Project 4 - QGIS

Prepare week

GIS4930

This week's lab had us begin to utilize an Open Source GIS program called QGIS.  This program does not have all the bells and whistles available in it that ArcGIS desktop has to offer, but it gives the user the basic capabilities of ArcGIS for a price that can't be argued about, FREE.

To begin this lab I first familiarized myself with the inner workings and setup of the layout.  Quickly I discovered that it was similar, with a few minor changes.  Some of these changes were for the better and others just annoyed me.  However the overall application was easy to work with and allowed me to accomplish the task as assigned.

Clipping, Attribute Selection, Mapping Basics, and Analysis tools all were available or integrated into my finished maps below.  I even utilized the Dissolve tool to create a border for my study area in part B.

For the first map, I became familiar with how to do basic map elements and work the Print Composer like an artist would do.

Escambia Florida - University of West Florida - QGIS developed map

The second map, show below, had a basic geoprocessing analysis built into it.  Everything was done withing QGIS with the exception of the NEAR tool, which was run from ArcGIS.  The map shows Food Deserts and Food Oasis locations.  Essentially a food desert is describes as an area that does not have access to quality grocery stores within a mile, while the food oasis is just the opposite.  As you can see a large area of Pensacola Florida is within what could be defined as a Food Desert.

The lab this week was a great look into alternate programs outside of ArcGIS that can help provide quick and cheap map making capabilities.  With a strong background in ArcGIS and Geographic Information Science users can present to the reader the desired results.