Mod 11 Google Earth

For week 11’s module – we were tasked with selecting a potential site for a wind farm in the Great Lakes area. After reviewing maps for average wind speed and potential wind power areas, I chose to focus on the “thumb” of Michigan. The location I found is within a few miles of the coast of Saginaw Bay off Lake Huron. It appears to be around 2000 acres of a currently existing and operating quarry. I researched the following criteria/concerns regarding wind farms:
Wind Speed – towers seem to be between 250-300 feet in height or approximately 80 meters. According to one site – the average wind speed for 70 meters in that vicinity is 15-17 mph. This is more than adequate to power the turbines.
Ornithology – several bird migration routes cross this area with waterfowl being the largest. Reports I read indicated they could not find any real issues with wind farms and bird migration routes. I imagine this might change depending on the density of the wind turbines. The current use of a quarry versus an agricultural use might also be a positive factor in locating a wind farm here.
Noise/Shadow Flicker – there are conflicting reports on the level of noise that wind turbines make but again – located in an area that has a large use of heavy equipment – noise should not be a huge factor. There did appear to be some dwellings surrounding the area but again, the area is large enough to space the turbines away from homes both for the potential noise factor and the shadow flicker.
Shipping Impact – I could not see where there were any large shipping vessel routes into Saginaw Bay so this should not be a concern. Wind farms have been know to create “noise” in radar but the technology is getting better as well as the location again isn’t near any larger shipping channels.
Landscape/Visual Impact – the current use of the property already has impacted the view and landscape. The quarry has been in operation since the 1890’s so everyone should be used to the area not being visually appealing .
Access/Need – due to the current use – access into the property should be fairly easy and there is a small town within a few miles from the quarry that could potentially make use of the newly created power source.
I feel an area that could potentially be ending it’s current use and is possibly at least in part under transition could benefit from a new use. There are already at least 2 wind farms currently operating in that part of Michigan so viability seems to be high.

Georgia Average Rainfall Mod 10

We were tasked with creating an isohyet map showing average rainfall for Georgia. Doing isarithmic mapping manually isn't too bad at all but then we had a fairly easy dataset. Just for grins and because I had some extra time on my hands - I did input the points into an shapefile and ran the lines through the spatial analyst tools. I did it to see how different my lines were from the computer generated ones and to see the difference between the different interpolation methods. I didn't do any data checks so I am assuming I put the rainfall values in correctly but the results were close but did change from method to method. I chose not to add a legend as the numbered lines and info in the title, I felt, was sufficient.

I chose Mod 6 for my extra credit project. I wasn't thrilled with my first map - population change by region. It is easier in Illustrator but there are some additional layout options in ArcMap that we tend to overlook. I did get different results from the first round as I didn't use the grayscale and I averaged the percent change per state but overall, I think I improved it some.

Module 9 Flow Mapping

We were to create a flow map showing immigration into the US by world regions for 2007. I calculated the percent and the size of the width of the flow line from data provided from the 2007 Statistics from INS. I chose to put the percentages in each flow line so I felt that a legend wasn't necessary. Flowmaps definately provide a challenge in creating a useful yet appealing visual map.

Just a second try after the due date.

I made the dots a little bigger on this and although after the fact wanted to see how it posted on the blog.

Mod 8 Dot Distribution

Module 8 required us to create a dot distribution map for Florida housing units. We were given some data from the 2000 census to create this by county. The illustrator file contained some limiting attribute data so we were not showing housing units on unbuildable areas of the county (i.e. water, wetlands). I chose to show the data as raw data and not per square mile. I chose not to use any other color besides black. This led to a boring map but I felt it was a little more effective in the primary purpose than using color. Additional data would have been useful in creating a better distribution within each county however we were tasked with simply showing housing units in the state based on the county.

Mod 7 Wine Consumption in Europe

Honestly, the way my distribution came out - I don't like it. I really need to work on those issues. Overall - fun exercise!