Wouldn't Want To Be Caught In This (GIS 4048- Applications in GIS)

Into Lab 2, we are working with information from the event that occurred on March 11, 2011 involving the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Our goal was to create a map of the nuclear evacuation zones in addition to the tsunami runup evacuation zones.

To begin with, a File Geodatabase was created to store all relevant outputs. From here, Feature Datasets were made, these helped store all the feature classes that not only contained the same coordinate system, but also grouped feature classes that were similar spatially and thematically.

Onto the map itself, the major components were created. In order to show the varying distances for the nuclear evacuation zones, a ring polygon file was created. From this, the number of cities along with the population in danger could be determined. Utilizing ModelBuilder, the runup evacuation zones were created. This was an interesting process, in that instead of doing everything manually, a tool was created to complete the process in one go. This felt similar to pseudo-code, in that everything was written out, but without the need to translate that into actual code. With everything created, the final product can be seen in the map.

This was the first map I've created that felt like it had a real world impact. With something as disastrous as the tsunami event, it can be seen how beneficial GIS can be in determining risk areas or evacuation zones for the safety of the population.