Greetings everyone,
      It has been awhile since I lasted posted, I apologize for being behind on finishing my last few assignments. Tonight I am sharing what we worked on before the Easter weekend and finished up today. The assignment called for a map to represent the town of Adams, MA that would display suitable locations for a solar-wind powered housing village. The map took in account the slope of the towns' elevation, the aspect which is the cardinal direction the elevation faces and the winds in the area at 30m/s. The goal was to find locations with a slope less than 20 degrees, a southerly aspect and a wind speed above 5m/second. I was able to acquire this data from MassGIS by downloading a digital elevation model raster map of the state, using the mask tool in ArcToolbox to extract the town of Adams from the state. Then also used the slope and aspect tools to find that information from the new Adams DEM map. After that, I downloaded the New England 30m wind speed raster and also used the mask tool to extract Adams, to create a 30m wind speed raster. I was able to combine all three sets of data using the combine tool after reclassifying the numbers for slope, aspect  and wind to fit the qualifications the assignment was looking for. After that, a combined map display helps show where the suitable sites within Adams are for wind power. One takeaway from this assignment was the extensive use of ArcToolbox tools to extract and reclassify the raster maps to make an efficient map. It was quite tedious work, but I think the outcome was great and definitely very helpful practice in using the data you acquire and being able to present it much clearer in your final map. Hope you enjoy my final product, as always any pointers on improving my map-making skills are welcomed!
Cheers,
Stephen

Hello again folks,
                              I apologize for the gap in posts, this semester has been racing by and this next project has required a good amount of time to get right. The map I will be sharing with you was created as part of one of our class projects that has been focusing on the Nunckatessett Greenway Project. This project is a well developed and planned non-profit coalition that is attempting to create a thriving nature trail along the Town River or Nunckatessett River that runs between the towns of West Bridgewater & Bridgewater, MA. This trail would follow the river's path through the towns, eventually connecting to the Taunton River trails just southeast of Bridgewater. The Nunckatessett Greenway would also connect to the Bay Circuit Trail, a proposed and working trail that follows a crescent route from Massachusetts' south shore to north shore of Massachusetts Bay, between Routes 128 & 495. Overall, the Nunckatessett Greenway would be used to allow residents of its community to enjoy the beauty of nature along the Town River and also learn the history of the communities. River access will allow trail users to bring their canoes or kayaks and travel down river to the Taunton or on other tributaries within the area. With Bridgewater State University located near the center of Bridgewater with a part of the campus in walking distance to the river, the Nunckatessett Greenway could also provide nature access to thousands of students, faculty and visitors. The Greenway Project's planners hope this trail can unite the two communities while bringing history, nature and conservation lands to people's recreation options. The map I created for my end of this class project focuses on the Greenway's path, as well as connecting road and public transportation access to the area. Conservation lands, parks and town centers are highlighted along the route as well. The color-coded sum criteria on the legend represents how many tax parcels within the towns line up to the criteria that I chose would be helpful in seeing which properties along the route would benefit most from the trail, vice versa. This project is still ongoing, I hope to edit the final map a few more times, but hopefully you enjoy! http://www.nunckatessettgreenway.org/