GIS I LAB 4: Vector Analysis with ArcGIS

Goal:

Use various tools in ArcGIS to determine suitable habitat for Bears in Marquette County, MI based on varying criteria gathered in varying techniques.

Objectives:

• Make a map showing the locations of Black bears in Marquette County.
• Using the locations provided, find the land cover in which bears frequent the most.
• Determine if stream location is an important criteria to consider for bear habitat. 
• To find suitable bear habitat in Marquette County based on two criteria.
• Find all areas of suitable bear habitat within areas managed by the Michigan DNR.
• Then illuminate the land close to Urban Areas.
• Create a map showing Suitable Bear Habitat.
• Make a data Flow Model of the steps used to obtain the end results.

Background:

Students apply past knowledge of techniques taught throughout this course in a Real world example of determining where the ideal Bear Habitat for Bears would be in Marquette County, MI. 

Methods:

In order to obtain the data necessary to begin our lab students needed to create event themes from X Y coordinates that were in a non- spatial database.

The data we gathered was the exported as a feature class. This data was locations of Bears in Marquette County, MI. Next we wanted to Detirmine what type of habitat was supporting these bears sighted in the county. To do this, students manipulated the Landcover layer to show the type of cover the bears preferred. Using a spatial operation and the Union tool, students were able to create a layer of the location of the top three Landcover types that bears prefer.

The next task was to determine if stream location was an important habitat characteristic for the bears in Marquette County.  More than 30% of the bear locations were within 500 meters of a stream which biologists consider to be an important characteristic. So, students used the Buffer tool on the stream layer in order to make a layer of the land in Marquette county that is within 500 meters of a stream. By dissolving these areas together and intersecting them with the Popular landcover for bears layer, you have the locations suitable for Bear Habitat in Marquette County.

Another characteristic for Bear habitat was then added, the political boundries of the DNR Management lands. The intersect tool was used to add the DNR land layer to the current Bear Habitat Layer that students created. Using Dissolve the locations all joined together to show a layer of the suitable Bear Habitat inside of DNR Managed Land.

Students then made a layer of the urban areas in Marquette County by selecting all the Urban Areas in the Landcover layer and adding a 5 km Buffer around them.

The Erase Tool was used with the layer of the suitable Bear Habitat inside of DNR Managed Land and the layer just created.

Lastly, students had to create a cartographically pleasing map of their final products.

Results:

Students results were a map of all the Land suitable for Bear Habitat inside of Marquette County, MI. Further, the locations of Land suitable for Bear Habitat inside DNR Managed land at least 5 km from an Urban Area in Marquette County, MI. 

Figures:

 
  

Sources:

Landcover is from USGS NLCD
http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mgdl/nlcd/metadata/nlcdshp.html
DNR management units
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/metadata/wildlife_mgmt_units.htm
Streams
http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mgdl/framework/metadata/Marquette.html