Meeting with Client 10-14-2013

Monday, October 14th, 2013

Hello Everybody,

         Today the I met up with the client, Ronald Peter of the Otter Pond Club, to discuss some of the more technical aspects of the project and more specifically the project proposal. During this meeting we made additions and edits to the rough proposal to be included in the final draft/MoU. We came to an agreement of what should be included in the final deliverables and by what time they should be produced.

During this meeting I also received a raster base map that outlines the property of the Club. Ronald was able to acquire this property survey map from the Essex County Clerk office. By the end of this week, most likely by Friday (10-25-2013) I plan to have rough map created using the raster basemap acquired from the client by georeferencing it to an aerial basemap supplied by ArcGIS.  A post including the rough map will follow in the coming days.


Below you can observe the raster base map that I obtained from the client.

(Source: Essex County Clerk Office)

GIS Applications Project Proposal

Otter Pond Club and Association Property Mapping

Overview

            The Otter Pond Club located up in Newcomb, New York is a private association of about 15 members. There are 12 paths/trails that each lead to cabins around half of a sizable pond called Otter Pond. Along the backside of the pond exists a walking trail that slightly runs parallel to the pond. Lastly there are various hunting and hiking trails that navigate through the club's approximately 800acre plot of land. This association is located about 2 hours away from Siena College in the heart of the Adirondacks.

            The President, Vice-President, and Secretary of Otter Pond Club are representing the remainder of the club's members as the clients for the project. Their Names are Kenneth A. Peter, Rick Wood, and Ronald W. Peter -in order stated before. We have and will continue to discuss and finalize what features they believe would be best for a map that would provide maximum utility for their club. This is of course give the limitations of my time to a certain extent as this is also a course project for just one of my semester's courses.

Objectives

            As of now we have agreed that I would definitely be mapping each cabin/camp trail. As well as the trail along the backside of the pond, and some a couple of the hiking/hunting trails. As of right now we are having open dialogue about the feasibility of me being about to plot the entire 800 acre property perimeter alone within the given amount of time. We should be reaching a compromise on what will be expected in the final product within the next week.  

Methodology

            To develop the map I will walk the property with a GPS device marking points every 4ft for each path being created. This applies to both the cabin paths as well as the backside trail, and hiking/hunting trails. A county survey map will be scanned and used to draw an approximate property line for the the Club.

Data Sources

            Some of the data layers included will be water bodies, roads,  and topography (for the map that doesn't use the aerial image). These will help lay out the surrounding features to the property and to display how the elevation changes across the land. The data sources that will or could possible be used are as follows;

• Essex County survey maps
• Online aerial maps
• ERSI 
• Possible watershed maps from USGS or like sources

Work Plan

• Week 1: Reach out to clients and begin discussion about the project.
• Week 2: Finalize features and elements of map that the clients would like included and in what formats they would like it in.Also acquire the county survey map of property perimeter/line.
• Week 3: Finalize methodology and pre-field assessment for the preparation of collecting data. Also create a draft map with available data sets and county survey map. Show this draft map to the client
• Week 4: Travel up to Otter Pond Club in Newcomb, NY to meet with client and begin recording trails and paths around the property with a GPS device. 
• Week 5: Compile GPS points in excel and load them into the GIS. Also scan or enter county map information so that it can also be compiled in GIS. Begin developing map. Create a new draft with collected data and present it to the client with along with the first draft map. Record their feedback.
• Week 6: Designing map and map layout. Include various additions and attention to areas brought up from the feedback about the draft maps.
• Week 7: Final editing of map and map layout. Show the client the finalized maps.
• Week 8: Prepare for the Presentation of the final product for class and client.

Deliverables

            There will be several final products for the client. There will be a large map -roughly 3' x 4'-, and an 8.5 x 11in. PDF version of each type of map, which includes a topographical map and a satellite based map. Each of these will also be created in color as well as in black and white. They will also receive a poster that includes the maps with information that describes its features as well as  various information about the process to make it and lastly other important information about the Otter Pond Club.

Below is a rough outline of the property of the Otter Pond Club in orange and a green marker to signify the general location of the clubs central loci.

View Otter Pond Club in a larger map