Lab 2: Applications in GIS

Lab 2 covered least cost path and corridor analysis.  To perform the least cost path analysis, I reclassified land cover, elevation, and the euclidean distance found around the roads.  Once the layers were reclassified, I needed to use the Cost Distance tool.  This tool finds the lowest cost path from each of the national parks.  To find the least cost path, I would need to use the Cost Path tool.

However, to determine the national park corridor, I did not need to use the Cost Path tool.  Once the Cost Distance outputs were created for both national parks, I used the Corridor tool.  The tool requires the two cost distance outputs.  Once the Corridor layer was added, I needed to adjust the symbology.  I had to determine a threshold for the corridor.  I needed to make sure the corridors were not too wide.  I adjusted the colors to include 3 levels, least to most suitable.  Least suitable is the lightest and the most suitable is the darkest.

Most Suitable Corridor