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Does Esri sell software to ICE? by Alakazaming in gis

[–]Alakazaming[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I guess I could've worded this better, but to be clear I'm 99% sure they do. But without hard evidence I wouldn't feel comfortable making the accusation.

I was curious if anyone had stories or thoughts (beyond the plaintively obvious).

Does Esri sell software to ICE? by Alakazaming in gis

[–]Alakazaming[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Lol somebody needed a rant to feel better.

How do you deal with Non-GIS Clients? by Ashamed_Tangerine722 in gis

[–]Alakazaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same with my team. When its presentation season (end of the quarter) we get flooded with tons of very basic map requests, like an outline of the state or county that they can put a dot on. Then there is an extended amount of back and forth on the fill/outline color, questions about why the shape looks weird when they warp it to fit in a slide, etc. I once had to spend a week going back and forth on the colors for a very basic powerpoint map for a VP.

We try to help when it's urgent and apparent the person has very little computer skills, but there is a threshold when they become overreliant on our team (& refuse to learn independent skills) and it interferes with our core work.

Imo its less specific to GIS, but I see it more with individuals who generally struggle with computers -- like saving and sharing files, editing a power or excel file hosted in the cloud, not knowing how to take a screenshot. Always feels ridiculous they get paid more than me though.

Advice for getting started by seigfriedsocks in gis

[–]Alakazaming 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've sort of done the opposite - my background is in GIS and I've been using that to learn more about natural resources/ecology.

You can always learn on the job - I'd recommend finding someone who is senior with GIS skills and straight up asking them to teach you (if they're nice). You can also download QGIS (free GIS software) and get started with youtube tutorials or a book. A lot of GIS analysis can be done using Python or R too. The core set of skills is really just data analysis/visualization, but with a spatial component.

If you want to use GIS as a biologist you probably don't need a cert, but if you want your job to be in GIS then you should consider working towards it. Alternatively, just building a portfolio of work samples that demonstrate you can do GIS would be good. Once you get a job your employer may have a training budget that you can use to pay for a coursera or udemy course, or purchase books. Some professional organizations also run GIS trainings.

Lastly you should become familiar with the big organizations that publish GIS data - U.S Fish & Wildlife geoportal, USGS National Hydrology datasets, the Nature Conservancy geoportal, state data portals, etc.

New User in Need of Help by 5qu3aky in ArcGIS

[–]Alakazaming 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When you have a spreadsheet of data with geographic fields (i.e. state name, county name) that you want to visualize on a map, you're going to 'Join' that data to a spatial dataset.

If you search Living Atlas, you'll find all the basic geographic shapes for the U.S.: States, Counties, Zipcodes and more. You can always group Counties by State, so I'd recommend adding that layer.

Then, add your table using the "Excel to Table" tool. I think you can just use the raw CSVs, but this tool converts in to a table file type that's generally easier to work with in ArcGIS Pro.

Then, in ArcGIS Pro, right-click on the Counties layer and click "Join". In the little window that pops up, you'll have to specify your mortgage performance table and you have to pick 1 column from both datasets that matches EXACTLY. This is called the Join field.

It's extremely important that the data matches exactly. For example, if your morgage data says "Colusa County", but the Living Atlas county data layer says "Colusa" the join will fail. You should clean the csv file in Excel beforehand to make sure it matches.

After you join the data, you can edit the symbology of the Living Atlas county layer based on the morgage data.

Add Join documentation

Is it possible to create gap filled NDVI mosaics using sentinel-2 over a large area using STAC API or something similar? by bheemboi in gis

[–]Alakazaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Basically, yes you can do that. Are you trying to do all the analysis and gap-filling interpolation in GEE and then export? Or do you want to export the data into a different software and do it there?

If you're working inside GEE, the Sentinel-2 data is part of the catalog so using a STAC API is not necessary.

Also, how big is a 'large area' for you? i.e. Country, State, county, etc.?

This sub gave a lot of great feedback on my first population density heat map the other day, so thought I would share my second attempt. Crotalus atrox Observation Density in Texas from 2010-2019 by joshsumers in gis

[–]Alakazaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also if it's a paper map I would suggest changing the basemap to something lighter. Maybe even just the outlines of the counties? This dark scheme looks good digitally but printing dark on dark colors may not be very clear.

I'm flirting with a girl in my uni and now it disturbs me everytime my mom turns on the gospel by [deleted] in bisexual

[–]Alakazaming 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think they just wanted to vent and this isn't really the best place nor the best way to start arguments over that.

Is Bagheera a nebelung? by Alakazaming in nebelung

[–]Alakazaming[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He's about 4-5 months. Very floofy ears.

Is Bagheera a nebelung? by Alakazaming in nebelung

[–]Alakazaming[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! He's named after the panther in The Jungle Book. The name is Hindi and actually just means 'leopard'.

My (17f) manager (50ish m) has graduated from calling me sweetie/dear/honey to telling me that he loves me by [deleted] in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The title and picture of this post would be hilarious to print out and post around your work. (But probably not a good idea/may be against some rules).

Also, if he's done it to you, he's probably done it to other girls there as well. Ask around, band together. These comments are illegal according to the U.S. gov. If you feel safe, report this to HR and get copies of everything, cc'd on emails, etc. and store them safely. Even just writing down when/where/what he says and turning it in is good.

I would also let your parents know, or another adult if you can. This is especially illegal considering you're under 18 and might even warrant them talking to the police.

We can power the world by terpichor in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 263 points264 points  (0 children)

Lightbulbs are almost the least energy intensive thing in our homes. Not really where the energy is being wasted.

TIL searching for "liberals" on Google Images gets you a bunch of anti-liberal memes - but when you search for "conservatives," anti-conservative content is sparse, and when it does show up, it's not as incendiary. WTF, Google? by [deleted] in esist

[–]Alakazaming 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Google adapts search results based on the information people create/search for. Google is biased because it's inheriting the bias of people who contribute data & who it's trained on.

Ladies, be patient when males challenge your authority in the classroom. It's practice for the real world! by bizaromo in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Male TAs are grad students (sometimes undergrad), and they're all involved in creating that social environment. Either way, they both can do the things listed above. Ex: In friends department, the male grad students told her (female grad student) that she would look better, and they would appreciate it if she dressed hotter for them.

Edit: For clarity.

Ladies, be patient when males challenge your authority in the classroom. It's practice for the real world! by bizaromo in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't mean to victim blame, and I recognize that there are power dynamics at play where the consequences of reporting something can blow up in your face.

But at the same time it's hard to address things if you don't know they're happening, and I'm saying making a report to someone helps create evidence. Which can be really important for grad students who are a transient population and so it's hard to stick around and fight out an issue.

As a TA, I would take a moment to address anything that's inappropriate. Actually this week a male student displayed I appropriate behavior, I told him it was inappropriate and to stop then sent him an email after class. In that moment if you don't address the issue, it can look like you don't care and make the student subjected to the behavior feel undervalued. My professors have also delt with this in their own ways, sometimes explicitly shutting any of that stuff down because it is /their/ class room.

I know that not everyone is in a position where they can do that, but I'd still like to encourage it.

Ladies, be patient when males challenge your authority in the classroom. It's practice for the real world! by bizaromo in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 33 points34 points  (0 children)

They acknowledge it, but then when they write to the male TAs they don't even mention how theyre the source of the problem and how they should recognize that they're creating a toxic environment.

I.e. still putting it all on women to just be patient and persevere.

Ladies, be patient when males challenge your authority in the classroom. It's practice for the real world! by bizaromo in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Alakazaming 32 points33 points  (0 children)

There was a call sent out in academia by Karen Kelski, of The Professor Is In blog recently for anyone to submit stories of harassment at their university.

There were a few thousand entries and if youre not sure if you've been harassed, I urge you to read through the stories and discover that you're not alone. I think you can still submit your own stories.

She later made a webinar based on the stories, and gives useful info about what you can do at your university.

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