Applied Geography

Archive for September 16th, 2009

Spatial Statistics: What’s so HOT about Spatial Pattern Analysis?

In ESRI, GIS, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on September 16, 2009 at 6:48 pm

gpbheader[ This blog post was written by Lauren Scott, Geoprocessing/Spatial Statistics Product Engineer in the Software Products Group at ESRI in Redlands, and originally posted on the ESRI Geoprocessing Blog. ]

Hot Spot Analysis is just one of the pattern analysis tools in the Spatial Statistics Toolbox.  You can use these tools to explore spatial patterns in order to answer questions like:

  • Where are crime rates unexpectedly high?
  • Are there regions in the country where people live longer
  • Where do we find anomalous spending patterns?
  • Are there sharp boundaries between affluence and poverty?
  • Is the disease remaining geographically fixed or is it spreading?
  • Which features are most concentrated?
  • Does the spatial pattern of the virus mirror the spatial pattern of the population at risk?
  • Which site is most accessible?
  • Where is the population center?
  • Which species has the broadest territory?

To learn more about spatial pattern analysis, check out some of these resources:

University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Laboratory Named Center of Excellence

In ESRI, Education, GIS, Spatial Analysis on September 16, 2009 at 4:01 pm

uvtowerThe University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory, part of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, has received two prestigious honors in recent months.

The Definiens corporation, founded by Nobel Prize laureate Gerd Binnig, recently designated the lab one of eight international Centers of Excellence, based in part on the Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) assessment work the lab carried out in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service. The other seven Centers of Excellence organizations are among the most well-respected and well-funded remote sensing labs in the world.

In addition, ESRI, a leading developer of GIS software, last spring named the lab one of the first ESRI Development Centers.

Both honors have benefits for the UVM community. “The Definiens designation allows us to receive software with a commercial value of $80,0000 and gives us priority access to technical support and the ability to participate the beta software releases,” said Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, geospatial analyst at the lab. “Thanks to our ESRI Development Center status, all UVM students, staff, and faculty can now install full versions of ArcGIS on their personal computers,” he said. “A convenience in normal times, having access to GIS software at home will be a necessity if UVM is impacted by the H1N1 virus.”

“These are both truly impressive honors,” said Mary Watzin, dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “They are a testament to the international stature of the Spatial Analysis Laboratory, placing it among a handful of the most well-respected GIS and remote sensing labs in the world. The designations will also bring tangible benefits to UVM students, faculty, and staff.”

[ Source: University of Vermont Communications ]

Bayesian Modeling in Ecology

In Environmental Science, Geography, Statistics on September 16, 2009 at 2:41 pm

uwFriday Forum: Graphical models and Bayesian model in ecology: a meta-analysis application
Friday, September 18, 2009, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 PM
University of Wyoming, Ag C Building Room 316
Presenter: Kiona Ogle, Assistant Professor of Botany

This talk will introduce basic concepts of Bayesian statistical modeling. The concepts and methodologies will be illustrated in a meta-analysis application that synthesizes literature information on specific leaf area (an important plant “functional trait”) of 305 tree species occurring in the US. Graphical models will be overview as a tool for understanding relationships between different data sources, parameters, and latent processes.

GIS Supports DOE Awards for Studying Ocean Thermal and Current Resource Potential

In Environmental Science, GIS, Grants, Green Technologies on September 16, 2009 at 10:07 am

doeU.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that 22 advanced water power projects will receive up to $14.6 million in funding to advance the commercial viability, market acceptance, and environmental performance for new marine and hydrokinetic technologies as well as conventional hydropower plants. The projects selected today will further the nation’s supply of domestic clean hydroelectricity through technological innovation to capitalize on new sources of energy, and will advance markets and research to maximize the nation’s largest renewable energy source.

Among the projects awarded funding from the DOE, two involving ocean thermal and current resource potential have GIS components:

Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, GA) will perform an ocean current resource potential database, which will then be used to develop a web-based interface and GIS (Geographic Information System) tools for understanding the locations and practical amount of energy that can be extracted from ocean currents. DOE share: up to $500,000; Duration: up to one year

Lockheed Martin Corporation (Manassas, VA) will develop a GIS-based dataset and software tool to assess the maximum practicably extractable energy from the global and domestic U.S. ocean thermal resource and identify regions viable for OTEC and Cold Seawater Based Air Conditioning. DOE share: up to $500,000; Duration: up to one year

Update: Lidar Solutions in ArcGIS

In ESRI, GIS, Imagery, Science on September 16, 2009 at 6:56 am

lidar[Update: since first posting this back on May 1st, Clayton has added three new posts in this series.]

Clayton 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 seven posts already completed:

Interview: Carl Steinitz on GIS and Design

In Design, GIS, Interviews on September 16, 2009 at 6:43 am

cslargeESRI writer Jim Baumann recently interviewed Carl Steinitz on the integration of GIS and design, and we share a portion of that interview here.  Steinitz, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Research Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning, has been teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design since 1966.   His interests are reflected in his teaching and research on landscape change, methods of landscape analysis, visual quality, and landscape planning and design.  In 1984, he received the Outstanding Educator Award of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture; he also received the 1996 Distinguished Practitioner Award from the International Association for Landscape Ecology (U.S.A.).  In 1997, he was chosen by the student body to receive the annual Graduate School of Design Teaching Award.

Baumann: You have stated, “At large scale, you are dealing with strategy, at middle scale you are dealing with tactics and as small scale, you are dealing with details.”  Can you elaborate?

Steinitz: It is a generalization. When planning at regional scale, with changes such as new infrastructure, urbanization and conservation, or when looking at a regional scale plan, nobody cares if a village has two or three story buildings. When planning a village or looking at a village plan, nobody cares if the garden of a home has an apple tree or a pear tree. But when we were designing our garden, we preferred a cherry tree to an apple tree.  Focus is typically a function of the lens of scale.

Baumann: How can GIS best be used in relationship to design when considering these telescoping scales?

Steinitz: We need to be able to work at several scales of resolution in space and classification.

Baumann: At what point should GIS be introduced into the design process?

Steinitz: GIS does not have an automatic role. If it is to play a role, it must be considered as part of the process of ‘designing’ the methodology of any study.

Baumann: How can GIS be used more effectively as a tool in architectural and landscape design?

Steinitz: This depends on many things: e.g. computer technologies, intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces, relevant software, appropriate data scale(s), needs for analysis, available or adapted models, trained people, and even fear and mistrust.  The larger and riskier the design project, the more GIS is likely to be used.

Baumann: How would GIS tools that simulate dynamic processes be best used in the design process?

Steinitz: They can be useful in impact assessment when comparing alternatives, but would “best” be used in making designs—change models—iteratively, in immediate feedback interaction with impact evaluations.

Baumann: Would the development of a GIS data model for GeoDesign be feasible?  If so, what would be included in it?

Steinitz: Not “a” data model, but rather capabilities for very flexible data models to meet particular data needs in time, space, and classification to be adapted to meet the needs of any particular design project. This will only be useful if the methodological framework for design can USE the data flexibilities in its several stages.

Baumann: Does a digital environment/alternative reality like Second Life play a role in landscape architecture?

Steinitz: I am not a fan of Second Life and consider it a sad retreat from real life. However, it has a potentially useful software base and is of interest to researchers at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London where I am Visiting Professor, and at other research groups.  I expect it to be used more frequently to simulate projected designed environments.   It can be adapted to be the medium of design.

Baumann: Michael Goodchild recently posed the question, “If spatial dependence in the form of Tobler’s First Law—nearby things are more related than distant things—is a general and fundamental principle of geography, what is its meaning in design?”

Steinitz: I have no idea what it means in design. But I do know that more and more designers are NOT following this law, and that technologies are increasingly enabling real time multi-user collaborations in Web-space. I have done this in teaching and research for years, and not with “local” collaborators.

Baumann: What does the future hold for the use of technology in design?

Steinitz: We will increasingly see experimentation in participatory design methods that are technology-driven, and that directly link to data acquisition at the beginning and to constructing changes at the end.  Will the results be more “successful”?  Who knows…but one can try.

National Status of K-12 Earth Science Education, State by State

In Earth Systems Science, Education on September 16, 2009 at 6:39 am

…from the American Geological Institute…

“This site contains information on the current status of Earth science education in the United States. This information includes: K-12 enrollment numbers, teacher certification requirements, course requirements for grades 8-12, science content standards, grades in which science is assessed, textbook adoptions and more.”

Department of Geography and Geology Chair Position at Sam Houston State University

In Education, GIS, GIScience, Geography on September 16, 2009 at 6:38 am

shsuSam Houston State University seeks to fill the position of Chair of the Department of Geography and Geology beginning August 2010. This is a tenured position at the rank of Associate or Full Professor depending on qualifications. The successful candidate must have a relevant record of administrative experience and have demonstrated excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship. A Ph.D. in geography or a related field is required. The candidate will have expertise in geospatial technology that complements our existing mix of GIS, remote sensing, computer cartography and visualization skills, or other relevant geospatial technologies, that will support our new Master of Applied Geospatial Technology degree. The Chair will be a forward-looking leader, an advocate for the department, faculty and staff, able to maintain the strong connections between the Geography and Geology programs, and remain engaged in and provide leadership for his/her areas of
research and scholarship.

The Department presently has 12 full-time faculty and offers degrees in geography (B.A., B.S.), social science composite – geography emphasis (B.A., B.S.), and geology (B.S.). The Department supports two GIS-related minors (GIS and GSS), maintains modern GIS and remote sensing labs, and possesses a broad range of modern field and laboratory equipment. Sam Houston State University, located about 70 miles north of Houston, is one of Texas’ fast growing universities with over 16,000 students and 79 undergraduate, 54 masters, and five doctoral programs.

Letters of interest must be received by December 1st, 2009 and will be reviewed until the position is filled. Send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, statements of teaching, research, and administrative philosophies, three sample publications, unofficial graduate transcripts, and the names and contact information (including email) of three referees to Dr. Donald Albert, Chair of Geography and Geology Chair Search Committee, Department of Geography and Geology, Box 2148, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2148. Voice: 936-294-1453. Fax 936-294-4203. Email geo_dpa@shsu.edu. SHSU is an EEO/AAP employer.

Earth Science Week: October 11-17, 2009

In Climate Change, Earth Systems Science, Education, Environmental Science, Geography on September 16, 2009 at 6:38 am

2009Logo_Small“The American Geological Institute (AGI) invites you to take part in Earth Science Week 2009! Being held October 11-17, Earth Science Week 2009 will encourage people everywhere to explore the natural world and learn about the geosciences. “Understanding Climate,” the theme of Earth Science Week 2009, will promote scientific understanding of a timely, vital topic: Earth’s climate.

“AGI hosts Earth Science Week in cooperation with sponsors as a service to the public and the geoscience community. Each year, local groups, educators, and interested individuals organize celebratory events. Earth Science Week offers opportunities to discover the Earth sciences and engage in responsible stewardship of the Earth. The program is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, the National Park Service, the AAPG Foundation, and other geoscience groups.”

Tenure Track Assistant Professor Position, Geospatial Technologies & Physical Geography, Elmhurst College

In Education, GIS, Geography on September 16, 2009 at 6:37 am

Full-Time Tenure-Track, Assistant Professor level, in Geospatial Technologies and Physical Geography, Elmhurst College, Department of Geography and Geosciences, Elmhurst, IL 60126. The Elmhurst College Department of Geography and Geosciences announces a full-time tenure-track assistant professor position in GIS/Geospatial Technologies and Physical Geography to begin at the start of the academic year 2010-2011. Elmhurst College is an affirmative action and equal opportunities employer. The College is a private, liberal arts based, four-year institution with eleven graduate programs offered, of approximately 3,300 students in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. It holds a rich tradition of teaching and learning dating back to 1871. Elmhurst College places its highest emphases both on excellence in teaching and in sustained and superior scholarship. The Department has strengths in physical geography, geographic information systems (GIS), cultural/human geography, and a connection to intercultural studies.

The successful candidate will be a PhD in Geography/GIS or a related discipline, (or ABD in Geography/GIS or related discipline), with an emphasis on Latin America as a regional specialty area. All candidates should have exceptionally strong teaching experiences and a record of excellence in scholarship and involvement in their discipline. The primary roles of the candidate will be to: 1) offer advanced courses in geospatial technologies/GIS; 2) coordinate the Elmhurst College GIS Certificate Program; 3) develop a successful, sustainable recruiting program for undergraduates in the area of geospatial technologies; 4) teach an upper level regional course on Latin America, and 5) teach introductory courses in physical geography and/or meteorology. The starting date for this position is September, 2010. The faculty member will teach a minimum of one or two sections of coursework in upper division GIS courses as well as two courses in introductory physical geography/meteorology per semester (a total of six courses during the academic year).

elmhurstInformation about the Department can be found at http://www.elmhurst.edu/~geo/ Applications should include: 1) an academic CV; 2) a cover letter that addresses teaching interests and speaks to curricular development in GIS and/or geospatial technologies; 3) evidence of teaching excellence, and 4) contact details for three letters of reference. The Search Committee will start considering applications immediately, and will consider applications until Spring 2010 before an official hiring in preparation for the 2010-2011 academic year. Please direct your submissions to Search Committee, Department of Geography and Geosciences, Elmhurst College 190 Prospect Avenue, Elmhurst, IL 60126-3296. Email submissions are welcome and encouraged. Please attach relevant documents as MS Word or PDF files. (E-mail: michaell@elmhurst.edu

Will Craig and Carl Reed to be Inducted into URISA’s GIS Hall of Fame

In GIS on September 16, 2009 at 6:36 am

The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) established the GIS Hall of Fame in 2005 to recognize and honor the most esteemed leaders of the geospatial community. To be considered for the GIS Hall of Fame, an individual’s or an organization’s record of contribution to the advancement of the industry demonstrates creative thinking and actions, vision and innovation, inspiring leadership, perseverance, and community mindedness. In addition, nominees must serve as a role model for those who follow. URISA Hall of Fame Laureates are individuals or organizations whose pioneering work has moved the geospatial industry in a better, stronger direction. The first class of inductees included Edgar Horwood, Ian McHarg, Roger Tomlinson, Jack Dangermond, Nancy Tosta, and the Harvard Lab. Gary Hunter was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006 and both Don Cooke and Michael Goodchild joined him the following year, in 2007.

Will Craig, GISP and Carl Reed, PhD will join this esteemed group during URISA’s 47th Annual Conference in Anaheim later this month.

WillCraigDr. William J. Craig is widely regarded to be one of the pioneers of urban and regional information systems and GIS.  He began as system manager and project director of one of the world’s first State-wide GIS—the Minnesota Land Management Information System. Since then he has become internationally known for his work of almost 40 years with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and for his dedication in promoting major national and global initiatives associated with data sharing, multipurpose cadastres, census data, spatial data infrastructures, public participation GIS, and the GIS code of ethics.

Professionally, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Minnesota and is a certified GIS Professional. He began his career at the University of Minnesota in 1967 and continues there today as the Associate Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. He co-founded University of Minnesota’s Master of GIS professional degree program in 1997.

He has been extremely active in the promotion of geographic information and he has held numerous key appointments including: President of URISA (1986-87); President of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (1997); President of the National States Geographic Information Council (2009-10); Chair the inaugural nation GIS/LIS Conference (1988); Chair of the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Geographic Information (1992-93); Chair of the MetroGIS Coordinating Committee (2000-02); member of the Mapping Science Committee of the National Research Council (2000-2005); and member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Land Parcel Databases (2006-07).

Will Craig has been a tremendous source of momentum and guidance on the development of ethics standards for the GIS professional community.  The GIS Certification Institute’s Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct are very much a product of his early work and consistent activity in this area.  He has contributed to countless conferences and seminars over the past 40 years as both a committee member and participant, not only in North America but also as an invited keynote speaker in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

He has been a champion of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS), starting with Citizen Access Day at the 1994 URISA Conference and culminating in his 2002 book Community Participation and Geographic Information Systems.  Between those dates and subsequently he produced numerous research articles on the nature of PPGIS.  He has inspired others to take up and extend that work in their conferences and research.

His outstanding dedication and professional service have been recognized by his peers with the URISA Leadership Award in 1989, the URISA Horwood Distinguished Service Award in 1993, the Minnesota State GIS Honor Roll Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, the University of Minnesota Academic Staff Award in 1998, and the Outstanding Service Award from the National States Geographic Information Council in 2007.

In summary, Will Craig has made an outstanding lifetime contribution to the promotion and application of geographic information to deliver better outcomes for society. Over the past four decades his activities have been such that he has developed a network of professional colleagues around the world who hold him in the highest regard. He has always had the ability to provide insightful and thoughtful comments when offering his views and he is considered to be a true gentleman of our discipline. For young professionals there could be no better role model than Will Craig and as such he is a thoroughly deserving nominee to the URISA GIS Hall of Fame.

carlreedDr. Carl Reed, the CTO and Executive Director of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Standards program, is a recognized geospatial technology visionary and evangelist. He is a leading advocate for the development and use of geospatial standards that enable the effective use of geospatial content and services anytime, anywhere. Reed has been a geoprofessional for 40 years.

Carl began his GIS career in 1969 while in university, programming an interactive GIS application for mapping meteorological observations. This application is arguably one of the first interactive mapping applications. In 1977 and 1978, he designed and programmed the Map Overlay and Statistical System (MOSS). MOSS was the first fully interactive, vector based GIS. By the early 1980s, MOSS was in use by dozens of Federal, state, and local agencies. MOSS was also the first open source GIS activity, predating GRASS by several years. Dr. Reed received his PhD in Geography, specializing in GIS technology and systems architectures, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1980.

In 1985, Reed led the GenaMap design and development team. GenaMap (originally DeltaMap) was the first commercial UNIX based GIS product. GenaMap had a number of technical firsts, such as the use of R-Trees for spatial indexing, continuous processing of tiled geographic databases, integrated vector raster processing, and on the fly projection and units transformation. GenaMap still exists and is used heavily in the location services industry.

In late 1987, at the request of David Schell, Reed led a project to demonstrate that seamless interoperability could be achieved between two disparate geospatial systems: GenaMap and GRASS integrated capability. This project convinced Schell that geospatial interoperability could happen. This work was a key factor in his decision to start the OpenGIS Consortium (now the Open Geospatial Consortium). Dr. Reed has worked on geospatial standards since 1994. Early on, he recognized that in order for the geospatial community to grow and prosper, the community needed standards that enabled interoperability and broke down proprietary silos of data ownership. In 1997, along with Allen Doyle, Reed convinced the OGC membership to focus their standards work on loosely coupled Web services standards.

Reed joined OGC staff in 2001. Since then, he has contributed to numerous international standards, including not only those of the OGC, but other e-business and Internet standards as well. To insure harmonization of geospatial standards across information communities, he actively participates in and collaborates with other standards organizations, including OASIS, NENA, ISO, W3C and the IETF. Reed was one of the original developers of GeoRSS. Currently, Reed is an active participant in the NENA Next Generation 9-1-1 activity. Reed has contributed to numerous geo standards, including the OASIS Common Alert Protocol (CAP), the location extension for DHCP, the OGC Web Map Feature Interface Standard, KML 2.2, GeoRSS, and the Mobile Location Platform API. Reed currently participates in numerous editorial and advisory boards, including the GeoWeb 2009 planning committee, is the OGC alternate to the GSDI Board of Directors, and is working on numerous book chapters.

In recognition of his contribution to the GIS industry, in 1996, Reed was voted by his peers as one of the top ten most influential people in the GIS industry.

For more information, visit http://www.urisa.org/hall_of_fame or contact URISA at 847/824-6300.

[ Source: URISA press release ]

Drawing Connections between GIS and Design

In Design, ESRI, GIS on September 16, 2009 at 6:33 am

cadalyst_logo…from Cadalyst…

“According to Mike Dana, business development manager for Wacom, an ESRI business partner, “The idea of geodesign is to take a fresh approach to the authoring and use of GIS data. . . . Can we give people a new set of tools to build GIS data? Can we make access to GIS data more intuitive?”"