Lab 4

           My overall ArcMap experience can be described in two words, exciting and fun. Since it was the first time using this kind of program, it was exciting and fun. It never occurred to me that such great technology/program such as this exists, though I’ve always wondered how they made those paper maps. I would say that the potential of having this kind of technology and being able to use this to create maps is that it makes it easier for people to create maps with such accuracy in them. Also by being able to use GIS in creating maps, the coordinates, graphics and the things that defines the map like the symbols, colors, etc. makes it easier for people to understand what the map basically intends to imply. I would say that its most potential is its accuracy in giving precise information on the map. However, the GIS’s pitfalls are that for beginners who have never used GIS before, it will be very hard to understand how to use it. Also people who have been used to creating maps without relying on technology such as GIS, will have difficulties in understanding how to use this program. Another pitfall is that, this program is available to anyone in public. Therefore, anyone can buy the program and create their own maps and post it on different websites online, which can give inaccurate information at times.

            The potential of GIS is that it gives accurate information when you’re creating your map. For example, in the map that I made for the lab, it included population information on it. By having the population included in it, I was able to find the population of the area in my map without even counting and calculating the data that I will need in order to find how many people are in that area of the map. Therefore, I’m implying that GIS includes every information that you will need in order to find a certain information on your map like the population. The population of the area and the so called “Field Calculator” helped calculate the accurate population information of the area in my map. Also the potential of GIS is that you can choose different colors and symbols to represent different information on your map, which in fact can also help for your readers or audience to understand what your map is about. Another potential of it is that by zooming in and out of the map, the scale of your map will already be set. The measurements of your map are also included and are accurately given in the program, which is also a good potential of GIS.

            GIS is a good program to use because of its accuracy. However, it has its pitfalls too. One of its pitfalls is that you cannot use GIS without technology. As we all know, not everyone is capable of using the technologies that we have in today’s time. Therefore, for people who are still used to the old ways of creating a map, it will be very hard for them to use GIS. Another pitfall of GIS is that ArcMap/GIS are available to anyone in public. Therefore, anyone can buy this program and create their own maps. Therefore, in result, it can give inaccurate information to other people because other people would create their own maps and post it on online websites. By posting your own maps on different online websites, it can give inaccurate information because your own map itself is subjective. Whether you have gathered the information yourself through different databases, it is still not a reliable source of map to use for researching for other people once it has been posted online.

            Therefore, even if GIS has good accuracy and has good information on it, it still has its pitfalls. There were parts that were complicated to do like shrinking the map so you could fit four different maps in one layout, and using the field calculator. While I was trying to do the step of shrinking the map, my maps wouldn’t shrink, so I had to manually shrink everything by myself by highlighting the maps and then shrinking them one by one. For beginners or for people who aren’t used to using GIS it will be very complicated to understand how to use this program. Though my experience of using ArcMap has been a good, exciting and fun experience because it was my first time using it and the tutorial was easy to understand. The program is really good with accuracy and once you have understood how to use it, your job in creating maps will be easier to do. Also being able to know how to use GIS is not as frustrating as you know because at some point, creating your own map can be fun and exciting as well.