Lab 4

          My experience with GIS was incredibly gratifying, but extremely frustrating. I do not consider myself a very technologically savvy individual, so it was difficult for me to get familiar with ArcMAP. Indeed I do own a computer and know how to perform basic functions, but currently I am a little uncomfortable doing anything beyond that. One significant pitfall of GIS is that it does not cater to the unskilled technology user. In my opinion it is not a user-friendly program in the least. Without the step-by-step tutorial I would have been completely lost. However, with hours upon hours of working with the program, I gradually felt myself becoming more comfortable with it.

Although ArcMAP is somewhat challenging to use at first, the program does have significant potential. After finally becoming somewhat familiar with the software, I felt that with more practice I could ultimately have the power to make my own map and have it represent data in any way that I wish. I believe that this is quite a lot of power to have in the hands of one individual.

            Another potential of GIS is that it filters out untrained map makers. ArcMAP takes an incredible amount of time to become familiar with, and I believe it truly separates those that are committed to making accurate maps from those who wish to exploit GIS and more or less “goof around” on the program.

GIS is able to combine data from different sources and portray it in a visual way. This “visual” aspect is perhaps GIS’s greatest benefit. People are much more affected by pictures, images, and visuals than they are by text or numbers. The final product of a GIS project is a visual map, which is very affective for delivering a powerful message. If one can master ArcMAP, they hold significant power and influence.

One pitfall that I realized while working with ArcMAP is that the program is only useful if you have access to data from an outside source. Without data, the creation of a visual representation is virtually impossible. Therefore, ArcMAP and GIS are essentially bound to other sources that hold such data.  

Although ArcMAP and GIS in general have great potential, I still feel that the most significant pitfall is that it is so difficult to use. Even after working through the tutorial multiple times I still do not feel entirely comfortable with ArcMAP. Furthermore, the program is extremely time consuming. It takes a long time to create a map using ArcMAp. This is another definite pitfall.  

One of the hardest parts of this project was working in “data view” versus “layout view”. I constantly had to check to make sure I was in the proper view so that I could move my map without disrupting the layered data on top of it. It was frustrating when I tried to move the page but instead I moved my map and it distorted my data.

Lastly, the terminology and words that the ArcMAP uses are complicated for someone who has never used to the program before. Many times a pop-up window or dialogue box would appear on the screen and I had no idea what it was talking about. This is another big pitfall in ArcMAP. Not everyone using ArcMAP knows complex computer terminology. The text, instructions, and dialogue in the dialogue boxes needs to be simplified in order for the user to actually understand what to do.