CGC1D Canadian Geography

Mrs. Gunn

GIS LAB
You will learn...
1) The basics of GIS software
2) Why it is useful to geographers
3) How to navigate the website
4) The basemaps available in GIS software and the
benefits

Step One: Go to www.arcgis.com - this is the

website of the major GIS software maker, ESRI.
Step Two: Click on Gallery youll find this at the top of the page.
Step Three: Take 10-15 minutes exploring some of the maps listed on the left side of
the screen under Maps. Ex. Historical Maps, Demographics & Lifestyle, Landscape,
Oceans, etc.

There, youll see lots of featured maps. And you can use the search button to find
specific communities or topics. You can also sort by most recent, most viewed and
highest rated.
Step Four: Search some interesting basemaps poke around and find a few that
interest you. List the basemap options here:
Imagery, imagery with labels, streets, topographic, dark grey canvas, light
grey canvas, national geographic, oceans, terrain with labels, open street
map.
Step Five: Get comfortable using some of the more advanced tools found here:

Using the ruler tool, for example, you

can measure distances between places.
Now, lets do some investigating!
Type Youth Population Around the Globe in the search bar at the top right of the page.
Click on the first
map that comes up from your search.
Using these tools

( ) answer the following questions:

CGC1D Canadian Geography

Mrs. Gunn

1. What information is provided about this map?

This map shows where youth populations are found throughout the world

2. What information is included in the Map Legend?

1 dot = 100 youth population

3. What does each red dot represent?

Each red dot represents 100 youth

4. Zoom in and out on the map. Notice that the value of the red dot changes as you
do this. Why does this happen?
The further you zoom out, the more clustered the red dots become. This happens
because when the size of the land on the map is smaller, the closer together the dots
would have to be. The larger the size of the land on the map is, the more spaced out the
dots can be.

5. Type Niagara Falls into the search bar (to the right of bookmarks). Explore the
youth populations around the Niagara Region, Hamilton, Toronto, Buffalo, etc.
a) From your investigation, which city has the largest youth population?
i) Niagara Falls
iv) Oakville
ii) St. Catharines
v) Mississauga
iii) Welland
vi) Toronto
b) How would the number of youth living in an area affect the land use patterns?
The number of youth living in an area will affect the land usage because the more youth
there are in an area, the more parks, schools, and residential areas there will be in that
area.

6. Take some time to play with the different basemaps. In your opinion, which
basemap is easiest to read the information provided on this map? Explain.
I found the Imagery with Labels map easiest to read because it starts of as the whole
world, and you can go as close as to see individual houses and streets. The labels make
it very easy to understand where the places are and what streets are which, so youre not
just looking at a map with a bunch of land and streets that you have no idea what they
mean.

Your Final Task:

Produce a small report on GIS that has the following things:
1. A definition, in your own words, of what GIS. Provide two examples of how it can be
used.

CGC1D Canadian Geography

Mrs. Gunn

2. Three screenshots of three different base maps and provide a 1-2 sentence description
of each, and why you chose it.
3. One screenshot of a map where you have labeled distance between two places you
know well. (Hint search for a basemap of Niagara Falls)
Type this up and show me before the end of class!
GIS stands for geographic information system. A GIS analyzes and presents all
types of geographical information. GIS can be used to show population in any size of any
area, or it can help emergency vehicles get to your house sooner.

This is the Koppen-Geiger Observed and Predicted Climate shifts, showing climate
change throughout that world. I chose it because climate change is a major problem, and
this map easily shows how it is affecting the globe.

This is the Imagery with Labels map focused on the Great Lakes. I chose this map
because it is extremely easy to read, and you can go all the way from the entire globe to
looking at the different street names.

CGC1D Canadian Geography

Mrs. Gunn

This is the Open Streets Map showing Niagara Falls, Ontario. I chose this map because it
makes it easy to look at the roads and find locations, and you can look at the streets
anywhere in the world.

This map shows the distance from my house to the school. It is 72 kilometers.