Applications for GIS Week 3: Visibility Analysis

     This week I completed 4 training courses focused on visibility analysis on ESRI's website. The first course was an introduction to 3D visualization, where I was able to explore the techniques and uses for 3D data in ArcGIS Pro. I compared 2D data and 3D data of Crater Lake in Oregon, and how it is utilized. 3D data is extremely useful for displaying data you are unable to using only a 2D map, showing a much more accurate visualization and analysis of an environment. 

    The next course was about performing line of sight analysis, a procedure used to determine visibility between an observation point and a target point. I found this segment to be the most interesting, as well as incredibly useful. In the example, I looked at the view of a parade route from multiple observation points, and how the line of sight may be obstructed due to buildings or weather. I used analysis tools such as the Construct Line of Sight and the Line of Sight tool to calculate the visibility between the points based on the conditions. Line of sight analysis is incredibly useful in many ways, especially in urban development when placing radio towers or security cameras. 

    The third course was based on performing viewshed analysis, which can create a map showing visible areas from a vantage point. This is utilized in the real world in ways such as finding the best location for communication or fire watch towers, seeing what views a new skyscraper might block, showing light visibly, solar development, and for military uses to know what the enemy is able to see in a specific location. It took me a moment to understand how all of the attributes in the data table affected the viewshed, but after that, I used the Viewshed tool in ArcGIS Pro to carry out the analysis.

    Finally, I completed the course on sharing 3D content using scene layer packages. In this course, I learned how to author my own 3D scene and share it to ArcGIS Online. I was able to convert 2D data into 3D data and see how it changed how the data was represented. I was familiar with sharing content to ArcGIS Online from a previous course, but learned about the the process in much greater detail to help me fully understand its uses. Overall I found the courses very beneficial for progressing my knowledge and proficiency in ArcGIS Pro, and found the courses especially helpful in showing me the real world applications for GIS and just how useful and essential they are to our daily lives.

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