All Paths Lead to Saunders

GPS laboratory assignment

All paths lead to Saunders

Due dates: March 21, submit GPS point file

March 28, append your data to main file

April 7, figure and question

Objectives:

During this laboratory exercise, you will gain experience collecting GPS point data and importing this data into a GIS. In addition, you will practice using Excel spreadsheet software to organize data and create a graph and make predictions based on regression analysis.

Marking location:

During class time, I will demonstrate the use of the Garmin GPS 12 XL. You will also have time to coordinate schedules with your group and assign a group leader who will be primarily responsible for the Garmin GPS. There are only eight devices to use in the class so final project teams have been combined in several cases.

1. Turn on power

2. Face the southern sky

3. Wait while recevier acquires EPE—estimated potential error from satellite signals

4. Hit the page button to see 5 views:

-position page

-map page

-compass/road view

-menu

-satellite signal

5. Check that options are set to collect UTM coordinates:

-scroll with arrows to navigation, hit enter

-scroll to position format, hit enter

-scroll to UTM/UPS with arrows

-ensure that your datum is NAD 83 and units are in metric.

-hit page to return to menu

6. The satellite numbers are depicted in their respective orbits on satellite signal view. The strength of their signal is shown according to each satellite number. More information about this device can be found in the user's manual, which is posted on blackboard.unc.edu.

On the position page, enter mark. Your position will be recorded.

Hold down power button and turn off.

Data collection and collation:

Go to your dorm/apt/house and mark your position.
WRITE DOWN your waypoint number AND your UTM coordinates. Some GPS devices let you upload your data directly, but this one does not. Because each of you is collecting just a single point, simply collect your data point and enter it directly into an excel spreadsheet.
Open Microsoft Office and open excel.
Label top 3 cells: Name, Easting, Northing (only first person creating datasheet)
In the next row, enter your last name, underscore and first initial, e.g., smith_m
In the next column enter your easting, in the next enter your northing (you should be able to tell which is which by what you already know about the UTM coordinate system)
Pass the excel sheet around in your group along with the GPS receiver. You will turn in only one spreadsheet per group. Your groups are listed on the last sheet of the lab.
Email the completed data table and deliver the GPS to me by March 21. I will collate the data and make the data available to you prior to Tuesday's recitation for the rest of this laboratory assignment.

Week 2:

Waypoints to Map:

You can upload the excel datasheet into ArcMap format, but only using the latest version 9.2.

Open ArcMap
Select tools, add x y data

In the first window, select your excel spreadsheet in the lab data folder
Specify the x field as your easting; specify the y field as your northing
Select the coordinate system that we used for collecting our data above. (Hint: it is in projected coordinate systems.)

In this lab, you will calcualte the distance between your home and Saunder's Hall and generate a path layer.

Measure tool:

Add CH_image
Right click on the studentdata dataset
Open the attribute table
Select your house and Saunders hall
To do this you must scroll to the right row and highlight it by clicking. Hold down the control key, navigate to the other point and click it.
Both points should end up highlighted in blue. These points will remain highlighted until you go back to open attribute table and select “clear selected” from the options menu. However, you will want them to remain highlighted for now.
Use the measure tool to determine the crow's distance between your home point and Saunders hall.

This tool button looks like a ruler with a question mark over it.
Click the button and click your origin point (your house)
You will begin to draw a line. Put the end of the line on the Saunders point and click. The distance is reported in the small popup box

Creating a new file:

Open ArcCatalog
Navigate to your course folder on the lefthand side called “catalog” and make sure that your lab folder is highlighted
At the main toolbar, select File/New/Shapefile
Create a new shapefile named onyen_path using only the first 5 letters of your onyen (e.g., mrlip_path)
Select feature type: polyline and save it within your course space
Select your projection: UTM 17, NAD 83 and OK
Close ArcCatalog (when working alone at home, you may leave it open, but there seems to be a license conflict in the lab when many are open at the same time)
Go back to your open ArcMap
Add your new shapefile to your map with the plus sign
Go to view/toolbars and make sure your “editor” toolbar is checked
Open the editor toolbar and select “start editing”
Select your lab folder and your new file, onyen_path.
Next to the word “edit” on your editor toolbar, there is a pencil button. Click this button and click the pencil tool within the submenu.
Use the pencil to trace the crow's path that you measured previously

Click on your house point that should still be highlighted and double click on Saunder's Hall.
If you mess up, select the black arrow next to the pencil tool, select your path, right click and hit delete.

Create a walking path based on the roads on the image.
Select the pencil tool again.
Start at your house, but follow the roads this time and trace the path you would use to go to school by foot, bike, bus, car, etc...
Click at each corner.
When you arrive at the Saunders point, double click.
Go back to editor and select stop editing.

Adding fields:

Go to data management/fields/add fields in your Arc Toolbox
Select onyen path as your input table
Enter “path_type” as the field name with no caps
In this case, field type is text, and length should be 50; click OK
Repeat steps and add additional fields: 'length' , data type is double, precision is 2; and the word 'onyen' (not your onyen), text is the data type and the length is 50.
Open your attribute table. Along the top there should be the following fields in this exact order:
FID Shape Id path_type length onyen
Turn the editor back on and start editing
Open your attribute table and name “direct” for the crow's path and “walk” for the route in the “path_type” field. Use those terms direct and walk EXACTLY as written.
Measure both lengths with the measure tool (in meters) and enter these values into the length field. Record only 2 decimal places and do NOT include units or any text in the field.
Record your onyen twice for both paths in the appropriate field
Turn off your editor

Append to class dataset, allpaths:

In the course data folder, there is a file called “allpaths”
You will append your onyen_path to this file
This append must be completed by Friday, April 28.
Go to datamanagement tools/general/append in your arc toolbox
Input datasets include your file, onyen_path. Your target dataset is allpaths
Leave default settings and select OK.

Week 3:

You will use this data to create a linear regression comparing walking distance to direct distance for the homes of the students in this class. In this exercise, you will learn some basic Excel datasheet skills (data reorganization & formula creation), practice linear regression and create a scatterplot.

1. Open file allpaths in ArcMap

2. Export file to your home directory, by right clicking the layer in the table of contents, and selecting “data” and then “export data”

3. Open Excel

Select File/Open , select “all files” for the file type option at the bottom
Browse to your course space and select allpaths.dbf
The class data will now appear in your excel spreadsheet
Delete the easting and northing columns. To do this:
Click on the “B” , hold it down and scroll to hold down the “c”. Both columns will turn blue.
Right click and select delete
Select to move columns to the left.
Convert paths from meters to miles. To do this:
Select the column to the right of the length field
Right click and select “insert”
You will create an empty colum
In the topmost empty cell, you will enter an equation to convert your length from meters to miles
Enter “=” and then click the uppermost length measure; the corresponding grid (e.g., E2) should pop up in your formula window
enter “* .00621371192
The final formula should read something like: =E2*.00621371192, hit enter
The formula should compute a value much smaller than the original length measure
Line up your cursor in the right bottom corner and double click; the formula should carry down the entire column.
Change the top row field names, direct and walking to indicate miles, e.g., (miles)
Select all (control A). Go to tools/sort
Sort first by path type and then by name (as part of one sort command)
The result will be a list of all of the direct paths followed by the walking paths
Cut all of the walking path rows and paste them next to the columns associated with crow's paths so that they look like the following:

Name Direct (miles)Name Walking (miles)

smith_m5smith_m7

We are interested in the relationship between direct distance and walking distance. In this case, our independent variable is direct distance and walking distance is the dependent distance. We are presuming that the user of the information will know from the map approximately how far they live from school and what they want to know is how far they will have to walk.

Select both direct and walking columns. You can do this by holding the control key down while you select
Hit the graphic button on the top tool bar (it looks like a little bar chart)
The chart wizard will open up. Select the scatterplot and hit next
The series is columns; click the series tab
Your series should indicate the direct column as the “x” and the walking column as the “y”
By clicking the little table button to the right of each of these dialog boxes, you will go back to the table and see the data you have selected. Check this and make sure your x and y are as you intended
Name your series: Home to Saunders
Hit next;
title your chart: Relationship between Walking Distance and Direct Distance between Saunders Hall and Students' Homes
Value x: Direct Distance (miles)
Value y: Walking Distance (miles)
Hit next and As new sheet, chart 1
Now you see your scatterplot. To examine this relationship you will use a linear relationship and determine the r2 value.
Click on one of the points and all points should turn yellow
Right click and select “Add Trendline”
Select linear, go to the options tab before hitting OK
Select “Display equation on chart” and “Display R-squared Value on chart”
Now hit OK
Copy and past this chart into a word document and answer the following question to finalize this lab assignment:
Your friend just moved to a new neighborhood that is 2 miles from campus according her map. What would you estimate for the biking distance? How reliable is your estimation?

The grade for this lab will be based on your successful submition of a GPS point, a properly appended row with your onyen, and lab report consisting of:

-your final figure with properly labelled axes and trendline (equation and r2)

-and answer to question above

1Bryce Koukopoulos

Meredith Robbins

Joy Rasmussen

Emily Madara

2Nicholas Holcomb

Christina Mills

Jamie Stubson

Harrison Miller

Kaylyn Siporin

Seth Holland

Ryan Miller

3Taylor Crabtree

Stephan Proctor

Walt Rogers

Ben Bruffey

4Scott Zeman

Emily Snow

Sam Franklin

Matt Stephenson

Elbert Hairston

Erika Kupatt

5Derrick Burke

Yong Min

Robert Yancy

Jaime Neill

Maggie Caswell

6Matt Whitehead

Chelsea Lindley

David Richardson

Fennon Wisseh

7Kathleen Casanova

Kelsie Grabert

Bridget Rogers

Robert Williams

Shepard Daniel

8Sam Reicle

Andrea Krutulis

Sean Weyrich

Lauren Tuttle

Brad Lynn

Ross Connolly