In the last module of GIS4006, Cartography, I was exposed to many relatively new methods of geospatial mapping and analysis that are used today. Many of these methods involve the use of the internet and volunteer efforts. Typically, the public will not have access to programs such as ArcGIS Pro, so I found it fitting that this lab module focused mainly on using Google Earth.
The goal of this module was to learn how to take spatial data in layers and convert them to a KML file. Once converted, the files could be displayed in Google Earth. The data I was given was a dot density file for South Florida (depicting population density with every dot representing 10,000 people) and a polygon vector file that covers all surface water in South Florida. To display the surface water file properly, I needed to adjust its symbology in ArcGIS Pro. By adjusting for unique values, I was able to prepare a layer representing surface water by type (lake or pond, stream, or marsh etc.). Once I converted this layer to a KML, I needed to upload the provided legend for both layers into Google Earth in a proper way. To do this, I used Google Earth's "Add an Image Overlay" tool and adjusted its size and orientation.
With the map of South Florida complete, my next task was to create a tour in Google Earth showing the major cities like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa. The Tour feature in Google Earth was an astoundingly quick and easy tool to learn how to use. The only limit to this tool is that street views seem to not be supported in tours, which I found out the hard way.
To make the tour I spent some time organizing my data and locations. I created a folder for all placemarks I wanted to visit in the tour. Creating placemarks for the desired area was as simple as searching for the location and adding the placemark. Once I had all locations I organized them from top to bottom in the order I wanted the tour to follow and recorded.
Here is the map with all feature layers and a legend present that I used for the tour:
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