GIS I Lab 1: Base Data

Background:

  In the spring of 2012, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Clear Vision Eau Claire, Haymarket LLC and local developers created a project that would better the future of the local community and college community. The project is called the “Confluence Project." It is located at what is referred to as the “Haymarket Site” at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers along Eau Claire Street and Graham Avenue. The project plans to have a community arts center with performing and fine arts including studios, costume shops, dressing rooms, galleries, classrooms, and offices for the arts organization. Additionally, student housing and commercial retail are part of the cultural endeavors in the downtown Eau Claire project. This would bring up to 375 residents to the area allowing the music, theater and art culture to expand. The objective for this lab was to construct a map of the proposed site for the Confluence Project and the relevant base data using ArcMap. The map created included: civil divisions, census boundaries, public land survey system features, Eau Claire city parcel data, zoning, and voting districts.

Methodology:

  There are two geodatabases that I would be using so to begin, I had to become familiar with the data; I noted the different feature classes and their respective geodatabases. One of the geodatabases was for the city of Eau Claire, while the other was for the county of Eau Claire. After this, I became acquainted with public land survey systems. I looked at how many townships are present in Eau Claire and created a brief legal description of the two parcels in the proposed site using the City of Eau Claire Web GIS. Upon completing the legal descriptions, I was able to start digitizing the map for the proposed site of the Confluence Project.

  First, I created my own geodatabase containing a feature class of the proposed site with a world imagery basemap. Once I did this, I was able to start constructing the map with the relevant base data. I built a data frame of civil divisions as a locator map that included the county boundary and changed the symbology so I could see the different divisions and the aerial behind it. Civil divisions are important because it entails the collection of boundaries on land ownership for the local and state government management. Second, I created a new data frame of the census boundaries that allowed me to see the blockgroups and tracts group’s boundaries. This is important for the US Census Bureau for the ten-year population count. Next, I included the public land survey systems feature map showing the quarter-quarter sections survey around the proposed site. 

  After this, I generated a new data frame including the parcel data for the city of Eau Claire. The parcel data shows survey information associated with individual lots such as lot lines, and parcel corners. Next, I created a zoning data frame that showed the different areas based on zoning class. This included areas such as: residential, commercial, industrial, public property and transportation.  Lastly, I created a voting districts data frame, displaying the voting district classes for the city.  

 

Results:

  The results from lab one (Figure 1) show the different features processed from the base data relevant to the Confluence Project.   



Figure 1. Six maps displaying the relevant base data inlcluding (left to right, top to bottom): Civil Divisions, Census Boundaries, Public Land Survey System features, Eau Claire City Parcel Data, Zoning, and Voting Districts, for the Confluence Project. Data collected from the City of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County 2013.

Sources: City of Eau Claire and Eau Claire County 2013
 

Mapping Services. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2015, from    http://www.eauclairewi.gov/departments/public-works/engineering/mapping-services