07.17.10 Deliverables Homeland Security

http://students.uwf.edu/sr31/U9_SRITT.pdf

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't!

Sometimes blogger links, other times it doesn't...please cut and paste above link.

UWF's Applications in GIS Unit 9 lesson plan centered on data management. We were to learn new methods or ways to organize your data for large projects and data sets. With all the problems I had with drive space this week, I lost focus and really did not come away with any new insight on data organization. I hope to complete lesson 10 and the Remote Sensing deliverable with enough time to review it again. (Ha--just like that reserving space last month Sue -- there is just never enough time in a day...)

I did learn that GIS in the real world will involve data sets and files that are computer resource hogs....patience and perseverance are key! A two computer system is very helpful and the ability to multi-task while you wait, essential.

I am very excited about the exercise this week. This area of Colorado is more like my own backyard (well not NORAD) than Florida where I currently live. I spent many years living in Colorado Springs and also a small mining community just on the western edges of our boundary area in Teller County. I worked all over of area of interest...in the cities, on the top of Pikes Peak and in little communities in the middle of nowhere.

I recently purchased copies and originals of several hand drawn and historical maps of the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining District. Pretty cool stuff! There is a catacomb of gold mining tunnels (now managed by the CC/V Gold Mining Company) that span the distance between the two towns and who knows how far under the Front Range (toward Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain).

One of the best maps I have ever seen is located in the Cripple Creek Museum. The map is enclosed in a glass box and raised up on a platform. You walk up several steps to view into the map from the top. Here you see a classic 2D map layout with different points showing the location of the mine entrances and camps or lines for trails and railroad. When you step back down you look into the map from the sides to see the different layers and levels of tunnels than run miles and miles deep into the Earth. Like I said, pretty cool stuff! I aspire to digitize, add attribute data and document the maps I purchased into a GIS to produce an historical overview of the mining activities of the area. Maybe someday I can compare them to the one at the museum. Yeah, Sue dreams BIG!