Applied Geography

Archive for May, 2009

Digital Geologic Map of Oregon Completed

In Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 30, 2009 at 10:57 am

ogdc5Six Year Project Compiles 345 Separate Maps/Datasets and Covers 96,000 Square Miles

The Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) has finished a six year project to develop a digital geologic map of Oregon and to compile this geologic information into a database for the entire state. This completed map and data, the Oregon Geologic Data Compilation (OGDC-5), is the most accurate, complete and up to date geologic map in Oregon’s history.

By integrating the work of many individual geologic mappers into a digital data set, the compilation becomes a “living map” that can be accessed on many different levels and can change as new information is added. The data are stored in a geographic information system (GIS) format with links to a relational database. Knowledge of and access to GIS and database software applications are essential to the use of the DVD version of the compilation.

Also being released is Open-File Report O-09-03, Preliminary Digital Geologic Compilation Map of Part of Northwestern Oregon, by Lina Ma, Ray E. Wells, Alan R. Niem, Clark A. Niewendorp, and Ian P. Madin. This map displays simplified OGDC-5 data in a map format for this portion of the state.

While OGDC-5 is primarily for users of GIS, the data from the compilation is being used for the new Oregon Sesquicentennial Geologic Map, which is being created for a general audience interested in learning more about the amazing geologic history of Oregon. This map will be available later this summer.

Earlier versions of OGDC-5 are already being used throughout the state for projects and programs ranging from the identification of groundwater resources and the locations of naturally occurring hazardous materials to mapping landslides and earthquake faults.

“By using digital mapping technology we are able to present much more detail than conventional paper maps. We will be able to better assist in the understanding of a variety of environmental, resource-availability, geologic-hazard, and land-use planning questions,” said Vicki S. McConnell, State Geologist and Director of DOGAMI.

Young Scientist Recognized for Real Time Air Pollution Monitoring System

In Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 28, 2009 at 7:31 am

…from The Telegraph, Calcutta, India…

“The Delhi Council of Science and Technology, under the Delhi government, has conferred the prestigious Young Scientist Award on Neeraj Garg Baruah, a resident of Guwahati and student of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

“The honour was bestowed on Baruah in recognition of his contribution to the development of the NANO-GIS Concept which involves the use of Nanotechnology-based nanowire sensors and geospatial technology for real time air pollution monitoring system.”

GIS Helps Clemson Scientists Evaluate Soils for Holding Earth’s Surplus Carbon

In Climate Change, Education, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 28, 2009 at 6:55 am

clemsonSoils play a vital role in dealing with the environmental impacts of rising atmospheric carbon levels — primarily carbon dioxide — from natural and human activities. Clemson University soil scientists are studying soil types, ranking them on their ability to hold carbon and preventing it from returning to the atmosphere for eons.

The Earth’s carbon budget — its balance between carbon used for plant growth and excess carbon stored — is a dynamic process. As carbon is released through fossil-fuel burning and changing land use, scientists are seeking a more accurate understanding of carbon storage and cycling.

The Earth holds carbon in what scientists call pools: reservoirs of carbon stocks stored in and on the Earth and oceans as organic and inorganic matter. Simplistically, organic carbon compounds are connected to plants or animals while inorganic carbon compounds are often linked to minerals or rocks. Soil is second only to the oceans as a carbon sink: pools into which more carbon flows in than out. Soil scientists have a better picture of soil organic carbon — soil containing decaying plant and animal matter — than soil inorganic carbon. Scientists are now studying soil inorganic carbon, theorizing it may be a key area for forming and holding carbon, preventing it from returning to the atmosphere for eons.

A team of Experiment Station scientists from Clemson University and Virginia Tech analyzed the 12 major soil groups in the continental United States, ranking them for their potential ability to form new soil inorganic carbon based on average annual atmospheric wet deposition of calcium, or the amount of ionic calcium present in rainfall. The results were first presented at the Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting in November 2007 in New Orleans and recently have been published in the May-June 2009 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

The study evaluated average annual atmospheric wet deposition of ionic calcium from 1994 to 2003 in the continental United States by soil order using spatial analysis of ionic calcium wet deposition data obtained from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and the State Soil Geographic Database from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Using geographic information system (GIS) software, spatial data layers were developed and averaged to create a final iconic calciu wet deposition map layer. The total deposition per soil order was calculated by combining the final average ionic calcium wet deposition map layer with the generalized soil order data layer.

Results from the study revealed that the total wet deposition of ionic calcium was 8.6 × 108 kilograms, which would be equivalent to the maximum theoretical formation of 2.6 × 108 kilograms of carbon as soil inorganic calcium, barring losses due to competitive processes, such as plant uptake, erosion and deep leaching. The soil orders receiving the highest area-normalized total wet deposition of ionic calcium were Alfisols and Mollisols, non-arid soils that typically are associated with the “bread-basket” regions of the United States.

Research team member Elena Mikhailova, a soil scientist at Clemson who originally conceived the research approach, stated, “Formation of new carbonate minerals in soils — what scientists call pedogenic carbonates — represent a pathway by which atmospheric (carbon dioxide) can be sequestered. Maps of potential (soil inorganic carbon) formation and storage based on wet (ionic calcium) deposition can aid in understanding terrestrial ecosystem inorganic carbon dynamics and the way it can be manipulated to decrease (carbon dioxide) concentrations in the atmosphere.”

The research is part of an ongoing project at Clemson to study soil carbon, particularly inorganic carbon stocks, and its role in the global carbon budget. Studies will measure, profile and identify the soil carbon characteristics and regional distribution to understand conditions and develop predictive models for future soil inorganic carbon research.

CONTACT: Christopher Post, 864-656-6939, cpost@clemson.edu

Will We Decamp for the Northern Rim?

In Climate Change, Geography, Science on May 27, 2009 at 11:13 am

whatsnextLaurence C. Smith is professor and vice chairman of geography and professor of earth and space sciences at UCLA. He studies likely impacts of northern climate change including the economic effects in the Northern Rim. Smith has written an essay titled “Will We Decamp for the Northern Rim?” which has been published in Max Brockman’s new book What’s Next? Dispatches on the Future of Science, which came out today.

Will We Decamp for the Northern Rim?

By Prof. Laurence C. Smith, UCLA

“Already the impacts are obvious in the extreme north, where melting Arctic sea ice, drowning polar bears, and forlorn Inuit hunters are by now iconic images of global warming. The rapidity and severity of Arctic warming is truly dramatic. However, the Arctic, a relatively small, thinly populated region, will always be marginal in terms of its raw social and economic impact on the rest of us. The greater story lies to the south, penetrating deeply into the “Northern Rim,” a vast zone of economically significant territory and adjacent ocean owned by the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. As in the Arctic, climate change there has already begun. This zone — which constitutes almost 30 percent of the Earth’s land area and is home to its largest remaining forests, its greatest untouched mineral, water, and energy reserves, and a (growing) population of almost 100 million people — will undergo one of the most profound biophysical and social expansions of this century.”…

National Science Teachers Association Launches New Online Professional Network and Learning Community

In Education, Science on May 27, 2009 at 9:48 am

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) recently launched a new online professional network and learning community to help members enhance their professional development and growth as science educators. This network offers a unique graphical interface that connects NSTA members, conference attendees, and presenters with others who share similar interests, values, and professional needs. Initially, it places you at the center of a map or target, and shows how other members in the community relate to you. Use this to find others who share your experiences, or have expertise you need.

nstaFor instance, say you need help with “teaching strategies” and “data analysis.” When you get to the graphical interface, look to the quadrant labeled “I need help with…” and hover your mouse over the pins closest to you. These will represent individuals who share some or many of the attributes you used to describe yourself, plus they happen to have expertise in those two areas.

This network’s other central feature is the ability of all users to create groups related to particular categories, such as Conference Presentations, or Professional Interest Groups. Users can create a group on virtually any topic of their choosing, invite others with an expressed interest in that topic, and begin to exchange ideas and resources. The community also includes an internal messaging system, threaded forums similar to discussion boards, calendar events, and a place to post resources (documents of any type, slide shows, even images) for collaboration. As you begin to navigate the system, you’ll find the interface intuitive and fun. As you browse through the available groups, you can join any that appeal to you and begin to access their resources, join in discussions, and view and post calendar events.  Instructions on accessing the site for the first time are below. Once you have completed your profile (and the system guides you through this step by step), you are free to explore the groups, join them, download or upload resources, and participate in the forums. Your participation will assist us in making this an effective and useful tool.

Making a community work takes participation. We know that for many of you, that is reason enough to join, but we also know some of you need a little more incentive, so as the network grows, we’ll ask key contributors to take leadership roles in driving the conversations, sharing resources, and creating calendar events. Often there will be a “Question of the Moment” pulled from active groups and posted on your “Dashboard” for all the users on the system to answer and discuss. Facilitators of groups that are highly active will be recognized both from within and outside the community and potentially rewarded with any manner of NSTA or sponsor-developed content, supplies, and support.

Science 2.0 and GIS

In Citizen Science, GIS, Science, Social Science on May 26, 2009 at 6:33 am

“The potential of Web 2.0 to bring together the isolated knowledge, tools and people for successful research and development has inspired the term Science 2.0.

“Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technologies can be used to analyse information about specific geographical regions, such as neighborhoods, zip codes, cities, or counties. Advocacy groups can analyse campaign demographics to improve voter participation on key social services issues. Consumer rights advocates can use GIS to identify where services are distributed in an area in order to better advocate for access to service and improved service delivery.”

Applying Geospatial Technology to Global Design: Ethical Considerations

In Climate Change, Design, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Science on May 22, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Geospatial technologies are immensely important in helping us visualize physical and anthropogenic changes to earth’s climate and related systems, but ultimately their most valuable contribution lies in analyzing that change and supporting decision-making to help shape and design the future of earth systems in ways that are sustainable while still serving the purposes of humanity.  The principal goal of this blog post is to encourage a dialog on development of simple and actionable guidelines for ethical application of geospatial technologies for the purpose of analyzing, designing, and ultimately implementing purposeful changes to earth systems.

Before proposing a set of ethical guidelines for the application of geospatial technologies for supporting global design, it is helpful to look at some examples.  The review below presents some interesting and useful examples, but is in no way meant to be comprehensive.

A Note on Climate Change Ethics

Numerous papers and articles have been written about the “ethics of climate change,” their focus being primarily on humanity’s responsibility to the environment.  While such ethical considerations are important to communicate and debate, the focus of this blog post is not that humanity should be doing something to counter climate change but rather we need guidelines focused on the responsible and ethical use of technology in the shaping of decision making related to climate change.

Asmiov’s Laws of Robotics

In his 1942 short story “Runaround” in the book I, Robot, Isaac Asimov proposed his well-known three laws of robotics:

  • A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  • A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  • A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. (Asimov 1942)

Asimov later abstracted these same concepts and developed a second set of laws governing the design and use of tools more generally:

  • A tool must be safe to use.
  • A tool must perform its function efficiently unless this would harm the user.
  • A tool must remain intact during its use unless its destruction is required for its use or for safety.  (Asimov 2001)

Asimov’s laws transcended the realm of science fiction.  While we can apply some of what we learn from Asimov to the development of ethical guidelines for the use of geospatial technology in global design, the overriding theme throughout Asimov’s laws pertaining to both robotics specifically and tools generally is a focus on human safety without explicitly taking things like sustainability and the health of our planet into consideration.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

Taking the first part of its title from a Richard Brautigan poem in which Brautigan envisioned a future where nature and technology are inextricably linked in a mutually beneficial relationship, Adam Greenfield’s essay on ethical guidelines for user experience in ubiquitous-computing settings provides a useful example of principals that meet the dual requirement of being both useful and humane (Greenfield 2004; Brautigan 1967).  Greenfield’s five principles are:

  • Default to harmlessness.
  • Be self-disclosing.
  • Be conservative of face.
  • Be conservative of time.
  • Be deniable.  (Greenfield 2004)

Similar to Asimov’s laws regarding tools in general and robotics in particular, Greenfield’s focus is weighted towards doing no harm to humans, but still presents us with such useful concepts as transparency and reversibility.

GISP Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct

The GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) has established a Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) certification program for GIS practitioners who have met minimum standards for ethical conduct and professional practice.  The GISP Code of Ethics details a number of standards for obligations to society, employers and funders, colleagues and the profession, and individuals in society (GISCI ND a).  Their companion Rules of Conduct for Certified GIS Professionals is “a set of implementing laws of professional practice that seek to express the primary examples of ethical behavior consistent with the Code of Ethics.” (GISCI ND b)

GISCI ‘s GISP Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct present a set of detailed, comprehensive, and GIS-centric guidelines on the moral and ethical responsibilities of geospatial practitioners.  Responsibility for and to the health and welfare of natural systems is not explicitly stated by GISCI, but should be clearly affirmed in any guidelines for the use of GIS in climate change modeling and global design.

Proposed Ethical Guidelines for the Application of Geospatial Technology to Global Design

As the application of GIS technology as a cornerstone of a climate change modeling and global design framework becomes increasingly more obvious, what we need is a set of guidelines that meld the nature-centric ethics of climate change with other ethical systems focused on ensuring the health and safety of humanity.  The following proposed guidelines should be carefully debated in the geospatial and scientific communities; they should be considered a starting point for a long, important conversation.

  • Actions should minimize harm to both humans and natural systems. Harmlessness, or what some ethicists refer to as the “harm test,” is the common denominator across multiple ethical systems, demanding that actions preclude any type of harm to human beings.  This is a bone of contention with those at the far end of the spectrum in the climate change debate, who some might say seemingly value nature more than human life.  Even if the goal is sustainability while still serving the purpose of humanity, it’s difficult to imagine actions which in all cases would be mutually beneficial to both nature and humans.  But one major benefit of a GIS-based framework for climate change modeling and global design is that it provides the power to analyze multiple scenarios and design the best possible future, supporting the principle that actions should minimize harm to both humans and natural systems.
  • Analysis should be complete and comprehensive. Climate change issues are complex and demand an all-inclusive and wide-ranging examination.  All relevant aspects of physical, biological, and social systems need to be considered and represented.  Multiple data layers describing the intricacies of each relevant system, an array of sophisticated domain-specific models, and use of a GIS-based framework to tie everything together and evaluate multiple future options will insure that the analysis is both complete and comprehensive.
  • Actions should be transparent and defensible. Climate change issues are often ideologically and politically charged, and global design recommendations resulting from spatial analysis and modeling could have massive positive or negative consequences on human health and welfare and earth systems.  All research, analysis, and modeling needs to be objective, keeping with high standards of scientific integrity and following the scientific method.  Results—and the methods used to obtain them—need to be clearly communicated.  (GISCI ND).   All efforts should be taken to insure that the process is transparent, and the resulting recommendations are defensible.
  • Actions should be adaptable and reversible. Adaptive systems feature feedback loops for sensing and responding to environmental changes.   (Kosko  1993)  Allenby states that “…because the potential outcomes of each action become clear only as the system adjusts, the engineer is behaving unethically if she or he doesn’t monitor the results of the chosen action, and modify them accordingly.”  (Allenby 2005).  And while the goal of using a GIS-based framework for earth systems modeling and global design is to get the most comprehensive and complete picture as possible with current technology, it would be irresponsible to assume we know everything and lock in to an option from which there is no exit should things go horribly awry.  Therefore, all actions should be adaptable and reversible.

References

Allenby, Brad, 2005.   Micro and Macro Ethics for an Anthropogenic Earth.   Professional Ethics Report.  Volume XVIII, Number 2, Spring 2005.

Asimov, Isaac, 1942.  “Runaround”.  In I, Robot.

Asimov, Issac, 2001. Robot Visions.  12 April 2001.

Brautigan, Richard, 1967.  All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.

EDCC ND.  White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change. Collaborative Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change.    http://www.webethics.net/padova2008/doc/pdf/edcc-whitepaper.pdf

GISCI ND a.  A GIS Code of Ethics.  GIS Certification Institute.  http://www.gisci.org/code_of_ethics.aspx

GISCI ND b.  Rules of Conduct for Certified GIS Professionals (GISPs).   GIS Certification Institute.  http://www.gisci.org/Ethics_and_Conduct/rules_of_conduct.aspx

Greenfield, Adam, 2004.  All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Some Ethical Guidelines for User Experience in Ubiquitous-Computing Settings.  Boxes and Arrows, December 2004.  http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/all_watched_over_by_machines_of_loving_grace_some_ethical_guidelines_for_user_experience_in_ubiquitous_computing_settings_1_

Kosko, Bart, 1993. Fuzzy Thinking: The New Science of Fuzzy Logic.

Quote of the Day

In Design on May 21, 2009 at 6:45 am

“Design is the first signal of human intention … What is our intention as a species and how do we go about thinking about that?”
–William McDonough in his keynote speech at Greener by Design 2009

GIS Enables Malaria Management in India

In GIS, Science on May 20, 2009 at 12:45 pm

…from Science Centric…

“Aruna Srivastava and her team from India’s National Institute of Malaria Research worked with colleagues from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and the State Health Department to use GIS to pinpoint trouble spots for timely preventive action. She said, ‘This is the first time that GIS has been used in a national control program for tribal malaria. The system identifies hotspots from which malaria flares up every time conditions favourable for transmission occur.’”

New from ASPRS: Manual of Geographic Information Systems

In Books, GIS on May 20, 2009 at 12:41 pm

GIS_coverBy Marguerite Madden, PhD, editor
Foreword by Jack Dangermond, President, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI)

The Manual of Geographic Information Systems is the latest addition to the rich collection of ASPRS manuals. This volume is designed to be a comprehensive resource on GIS for students, researchers and practioners who are interested in asking spatial questions, assessing landscapes, building geodatabases, and envisioning a world of integrated geospatial technologies.

GIS Enters the Design Space

In Climate Change, Design, ESRI, Earth Systems Engineering, Earth Systems Management, Earth Systems Science, Environmental Science, GIS on May 20, 2009 at 7:27 am

By Matt Artz, GIS and Science Program Manager, ESRI

“Imagine if your initial design concept, scribbled on the back of a cocktail napkin, has the full power of GIS behind it. The sketch goes into the database, becoming a layer that can be compared to all the other layers in the database.”

With that simple yet powerful introduction, ESRI president Jack Dangermond launches in to an explanation of the convergence of GIS and design. Dangermond is truly excited about the possibilities. That’s why he chose “GIS: Designing Our Future” as the theme for the 2009 ESRI International User Conference, to be held next month in San Diego, California.

A GIS is a collection of hardware, software, and data for managing, visualizing, and analyzing geographic information. But what exactly is design? That depends on who you ask. A formal definition might explain how design is the process of planning or sketching the structure or form of something. Other definitions of design are more esoteric, yet much more descriptive. Charles Eames called design “a plan for arranging elements in such a way as to best accomplish a particular purpose.” Glen Lowery described design as “a bridge between the abstraction of research and the tangible requirement of real life.” And Gavin Heaton defined design simply as “applied imagination.”

Designing Our Future

So how does GIS play in the design space? Dangermond believes that the key to developing a true understanding of our complex and dynamic earth is creating a framework to take many different pieces of past and future data from a variety of sources and merge them in a single system. GIS is a sophisticated technological tool already in widespread use by planners, engineers, and scientists for displaying and analyzing all forms of location-referenced data about the health, status, and history of our planet. GIS enables a GeoDesign framework for analyzing, managing, and ultimately directing anthropogenic earth issues by allowing users to inventory and display large, complex spatial datasets. They can also analyze the potential interplay between various factors and design alternative futures, getting us closer to a true understanding of how our dynamic earth systems may change in the coming decades and centuries—and how we may thoughtfully and intelligently direct that change.

It’s not a stretch to say that development of GIS technology and the entire industry around it was profoundly influenced by the foundational work of landscape architect Ian McHarg. He popularized the overlay concept and laid the groundwork for what was to become GIS, taking a number of budding young landscape architects and geographers and changing their lives forever. “McHarg and I may have disagreed on some things, but we clearly shared the vision of using geographic analysis techniques to design a better world,” notes Dangermond. “Although we’ve made a lot of progress in building the technological infrastructure to help us accomplish this monumental task, we still have work to do.”

Design is art within the framework of limitations—limitations that arise as a result of function, world view, bias, and other factors, but also limitations that arise as a result of place. “Design considering place was at the core of McHarg’s beliefs, and it is the basis for our research and development efforts in the emerging field of GeoDesign,” notes Dangermond.

GeoDesign borrows concepts from landscape architecture, environmental studies, geography, planning, regenerative studies, and integrative studies. Much like GIS and environmental planning before it, GeoDesign takes an interdisciplinary, synergistic approach to solving critical problems and optimizing location, orientation, and features of projects both local and global in scale.

GeoDesign may be a new term to some people, but GIS and design have a long history together. And whether they realize it or not, over the last 40 years, many GIS professionals have been involved in GeoDesign projects. “To a certain extent, this is already done today by numerous GIS practitioners in fields like urban and regional planning and environmental management,” says Dangermond. “But GeoDesign makes this easier by making it an integral part of the workflow, both shortening the cycle time of the design process and improving the quality of the results.” Dangermond sees with great clarity a new focus on this synergistic approach, primarily lead by such pressing issues as environmental degradation and climate change.

What Is GeoDesign?

GeoDesign brings geographic analysis into the design process, where initial design “sketches” are instantly vetted for suitability against a myriad of database layers describing a variety of physical and social factors for the spatial extent of the project. This on-the-fly suitability analysis provides a framework for design, giving land-use planners, engineers, transportation planners, and others involved with design the tools to directly leverage geographic information within their design workflows. “Taking full advantage of geography during the design process results in designs that emulate the best features and functions of natural systems, benefiting both humans and nature through a more peaceful and synergistic coexistence,” Dangermond said.

GeoDesign involves three activity spaces: the work environment (where designers do their work), design tools (the tools designers use to do their work), and supportive workflows (how designers do their work). Having one of these out of sync with either of the others can impede the design process.

  • Work Environment—The work environment used by GeoDesign professionals involves the field, the desktop, connection to enterprise servers and databases, the use of document management systems, collaborative environments (both inside and outside the enterprise), and interaction with outside agencies and organizations.
  • Design Tools— GeoDesigners use a variety of tools to assist them as they create their designs. The most frequently used type of tool is the drawing tool. The particular type of drawing tool depends on the designer’s domain and whether the designer is working in 2D or 3D space.
  • Supportive Workflows—Most GeoDesign workflows are domain specific. Three workflows pertaining to the use of geographic information stand out, however, as being predominantly genetic: one related to land-use change; one related to the design, construction, and management of built facilities; and one related to the use of 2D CAD.

Meeting the Challenge

Integration of design tools with existing GIS functionality is important, but it’s only the first step. Dangermond’s vision expands the utility of GIS to the point that it is a foundational design system. As humanity comes to grips with its overwhelming impact on the natural world, we are also gaining a much better appreciation for our inextricable link to nature and how technology can help us make the world a better place. And with that, of course, comes an enormous responsibility—a responsibility made all the more gargantuan by the fact that we still have a long way to go toward fully understanding the dynamics of the various systems and developing a robust suite of comprehensive models and other tools to support the design of alternative futures.

“A better world is the common goal all of us—geographers, planners, scientists, and others—have been striving for,” says Dangermond. “We should be using our dominance of the earth and advanced technologies such as GIS to help evolve the natural world and make it better, not to ‘conquer’ it. Powerful anthropogenic influence over earth systems represents not just a huge challenge but an equally huge opportunity—not humans versus nature, but humans with nature.”

You can learn more about Jack Dangermond’s vision of GeoDesign at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference. Also, look for his upcoming article titled “GIS: Designing Our Future” in the summer 2009 issue of ArcNews.

Biologist Willie Smits to Speak at the ESRI International User Conference

In Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science on May 19, 2009 at 10:05 am

uc20091Attendees Will Learn How Planting Trees Has Helped Local Communities and the Orangutan Population

Indonesian biologist Willie Smits will deliver a Keynote Address at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference (ESRI UC) in July. Smits will share his inspirational passion for rebuilding forest habitats and orangutan populations. He will talk about a project under way in eastern Borneo that is helping communities by creating a better future for local people, trees, and the orangutan.

Smits is driven by the idea that rebuilding orangutan populations begins with improving their forest habitat, which had been damaged by deforestation. To this end, Smits serves as chairman for the Masarang Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to raise money and awareness in hopes of restoring forests and empowering local people. In 2007, the organization opened a palm-sugar factory that uses thermal energy to turn sugar palms into sugar and ethanol, returning cash and power to the community. The factory provides local people with alternatives to the short-term fix of harvesting forests to survive.

“My lifelong goal is to save as much as possible from our global environment for future generations by providing real-life examples of harmonious living in balance with nature,” said Smits on the Masarang Foundation’s Web site. “I also believe that we cannot save the environment if we do not simultaneously take care of the people’s needs.”

According to Smits, the project has successfully created more than 3,000 jobs; reintroduced bird, lizard, and primate species; provided food for the orangutan; and lessened both floods and fires.

“Willie Smits’ dedication to improving the environment to benefit his community and the orangutan population is incredibly admirable,” said ESRI president Jack Dangermond. “Attendees will feel inspired after hearing more about the project and the success it has achieved.”

The ESRI UC, the world’s largest conference devoted to geographic information system (GIS) technology, will be held July 13–17 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. The conference draws thousands of users from across the globe who come together to learn, collaborate, and discover the latest developments in GIS. The conference theme this year is GIS: Designing Our Future. To find out more about the ESRI UC and to register, visit www.esri.com/uc.

Towards a GIS-Based Framework for Climate Change Studies

In Climate Change, Earth Systems Management, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Science on May 19, 2009 at 7:42 am

“…a better world is the common goal all of us—geographers, planners, scientists, and others—have been striving for.  Although we’ve made a lot of progress in building the (technological) infrastructure to help us accomplish this monumental task, we’re still not quite there yet.”
–Jack Dangermond (Dangermond 2009)

A GIS-based approach to climate change studies provides a framework for understanding and addressing the entire breadth of climate change science issues in a holistic manner.  Scientists have long classified various phenomena into logical groupings or “systems.”  These classifications have helped greatly to advance the understanding of component physical, biological, and social systems, yet often create artificial boundaries between disciplines that can be detrimental to the understanding of larger issues.  While advancing the understanding of each of these individual systems is vitally important, ultimately we need to bring all of these systems together, to understand how they are interrelated and dependent upon one other.

Such a framework provides a base enablement system for global data management, visualization, analysis, modeling, and ultimately design.  In order to move climate change studies from a massive collection of unrelated or loosely linked endeavors towards an open, integrated framework, there are four areas we need to change: data, models, organization, and mindset.

Various frameworks and programs already address a number of the issues and challenges in establishing such a framework.  Careful review of the approaches to data, models, organization and mindset in these frameworks and programs will help us to identify concepts and components that can be leveraged—as well as gaps that can be filled—by a GIS-based framework for climate change studies.

The review below presents some representative examples, and is not meant to present a comprehensive inventory of such frameworks and programs.

Data

OpenStreetMap.  The OpenStreetMap project leverages volunteers to perform on-the-ground surveys with their personal GPS and other equipment to create a global base map that is freely distributed and can be edited by anyone.  The non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation provides support for the project, but does not “control” the project per se. 

OpenStreetMap is a model for creating a global data set by citizen volunteers.  Organizationally it provides a good example of a successful structure for managing the creation and distribution of the data, as well as maintaining quality standards.

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).  The notion of a system of systems for geospatial information was first suggested by the National Academy of Sciences Mapping Science Committee and was referred to as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. More recently, this architecture has been adopted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others as part of their architecture for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). GEOSS serves as a global framework for integrating the large number of global remote-sensing systems into a loosely coupled network available to many participants, providing decision-support tools to a wide range of users.

GSDI.  GIS has proven to be an important and reliable tool for management of spatial information at all geographic levels, from local to global. Over the past 15 years, a number of national, regional, and international organizations have moved towards a vision of building a Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) for the sharing of spatial data. The GSDI Association and its membership are responsible for promoting this framework, with a goal of mapping the globe at a resolution of 1 km or better, and including information on a wide variety of geographic features.

Models

Standalone and GIS-based Models.  An ever-growing number of models currently exist for abstracting, simulating, and understanding complex details of physical, biological, and social systems and subsystems (Goodchild 2005).   The domains of the individual modeling packages vary widely, from soils to hydrology, from socioeconomics to land-use transportation (Wegner 2005, Batty 2005, Maidment 2005).  While much progress has been made in recent years to develop models to help us to better understand our world, there is still much more to be done—especially in the area of integration.  As we gain more detailed understanding of different granular systems and their components, the challenge in addressing complex issues such as global climate change is coupling these models together to gain a more complete picture.  The combination of powerful hardware, sophisticated software, and increased human knowledge have all contributed to better models and more accurate simulations, but a GIS-based framework for integrating these disparate representations of past, present, and future states is key to understanding the whole earth (Maguire 2005).

Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) .  The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) is an open source collaborative project co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The goal of the ESMF project is to build “…high-performance, flexible software infrastructure to increase ease of use, performance portability, interoperability, and reuse in climate, numerical weather prediction, data assimilation, and other Earth science applications.”  (UCAR ND)

A key component is definition of an architecture for coupling together of disparate modeling systems, as well as providing support of new, framework-complaint models.  A core principle of the ESMF framework is the deconstruction of complex models into small components defined by standards such that they can be quickly and easily assembled in different ways to create new models.  However, ESMF is primarily focused on sharing of code and models, not data and workflows.

Organization

Climate Collaboratorium.  The Climate Collaboratorium is a project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Collective Intelligence in the Sloan School of Management.  The Climate Collaboratorium project aims to leverage new information technology and social media to bring together large numbers of like-minded yet geographically and socially dispersed individuals to collaborate on issues surrounding the global climate change debate.  Using what they term collective intelligence, Malone and Klein hope that this framework will “focus … on a possible use of such a system with a particularly high social return: drawing on the best human and computational resources available to develop government policies about climate change.” (Malone and Klein 2007)  The Climate Collaboratorium project hopes to show that adopting a framework that is decentralized yet carefully managed can be an effective method to approach large, resource-intensive problems such as global climate change. (Malone 2009)

Planet Action.  Planet Action is a not-for-profit collaborative initiative launched in June 2007 by Spot Image. Its purpose is to encourage the earth observation industry and professional GIS communities to address climate change by supporting projects that investigate and assess climate change environmental impacts in five areas of focus: human dimensions and habitation, drought and water resources, vegetation and ecosystems, oceans, and ice and snow cover. By assisting in and funding projects that will support understanding and action on environmental impacts, the Planet Action initiative hopes to strengthen international cooperation and response to climate change problems.

Planet Action projects must meet certain criteria before qualifying for support. Each project must assess climate change-related impacts and issues and initiate a course of action. Accepted projects must also incorporate good scientific understanding, resources, and methods. The Planet Action project is an example of private industry leaders coming together to tackle global issues usually associated with the realm of governments and NGOs.

CPDN and APS@home .  Citizen scientists are people who have a strong interest in some facet of science, but pursue this interest outside of mainstream academic, research, and industrial organizations.  These self-directed individuals might very well be using their own resources, working in their garages to develop “the next big thing.” But more often they are networked, working together with fellow citizen scientists. And this is where they become a powerful force to be taken seriously within the scientific community. Scientists, and “professionals doing science,” often are the ones organizing these citizen science networks; they realize the great value a group of eager volunteers can bring to a project.

A good, although somewhat controversial (depending on your belief in intelligent extraterrestrial life) example of a mass of volunteers carefully organized to work on an overwhelmingly humongous project is SETI@home.  As a volunteer, you download some software that utilizes the “idle time” on your home computer to scan through reams of radio telescope data and search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. If nothing else, it has served as a model for bringing large numbers of volunteers (more than five million participants worldwide) together to work collectively on a massive task.

Closer to home, CPDN and APS@home are two distributed computing projects with an earth science spin. CPDN is investigating how small changes affect climate models. APS@home is looking at atmospheric components of climate change. Although public participation in both CPDN and APS@home is not nearly at the same scale as SETI@home, the potential is certainly there.

Is there an opportunity for the citizen scientist to leverage geospatial technologies in their quest for knowledge, entertainment, and contributing to society? Absolutely. With the relatively recent arrival of powerful (and free!) geospatial visualization tools such as Google Earth, ArcGIS Explorer, and NASA World Wind, it is now easier than ever for the citizen scientist to have some fun with maps while making a potentially important scientific contribution.

Amassing large numbers of volunteers to work on geospatial problems such as climate change is already taking place as shown by the CPDN and APS@home examples. What is needed next is something at a much larger scale, where not just physical, but also biological, social, cultural, economic, and political data and models are integrated to give a more accurate depiction of the complexities inherent in the anthropogenic Earth.

First we need to create an environment that successfully brings together a plethora of data sources and modeling systems—a noble vision for GIS, but not something to be tackled by citizen scientists. Once the data and technology is in place, and a clear framework is established, then comes the opportunity to organize a large group of volunteers who would do the “grunt work” of tackling one of the biggest challenges facing us.

Imagine a framework where tens or even hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists log in to a web site and download geospatial data sets and work task lists, then using a focused desktop geospatial application they also downloaded, they run different analysis and modeling scenarios as defined in the task list…then upload the results of their analysis back to the main data repository.

If properly structured and managed, such a project could significantly advance our understanding of the planet. At this scale, it would be difficult if not impossible to pull off without the participation of citizen scientists. They are out there, anxious to help… just waiting for us to create the framework.

Mindset

Earth Systems Engineering & Management (ESEM).  The relatively new field of earth systems engineering and management (ESEM) concerns itself with the design, engineering, analysis, and management of complex earth systems. ESEM takes a holistic view of multiple issues affecting our earth—not only taking environmental, social, and other considerations into account up front in the design process, but also looking at challenges from an adaptive systems approach, where ongoing analysis feeds back in to the continual management of the system.  (Dangermond 2009)

Braden Allenby, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Arizona State University and one of ESEM’s founders, often emphasizes the undeniably dominant role humans have in earth systems. “We live in a world that is fundamentally different from anything that we have known in the past,” says Allenby. “It is a world dominated by one species, its activities and technologies, its cultures, and the integrated effects of its historical evolution.” (Allenby 2009)  Ian McHarg was already moving in this direction in the 1960s, and today we understand that it is even more important to emphasize the anthropogenic elements of earth systems. (McHarg 1969)  In other words, at this stage of ecological evolution, humans are a significant, if not dominating, component of the natural environment, and all problems need to be addressed and decisions made with anthropogenic elements in the forefront.

Allenby sees reasoned design and management in the age of the anthropogenic earth as our moral imperative, but the biggest obstacle to our success is that we are not set up to work, or even think, in this way. “We lack solid data and analytical frameworks to make assertions about the costs, benefits, and normative assessments of different … practices” (Allenby 2005). And this is why GIS integrated with design is critical to the success of approaches such as ESEM and other logical and rational models for dealing with the environmental and planning problems of ours and future generations.  (Dangermond 2009)

Anthropogenic Biomes.  Biomes are geographic areas sharing similar biological characteristics.  Anthropogenic factors are now a major, if not primary, contributor to biomes and other methods for classifying features and functions of earth systems.

The concept of anthropogenic biomes “offer(s) a new way to understand our living planet by describing the way humans have reshaped its ecolog(y)” (Ellis and Ramankutty 2007).  Conventional methods of representing biomes on maps are no longer applicable in an the age of the Anthropocene, and Ellis and Ramankutty note that ”[b]iomes derived from global patterns of human interaction with ecosystems may be a stronger model of global ecological patterns & processes.”

Anthropogenic biomes provide us with a framework for seamlessly integrating human factors in to natural systems, a necessary feature of an all-inclusive modeling framework for our planet.

References

Allenby, Braden, 2005.  Biomass Management Systems.  In Reconstructing Earth, 2005. http://www.lincolncenter.asu.edu/files/documents/centerprg_pacing_paper_metaphysics.pdf

Batty, Michael , 2005. Socioeconomic Applications. In D.J. Maguire, M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild, editors, GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, pp. 147–149.

Dangermond, Jack, 2009.  GIS: Designing Our Future.  ArcNews, Summer 2009.

Ellis, Erle C., and Ramankutty, Navin.  Anthropogenic Biomes: A Framework for Earth Science and Ecology in the 21st Century.  American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 10-14, 2007, San Francisco, California. http://ecotope.org/people/ellis/presentations/ellis_agu_2007_12_13_for_web.ppt

Goodchild, Michael F., 2005. GIS and Modeling Overview. In D.J. Maguire, M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild, editors, GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, pp. 1–18.

Maguire, David J., 2005. Towards a GIS Platform for Spatial Analysis and Modeling. In D.J. Maguire, M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild, editors, GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, pp. 19–39.

Maidment, David R., 2005. Hydrologic Modeling. In D.J. Maguire, M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild, editors, GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, pp. 319–332.

Malone, Thomas W., 2009.  Can Collective Intelligence Save the Planet? May 5, 2009 http://www.climatebiz.com/blog/2009/05/05/can-collective-intelligence-save-planet

Malone, Thomas W., and Klein, Mark, 2007. Harnessing Collective Intelligence to Address Global Climate Change.  In Innovations.  Summer 2007, Vol. 2, No. 3, Pages 15-26  http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/itgg.2007.2.3.15

McHarg, Ian, 1969.  Design with Nature.

UCAR ND.  About ESMF.  University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (http://www.esmf.ucar.edu/about_us/index.shtml)

Wegner, Michael, 2005. Urban Land-Use transportation Models. In D.J. Maguire, M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild, editors, GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press, pp. 203–220.

MAP ASIA Conference to be Held in Singapore, 18–20 August 2009

In Conferences, GIS on May 18, 2009 at 2:59 pm

mapasia09“GIS Development and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) have teamed up to organise Map Asia 2009, the largest geospatial conference. The conference and exhibition will be held from 18 – 20 August, 2009 at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. This will probably be the biggest gathering in Asia of the international geospatial community with an expected attendance comprising of geospatial professionals and practitioners across the globe. This is the first time that Singapore is hosting the Map Asia conference. The organizers are delighted that the Conference is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) under the ‘Business Events in Singapore’ (BEIS) incentive scheme.”

Masdar City: The World’s First Carbon-Neutral City

In ESRI, GIS, Green Technologies on May 15, 2009 at 10:28 am

uk“Masdar City will be a clean technologyresearch hub, designed to rival Silicon Valley. Commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, the city’s five and a half square kilometres will be home to 50,000 people, 1,500 businesses and some 40,000 daily commuters, and will strive to be entirely self-sufficient for all energy needs.

“Some 80 percent of water will be recycled. In addition to solar and biomass conversion, other renewable
sources of power under consideration include geothermal, hydrogen and wind. Biological waste will be used to create fertiliser, whilst industrial waste will be recycled or re-used.

“Read on, and you’ll see how Masdar and programme manager CH2M HILL use ESRI ArcGIS as part of its suite of tools to manage the complexity of one of the world’s most ambitious construction projects. You’ll learn how GIS helps technologists and planners increase energy savings and minimise carbon emissions during the build. You’ll see how cutting-edge “6D” GIS modelling is being used to track costs, schedules and carbon emissions, and empowering collaborative thinking for creative problem-solving. And you’ll discover how GIS will be used to underpin an automated, paperless asset management system when the new city is up and running, thus extending the city’s life.”

Implementing The Marine Life Protection Act Initiative

In Environmental Science, GIS on May 15, 2009 at 7:19 am

…from NewsBlaze.com…

“Stakeholders are making tremendous strides in their efforts to maximize habitat protection while minimizing, to the extent possible, economic impacts. I applaud their efforts working as a team to consider multiple viewpoints on how best to redesign MPAs in California waters; in doing so they are also using the best readily available data that is displayed in a GIS-based system on the Internet that is available to everyone, including the public.”

Dr. Daniel Sui Selected for National Academy of Science Mapping Science Committee

In GIS, Geography, Science on May 13, 2009 at 2:02 pm

Dr. Daniel Sui, a professor in the Department of Geography and holder of the Reta A. Haynes Endowed Chair in Geosciences, has been selected to serve a three-year term on the Mapping Science Committee (MSC) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. Sui will be the first Texas A&M faculty member to serve on the MSC.

“It certainly is an honor,” Sui said. “Work with GIS ( Geographic Information Systems ) represents a lot of my research, so to have any sort of role on this prestigious committee which is responsible for defining the nation’s mapping and GIScience research agenda is an incredible opportunity for me to serve my field of research and my colleagues.”

Sui’s work at Texas A&M has revolved around the evolving science of GIS. He has worked to integrate spatial analysis and modeling with GIS to develop socio-economic, public health, and environmental applications. Sui’s research focus is well-suited for the committee, whose members represent a broad range of the scientific community.

The MSC was established in 1987 and is currently sponsored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau. It oversees reports on geospatial science, technology, and policy, and provides a forum for discussion among a broad range of government agencies, professional societies, private companies, and the broader scientific community.

As a committee member, Sui will travel to Washington DC for meetings twice a year to discuss emerging issues of interest to the broader geospatial community, provide feedback on MSC studies, and to plan new studies.

Sui joined the College of Geosciences in 1993 as an associate professor. He earned tenure in 1997 and was promoted to full professor in 2002.

For more information, visit the MSC at dels.nas.edu/besr/msc.shtml, or visit Dr. Sui’s profile on the Department of Geography website at geography.tamu.edu.

Spatial Concepts in GIS and Design

In Conferences, Design, GIS on May 13, 2009 at 12:21 pm

design-pic-1To what extent are the fundamental spatial concepts that lie behind GIS relevant in design? To what extent can the fundamental spatial concepts of design be addressed with GIS? Is it possible to devise a curriculum to develop spatial thinking in both GIS and design?

To begin developing answers to such questions, a specialist meeting on spatial concepts in GIS and design was held December 15–16, 2008, in Santa Barbara, California. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the potential for integrating design more fully into GIS, as well as the development of curriculum in spatial thinking. This was one of an ongoing series of such specialist meetings organized by the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, over the past two decades. These specialist meetings combine a small number of context-setting presentations with ample time for discussion in plenary sessions, small groups, and informal social gatherings.

The meeting was cosponsored by NCGIA and ESRI and was attended by Jack Dangermond, Tom Fisher, Michael Goodchild, Carl Steinitz, Fritz Steiner, Ron Stoltz and a number of other representatives from education and industry interested in the emerging field of GeoDesign.

A full participant list, as well as position papers and presentations, can be viewed at ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/scdg/participants-scdg.php.

GIS Helps Identify Prime Stopover Sites for Migrating Birds

In Citizen Science, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 13, 2009 at 7:32 am

tnc_logo_2009…from PhysOrg.com…

“A legion of highly skilled volunteer ornithologists is helping a team of scientists to identify the best stopover sites for migrating birds in the southern coastal zone of Lake Ontario. The study specifically focuses on Neotropical migrants. These songbirds summer in the subarctic part of Canada through northern New York and winter in Central America and the northern part of South America.”

“The goal of the project is to produce a GIS-based tool that will allow the Nature Conservancy, Audubon and other conservation groups to focus on preserving the most important places”

Modeling of Natural Resources: Sessions at the ESRI User Conference

In Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Science on May 12, 2009 at 12:14 pm

uc20091Modeling of Natural Resources: Water

Wednesday, 15 July 2009, 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Room 29 D

This session will illustrate how GIS is used to prepare landslide susceptibility maps, determine runoff volume distribution, and create diagnostic maps of drainage basins.

Papers:

  • Investigation of Rainfall–Runoff modeling by Remote Sensing and GIS
  • ArcMorpho: An Automated Approach to Modelling Morphometric and Hydromorphometric Characteristics of Drainage Basins Using A Geographical Information System (GIS)

Modeling of Natural Resources: Habitat

Thursday, 16 July 2009, 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Room 29 D

Learn how GIS-built habitat models are being used to study the effects of man-made entities on forests and help with conflict management. This session also offers recommendations on using appropriate metrics in the field of landscape ecology.

Papers:

  • Modeling Species Habitat in the National Forests of Southwest Idaho
  • Compactness: A Comprehensive Set of Metrics and Rationale for Use

ESRI UC web site

Statistical Modeling: Techincal Workshop at the ESRI User Conference

In Conferences, ESRI, Education, GIS, Modeling, Statistics on May 12, 2009 at 11:50 am

uc20091ArcGIS Spatial Analyst – Statistical Modeling

Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., Room 1 A/B
Thursday, 16 July 2009, 10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Room 1 A/B

ArcGIS Spatial Analyst contains a rich suite of statistical tools for analysis and modeling. This session will explore the basic statistical tools contained in ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, such as moving window, local, and zonal statistics, and how they can be used. The session will also present advanced tools such as regression, multivariate statistics, and geostatistics. When more statistics are needed than ArcGIS provides, the session will touch on integration of 3rd party statistical packages.

Presenters: ESRI’s Kevin Johnston and Ryan De Bruyn

ESRI UC web site

Quote of the Day

In GIS, Quotes on May 11, 2009 at 7:05 am

goodchild“…analysis does not have to involve complex mathematical operations, but begins in the human mind as soon as the map is in view, because the eye and brain are enormously efficient at detecting patterns and finding anomalies in maps and other visual displays. GIS works best when the computer and the brain combine forces, and when GIS is used to augment human intuition by manipulating and displaying data in ways that reveal things that would otherwise be invisible.”

–Dr. Michael F. Goodchild

Regression Analysis for Spatial Data: Techincal Workshop at the ESRI User Conference

In ESRI, GIS, Modeling, Science, Social Science, Statistics on May 11, 2009 at 6:52 am

uc2009
Regression Analysis for Spatial Data with ArcGIS 9.3
Wednesday, 15 July 2009, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Room 1 A/B
Thursday, 16 July 2009, 5:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Room 1 A/B

Regression analysis is one of the most commonly used statistic in the social sciences. Ordinary Least Squares Regression (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) evaluate relationships among two or more feature attributes. By identifying and measuring relationships, you are in a better position to understand what’s going on in a place, to predict where something is likely to occur, or to investigate why things occur where they do. This presentation will cover basic regression analysis concepts, diagnostics, and workflow as they relate to the analysis of spatial data. Emphasis will be on Ordinary Least Squares Regression (the precursor to all spatial regression techniques) and Geographically Weighted Regression, both implemented in ArcGIS 9.3.

Presenters: ESRI’s Lauren Scott and Mark Janikas

ESRI UC web site

Schools Developing Future Scientists

In Education, GIS, Green Technologies, Science on May 11, 2009 at 6:36 am

…from the Bakersfield Californian…

“Then students got to ‘fly’ a bird in a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) program to locate the best place in the county to place solar panels.”

High School GIS Teacher Honored by State Geographers

In Education, GIS, Geography on May 8, 2009 at 7:25 am

…from the Santa Ynez Valley News…

“Santa Ynez Valley Union High School science teacher Chip Fenenga was surprised last weekend to receive the California Geographical Society’s Distinguished Teaching Award for his work teaching Geographic Information Systems at Santa Ynez High School in their Environmental and Spatial Technologies Program.”

Spatial Analysis: New Online Training Courses

In ESRI, Education, GIS, Modeling, Spatial Analysis on May 7, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Creating and Analyzing Surfaces Using ArcGIS Spatial Analyst
June 2, 2009
8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time

In this course, you will use ArcGIS Spatial Analyst to model a variety of real-world scenarios for more informed decision making. You will work specifically with elevation rasters and other data to model surfaces, evaluate results, and create a variety of maps.

Geoprocessing Raster Data Using ArcGIS Spatial Analyst
June 4, 2009
8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pacific Time

In this course, you will examine suitability modeling techniques using raster data. You will learn to classify, weight, and combine data to identify sites suitable for a specific use. In course exercises, you will work with ModelBuilder to implement a suitability modeling workflow.

Dynamic GIS Case Studies: Wildfire Evacuation and Volunteered Geographic Information

In Citizen Science, Conferences, ESRI, GIS, Science on May 6, 2009 at 12:34 pm

uc2009Advances in GIScience: Research Session 2
2009 ESRI International User Conference
Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Room 29C

Edward Pultar, Martin Raubal, and Michael Goodchild, UCSB Geography Department, and Tom Cova, University of Utah Geography Department, will be presenting the following paper:

Dynamic GIS Case Studies: Wildfire Evacuation and Volunteered Geographic Information

Incorporating the temporal element into traditional GIS is a challenge that has been researched for many years and has many proposed solutions. The implemented system “Extended Dynamic GIS” or EDGIS is based on the “geo-atom” and Space Time Point (STP). EDGIS provides a platform for spatiotemporal data representation, storage, and query in order to address the need for a dynamic GIS to manage complex geographic data types. The system has the capability of executing spatiotemporal object interaction queries (OIQs) such as crossing and coincidence of field-objects and object-fields. In this paper existing dynamic GIS analysis techniques are further improved and enhanced through exploration of more in-depth case studies. Further examined here are applications to wildfire evacuation modeling and travel scenarios of urban environments with individuals providing volunteered geographic information (VGI).

Addressing Climate Change through Collective Intelligence

In Citizen Science, Climate Change, Environmental Science, Quotes on May 6, 2009 at 12:24 pm

logo_mit-cci“We have a big project in the Center for Collective Intelligence on global climate change. We call it the Climate Collaboratorium. The starting premise is that many people would say that global climate change is one of, if not the most, important societal problem we face. And if ever there was a problem that needed the most collective intelligence we can muster, this would be one of them.

“So what can we do? How can we harness the collective intelligence of thousands of people all over the world and whatever computational resources they can take advantage of to help us humans figure this out?”

–Thomas Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management

    Indian Space Research Organisation Implements ESRI Software for Image Processing

    In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Imagery, Science on May 6, 2009 at 6:47 am

    isroArcGIS Server and Its Image Extension Will Be Used throughout the Indian Government to Integrate Data with New-Generation Images

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has reached an agreement with NIIT GIS Limited (ESRI India), ESRI’s distributor in India, to equip its five Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres (RRSSCs) with ArcGIS Server and the Image extension. The centers in Jodhpur, Dehradun, Kharagpur, Nagpur, and Bangalore use Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite and other imagery to create thematic maps and geographic information system (GIS) databases that provide valuable societal applications to various government agencies throughout India.

    With India’s success in remote-sensing technology through the IRS constellation, several new imagery-based and GIS-centric projects of national relevance are gaining visibility and importance. ISRO is presently implementing major programs related to natural resources, disaster management, environmental oversight, and groundwater and watershed management.

    The remote-sensing centers are establishing a distributed architecture of server-based solutions designed to be the foundation for publishing, hosting, and serving images and data. Over time, the RRSSCs have collected large volumes of map data and integrated them with attribute data. The centers plan to combine and assimilate all the data with new-generation IRS high-resolution images and serve the data and application sets across the government sector.

    The RRSSCs needed a GIS solution that met their needs and was scalable to meet growing demands for services from a large number of users for a variety of advanced applications. The centers selected ESRI’s proven technology and superior solutions after several rounds of technical presentations, demonstrations, and discussions. The RRSSCs and ESRI India have concluded a comprehensive training session, and RRSSC users have started developing the solution.

    Dr. Yvn Krishnamurthy, director of the RRSSCs, says, “ISRO users have been using ESRI products for a variety of applications, and many national programs have been based on GIS solutions. IRS imagery has been the source of thematic mapping inputs and provides end-to-end solutions under the umbrella of the National Natural Resources Management System. ArcGIS Server with the ArcGIS Server Image extension is a robust and integrated product and has capabilities that can meet our application needs of serving images and thematic maps to a variety of users. Our technical team is geared up to use these capabilities and develop solutions that will be unique and beneficial. We look forward to close support from ESRI in this endeavour.”

    Dr. Mukund Rao, president and chief operating officer at ESRI India, notes, “ISRO has been pioneering the use of IRS imagery and advancing GIS solutions for a long time. We are proud to be associated with [the organization] on this prestigious, first-of-its kind national project to serve image and map-based solutions in a GIS portal architecture. We value our relationship with ISRO and are committed in our support.”

    ArcGIS Server helps users connect people with the information they need via Web mapping applications and GIS services. It is built on a modern, service-oriented architecture. The ArcGIS Server Image extension makes it possible to take raw or pre-processed imagery and immediately deliver it as a Web service. It enables organizations to exploit the rich information content available in imagery and quickly access large volumes of imagery. This is far superior to traditional options that required significant effort by users to locate and make file-based imagery available.

    Organizations are moving to newer technology platforms because of their need to leverage imagery throughout their entire enterprise and the new capabilities available for working with imagery. “We provide some really remarkable and powerful new tools that enable things to happen in near-real time–things like delivering and displaying imagery, roaming around the imagery, zooming in to the imagery, and doing on-the-fly mosaicking and orthorectification of the imagery,” says Lawrie Jordan, ESRI’s director of imagery enterprise solutions. “Customers like this because they are seeing immediate benefits in terms of performance and the quality of their results.”

    ESRI India envisions that this new software deployment and implementation will serve as a key reference within all Indian government agencies, especially those that disseminate and/or consume imagery and imagery-related data.

    Citizen Science: GIS for Conservation Science Paper Session at the ESRI User Conference

    In Citizen Science, Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 6, 2009 at 6:37 am

    uc20091

    GIS for Conservation Science
    2009 ESRI International User Conference
    Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
    Room 32 B

    “Citizen Science is a generic name given to the different ways that volunteers and citizens can contribute to scientific data of all kinds. Ranging from birdwatchers to water quality testing, there are thousands of opportunities, and online GIS is playing an increasingly important role in the management, understanding and support of citizen science efforts.”

    Papers in this session include:

    WebMapping at the Nature Conservancy
    Danielle Conboy, the Nature Conservancy

    Distribution of Least Bell’s Vireo in Border Field State Park
    Andrew Fisher, EDAW, Inc.

    Interdisciplinary Research in Ecology using GIS Technique at Kimmes Tobin
    Donald Davidson, Mary Balcer, and William Bajjali, University of Wisconsin-Superior

    Society for Conservation GIS Conference, 18-21 July 2009

    In Conferences, Environmental Science, GIS on May 6, 2009 at 6:23 am

    The Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS) will be holding their twelfth annual conference 18-21 July 2009 at the Northwoods Resort and Conference Center at Big Bear Lake, California. This is immediately following the ESRI International User Conference (13-17 July 2009 at the San Diego Convention Center in California).

    scgislogo

    “The theme for the 2009 Society of Conservation GIS conference is Connecting across Boundaries. To achieve our conservation goals we are often challenged to work and connect across boundaries. These boundaries may be spatial in nature, and are often of human origin, such as the boundaries of parks and protected areas, national administrative boundaries (states or provinces), or international boundaries. But we also work hard to cross other boundaries that are not spatial but equally represent barriers that must be crossed as we work with local communities, government agencies and industry, requiring us to find ways to connect across cultural, religious, administrative, departmental, intellectual and frequently technical boundaries. Maps and GIS often provide the needed catalyst for us to connect across these boundaries to achieve positive conservation outcomes. We will take the opportunity to consider the challenges of working and connecting across boundaries for conservation, and the many other challenges we face as members of the Conservation GIS Community at our 2009 SCGIS Conference.”

    USGIF Offers $50,000 in Geospatial Intelligence Scholarships

    In Education, GIS on May 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    “In an effort to help further the advancement of the geospatial tradecraft, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) is dedicated to assist promising students interested in the geospatial sciences with scholarship awards.

    “USGIF hopes to inspire students who are interested in all that GEOINT has to offer to invest their futures in this incredibly exciting and relevant field of study.

    “The Foundation annually awards scholarships totaling more than $50,000 to current graduate and undergraduate students studying in fields related to geospatial intelligence and graduating high school seniors interested in pursuing this field of study.

    “The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 29, 2009.”

    Video: Geospatial Visualization and Analysis on the Touchtable

    In ESRI, GIS, Video, Visualization on May 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

    …from Wired Science on PBS…

    “The TouchTable looks like a giant iPhone that marries satellite imagery with other data sources. TouchTable, Inc. CEO Rocky Roccanova shows Ziya Tong how the device is used in intelligence gathering and law enforcement.”

    tt

    Contribute to the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Cookbook Wiki

    In GIS on May 4, 2009 at 7:03 am

    gsdi_logo“The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association (GSDI) has published the GSDI Cookbook in a wiki environment and would like to invite contributions to this resource from a broad community of geographic data providers and users. The GSDI Cookbook wiki provides the necessary background information to evaluate and implement existing components of SDI. The GSDI Cookbook including topics on data development, visualization, discovery, standards, legal and economic issues, community building, and case studies.

    “In light of the rapidly evolving technological environment that SDI operates within, we would especially encourage contributions and updates to the GSDI Cookbook in the areas of service interoperability, data discovery, and data visualization.”

    GIS Brings Better Government Transparency

    In ESRI, GIS, Visualization on May 4, 2009 at 6:52 am

    gtcoverChad Vander Veen at Government Technology magazine recently interviewed ESRI president Jack Dangermond, asking questions about the role of GIS in government transparency, smart grids, intelligent transportation, geospatial visualization, the Web, and more.

    The Geospatial Revolution Project from Penn State Public Broadcasting

    In Education, GIS, Video on May 4, 2009 at 6:44 am

    “Penn State Public Broadcasting is developing the Geospatial Revolution Project, an integrated public media and outreach initiative about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact.  The project will feature a web-based serial release of eight video episodes—each telling an intriguing geospatial story.  Overarching themes woven throughout the episodes will tie them together, and the episodes will culminate in a 60-minute documentary.  The project also will include an outreach initiative in collaboration with our educational partners, a chaptered program DVD, and downloadable outreach materials.”

    psu

    ISPRS and the ISPRS Foundation Make Three Awards to Initiate Scientific Projects in 2009

    In Education, Science on May 2, 2009 at 6:53 am

    ISPRS and the ISPRS Foundation have made three awards to initiate scientific projects in 2009.

    • Integrating Virtual Globes and Web Service Technologies for ISPRS Higher Education Teaching and Research
    • Establishment of a blogging, forum, and image sharing systems as part of the current ISPRS web presence.
    • Compilation of an authoritative, on-line bibliography on Terrestrial Laser Scanning with a methodology transferable to other topics.

    Sea-floor Sediments Illuminate 53 Million Years of Climate History

    In Climate Change, Environmental Science, Science on May 1, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    joides_peat1_f…from the National Science Foundation…

    “The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) drillship JOIDES Resolution is returning to port in Honolulu this week after a two-month voyage to chart detailed climate history in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The expedition was the first of two back-to-back voyages of a scientific project called Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT). It was the first international scientific drilling expedition after the JOIDES Resolution underwent a multi-year transformation into a 21st-century floating science laboratory.”

    Lidar Solutions in ArcGIS

    In ESRI, GIS, Imagery, Science on May 1, 2009 at 10:27 am

    pointfileinfomapcolorrampspacingClayton Crawford, Product Engineer in ESRI’s Software Products Group’s 3D Team.   He has been writing a series of posts on the Geoprocessing blog called “Lidar solutions in ArcGIS”.  These posts cover Lidar processing tasks and workflows, and will show how to manage these vast point collections and outline approaches for mining information from them.

    Here is a list of topics Clayton plans to cover, with links to the four posts already completed:

    CCSM Climate Change Projections Available for Download

    In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS, Geography, Science on May 1, 2009 at 9:20 am

    globalThe National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)’s GIS Initiative Climate Change Scenarios GIS data portal is intended to serve a community of GIS users interested in climate change. The free datasets of climate change projections can be viewed on-line and/or downloaded in a common GIS (shapefile) or text file format. Many 2D variables from modeled projected climate are available for the atmosphere and land surface. Climate change projections were generated by the NCAR Community Climate System Model (CCSM) for the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

    Earth System Grid: Climate Model Datasets as Community Resources

    In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS, Geography, Science on May 1, 2009 at 8:55 am

    esgThe Earth System Grid II (ESG) is a research project sponsored by the U.S. DOE Office of Science under the auspices of the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program (SciDAC). The primary goal of ESG is to address the formidable challenges associated with enabling analysis of and knowledge development from global Earth System models. Through a combination of Grid technologies and emerging community technology, distributed federations of supercomputers and large-scale data & analysis servers will provide a seamless and powerful environment that enables the next generation of climate research.

    High-resolution, long-duration simulations performed with advanced DOE SciDAC/NCAR climate models will produce tens of petabytes of output. To be useful, this output must be made available to global change impacts researchers nationwide, both at national laboratories and at universities, other research laboratories, and other institutions. To this end, we propose to create a new Earth System Grid, ESG-II – a virtual collaborative environment that links distributed centers, users, models, and data. ESG-II will provide scientists with virtual proximity to the distributed data and resources that they require to perform their research. The creation of this environment will significantly increase the scientific productivity of U.S. climate researchers by turning climate datasets into community resources. In creating ESG-II, we will integrate and extend a range of Grid and collaboratory technologies, including the DODS remote access protocols for environmental data, Globus Toolkit technologies for authentication, resource discovery, and resource access, and Data Grid technologies developed in other projects. We will develop new technologies for (1) creating and operating “filtering servers” capable of performing sophisticated analyses, and (2) delivering results to users. In so doing, we will simultaneously contribute to climate science and advance the state of the art in collaboratory technology. We expect our results to be useful to numerous other DOE projects. The three-year R&D program will be undertaken by a talented and experienced team of computer scientists at five laboratories (ANL, LBNL, LLNL, NCAR, ORNL) and one university (ISI), working in close collaboration with climate scientists at several sites.

    Planet Action Panel Discussions Scheduled for 2009 ESRI International User Conference

    In Climate Change, Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Imagery, Science on May 1, 2009 at 8:06 am

    planetactionlogoPlanet Action is a non-for-profit collaborative initiative launched in June 2007 to encourage the Earth observation and geographic information professionals to help address climate change-related issues. Planet Action was launched by Spot Image, and partners include ESRI, UNESCO, CNES, CRISP, DEFINIENS, DigitalGlobe, ITT, and NSPO.

    Planet Action will be holding two panel discussions at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California on Thursday, 16 July 2009.

    Session I: 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
    Session II: 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

    Location: Room 32 A

    With more than 30 ground station partners, Planet Action is truly an international effort. Come hear from a selection of our 85 grantees from around the world about their on-the-ground projects and how they have made use of their spatial technology grants from Planet Action.

    • Mario Hernandez, UNESCO
    • Peter Ndunda, Green Belt Movement
    • Aurelie Shapiro, WWF
    • Andrew Scanlon, Eco-Institute
    • Rosanna Rivero, Everglades Foundation
    • Pierre Duquesne, Brazil Spot Image
    • Dr. James Sheppard, Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES)
    • Nancy Briggs, Orangutan Foundation International
    • Birute Galdikas, Orangutan Foundation International
    • Leslie Bolick, Orangutan Foundation International

    ESRI UC web site

    Planet Action Day: 09 June 2009

    In Climate Change, Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Imagery on May 1, 2009 at 7:51 am

    r1956_3_logo_paday_170This year Planet Action is celebrating its second anniversary and will be holding the first Planet Action Day conference in Toulouse, France.  We look forward to welcoming all our partners, experts, project leaders, and more.  An exhibition space will showcase projects supported by Planet Action (posters and demos), as well as partners having contributed to the projects.  The evening session will be open to a broader public.

    GIS and Citizen Science: Volunteers Needed in Maryland

    In Citizen Science, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on May 1, 2009 at 6:09 am

    rivkeep…from Examiner.com…

    Patuxent Riverkeeper, with the assistance of its volunteers, strives to provide stewarardship over the Patuxent River watershed. Volunteers can participate in the following programs.

    • Citizen Water Quality Monitoring – In association with the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Biological Lab and the Morgan State Estuarine Research Center, volunteers are trained and supplied with water quality testing supplies and access to the online data collection system.
    • Patuxent Roughnecks – Hardy outdoors persons are recruited for mapping, hiking, surveying, planning and clearing sections of the Patuxent river. Their goal is to keep water trails open to paddlers. Efforts are coordinated with local landowners. GIS mapping has been improved dramatically by the Riverkeeper efforts.

    For more info and online volunteer application: http://www.paxriverkeeper.org/get-involved/volunteer/

    Tsunami Modeling and GIS

    In Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Science on May 1, 2009 at 6:00 am

    …from PopSci.com…

    “…boosted by technological advances in computing power, tsunami modeling, GIS, and NOAA’s DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis) network, researchers are creating a new set of tsunami inundation maps for coastal California. The maps are based on a computational code that calculates how a tsunami evolves over variable ocean depth and topography (surface shapes and features), and then computes the area that will likely be inundated by the tsunami.

    “As part of the mapping project, the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California is also evaluating several potential local and distant tsunami sources to determine which ones are most likely to cause destructive tsunamis in California.”