and a Google Streets
Layer should appear in the Layer
Panel (If an error message
appears at the top of the screen,
close it out)
12. Click on the Add Delimited
Text button in the sidebar.

(If you don’t have the sidebar,

you can go to …. Layer menu >
Add Layer > Add Delimited Text
Layer...)

13. Next to the File Name blank

box, click the three ellipses, and
navigate to where you
downloaded the CSV data from
the Web App. Once you find it,
open the CSV file. Set the
Geometry CRS to EPSG:3857 –
WGS 84 / Pseudo-Mercator. Make sure that “Point coordinates” is selected under
the Geometry definition section. Click Add, then click Close

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14. You now should have a GIS510_A1_Fall2023 layer (or similar name) in your Layers
Panel. Right-click the layer (or if using the VCL on your Mac, use a two-fingered tap on
the track pad) from the Layers Panel and select Zoom to Layer. You should now be able
to view all the student data you downloaded.

15. Use the Identify tool (If you don’t see it on your toolbar, go to …. View
> Identify Features) to see the field values for your specific restaurant feature. Locate
and click on your data point to display your data in the Identify Results panel on the
right-hand part of the application. *** You may need to scroll to the right in the Identify
Results window to see the values or you can enlarge the window by dragging the
borders.

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 16. For your records, take a screenshot of the QGIS program that includes your Favorite
Place to Eat point, the Identify Results window containing the information about your
favorite restaurant, and the EPSG code for the project (displayed at the bottom right of
the QGIS window).
Quiz Question 4: What are the units for distance measurement used in this QGIS project?
Hint 1: Check the Project Properties window.
Hint 2: This unit is associated with EPSG:3857 (Google search to learn
more)

Part F. Questions about your experience with this Assignment

Rather than posting the three (3) screenshots you created while working through this
Assignment, please address these items in the Assignment 1 Results Communication
Forum:

1. Your TA's name (if that information is available in the "Getting Started w/ GIS 510"
Moodle Block)
2. Tell us about your previous level of experience/exposure (e.g., "I have no experience
with ArcGIS Pro" or "I have worked with ArcGIS Pro a few times over the last 4 years" or
"I have used ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap every day for the last 10 years at my job") with the
following software and applications used in Assignment 1:
o Part A - ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap (Pro's Desktop predecessor)
o Part B & C - Geoforms and Web Mapping Applications (other than Google or
Waze)
o Part D -Esri's Business Analyst
o Part E - QGIS
3. In Assignment 1, you followed directions to operate several GIS software and
applications (listed above in Item 2). What were your impressions of each of them or of
the collection as a whole? To answer this question, you may want to
contrast/compare/differentiate/examine/test/categorize/discriminate/inventory/relate the
GIS software and applications.
4. The URL for YOUR GIS 510 Skills & Assignment Self-Evaluation Table on which you
have the A1 sections complete on both the "GIS 510 Skills" tab and the "Assignment
Self-Evaluation" tab of the Google Sheet.
o Ensure the Sharing Setting for your Google Sheet allows for either 1) your TA &
Instructor OR 2) anyone at NCSU with the URL) to VIEW the page.
5. (Optional) Ask ChatGPT a question (or series of questions) related to GIS... anything
that is on your mind either related to the Assignment 1 materials or GIS in general. Then,
post both the most interesting question and response pair.

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