By Rhesa Lawrence
I’ve always heard about ArcGIS from my colleagues and Dr. Esprit from day one as a way to present our information to the public. During the process of previous research I have also encountered websites where ArcGIS has been used. This semester as we move across to a new site the opportunity to use the software has arrived. From just looking at the user interface I believed that using the software would be exceedingly difficult; however, after a couple of tutorials realization struck on how easy the software was to handle. Moving to the new site meant that all the work that was previously done- placement of important sites in each country- was now jumbled up. I was assigned the countries of St. Martin/St.Maarten and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. St. Martin/St.Maarten was easier to do than the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, maybe because it had less but also because the address point were more accurate than those in St. Vincent. My biggest challenge with that assignment was trying to make sure the points were as accurate as possible and that they depict the exact location of where the buildings or the national parks are. The only aspect of my assignment that is currently incomplete is the locating the different national parks and reserves in St. Vincent as well as populating ArcGIS with those points.
Furthermore, for the semester creating a syllabus for my topic ‘Culture, Heritage and Information’ was also part of my intern to-do list. It was by far the most challenging part to date. Conducting the research has shown me how little I personally know about my heritage and culture. I have also shown me how easy certain parts of my culture is easy to learn. For example, the local patois/ kweyol(creole), there are books at the Documentation Center which translate a lot of short creole phrases that we often hear our grandparents and parents say. The syllabus was interesting to me as it was the first time I have ever had to do something like that. In the future I plan on finishing the last of the location for St. Vincent as well as learn as much as I can with the time I have left at Create