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The purpose of this Advanced GIS final project was to learn how to take a set of GIS data
from the internet and perform a variety of Spatial Analyst functions upon that data. The data will
be analyzed in a variety of ways using Spatial Analyst. The raster calculator, surface analysis,
and convert functions were all used during this project. The final outcome of the project presents
a few of the many ways that data can be analyzed using Spatial Analyst in ArcGIS.
The first step of the project was to determine what data was to be used and for what. This
step is one that could have taken a little time or it could have taken a very long time. The GIS
data quantity out there is huge, just searching the web could be a whole project in itself. Many
questions come into play when trying to find the correct GIS data. Is the data wanted available?
Can the data be found? If found, can the data be downloaded? If it is available for download
can it actually be downloaded? Is it free or is it pay? The questions that can be asked are as
endless as the data itself. When starting the search for data it is good to have an idea of what you
want. This will help to narrow the search and save valuable time.
Upon examination of the different types of data out there it was decided that a DEM
(Digital Elevation Model) would be used for the project. Many websites were searched and
trying to find a downloadable DEM was a task. After many searches it was decided that data
from the Minnesota Data Deli (http://www.deli.dnr.state.mn.us/data_search.html) was a good fit.
The DNR had many DEMs available for free and easy download. Deciding on what DEM to
use was another question. The DNR had DEMs available for all the counties in Minnesota. A
county with a good elevation range was picked. Cook County in northeastern Minnesota was
selected. Cook County is the most northeastern county in Minnesota. It contains the highest
point in Minnesota (Eagle Mountain) at 2301 feet above sea level and the lowest point in
Minnesota (Lake Superior shoreline) at 603 feet above sea level. (Wikipedia) The elevation
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range of the county helps to highlight some of functions of Spatial Analyst in ArcGIS. The
DEM was downloaded and unzipped. An ArcMap session was opened and the data was added to
the session. When the data was added to the map it was noticed that the DEM looked quite
different. The outline of the county was present but nothing else was visible. It was noticed that
the DEM was in a different file format. It had an .asc extension. A search on .asc was done in
the ArcMap help box and it was found that the file could be converted to a raster. In ArcTool
Box under Conversion Tools>To Raster a tool called ASCII to Raster was found. This tool was
used to convert the data to a visible format in ArcMap. The output raster from this process was
named Cook. The map is shown on page 5.
Once the data was visible in ArcMap it was time to experiment with some of functions of
Spatial Analyst and see and discuss their outcomes. The raster Cook was the input dataset to be
used. The first tools to be used were those of the Surface Analysis. Slope, Aspect, Contour, and
Hillshade were all used. Slope was the first to be experimented with. When slope was ran the
output raster was named Slope. The output raster produced slopes varying from 0 to 54 degrees.
More gentle slopes are shaded a greenish color while yellow to red colors represented more
extreme slope. Many of the extreme slopes (cliffs) are found in close proximity to the Lake
Superior shoreline. Much of inland Cook County has much gentler slopes. The map is shown
on page 6.
The next tool to be used was aspect. The aspect tool creates a raster that shows the
direction that a slope faces. Aspect is measured in degrees. North is 0 degrees, east is 90
degrees, south is 180 degrees, and west is 270 degrees. The tool was ran. The output raster was
named Aspect. When looking at Aspect a ridgeline is defintely noticeable in Cook County. It
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generally follows the same direction as the Lake Superior shoreline. The map is shown on page
7.
Contour was the next surface analysis done upon Cook County. The contour tool creates
connected lines of equal elevation. For this analysis 100 ft. contour lines were choosen. The
output raster was named Contour. The Contour map overlaid on Cook is shown on page 8.
Hillshade was the next surface analysis done upon Cook County. Hillshade helps to
enlighten the surface area. In this case the direction (azimuth) was set at 315 and the altitude
(zenith angle) was set to 45. These are the default settings for the Hillshade tool. The output
raster was named Hillshade. The map of Hillshade is shown on page 9.
Five separate maps have now been created from the original data. The maps by
themselves are important for getting a general feel for the layout of Cook County. It is of even
greater importance to realize that these maps can be used together to solve a problem. This is a
hypothetical situation but say that Cook County is known to contain a rare species of plant called
the Frozen Daisy. The Frozen Daisy is very selective in its habitat. It only grows in areas that
are at elevation of 1800 feet or greater and on land that has a slope of more than 10 degrees that
faces in a southward direction. A map showing the locations of the Frozen Daisy would be very
helpful in trying to locate it. This is where the maps created in the previous steps would come in
very handy. There is an elevation map, a slope map, and a map showing the directions of the
slopes. It is possible to combine these maps to create one map showing the possible locations of
the rare Frozen Daisy.
There were several steps taken to create this map. In Spatial Analyst the raster calculator
was used to help create the map. First each of the separate habitat conditions were used to create
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a specific output raster. Below is a list of equations used in the raster calculator to create areas
matching the specifics of the Frozen Daisy habitat. They were created seperately.
Elevation: Cook County >= 1800
Slope: Slope > 10
Direction: (Aspect) Aspect >= 112.5 and Aspect <= 247.5
These equations helped to create three separate output rasters that were named Elev >= 1800,
Slope > 10, and Aspect3. Once the three rasters were created a final raster showing the possible
locations of the Frozen Daisy was created. The raster calculator was used to create the final
output.
(Elev >= 1800) * (Slope > 10) * (Aspect3)
The final output raster was named rare. The map below shows the possible location of the
Frozen Daisy. The map is shown on page 10.
While the above situation was just a hypothetical one it is one that shows the options are
endless when using Spatial Analyst. Only a few of the tools of Spatial Analyst were used and
many more are available for analyzing data. Over the course of the project the user has come to
a conclusion that data gathering is one of the hardest aspects of GIS work. As mentioned in the
beginning of the paper knowing where and what to start with can take a long time. Once the data
has been retrieved and is functional in ArcMap the process of analyzing it is an enjoyable one.
Even more exciting is working with all the possible outcomes that tools create in ArcGIS.


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