Michell's GIS Journey

  As I continue working toward my GIS certificate at the University of West Florida and my Associate degree at Valencia College, I have been reflecting on how the GIS industry connects directly to infrastructure and environmental systems. After I started my internship, I realized how strongly the GIS industry connects to infrastructure, public utilities, and environmental systems. What once felt mostly academic in the classroom became much more meaningful when I saw how GIS is used to manage water, wastewater, and critical infrastructure in real-world settings.  Through my internship with the Orange County Utilities Department , I have been able to see this connection firsthand. In this role, I assist with spatial data editing and mapping projects related to water and wastewater systems. This experience has strengthened my understanding of how accurate spatial data directly impacts public services and environmental management. One of the biggest highlights of my internship h...

  For this assignment, I conducted a job search focused on GIS-related positions to better understand how the skills I am currently developing align with real-world careers. While exploring postings, I noticed that GIS roles can vary widely depending on the organization and industry, even when they share similar titles. One key takeaway from this search is that GIS is rarely a standalone skill . Many positions integrate GIS with planning, data management, sustainability, or coordination work. Several roles emphasized collaboration across departments, data quality assurance, and decision-making support. Another important insight was how education and experience expectations are structured. Many postings prefer a bachelor’s degree and professional experience, which helped me better understand where I currently stand and what steps I still need to take. While I may not meet every requirement yet, I saw that coursework, internships, and hands-on projects play a valuable role in buildi...

  I began my internship with the Orange County Utilities Department , where I support GIS staff on various projects related to mapping requests, data review, and field operations. This internship gives me exposure to how GIS supports real-world utilities, infrastructure, and planning decisions that directly affect residents and public services in the county.  To earn academic credit for this internship, I will be completing the required course components, including the internship work plan, weekly work activities, professional development assignments, participation check-ins, and the final reflection and documentation needed at the end of the semester. As part of the professional engagement portion of this course, I also selected a GIS-related professional user group to join. I chose AWRA Florida (American Water Resources Association) , which focuses on water resources science, management, and policy throughout the state. AWRA Florida offers technical meetings, networking oppo...

  In this lab, I created a supervised land-use classification of Germantown, Maryland, to visualize current land-cover patterns and support sustainable planning. Maryland’s population has grown 30% over the last 30 years, while land consumption has doubled, making it critical to understand how urban and green spaces have changed. I used the dataset and selected a band combination that minimized spectral confusion between classes. Using histograms and mean plots, I created and refined spectral signatures for urban areas, roads, water, grass, deciduous and mixed forests, fallow fields, and agriculture. Adjusting parameters like Spectral Euclidean Distance and Neighborhood helped ensure each signature accurately represented its feature. The final map, recoded into eight classes, includes the classified image, a distance file inset, a legend with colors, class names, and areas, plus essential map elements. This project provided hands-on experience in creating accurate, meaningful land-...

  This map highlights a mountain peak located in the northwest section of the study area. The feature was identified by a small spike in layers 1–4 around pixel value 200 and a large spike in layers 5–6 between pixel values 9–11. To make the summit visually distinct, a false-color band combination emphasizing  Layers 5 and 6 was applied, which clearly contrasts the rocky peak from surrounding vegetated slopes and shadowed areas. Using the histogram and the inquire tool helped confirm the spectral characteristics and locate the feature accurately. This visualization provides a clear representation of terrain variability and the spectral differences between rocky and vegetated areas in the study site.

This week, I worked with a classified land cover image in ERDAS IMAGINE to explore how land cover types can be analyzed and mapped. I began by opening the file and examining its attribute table. To better understand the extent of each land cover type, I added a new Area field to the table, which allowed me to calculate the area each classification occupies in the image. After saving the updated layer, I used the Inquire Box tool to select a smaller region of interest within the image. I then exported this selected area as a new image. Once the new image was created, I added a new Area field again to ensure the area values reflected only the smaller region. I then moved to ArcGIS Pro to begin the map-making process. I added tm_subset.img to a new map, adjusted the symbology, and edited the class labels so that each land cover class displayed both its name and the amount of area it occupies. After setting up a layout with a title, legend, north arrow, scale bar, and my name, I exported t...