Lab Assignment #4: ArcMap

My experience with ArcMap was at times difficult but overall successful. With the detailed instructions it was very straightforward and at times simple. I am not generally a science or math geared person but I like when things are very formulaic and so when it was going well, ArcMap worked out very well for me. If I needed it or every decided to get into geography after this class, I could see it as a very helpful tool. It also made me want to do tutorials on all of the office tools I have on my computer because I'm pretty sure I don't know how to use most of their functions after seeing the many different functions of ArcMap.

The issues I had with ArcMap were at times finding the location of things I was supposed to open, basically only because I looked in the wrong places. When I messed up on one of the maps and went to my last saved map I had issues because one of the steps that I had gone on to before I messed up hadn't completely gone away so there were two locations that came up with I used the edit tool. I tried both of them and figured out which one worked and it ended up being fine. I am very glad I saved my work often otherwise I would have been quite frustrated at having to start over.

One of the biggest disadvantages of ArcMap is that it is not very user friendly. Although the tutorial was mostly very clear and easy to follow, as I explained if a mistake is made it is sometimes difficult to figure out how to fix as the tutorial doesn't tell you exactly how to back track if a problem occurs. Without at tutorial I can't imagine anyone except professional geographers being able to figure out how to use it. Unlike googlemaps it isn't very accessible. It is also a program that isn't available to the public which is another disadvantage.

While ArcMap might not be user friendly or universally accessible, it is much more detailed and has a lot more function then public access mapping. It has much more real world usage then google maps because it functions as an way to analyze information and maps. It is also very useful when relating data because of the ability to overlay maps an analyze the relationships. While ArcMap has many potentials and pitfalls, it is an important tool and will possibly eventually be as universal as google maps.