This week was a good intro to the program and a good start to getting used to how the system works. It will just take more practice to get used to where things are and what they do.
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...
This week’s assignment focused on learning how to classify land use and land cover (LULC) from high-resolution satellite imagery and then evaluate how accurate those classifications were. We worked with an aerial image of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and created our own data by digitizing different land use types. First, I created a new polygon feature class and digitized different land cover areas by identifying patterns of tone, texture, shape, and association. I assigned each polygon a Level II LULC code and a short description. My final categories included residential (11) , commercial and services (12) , deciduous forest (41) , forested wetlands (61) , non-forested wetlands (62) , lakes (52) , streams and canals (51) , and bays and estuaries (54) . Learning to recognize these features based on visual cues made me more aware of how land use reflects both natural environments and human activity. Next, I conducted a ground truth accuracy assessment . I created 30 sample points arou...
Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) Interpolation This week’s assignment focused on using surface interpolation methods to visualize water quality in Tampa Bay. The goal was to estimate BOD concentrations across areas where sampling points were sparse, using techniques like IDW, spline, and Thiessen. Interpolation methods are useful for creating continuous surfaces from discrete sampling points. IDW assumes that nearby points are more similar and produces smooth, gradual transitions. Spline generates very smooth surfaces that can sometimes exaggerate peaks and valleys. Thiessen divides the area into polygons where each location is assigned the value of the nearest point, creating distinct zones rather than smooth gradients. Comparing these methods shows that each represents the data differently, highlighting the importance of choosing an approach based on the data characteristics and analysis goals.
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