GIS 1 Lab 1: Base Data

Background:

This Lab was about Eau Claire, Wisconsin's Confluence Project, which is a public and private collaborated plan to build multi-purpose spaces at what is known as the "Haymarket Site" in downtown Eau Claire, at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers. These buildings will include areas for University student housing, arts display and performance, offices, classrooms, studios, retail, parking, and a public plaza.

The goals of this lab were to produce base maps for the Confluence Project while becoming familiar with the land use, public land management, and administration spatial data sets for Eau Claire, WI. It is also an opportunity to use and present what I have learned hitherto in the class.

Methods:

I looked at the City of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County datasets, digitized the proposed Confluence Project site, learned about the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), devised a brief legal description for the proposed site, and put a six-framed map together using ArcMap 10.3 that displays the Confluence Project's Civil Divisions, Census Boundaries, PLSS Features, Eau Claire (EC) City Parcel Data, Zoning, and Voting Districts. Each frame was created using features from the 2009-07-13_EauClaire and City of Eau Claire databases. Legends, scales, a north arrow, and callout boxes were included, and for each frame, a World Imagery basemap was used.

Results:

Eau Claire Confluence Project Proposal

Figure 1

The image above (Figure 1) is the six-framed map that was created. It displays a range of aspects concerning the Confluence Project in an easily comparable format. The Civil Divisions frame shows that the Confluence Project site is within the city limits of Eau Claire. The Cencus Boundaries frame shows that the site is in an area with 3600-5000 people per square mile. The PLSS Features frame show what quarter quarter section the site falls inside. The EC Parcel Data frame shows the parcel area of the site and has the centerlines included for spatial clarification. The Zoning frame shows that the site is in the Central Business District, and very near to Public Properties and Residential zones. The Voting Districts frame shows that the site is in voting district number 31. From this map, the viewer is able to discern information about voting patterns, legal parameters, and citizen benefit.

Sources:

City of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County 2013 geodatabases.