Lab 7: Using Raster Data

I do not enjoy raster data. I do not enjoy the conversion to raster data, and the spatial analysis of such data is rife with obstacles and difficulties. But it's understandable that having such skills in one's ArcGIS arsenal is valuable and produces informative results. Yet even with the aid of the tutorial, which in itself needed more detail in its numerous spatial conversions, manipulating and analyzing new data was an arduous task to say the least.

I don't think I fully grasped the extent of the methods necessary for using raster data, and I found myself only implementing two or three of the exercises that were utilized in the tutorial. That could be an error on my part, though I feel that the great lengths the WUI map went to was to provide a complete overview of raster data, wherein much of my data was already in a raster/grid format. I got the majority of my shapefiles from the Fire and Resource Assessment Program's website, which provides detailed information about fires and their extraneous causes and effects for the state of California. I was a bit befuddled by some of the available data, as to what kind of information it would provide me, but found that what I chose seems to have fit into the parameters that I required. I thought that once I found the data I needed (not as easy a task as it would seem) making the map would be simple. I had made a map in a previous class that required a DEM for the Station fire already! But this lab didn't offer such a simplistic mathod of mapping. At times I was aggravated by the seemingly unreasonable mismatch of data that I had tried to manipulate using features from the Spatial Analyst toolbar.

Although I feel that I may need a separate course just to learn the various techniques involved in the usage of raster data, this lab seems to be a good introduction to the process. The tutorial has everything ready for the user, and knows the attributes and fields to change and join. With my own data, compiled from various sources, changing and converting data was much more confusing and complex. I found myself having to pore over the tutorial trying to find hints as to how to solve my own data problems, and while I feel that for the most part I resolved those issues, there may still be mistakes I have yet to correct. But overall, the hazards map seems to be indicative of the correct information- that on higher slopes and with denser vegetation (high fuel rank), there is greater risk of a fire, which is clearly evinced in the map. The results seem to justify the means, a bit, though I feel the time and frustration put into a roughly pieced together map does not make me want to use much raster data in the near future.