Project Updates:

The email dialogue begins:

8/29 Mike: I am conducting field research for my masters near Victoria, Texas, and feel free to contact me if you are interested in either coming down to see the site or to help out.
8/30 Jen: I may be able to help you out with my newly acquired mapping skills. I finished my ArcGIS class a week ago and I am looking for something to keep me entertained.
8/31 Mike: Be careful what you offer!!! For my thesis project area I would love to have a GIS that overlays topo lines and soils data onto aerial photos.
9/1 Jen: No Problem!

So now what?

I did some research and found the maps online and the soil layers were located with the greatest thing since sliced bread, Google. Mike sent me an email with a detailed description of what he was looking for on Friday.

My thoughts? No problem :)

Here is the project outline (I remember doing these in science lab but I thought that I'd never have a use for them again):

Objectives:
#1. Obtain data for the Nursery 7.5 minute quadrangle.
#2. Use the data to make a map showing an aerial photo with topographic lines and the KyC soil layer.
#3. Make the data user-friendly for Mike who will use it in the field and for his thesis presentation.

Procedures: (this is a rough sketch as I am new to GIS and it is more like tinkering right now)
Download the data and check to make sure that all metadata is there; made sure the coordinate systems conformed with one another; added layers to the map; removed unecessary data (things that fell outside the area of study); set viewable layers (so that certain layers could only be viewed at the appropriate scale).

I hope to have the map done and available on-line by the end of the week. Wish me luck