Exploring the Park's Natural Resources through Mapping!

I put together a simple map below using data from NYSDEC highlighting environment types within the park and a few unique geologic features to help establish a better sense of the study site! 


This was my first time using Google My Maps. Since I did not have access to GIS software on my computer this summer, I used My Maps as an alternative for completing this project. As someone who has taken several GIS courses, I found the interface a little confusing and less intuitive than I expected. For very simple projects where users are manually placing points or drawing polygons, it seems like a useful and accessible tool, but I found working with imported spatial data to be more difficult. The program does not handle traditional GIS file types as smoothly as other mapping software, and I ran into several issues getting my data into a usable format. I had to spend additional time reformatting files and working through data in Excel before it could be imported correctly. Even for a relatively simple map, the process ended up taking much longer than I expected. Overall, I can see how My Maps would be helpful for basic map creation and visualization, especially for users without access to GIS software, but I found it somewhat limiting and more time-consuming than I anticipated for projects involving existing spatial data.

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