Lauren Chaphe's Geographic Information Science (GIS) Portfolio

For my UWF GIS internship course, I plan to apply my current position as a GIS Analyst towards course credit. This opportunity is directly related to the field of GIS. Specific job details are listed below:  Utilize ESRI ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Field Maps software to create maps and to assist in field data collection and sharing. Coordinate with a variety of departments, including environmental and civil engineering teams, to create finalized maps for reports and permit application packages. Research and process available public utility, aerial imagery, and environmental geospatial data. Maintain the company GIS database to ensure accurate and up-to-date information. Perform geospatial analyses to meet specific project goals. Additionally, I joined the Florida Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (FLURISA). This group is geared towards GIS professionals within the state of Florida and provides education, training, and networking opportunit...

In the second part of Module 6, the goal was to determine the area(s) that have the highest potential for black bears to cross between two, separate areas of Coronado National Park. The potential movement of the black bears was assumed to meet the criteria below:  Far from roads (assuming black bears avoid the roads for safer routes and less noise disturbance) Mid-elevations (where there is likely more food sources and easier to traverse) Forested areas (assuming barren and developed areas are the least suitable) Data required to complete the analysis included the location of the two parts of Coronado National Forest (polygons), elevation DEM, land cover data, and roads (polylines). T he land cover and elevation rasters were reclassified using the Reclassify tool and a new attribute for the class rating was added. Rating scale went from 1-10 with 10 being the most suitable. Forested areas and elevations between 1200-2000m received the highest rating. Next, the Euclidean distance to...

The scenario for this task was to create a raster showing suitable land for development within a set study area. Criteria to consider for suitable land included the categories below:  Land cover (Agricultural areas were rated the highest suitability, while water/wetland were rated as the least suitable) Soils Slopes (gentle slopes were rated higher than steep slopes) Rivers/Streams (areas greater than 1000ft  were rated higher than areas within 1000ft of a river) Roads (areas within a close distance to existing roads received a higher rating) In order to complete this analysis, a land cover raster, soils data (polygons), and elevation DEM, and a rivers polyline dataset was required. The soils and rivers data were converted to rasters using the Euclidean Distance tool or the Polygon to Raster tool. The Euclidean Distance tool created a raster that contained data for the distance from the river polyline. The Slope tool was used to create a slope raster from the elevation DEM. Th...

Module 5 focused on the application of GIS towards hurricane storm mapping and post-storm damage assessment. Hurricane Sandy data, such as the central lat/long, wind speed, and barometric pressure, was mapped to show the storms progression from tropical depression to hurricane, to post tropical cyclone.  Additionally, hurricane damage was assessed using a structural damage ratings like the ones below:     0 = No damage    1 = Affected    2 = Minor damage    3 = Major damage    4 = Destroyed This was assessed by comparing satellite imagery taken before the storm and immediately after the storm and creating a point for each parcel within the study area that classified the damage rating. Two tips that worked well in this analysis was to view the structures and parcels at a scale of 1:500 to view the most details and to utilize the  swipe function to quickly compare the pre and post storm imagery. Additional data that was asse...