Creation of Navigation Maps

Introducion/Background
This purpose of this activity was to create two navigation maps.  They will later be used for actual navigation in a field activity.  Map elements that would be helpful with navigation were to be included in the final maps.

Study Area
The area in which we will map and navigate is the Priory, just South of Eau Claire. Figure 1 shows the study area.

Figure 1: The study area map with the Navigation Boundary in red.

Methods
Map data was provided by Professor Hupy, but all layers were in different projections.  The projections were then each defined in ArcCatalog to be Transverse_Mercator with  NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_15N as the coordinate system, since Eau Claire falls within UTM Zone 15.  This is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Each feature is assigned the same coordinate system so they are in the correct place when brought into the map.  

Each student was then able to choose which layers to include in their navigation maps.  I decided to use the imagery basemap from ArcGIS as the background for my map so that specific features could be easily identified, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: This is the defined area's boundary and the imagery basemap.  

The next step was to include a grid in the map.  Grids can be created in the Layers Properties.  Figure 4 shows some of the properties of the grid created for this map.  Each interval is set at 50 meters, which is a reasonable distance for navigation on foot.

Figure 4: This shows some properties of the grid created for this map.  

A new map was then made with the same data and projection but a different grid.  This grid was made in decimal degrees.  Figure 5 shows some properties of this new grid.  The intervals are set at 5".

Figure 5: This grid is for the decimal degrees navigation map.  

Results 

Figure 6: The final UTM navigation map.  

Figure 6 shows the final UTM navigation map.  This could be used for locating landmarks shown in the imagery basemap.  It has a tighter grid than the decimal degrees map, so it could be useful for finding a more exact location.  

Figure 7: The final decimal degrees navigation map.  

Figure 7 shows the final decimal degrees navigation map.  It has slightly larger grid areas that are rectangular, and could be useful as a map for a general area that is not quite as specific as the other map.  It slits the area into larger areas, but can also utilize the imagery in the map to locate land features. 

Conclusion
There are several ways a navigation map can be created and displayed.  The final product should be functional and should pertain to the intended use of the navigation activity.  The final map results from this activity demonstrate only a couple variations of elements that could be included in this type of map.  Other things like contour lines, hillshade, etc. could help show the terrain and slope of the landscape better, or other types of basemaps could show characteristics of the land that may not be captured in the imagery basemap.