Assignment 9

Introduction:

This particular lab used ArcCollector, a smartphone app connected to Esri ArcGIS Online. Using ArcCollector the class was able to gather data remotely from the field and have it saved to ArcGIS Online and updated in real time. This collection method allows different groups to split up and gather data and have it compiled together without the hassle of manually normalizing the data after collection. This assignment had the groups splitting up and collecting data on the micro climate of the UWEC campus. The groups collected Temperature, Dew Point Temperature, Wind Speed, and Wind Direction. The class was split up into groups of 2 and assigned a Zone to gather data in. Figure A below shows the different zones. November 9th was the date of collection, it was cloudy most of the time and decently chilly, but oddly warm for early November.

Figure A shows UWEC campus split into different zones as well as the points collected by all the groups.

Zone 1 is mostly open space with some tree cover. It also has 2 large parking lots and Hass Fine Arts Building. It is also right next to the Chippewa River and has a bike path through a wooded area. The southern and eastern portions are the flood plain of the river and are a lower elevation from the rest of the zone. Zone 2 is mostly campus with many sidewalks and roads and open grass areas as well as 6 campus buildings. It extends northward into a residential area. Its section adjacent to the river is elevated above the water level. Zone 3 (my zone) contains 3 campus buildings and a large heavily wooded bog/stream area. known as Putnam Park West. A stream runs right through the middle as well. It also contains a massive parking lot, a small parking lot and a fair amount of sidewalks. Zone 4 was the center of campus, it is mostly planted grass and sidewalks. It contains two buildings two resident halls and a road, as well as the same stream in zone 3. Zone 5 is very diverse, its northern section is the heavily wooded Putnam Park North which is at a lower elevation next to the river with a floodplain. The southern and eastern portions are UWEC upper campus which is elevated above the other 4 zones. This area has 7 resident halls, the Hilltop Center, the Central Heating Plant and many parking lots roads and sidewalks. It also has a fair amount of open grass.

Methods:

At the start of class each person in the class logged on to ArcGIS Online and set up the study area provided by Dr. Hupy. Then downloaded the ArcCollecter app on their smartphones and linked them to the map with the zones. The class then split into groups of 2 and set out for the different zones. In order to collect the data each group was issued a Kestral weather meter which measured Temperature (Fahrenheit), Dew Point, and Windspeed (MPH). Using a compass and pointing north each group manually guestimated the direction of the wind in degrees, 0 being due north. Lastly we used our smart phones with the GPS location services on. This recorded our locations of where we collected each point. Using the Kestral we measured the above data and recorded it onto the smartphone in the ArcCollector app. 
After all the points were collected each person downloaded the data into ArcMap into their own geodatabase. Then 3 maps were created with the data. Using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) Interpolation the recorded data (temperature, dew point, and wind speed) were used as the Z value to create rasters. Each raster was then clipped to the Micro Climate Zone feature class to fit just our study area. For the final map that shows Wind Speed and Direction the collected points were set to be displayed with Wind Direction as the attribute. Then in the Symbology tab the were displayed with geographical direction selected. Finally the Symbol was changed from a dot to an arrow.

Results:

Figure B, the first image below is the map of temperatures around the UWEC Campus. This image is very straight forward and not out of the ordinary. The temperatures are warmer when the collected near buildings and in the middle of parking lots and on sidewalks. This is because the concrete and buildings have been absorbing heat all day. The colder areas are grassy and away from buildings. The coldest area (southeast) was recorded by my group in the middle of the wooded bog area.

Figure B shows surface temperatures on UWEC Campus. Note the coldest area in the southeast was heavily wooded with a bog.

Figure C below shows the Dew Point temperatures around campus. The data collected shows a pattern of higher dew points in the middle of the map and lower dew points on the northeast and southwest. This is most likely directly related to the stream, Little Niagara, that runs right through campus.

Figure C shows the Dew Point Temperatures with a diagonal pattern following Little Niagara.

Figure D shows both the Wind Temperature and the Direction from which it was blowing. It is easy to see how the buildings around campus affected what way to wind was blowing and how strong because some acted as shields from the wind and some amplified its speed. 

Figure D shows Wind Speed and Direction. Points that had no wind direction were defaulted to due North.

Conclusion:

This lab was great, it was so cool that I told my friend studying GIS at another school all about it. It is incredible that Esri has an app that allows users to connect directly using the internet and smartphone. It was an fantastic way to collect data and have accurate data points. The data transfer and collection was very easy and user friendly and overall quite efficient. Unfortunately the rasters lost some resolution and became more coarse when clipped from a large square to just the study area. I could not remember how to combat this so they are coarser than I would like, but still acceptable.