lab#4

It really left me a deep impression when i first used this geographic information system to complete my lab4. I was amazed by this powerful tool. People can be intimated by the various tabs and options provided by this system. However, once they start, they will find the tutorial to be a very specific guideline. Honestly speaking, although this system is user friendly, it can be very time consuming. It took me many hours to complete the whole project. Customer can easily get access to the system and follow the instructions step by step, but very few people can continue their projects to the end.

ArcMap has great benefits for GIS students. It allows the user to extract large amount of data into different layers on a map, which makes it possible show a variety of information on a single picture. The map to me was originally an object showing directions and positions. It totally changed my attitude towards maps after I completed this assignment.

There is a significant potential pitfall in ArcGIS. As it is a user friendly software, the data can always be misleading when reporting information due to the lack of professional knowledge of the user. And the readers can me misled by the professional looking map. And issues of accuracy may always exist because all the data is abstracted from reality.

Overall. ArcGIS has revolutionized the geography information system. Users can benefit from the large amount of information and make life much easier. However, it is very crucial that the basics of geography never be lost as ArcGIS develops through the years.