Lab 4 assignment

    After finished the lab assignment by using ArcGIS I can feel the great potential of this program. By following the tutorial guide, I learned how to create data frame, different layers and also different graph elements. At first, I was awkwardly looking for different things that the tutorial guided. Being more and more familiar with the program during doing those exercises, I can figure out some my own patterns using it. But I still can feel the complexity of different tools bar and setting variable properties also seems very complicated to a beginner.
    Although the interface of the program is not incredibly attractive, ArcGIS still gives the opportunity to create the visuals with some options for personal customization. By the end of final exercise, I was able to make my own choices about color, borders, map elements, and other basic customizations. Through this process of learning ArcGIS, I realized how much things I still need to learn about ArcGIS.
    From my point of view, I think ArcGIS’s advantage to other program like Google map is that it is more scientific in data producing. It reminds me the third lab assignment which is to make your own tourist route for others by using Google map. After experiencing those two different map programs, I think ArcGIS is more often based on data from the census and other governmental statistics, while Google Maps is usually used as a tool to communicate personal experiences through pictures, videos, and landmarks. So, ArcGIS was more useful and reliable than web based programs like Google Maps.
    ArcGIS contains more details and it is hard for a beginner to get started if without any very detailed tutorial. It is not very easy to use since it is much more complex than other program like Google map. Although I had done with the first lab by using ArcGIS, I was still not very skilled with it. Also, this program is very advance, but its improvements seem develop a little bit slow due to less competition. So, those are the pitfall for ArcGIS.