Applied Geography

Archive for January, 2010

Spatial Analysis of Melioidosis Distribution in a Suburban Area

In Environmental Science, GIS, Spatial Analysis on January 29, 2010 at 4:02 pm

Epidemiology and Infection,22 Jan 2010

M. L. CORKERON, R. NORTON and P. N. NELSON

“Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis is associated with soil. This study used a geographic information system (GIS) to determine the spatial distribution of clinical cases of melioidosis in the endemic suburban region of Townsville in Australia. A total of 65 cases over the period 1996–2008 were plotted using residential address. Two distinct groupings were found. One was around the base of a hill in the city centre and the other followed the old course of a major waterway in the region. Both groups (accounting for 43 of the 65 cases examined) are in areas expected to have particularly wet topsoils following intense rainfall, due to soil type or landscape position.”

Surveillance of Mother-to-child HIV Transmission: Socioeconomic and Health Care Coverage Indicators

In GIS, Social Science, Spatial Analysis on January 29, 2010 at 1:34 pm

Revista de Saúde Pública, Dececember 2009; 43(6):1006-14.

Barcellos C, Acosta LM, Lisboa E, Bastos FI. 

“OBJECTIVE: To identify clustering areas of infants exposed to HIV during pregnancy and their association with indicators of primary care coverage and socioeconomic condition.

“METHODS: Ecological study where the unit of analysis was primary care coverage areas in the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, in 2003. Geographical Information System and spatial analysis tools were used to describe indicators of primary care coverage areas and socioeconomic condition, and estimate the prevalence of liveborn infants exposed to HIV during pregnancy and delivery. Data was obtained from Brazilian national databases. The association between different indicators was assessed using Spearman’s nonparametric test.

“RESULTS: There was found an association between HIV infection and high birth rates (r=0.22, p<0.01) and lack of prenatal care (r=0.15, p<0.05). The highest HIV infection rates were seen in areas with poor socioeconomic conditions and difficult access to health services (r=0.28, p<0.01). The association found between higher rate of prenatal care among HIV-infected women and adequate immunization coverage (r=0.35, p<0.01) indicates that early detection of HIV infection is effective in those areas with better primary care services.

“CONCLUSIONS: Urban poverty is a strong determinant of mother-to-child HIV transmission but this trend can be fought with health surveillance at the primary care level.”

Mohonk Preserve Offers Two Paid Summer Internships in Land Management and Scientific Research

In Education, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on January 29, 2010 at 1:22 pm

…from the Poughkeepsie Journal…

“To help college students preparing for conservation work, Mohonk Preserve will offer two paid summer internships in land management and scientific research. Each internship runs for 10 weeks (June to mid-August) and provides a stipend of $3,200. Housing is available. The application deadline is March 15.

“The Scheuer Land Management Internship is open to college juniors and seniors majoring in geography, planning, natural resource management, environmental studies, or a related field (GIS experience is helpful).”

U.S. National Agricultural Statistics Service Releases New Geospatial Data Products

In GIS, Imagery on January 29, 2010 at 1:16 pm

New Satellite Images Show Ag Land Cover for 2009 Crop Year

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) today announced the release of new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover across most of the nation for the 2009 crop year. The images, referred to as cropland data layers (CDL), are a useful tool for monitoring crop rotation patterns, land use changes, water resources and carbon emissions.

These crop-specific, digital data layers are suitable for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications. They can be used by agribusinesses, farmers, government agencies, researchers and academic institutions to study pesticide risk, epidemiology, transportation, fertilizer usage, carbon dioxide flux and other topics.

NASS produced the CDLs using satellite images observed at 56-meter (0.775 acres per pixel) resolution and collected from the Resourcesat-1 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), Landsat Thematic Mapper and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The collection of images was then categorized using on-the-ground farm information including field location, crop type, land cover, elevation, tree canopy and urban infrastructure.

For the first time, the CDL images are available for 47 of the 48 contiguous states. Data for the final state, Florida, will be available this spring pending the availability of certified farm data required to produce the images. NASS is also making available, for the first time, the New Mexico CDL for 2008.

The entire inventory of CDL products, including metadata and accuracy assessments, is available online at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Geospatial Data Gateway: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov and at this NASS website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/Cropland/SARS1a.htm.

[Source: NASS press release]

Animals Populated Madagascar by Rafting There

In Environmental Science, Geography, Science, Spatial Analysis on January 29, 2010 at 1:06 pm

…from Purdue University News Service…

“How did the lemurs, flying foxes and narrow-striped mongooses get to the large, isolated island of Madagascar sometime after 65 million years ago?

“A pair of scientists say their research confirms the longstanding idea that the animals hitched rides on natural rafts blown out to sea.

“The raft hypothesis has always been the most plausible, says Anne Yoder, director of the Duke University Lemur Center. She specializes in using molecular biogenetic techniques and geospatial analysis to examine the evolutionary history of Madagascar. But Ali and Huber’s study now puts hard data behind it, says the Duke professor of biology, biological anthropology and anatomy.”

Reforestation Planning using Bayesian Networks

In Environmental Science, GIS, Statistics on January 29, 2010 at 10:59 am

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 11, November 2009, Pages 1285-1292

C. Ordóñez Galán, J.M. Matías, T. Rivas, and F.G. Bastante

“The aim of this research was to construct a reforestation model for woodland located in the basin of the river Liébana (NW Spain). This is essentially a pattern recognition problem: the class labels are types of woodland, and the variables for each point are environmental coordinates (referring to altitude, slope, rainfall, lithology, etc.). The model trained using data for existing wooded areas will serve as a guideline for the reforestation of deforested areas. Nonetheless, with a view to tackling reforestation from a more informed perspective, of interest is an interpretable model of relationships existing not just between woodland type and environmental variables but also between and among the environmental variables themselves. For this reason we used Bayesian networks, as a tool that is capable of constructing a causal model of the relationships existing between all the variables represented in the model. The prediction results obtained were compared with those for classical linear techniques, neural networks and support vector machines.”

GIS for Renewable Energy: New GIS Best Practices e-Book

In Books, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 29, 2010 at 10:50 am

“Faced with grim predictions of energy supply and consumption, humankind is responding with tremendous efforts to capture and cultivate renewable resources. We are looking to help sustain ourselves using wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass energy. We are also searching for cleaner, smarter, and more conscientious methods of energy production, transmission, and distribution.

“GIS technology is supporting and underlying the progress of this monumental change. GIS is not only improving the way we produce and deliver energy, it is changing the way we view our earth’s resources.”

Groundwater Rights in Mexican Agriculture: Spatial Distribution and Demographic Determinants

In Geography, Social Science, Spatial Analysis on January 29, 2010 at 8:53 am

The Professional Geographer, Volume 62, Issue 1 February 2010 , pages 1 – 15

Christopher A. Scott;  Sandy Dall’erba; Rolando Diacuteaz Caravantes

“Groundwater use intensity and aquifer depletion increase from south to north with decreasing rainfall and increasing economic activity in Mexico. To heighten scholarly understanding and offer new insights that strengthen policy responses to aquifer depletion, we analyze the spatial distribution of agricultural groundwater use from irrigation well titles in 2,429 municipalities and its relation to agricultural surface water and population employed in agriculture. Exploratory spatial data analysis reveals spatial dependence among all three variables implying that policy initiatives to address intensive groundwater use must be targeted at clusters of aquifers and municipalities.”

Darkness on the Edge of Town: Mapping Urban and Peri-Urban Australia Using Nighttime Satellite Imagery

In Geography, Imagery on January 29, 2010 at 8:41 am

The Professional Geographer, Volume 62, Issue 1 February 2010 , pages 119 – 133

Paul C. Sutton; Andrew R. Goetz; Stephen Fildes; Clive Forster; Tilottama Ghosh

“This article explores the use of nighttime satellite imagery for mapping urban and peri-urban areas of Australia. A population-weighted measure of urban sprawl is used to characterize relative levels of sprawl for Australia’s urban areas. In addition, the expansive areas of low light surrounding most major metropolitan areas are used to map the urban-bush interface of exurban land use. Our findings suggest that 82 percent of the Australian population lives in urban areas, 15 percent live in peri-urban or exurban areas, and 3 percent live in rural areas. This represents a significantly more concentrated human settlement pattern than presently exists in the United States.”

Comparison of Interpolation Methods for Depth to Groundwater and its Temporal and Spatial Variations in the Minqin Oasis of Northwest China

In Environmental Science, GIS, Statistics, Temporal Analysis on January 29, 2010 at 8:22 am

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 1163-1170

Yue Sun, Shaozhong Kang, Fusheng Li, and Lu Zhang

“Severe water shortages and dramatic declines in groundwater levels have resulted in environmental deterioration in the Minqin oasis, an arid region of northwest China. Understanding temporal and spatial variations in the depth to groundwater in the region is important for developing management strategies. Depth to groundwater records for 48 observation wells in the Minqin oasis were available for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, allowing us to compare three different interpolation methods based on three selected years (1981, 1990, 2002) as starting points. The three methods were inverse distance weighting (IDW), radial basis function (RBF), and kriging (including ordinary kriging (OK), simple kriging (SK), and universal kriging (UK)). Cross-validation was applied to evaluate the accuracy of the various methods, and two indices – the correlation coefficient (R2) and the root mean squared error (RMSE) – were used to compare the interpolation methods. Another two indices – deviation of estimation errors (σ) and 95% prediction interval (95 PPI) – were used to assess prediction errors. Comparison of interpolated values with observed values indicates that simple kriging is the optimal method for interpolating depth to groundwater in this region: it had the lowest standard deviation of estimation errors and smallest 95% prediction interval (95 PPI). By using the simple kriging method and an autoregressive model for depth to groundwater based on the data from 1981 to 2003, this work revealed systematic temporal and spatial variations in the depth to groundwater in the Minqin oasis. The water table has declined rapidly over the past 22 years, with the average depth to groundwater increasing from 4.95 m in 1981 to 14.07 m in 2002. We attribute the decline in the water table to excessive extraction and to decreases in irrigation channel leakage.”

Mapping Change in Large Networks

In Environmental Science, Geography, Science, Social Science on January 29, 2010 at 8:20 am

Rosvall M, Bergstrom CT

PLoS ONE 5(1): e8694. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008694, January 27, 2010

“Change is a fundamental ingredient of interaction patterns in biology, technology, the economy, and science itself: Interactions within and between organisms change; transportation patterns by air, land, and sea all change; the global financial flow changes; and the frontiers of scientific research change. Networks and clustering methods have become important tools to comprehend instances of these large-scale structures, but without methods to distinguish between real trends and noisy data, these approaches are not useful for studying how networks change. Only if we can assign significance to the partitioning of single networks can we distinguish meaningful structural changes from random fluctuations. Here we show that bootstrap resampling accompanied by significance clustering provides a solution to this problem. To connect changing structures with the changing function of networks, we highlight and summarize the significant structural changes with alluvial diagrams and realize de Solla Price’s vision of mapping change in science: studying the citation pattern between about 7000 scientific journals over the past decade, we find that neuroscience has transformed from an interdisciplinary specialty to a mature and stand-alone discipline.”

Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium, 25-29 April 2010, Phoenix, Arizona

In Conferences, GIS on January 29, 2010 at 8:09 am

“The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) has created this unique forum to address the application of mapping technologies such as GIS, GPS, and remote sensing to emergency and disaster response. In response to a perceived need, GITA held the first ever Geospatial Dimensions of Emergency Response Symposium in Seattle, Washington in March 2008. The response was overwhelmingly positive in 2008 and in Tampa in 2009. In 2010 the symposium will once again bring together the worlds of emergency response and planning and geospatial technology April 25-29 in Phoenix, Arizona.”

Integrating the Climate Science Modelling Language with Geospatial Software and Services

In Climate Change, GIS, Modeling, Science on January 28, 2010 at 1:10 pm

D. Lowe; A. Woolf; B. Lawrence; S. Pascoe

International Journal of Digital Earth, Volume 2, Issue S1 2009 , pages 29 – 39

“Much consideration is rightly given to the design of metadata models to describe data. At the other end of the data-delivery spectrum much thought has also been given to the design of geospatial delivery interfaces such as the Open Geospatial Consortium standards, Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Map Server and Web Feature Service (WFS). Our recent experience with the Climate Science Modelling Language shows that an implementation gap exists where many challenges remain unsolved. To bridge this gap requires transposing information and data from one world view of geospatial climate data to another. Some of the issues include: the loss of information in mapping to a common information model, the need to create ‘views’ onto file-based storage, and the need to map onto an appropriate delivery interface (as with the choice between WFS and WCS for feature types with coverage-valued properties). Here we summarise the approaches we have taken in facing up to these problems.”

Washington University in St. Louis Receives Grant for “Foundations of GIS for the Applied Social Sciences”

In Education, GIS, Social Science on January 28, 2010 at 10:52 am

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis has announced the recipients of its Community-Based Teaching and Learning Faculty Grants Program. Recipients for 2009-10 inlcude J. Aaron Hipp, Ph.D., assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. The grant will enable students to provide local community agencies with mapping services through the course “Foundations of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the Applied Social Sciences.”

More than 40 community-based teaching and learning courses are offered by schools and departments across Washington University. Also known as service-learning, key elements include learning activities in service to an organization or community, course content and assignments connected to the service, and faculty oversight.

The grants are intended to provide faculty members with financial support for curriculum development and implementation. The Gephardt Institute also offers technical expertise in key areas of community-based teaching and learning, such as reflection assignments, evaluation methods, and tools for working effectively with community partners.

Environmental Literacy Grants for the Use of Technology in Informal/Nonformal Science Education

In GIS on January 28, 2010 at 10:22 am

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

This funding opportunity emphasizes the use of emerging and advanced technologies in the area of informal/nonformal science education. Applicants are encouraged to make use of Web 2.0 technology: web applications which enable interactivity, information sharing and collaboration. Examples include web-based communities, social-networking sites, and blogs.

Also, of interest are projects that employ innovative use of hand-held devices for educational purposes, such as GPS or custom applications for mobile devices, as well as projects incorporating live video and data feeds using telepresence technology. The use of cutting-edge technology for data visualization, such as advanced/high performance computing, GIS, and advanced and/or innovative display systems, such as spherical display systems**, is also encouraged. Projects involving cyberlearning – teaching and learning interactions conducted through the use of these and other technologies – are appropriate for this announcement.

Funding No. CDFA: 11.008

Expected Number of Awards: 10
Estimated Total Program Funding: $7,500,000
Award Ceiling: $1,250,000
Award Floor: $500,000
Issue Date: Jan 26, 2010
Closing Date: Feb 16, 2010

Scientists Map Changes in Science and Beyond

In Science on January 28, 2010 at 8:48 am

How has the structure of scientific research changed over the past decade? A team of researchers from Umeå University, Sweden, and the University of Washington, USA, aims to answer this question and others in a study published on January 27th in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Using new mathematical tools, the authors have revealed major shifts in the structure of scientific research in order to uncover structural changes in large, interconnected systems. To illustrate the power of their methods, the researchers mapped changes in the field of neuroscience and were able to track how the field evolved from an interdisciplinary specialty to a full fledged scholarly discipline.

“We wanted to map changes in science over the past decade. To do so, we started with more than 35 million citations between the articles in over 7000 scientific journals. This network of citations represents the flow of information between researchers in the world and the results show that significant changes have occurred in the life sciences. Neuroscience has gone from being an interdisciplinary research area to being a scientific discipline in its own right, ranking alongside physics, chemistry, economics, law, molecular biology and medicine,” says Martin Rosvall, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Umeå University. This analysis has resulted in some striking images (featured in the article), which elegantly demonstrate the change in the discipline over time.

The key to understanding complex and integrated structures such as the scholarly research literature is to think of them as networks. In a network, the components of the system are represented by nodes, and the interactions between the components consist of links between the nodes.

“People have done a great deal of work on how to find the important features of a network at one specific point in time. But we have not had ways of looking at how these networks change over time,” explains Rosvall.

“Detecting structural changes in large networks is a problem that consists of two parts,” explains Carl Bergstrom, Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Washington. “First, we identify statistically significant changes in the structure of a network, and second, we provide an intuitive way to visualize these changes.” These new tools will be useful in understanding a world permeated with change. As the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus wrote over 2500 years ago: “Everything flows, nothing stands still.”

The researchers believe that these mathematical methods will go beyond analyzing science and will be applied to a number of other problems in fields ranging from biology and medicine to technology and finance.

This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study program cooperative agreement 5U01GM07649. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

[Source: PLoS ONE press release]

White House Science and Technology Advisor Dr. John Holdren to Keynote at ESRI Federal User Conference

In ESRI, GIS, Science on January 28, 2010 at 8:25 am

Dr. John P. Holdren, President Barack Obama’s science and technology advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will give the Keynote Address at the ESRI Federal User Conference (FedUC) on February 17, 2010, in Washington, D.C. He will address an audience of government leaders and geographic information system (GIS) professionals from all levels of government.

“The federal government is revolutionizing the way it uses technology to improve processes, make decisions, and strengthen democracy,” said Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. “Holdren offers key insights into the important roles that science and technology play in addressing the issues of our time.”

Trained in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, Holdren is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a foreign member of the Royal Society of London and a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, he was a professor at both the Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, as well as director of the independent, nonprofit Woods Hole Research Center. From 1973 to 1996, he was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he cofounded and co-led the interdisciplinary graduate degree program in energy and resources.

In addition to experiencing a compelling Plenary Session, FedUC attendees will explore how GIS supports critical government initiatives such as economic recovery, renewable energy, health care reform, the smart grid, and climate change during paper presentations, technical workshops, a special national security session, and lightning talks. FedUC will be held February 17–19 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Visit www.esri.com/feduc for more information.

[Source:  ESRI press release]

Integrating Case-based and Fuzzy Reasoning to Qualitatively Predict Risk in an Environmental Impact Assessment Review

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 28, 2010 at 6:54 am

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 1241-1251

Kevin Fong-Rey Liu and Chih-Wei Yu

“During the preparation of environmental impact statements (EIS) and environmental impact assessment reports (EIAR) for a development proposal, developers have three concerns. First is acquiring similar proposals for reference. Second is to forecast a possible review result for a compiled EIS or EIAR: approval, conditional approval, second-stage EIA, or disapproval. Risk management in accordance with the possible review result is the third issue. With the predicted possible review result, early preparation and revision of environmental management plans can ameliorate in advance highly risky nuisances; thereby the probability of passing review is relatively enhanced. In response to the first concern, Taiwan EPA provides developers an information system to access EISs and EIARs through the Internet. Except that, there is no related system to address these concerns in Taiwan. In this paper, the following suggestions of using artificial intelligence and management science are proposed to assist developers: case-based reasoning (CBR) for retrieval of similar cases, fuzzy reasoning (FR) for qualitative risk forecast, and importance–performance analysis (IPA) for risk management. Finally, a case study is used to demonstrate the use of the proposed system.”

Ecoregion Prioritization Suggests an Armoury Not a Silver Bullet for Conservation Planning

In Environmental Science, Geography on January 28, 2010 at 6:53 am

Funk SM, Fa JE

PLoS ONE 5(1): e8923. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008923, January 27, 2010

“In the face of accelerating species extinctions, map-based prioritization systems are increasingly useful to decide where to pursue conservation action most effectively. However, a number of seemingly inconsistent schemes have emerged, mostly focussing on endemism. Here we use global vertebrate distributions in terrestrial ecoregions to evaluate how continuous and categorical ranking schemes target and accumulate endangered taxa within the IUCN Red List, Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), and EDGE of Existence programme. We employed total, endemic and threatened species richness and an estimator for richness-adjusted endemism as metrics in continuous prioritization, and WWF’s Global200 and Conservation International’s (CI) Hotspots in categorical prioritization. Our results demonstrate that all metrics target endangerment more efficiently than by chance, but each selects unique sets of top-ranking ecoregions, which overlap only partially, and include different sets of threatened species. Using the top 100 ecoregions as defined by continuous prioritization metrics, we develop an inclusive map for global vertebrate conservation that incorporates important areas for endemism, richness, and threat. Finally, we assess human footprint and protection levels within these areas to reveal that endemism sites are more impacted but have more protection, in contrast to high richness and threat ones. Given such contrasts, major efforts to protect global biodiversity must involve complementary conservation approaches in areas of unique species as well as those with highest diversity and threat.”

Internship Opportunity: Using GIS to Assess Climate Change Impacts From Regional to Global Scales

In Climate Change, ESRI, Education, Environmental Science, GIS on January 27, 2010 at 10:13 am

Center for Climate Systems Research, Earth Institute/Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Assist the climate impacts team in research, analysis and presentation of climate change impacts from the local to global scales, with particular emphasis on the use of geographical information to determine fine-scale risk assessment and management. Current projects include climate change studies of sea level rise, health, water resources and infrastructure in New York City and New York State; water resources and agriculture in Florida and Central America; as well as agricultural production and food trade around the world.  We employ a variety of interdisciplinary models and work closely with stakeholders to identify vulnerabilities and develop flexible adaptation pathways.

Skills Required: Experience with ArcGIS Geographical Information Systems software, basic knowledge of climate change, ability to work in fast-paced team environment.

Using Ecological Null Models to Assess the Potential for Marine Protected Area Networks to Protect Biodiversity

In Environmental Science, Modeling on January 27, 2010 at 9:25 am

Semmens BX, Auster PJ, Paddack MJ

PLoS ONE 5(1): e8895. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008895, January 27, 2010

“Marine protected area (MPA) networks have been proposed as a principal method for conserving biological diversity, yet patterns of diversity may ultimately complicate or compromise the development of such networks. We show how a series of ecological null models can be applied to assemblage data across sites in order to identify non-random biological patterns likely to influence the effectiveness of MPA network design. We use fish census data from Caribbean fore-reefs as a test system and demonstrate that: 1) site assemblages were nested, such that species found on sites with relatively few species were subsets of those found on sites with relatively many species, 2) species co-occurred across sites more than expected by chance once species-habitat associations were accounted for, and 3) guilds were most evenly represented at the richest sites and richness among all guilds was correlated (i.e., species and trophic diversity were closely linked). These results suggest that the emerging Caribbean marine protected area network will likely be successful at protecting regional diversity even if planning is largely constrained by insular, inventory-based design efforts. By recasting ecological null models as tests of assemblage patterns likely to influence management action, we demonstrate how these classic tools of ecological theory can be brought to bear in applied conservation problems.”

Ghost Peaks Emerge from Antarctic Ice

In Geography, Imagery on January 27, 2010 at 9:22 am

…from National Geographic…

“Hidden miles beneath the surface of an ice sheet (shown in blue), the so-called ghost peaks in the middle of Antarctica are finally coming into view, researchers announced last month.

“Ground-penetrating radar results from 2008 and 2009 have made possible the most detailed images yet (such as the one above) of the Gamburtsev Mountains—and it’s a surprisingly serrated range, the experts say.”

Modeling China’s Energy Consumption Behavior and Changes in Energy Intensity

In Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling on January 27, 2010 at 6:55 am

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 11, November 2009, Pages 1293-1301

Hengyun Ma, Les Oxley, John Gibson, and Bonggeun Kim

“China’s demand for energy has grown to fuel its rapidly expanding industrial, commercial and consumer sectors. At the same time, China has become the second largest consumer of petroleum products having surpassed Japan for the first time in 2003. The environmental consequences of a continuation of these trends will have global implications. Government policies and consumers have become more environmentally aware, but the ability of governments to formulate policies has been hindered by the lack of data on inter-factor and inter-fuel substitution possibilities. In this paper Allen partial elasticities of factor and energy substitution, and price elasticities of energy demand are calculated for China’s industrial economy using a two-stage translog cost function approach for the period 1995–2004. The results suggest that energy is substitutable with both capital and labor. Coal is significantly substitutable with electricity and slightly complementary with oil, while oil and electricity are slightly substitutable. China’s energy intensity is increasing during the study period and the major driver appears to be due to the increased use of energy-intensive technology.”

Estimation of Stream Channel Geometry in Idaho Using GIS-derived Watershed Characteristics

In Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Statistics on January 26, 2010 at 9:11 am

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 444-448

Daniel P. Ames, Eric B. Rafn, Robert Van Kirk, and Benjamin Crosby

“This paper describes estimation of stream channel geometry with multiple regression analysis of GIS-derived watershed characteristics including drainage area, catchment-averaged precipitation, mean watershed slope, elevation, forest cover, percent area with slopes greater than 30 percent, and percent area with north-facing slopes greater than 30 percent. Results from this multivariate predictor method were compared to results from the traditional single-variable (drainage area) relationship for a sample of 98 unregulated and undiverted streams in Idaho. Root-mean-squared error (RMSE) was calculated for both multiple- and single-variable predictions for 100 independent, random subsamples of the dataset at each of four different subsample levels. The multiple-variable technique produced significantly lower RMSE for prediction of both stream width and depth when compared to the drainage area-only technique. In the best predictive equation, stream width depended positively on drainage area and mean watershed precipitation, and negatively on fraction of watershed consisting of north-facing slopes greater than 30%. Stream depth depended positively on drainage area and precipitation, and negatively on mean watershed elevation. Our results suggest that within a given physiographic province, multivariate analysis of readily available GIS-derived watershed variables can significantly improve estimates of stream width and depth for use in flow-routing software models.”

Mapping Whose Reality? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and “Wild Science”

In GIS, Geography, Science on January 26, 2010 at 8:48 am

Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 15, No. 4, 411-434 (2006)

Sally L. Duncan

“In taking the landscape-scale view increasingly demanded of natural resource management, scientific assessments make considerable use of geographic information systems (GIS) maps to convey the research findings they develop. Public interaction with scientists over natural resource management issues is therefore frequently mediated by such maps, which can directly influence how the landscape is viewed, and how science findings are communicated and understood. Analysis of the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS) project in western Oregon reveals that GIS maps play a significant role in how we frame and address natural resource management issues. They can support the role of privileged knowledge as held by the map makers, typically scientists, and may reinforce it by the de facto “map tyranny” that gives primacy to scientific worldviews. But they can also enable broader kinds of inquiry through multiple frames of reference, enhancing story-making opportunities for stakeholders. Which of these trajectories is followed is affected by resource availability and new perceptions of responsibility, each of which reflects social power structures. The CLAMS case study suggests that map user/non-scientists appear less likely to be victims of “map tyranny” the more familiar they are with the technology. Accordingly, they become more likely to push for usable results from it, and more confident about engaging their own knowledge with that of the map maker/scientists.”

Research Associate/Senior Research Associate in Satellite Navigation Signal Processing and Receiver Design, University of New South Wales

In Education, Science on January 26, 2010 at 8:18 am

POSITION 1: Research Associate/Senior Research Associate in GPS Interference Geolocation

The purpose of this role is to perform research and fulfill the School’s obligations under an ARC Linkage project “Locating Interference to GPS: Protecting the World’s Aircraft Landing Systems”. This project aims to design algorithms and equipment that can identify the location of interference using signal strength, Time-Difference-of-Arrival and Angle-of-Arrival techniques. The position reports to the Director of Research, Associate Professor Andrew Dempster who is the chief investigator for the project.

Main Duties:

  • design and run experiments requiring knowledge of GPS systems,
  • conduct field work,
  • design and evaluate effectiveness of algorithms,
  • collaborate with a large team of researchers and research students
  • liaise with the industrial partner, a local satellite systems integrator, and
  • write up results, to maximize the impact of the work through publications.

POSITION 2: Research Associate/Senior Research Associate in “System of Systems” Satellite Navigation Receiver Design

The purpose of this role is to fulfill the School’s obligations under an ARC Discovery project “Preparing for the next generation global navigation satellite system era: developing and testing user and reference station receiver designs”. This project aims to design algorithms and equipment that exploit all existing and proposed global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals.

The position reports to the Head of School, Professor Chris Rizos, who is the chief investigator for the project.

Main Duties:

  • design and run experiments, requiring knowledge of GNSS,
  • conduct field work,
  • design and evaluate effectiveness of algorithms,
  • work with other researchers and research students,
  • liaise with other researchers working on sub-sets of the relevant signals,
  • write up results, to maximize the impact of the work through publications.

More information [PDF]

Blast from the Past: ESRI Newsletter, September 1984

In ESRI, GIS on January 26, 2010 at 8:02 am

Crop Production and Road Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Analysis

In GIS, Spatial Analysis on January 26, 2010 at 7:59 am

Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) Working Paper 19

Paul Dorosh, Hyoung-Gun Wang, Liang You, and Emily Schmidt

February 2009

“This study adopts a cross-sectional spatial approach to examine the impact of transport infrastructure on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa using new data obtained from geographic information systems (GIS). Our approach involves descriptive statistical analysis and econometric regressions of crop production or choice of technology for each location (a 9×9 kilometer pixel) in Sub-Saharan Africa on (a) agroecological zones and crop production potentials by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), (b) GIS data on crop production from the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) spatial crop allocation model (SPAM), and (c) road infrastructure based largely on data from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and estimated travel times.

“We address three main issues. First, we analyze the impact of road connectivity on crop production and choice of technology when we control basic supply and demand factors. Second, we investigate the impact on agricultural output of investments that reduce travel time on roads of various types. Third, we provide an example of how this type of analysis could be used to construct benefit-cost ratios of alternative road investments in terms of enhanced agricultural output per dollar invested.

“We find that agricultural production and proximity (as measured by travel time) to urban markets are highly correlated, even after taking agroecology into account. Likewise, adoption of highproductive/ high-input technology is negatively correlated with travel time to urban centers.

“There is substantial scope for increasing agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in more remote areas. Total crop production relative to potential production is 45 percent for areas within four hours’ travel time from a city of 100,000 people. In contrast, it is just 5 percent for areas more than eight hours away. These differences in actual versus potential production reflect the relatively small share of land cultivated out of total arable land in more remote areas.

“For remote regions, low population densities and long travel times to urban centers sharply constrain production. Reducing transport costs (travel time) to these areas would expand the feasible market size for these regions, easing the constraint on production. If the expansion in production from these areas were small in terms of the relevant regional, national, or subnational market, average market prices outside the formerly remote region would be unaffected, and significant aggregate production increases could result.

“We find some interesting differences between East Africa and West Africa. On average, East Africa has lower population density, smaller local markets, and lower road connectivity—the average travel time to the nearest city is more than twice that in West Africa. While average suitable area for crop production is similar in East and West Africa, average crop production per pixel in East Africa is just 30 percent of that in West Africa. Road connectivity has different impacts in the two regions. In East Africa the results are similar as for all Sub-Saharan Africa. Longer travel time decreases total crop production, and reducing travel time significantly increases adoption of high-input/high-yield technology in East Africa, but the impacts are insignificant for West Africa. This may be because the more densely roads are connected, the smaller the marginal benefits of more connections. West Africa already has a relatively well-connected road network.”

Krigging as a Tool for Interpreting Structural Data: Exploring Spatial Analysis of Complex Folding on Seguin Island, Maine

In Science, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 26, 2010 at 7:51 am

Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section (45th Annual) and Southeastern Section (59th Annual) Joint Meeting (13-16 March 2010)

BABCOCK, Lori N., LIPIEC, Eva, BAMPTON, Matthew, and SWANSON, Mark T.

“Seguin Island, located ~12 km SSW of Georgetown, Maine and SE of the Norumbega fault zone consists of Devonian upright F2 anticlines and synclines, with complex parasitic fold structures. Ordovician Cape Elizabeth amphibolite gneiss and syntectonic granite dikes are exposed over the entire coast of the island. Structural data was collected in the NE zone of the western lobe where the folds are best exposed to assess the results of the spatial analysis of collected field data. Orientations of gneissic layering, axial planes, and fold axes were taken with a Brunton compass and recorded with handheld GPS. Gneissic layer lines were traced 2-3 m apart using RTK GPS and Total Stations to delineate the exact fold geometry, and interpreted extensions were digitized in the lab. The fold structures were found to be tight, SW-plunging with NNE striking axial planes, a wavelength of ~10m and amplitude of ~5m but can be highly variable with smaller scale parasitic folds abundant. Kriging, a spatial analysis technique that interpolates values between measured points was used to analyze the structural data. The results of kriging are based on a selected density of data points, or kernel, which best represents the entire set. Effective selection of these points requires knowledge of variations in the dataset. Strike and trend structural measurements were normalized to an 180o scale and divided into nine classes to best display the data. After kriging, the data was converted into a histogram with breaks that were manually shifted to reclassify the data. These breaks were adjusted to better represent the variance of data from the mode in each set. Strong correlations were found in the strike of gneissic layers, and axial planes, and the trend of fold axes. Strike of gneissic layers alternated NNE to NE orientations, suggesting differences in limb orientation across anticline and syncline fold axes. All dip and plunge measurements also became less steep from N to S, clearly visible in the kriging results. Kriging produced interpolated results that clearly reflected the structure of the local area, providing a useful means of visualization. Kriging can provide valuable insight into prevailing structural patterns, correlating features across a given area, and results in a representation of geologic data that is interpretable on an entirely new level.”

GIS-based Trajectory Statistical Analysis to Identify Potential Sources from Long-term Air Pollution Measurement Data

In Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Statistics on January 25, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 24, Issue 8, August 2009, Pages 938-939

Y.Q. Wang, X.Y. Zhang, and Roland R. Draxler

“Statistical analysis of air mass back trajectories combined with long-term ambient air pollution measurements are useful tools for source identification. Using these methods, the geographic information system (GIS) based software, TrajStat, was developed to view, query, and cluster the trajectories and compute the potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) analyses when measurement data are included.”

Climate Adaptation Coordinator Position at the Wildlife Conservation Society

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS on January 25, 2010 at 10:15 am

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) seeks a strategic, analytical conservationist to build adaptation to climate change into our global field programs and to represent WCS on this issue in global policy forums. This full-time position, based at WCS’s headquarters, the Bronx Zoo in New York City, offers the opportunity to join an extraordinary team of committed conservationists, to influence conservation practice in over fifty countries, and to build a reputation in one of conservation’s fastest growing fields.

WCS saves wildlife and wild places through a global program of landscape, seascape, and species conservation projects employing over 3,000 in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the world’s oceans. In global policy forums, we are listened to as scientists and conservationists with unrivalled field experience and success.

The Climate Adaptation Coordinator will have three main areas of responsibility:

  • Working with our regional, country, landscape, seascape, and species programs to ensure that each incorporates planning for adaptation to climate change and to promote cross-program learning;
  • Representing WCS at global policy forums to promote successful approaches to climate adaptation and the central role of biodiversity conservation in this endeavor;
  • Spearhead the development of an organization-wide climate adaptation strategy and help fundraise to implement this strategy.

The successful candidate will have: an advanced degree in landscape ecology, climate change ecology, modeling climate impacts on natural systems, conservation biology, or a related field; GIS skills; experience implementing strategic initiatives across a global organization; demonstrated ability to thrive in an organization characterized by a highly educated and mission-driven workforce; and strong interpersonal and communications skills including the ability to summarize concisely scientific findings.

Managing Water Across Borders

In Environmental Science, GIS, Geography on January 25, 2010 at 10:08 am

…from The New Nation…

“Several key analytical tools are being developed that enable sharper analysis of transboundary water interaction. These include great improvements in data gathering and through increased use of GIS; the Transboundary Water Interaction NexuS (TWINS) that allows us to work with the dual nature of co-existing conflict and cooperation; continued improvement and expansion of education and capacity-building; and the Transboundary Water Opportunity (TWO) analytical method. Through methodological consideration of crucial areas of interaction, the application of the TWO analysis to the Nile, Jordan and SADC rivers points to potential opportunities that few had previously thought possible.”

Bill Davenhall at TEDMED: Your Health Depends on Where You Live

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Video on January 25, 2010 at 8:16 am

About this talk
Where you live: It impacts your health as much as diet and genes do, but it’s not part of your medical records. At TEDMED, Bill Davenhall shows how overlooked government geo-data (from local heart-attack rates to toxic dumpsite info) can mesh with mobile GPS apps to keep doctors in the loop. Call it “geo-medicine.”

About Bill Davenhall
Bill Davenhall wants to improve physicians’ diagnostic techniques by collecting each patient’s geographic and environmental data, and merging it with their medical records

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Non-Recoverable Strain Geometry as Documented by the Inversion of Earthquake Focal Mechanisms in West-Central Taiwan

In Environmental Science, Science, Spatial Analysis, Temporal Analysis on January 25, 2010 at 8:13 am

Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section (45th Annual) and Southeastern Section (59th Annual) Joint Meeting (13-16 March 2010)

LAMONT, Ellen Ari, LEWIS, Jon C., BYRNE, Timothy, CRESPI, Jean M., and RAU, Ruey-Juin

“The geologically young (<4Ma) Taiwan Orogen reflects ongoing, rapid (~80mm/yr) arc-continent collision. The collision of the northeast-trending Chinese passive continental margin with the north-trending Luzon volcanic arc on the Philippine Sea plate has caused extensive deformation within the orogen as the collision has propagated from north to south. Additionally, magnetic anomaly patterns in western Taiwan suggest that mountain building in this region is occurring above a relict fracture zone in the lower plate. The relative motion between the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates here has resulted in numerous large thrust earthquakes. One such earthquake was the 1999 shallow, moment magnitude 7.6, Chi-Chi earthquake in west-central Taiwan. The main shock ruptured the Chelungpu fault horizontally over 80km. Earthquake ruptures such as these reflect non-recoverable strain in the crust related to tectonic forces. By modeling pooled earthquake focal mechanism data from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake and related events, using an adaptation of the micropolar continuum model, we were able to solve for best-fitting, partial strain tensors and thus examine the 3-Dimensional geometry of non-recoverable strain. Our results indicate that the dominant mode of deformation in the orogen southeast of the fracture zone is orogen subparallel stretching accommodated by both normal and strike-slip faulting.”

USA Science & Engineering Festival

In Education, Science on January 25, 2010 at 7:02 am

Festival Dates: 10/10/10 – 10/24/10
Expo on the National Mall: October 23 & 24, 2010

“The Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival will be the country’s first national science festival and will descend on the Washington, D.C. area in the Fall of 2010. The Festival promises to be the ultimate multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States. The culmination of the Festival will be a two-day Expo in the nation’s capital that will give over 500 science & engineering organizations from all over the United States the opportunity to present themselves with a hands-on, fun science activity to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“Get involved now: join the over 300 organizations that have already signed up to host an Expo exhibit, become an official Festival Partner, organize a Satellite Event in your community, host a Festival Event, check out our cool school programs like Nifty Fifty and Lunch with a Laureate, volunteer, donate, become a sponsor, participate in one of several contests, and stay on top of it all by signing up for our bi-weekly e-newsletter. Will you be there when science takes over the National Mall?”

GIS-Pro 2010: URISA’s 48th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals

In Conferences, GIS on January 22, 2010 at 1:23 pm

September 28 – October 1, 2010
Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek

New Name…New Opportunities…Amazing Value
Call for Presentations – abstracts due February 23, 2010

Since 1963, URISA members and friends from around the world have convened annually to learn about, share and discuss all things geospatial. Whether you are an established or emerging GIS Professional, the GIS-Pro Conference is for you.

Along with the new conference name, URISA has listened to you, our members and conference attendees. Through a series of surveys, interactive discussions, and a challenge set forth by Dr. Barry Wellar (2009 keynote speaker), URISA presents a series of exciting new conference themes. These themes are designed to truly reflect what GIS Professionals are looking for in a modern conference. Gone are restrictive conference tracks – what’s in are coordinated themes, designed to move the conversation forward and interactively share information among conference participants.

Dig deeper…go beyond basic technology and applications and contemplate issues related to policy, information and technology management. The Conference offers a unique multidisciplinary approach, with participation from all levels and agencies of government, academia, consultants, developers, technology providers…so you receive the benefit of a variety of viewpoints and experiences.

You likely have a preferred provider for technical training…make URISA your preferred provider for GIS professional development and management training.

Join your colleagues, peers, thinkers and doers from around the world at GIS-Pro, URISA’s Annual Conference for GIS Professionals.

Valencia Community College Campus-wide Climate Action Plan Includes Geospatial Component

In Climate Change, GIS on January 22, 2010 at 1:10 pm

EcoAsset Solutions announces the receipt of a contract awarded by Valencia Community College in Florida to provide technical planning and analysis for a campus-wide Climate Action Plan. EcoAsset Solutions’ will lead the comprehensive sustainability initiative by developing a baseline greenhouse gas inventory of campus facilities and operations, a geospatial database that will manage Valencia’s data, and a Climate Action Plan that will incorporate stakeholder input from college staff, faculty and students, set emissions reduction targets, and provide a detailed strategy for Valencia to meet its targets.

The goal of the contract is to bring Valencia Community College, the second largest producer of associate degree graduates among the nation’s two-year schools, into compliance as a climate neutral site, an initiative of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Valencia is one of over 650 colleges and universities that has committed to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions and devise an action plan to reduce their carbon footprint.

“We are excited to be one of the first to take on this project,” says Helene Loiselle, assistant vice president of Facilities Management for Valencia Community College, “and we are happy to partner with EcoAsset Solutions on this very important endeavor.”

John Wakefield, senior vice president for EcoAsset Solutions, commented that “Our government, corporate and higher education clients such as Valencia expect to see value from their investment in sustainability and it is our mission to deliver that return on investment.”

The initiative began in January 2010 and is expected to be finalized in May 2010.

[Source: EcoAsset Solutions press release]

The Dying Ganges

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 22, 2010 at 10:53 am

…from The Daily Star…

“The Ganges, one of the largest rivers in the world, is providing fresh water to 500 million people in South Asia. The river is particularly important in delivering waters for domestic, industrial, and agricultural sustainability in the region. About 37% (area-wise) of Bangladesh depends solely on the Ganges for freshwater supply, which is not only supporting millions of lives but is also substantially important in maintaining the ecological balance of south-west Bangladesh as well as the largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.

“In 1975, India commissioned a barrage on the Ganges at Farakka, 18 km above the India-Bangladesh border, in order to divert a portion of dry season flow to increase the navigability of Calcutta port. Right after it went into operation in 1975, the freshwater supply of the Ganges decreased considerably, with a number of consequent effects in the south-west part of Bangladesh.”

ESRI Challenges Geodevelopers in API Mashup Competition

In ESRI, GIS on January 22, 2010 at 10:10 am

Innovative Entries Can Win Prizes Totaling $20,000

With the theme “Map Your App”, ESRI’s 2010 Mashup Challenge invites members of the geodeveloper community to stretch their imaginations, test their technical skills, and develop creative geospatial Web applications.

The guidelines are simple: construct a mashup using ESRI’s ArcGIS online content and Web APIs, publish the related URL, shoot a video describing the application, and post it on YouTube.

The first-place entry will take home $10,000; second place will win $5,000; and third and fourth places will get $2,500 each. Judges will base their selections on uniqueness, utility, user experience, and analytic process.

“We are looking for applications that depict more than just points on a map,” says Michael Gould, ESRI’s director of education for industry solutions. “Online GIS is a decision-making tool and its analytic capabilities are fundamental to that process. This competition invites the world to connect new and innovative content and services to active maps.”

The deadline for submission is March 5, 2010. Additional information and details concerning the application process can be found on the ESRI 2010 Mashup Challenge Web page: www.esri.com/mashupcontest.

[Source:  ESRI press release]

Call for Presentations: Indigenous Mapping Network 2010: Restoring our Home Places

In Conferences, GIS on January 22, 2010 at 8:16 am

The Fourth Indigenous Mapping Network Conference
Kiana Lodge at the Suquamish Tribe, Suquamish, Washington on June 3-4, 2010

Call for Proposals: Presentations, Panels, Projects and Workshops
http://indigenousmapping.net/imnconference/cfp/cfp2010form.html

The Suquamish Tribe and the Indigenous Mapping Network (IMN) are organizing the fourth IMN conference. The topics of discussion are framed around IMN’s guiding principles – Plan, Protect and Preserve. This theme will provide a platform for sharing knowledge. The conference will explore past Indigenous and Tribal mapping experiences and strategies for the future. We are currently looking for speakers to share their experiences with mapping in an Indigenous/Tribal context.

The conference will explore some of the following topics:

  • Gathering and protecting community knowledge;
  • Participatory demos;
  • Native Languages;
  • Protecting Tribal Lands and Resources;
  • Various GIS software options (ESRI, Google Earth, Open Source, etc);
  • Lessons Learned;
  • Funding opportunities;
  • How technology & techniques are being employed with indigenous knowledge; and
  • Natural resource management issues.

In addition to speakers, we are also looking for people to participate in a display/poster/vendor session. This will be an informal session during the two days, giving Indigenous mapping practitioners a chance to share their own work, and the work of their communities. It is a great opportunity to showcase some of the different kinds of mapping that are happening now, in addition to the speakers and panelists.

Since registration will be limited to 100 participants, priority will be given to Indigenous/Tribal organizations, in the spirit of an Indigenous organized conference for Indigenous peoples. We request that abstracts be submitted online by April 15, 2010.

World Bank Awards Contract for Spatial Analysis of Natural Hazard and Climate Change Risks in Vietnam

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS, Imagery, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 22, 2010 at 7:17 am

Spatial Analysis of Natural Hazard and Climate Change Risks in Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi cities in Viet Nam

Under a contract from the World Bank, GeoVille has performed a spatial analysis of natural hazard and climate change risks for disaster risk reduction into overall urban development in Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi cities, Vietnam. The assessment covers satellite, topographical and multi-level GIS based generation of natural hazards and climate change hazard potential maps, description of methods and provision of statistics and description of hazard potential profiles.

The scope of the contract includes project management; satellite, topographical, and multi-level GIS based generation of natural hazards and climate change hazard potential maps; and description of methods and provision of statistics and description of hazard potential profiles.

About GeoVille

GeoVille Group is an internationally operating company providing products, services and consultancy in the environmental and geo-spatial domain, specializing in Earth observation and GIS applications.

We are dedicated to customer satisfaction and delivering quality controlled geo-information products.

We have successfully carried out projects in over 60 countries.

GeoVille Information Systems GmbH and GeoVille Environmental Services sàrl are based in Austria and Luxemburg.

ESRI CA/HI/NV Regional User Group Conference Will Explore Designing the Future with GIS

In Conferences, Design, ESRI, GIS on January 21, 2010 at 11:49 am

The 2010 ESRI California/Hawaii/Nevada Regional User Group (CA/HI/NV RUG) Conference will take place February 3–4, 2010, at ESRI’s new conference center at its headquarters in Redlands, California.

The CA/HI/NV RUG Conference is a forum for ESRI users from California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Islands to learn how they can best apply geographic information system (GIS) technology in their field. The event encourages information sharing among GIS users, ESRI staff, and business partners.

The Plenary Session will take place in the conference center’s state-of-the-art amphitheater. ESRI president Jack Dangermond will speak to the group about how planners, engineers, scientists, and other professionals can incorporate GIS into planning processes and scientific studies to design a better future for the world. Clint Brown, ESRI’s director of product engineering, will give the Keynote Address. After the plenary, attendees will take part in sessions and activities geared toward helping them launch and maintain successful GIS projects that produce measurable results and can benefit our communities.

Technical sessions will provide attendees with a sneak peek at the ArcGIS 10 beta version, and the ArcGIS Desktop Tips and Tricks workshop, a popular session in past years, will be offered again. New to this year’s conference will be the Hands-on Learning Lab where users can try out what they learned in the technical sessions. Participants can follow tutorials or be self-directed. And Technical Support will give users one-on-one time with ESRI support staff.

Users will also get to share success stories throughout the conference by presenting papers on how they are using GIS. Topics will include infrastructure, development and planning, public safety, and land administration.

“It was useful to have user presentations that focused on work similar to my own,” said Emilio J. Solano, chief cadastral engineer of mapping and GIS services for the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor, regarding last year’s regional conference. “The quality of the technical workshops was similar to that at the ESRI International User Conference, without the big crowds.”

For additional information about the conference and to register, visit www.esri.com/cahinvrug.

[Source:  ESRI press release]

John Holdren, President Obama’s Science and Technology Advisor, to Keynote ESRI Federal User Conference

In ESRI, Science on January 21, 2010 at 11:27 am

Dr. John P. Holdren has been announced as the keynote speaker at the 2010 ESRI Federal User Conference, which will be held 17-19 February 2010 in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Holdren is Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Prior to joining the Obama administration Dr. Holdren was Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as professor in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Director of the independent, nonprofit Woods Hole Research Center. From 1973 to 1996 he was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he co-founded and co-led the interdisciplinary graduate-degree program in energy and resources.

Holdren holds advanced degrees in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics from MIT and Stanford and is highly regarded for his work on energy technology and policy, global climate change, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as foreign member of the Royal Society of London. A former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, his awards include a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship, the John Heinz Prize in Public Policy, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and the Volvo Environment Prize. He served from 1991 until 2005 as a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s board of trustees.

During the Clinton administration Holdren served as a member of PCAST through both terms and in that capacity chaired studies requested by President Clinton on preventing theft of nuclear materials, disposition of surplus weapon plutonium, the prospects of fusion energy, U.S. energy R&D strategy, and international cooperation on energy-technology innovation. In December 1995 he gave the acceptance lecture for the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international organization of scientists and public figures in which he held leadership positions from 1982 to 1997.

Pests and Disease Cripple Cassava Production in Southeast Asia

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 21, 2010 at 10:56 am

…from Matangi Tonga Online…

“International Center for Tropical Agriculture CIAT scientists and their partners in Southeast Asia have issued urgent preliminary guidelines to tackle deadly pest and disease outbreaks that have crippled cassava production in parts of the region.”

“The spread is almost certainly caused by the movement of infected planting material. One of the first responses is for the authorities in affected countries to impose strict quarantine regulations on the movement of cassava, especially the stems used as planting material, and of related species, like jatropha.

“Farmers also need to be trained to select and safely store clean planting material, and to identify pests and diseases. Establishing an effective surveillance and monitoring system with a GIS database is essential.”

Free GIS Training Workshops at Harvard University Center for Geographic Analysis

In ESRI, Education, GIS on January 21, 2010 at 8:14 am

Spring 2010 dates have been announced for this series of free two-hour GIS training workshops from Harvard University’s Center for Geographic Analysis. Workshop titles include:

  • GIS Basics with ArcGIS
  • Wrangling Data into Maps
  • Making Sense of Spatial Data
  • Getting the Most out of Google Earth
  • Intro to Remote Sensing
  • How to Create Google Maps Mashups
  • Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Learn more about the workshops, register online , and even download the materials for self-study from CGA’s Workshops & Training page.

Post-Doctoral Scholar: Hydrogeomorphic Response to Changing Climates in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon State University

In Climate Change, Education, Environmental Science, GIS, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 20, 2010 at 10:15 am

“We are looking for someone to co-lead a multi-year, inter-institutional research effort to characterize and forecast the effects of changing climate on streamflows and geomorphic processes in the Pacific Northwest. Focus will be on developing and extending theoretical and empirical models of hydrologic response to climate drivers, emphasizing the role of geologic and ecologic controls and filters. The individual hired will have primary responsibility for exploring fruitful lines of attack on the problem, data acquisition and analysis, developing and applying relevant hydrologic and statistical models, and reporting results as journal publications and presentations. This post-doctoral position is with the Watershed Processes Group of Oregon State University (www.fsl.orst.edu/wpg), and the person hired will work closely with federal scientists from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station.

“Qualifications:

  1. Ph.D. in hydrology, geomorphology, watershed sciences, or a closely related field, with a demonstrated record of publication or other successful dissemination of work.
  2. Strong fundamental understanding of hydrologic processes at the scale of small watersheds to larger catchments, with expertise in one or more of the following: snowpack dynamics, groundwater processes, ecohydrologic interactions, drainage network response to precipitation/runoff relationships.
  3. Experience and facility with distributed parameter hydrologic models; familiarity with climate models and climate change scenarios desirable
  4. Strong statistics, data analysis and visualization skills, particularly with respect to long time-series data sets.
  5. High level working knowledge of GIS and other spatial analysis tools. Expertise with interpreting remote sensing a plus.

Please send a letter of application describing your research experience and qualifications relevant to this position, a complete resume with links to publications, and the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of three references to Sarah Lewis, sarah.lewis@oregonstate.edu or 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, Oregon 97330. Review of applications will begin February 15, 2010, and continue until a suitable candidate is found.”

ESRI Assists Haiti Earthquake Response

In ESRI, GIS on January 20, 2010 at 9:25 am

ESRI is working closely with the geographic information system (GIS) community and agencies responding to the Haiti earthquake by providing software, technical support, GIS data, and personnel. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake—characterized as one of the worst natural disasters ever in the Western Hemisphere—GIS- is assisting in identifying areas of extreme damage, impacts to critical infrastructure, areas suitable for food and water distribution, and more. It gives officials critical information used for making all types of decisions.

Personnel and agencies helping the relief effort can take advantage of maps, data, software, and Web services available online through the ESRI Web site (www.esri.com/haiti.) Some of the data and services include a 25-meter reference grid of Haiti, an ESRI Geo Viewer, and Haiti basemap data from United Nations available on ArcGIS Online. In addition, ESRI-generated earthquake and recovery maps are available for both the media and public. ESRI will provide updates as they become available.

“Our job is to help where we can empower our users with better GIS support,” says Russ Johnson, director of public safety solutions for ESRI. “As soon as we learned of the terrible event in Haiti, we activated our emergency operational procedures to assist emergency services, humanitarian relief, health professionals, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], and others. These organizations are working extremely hard to make a difference. We’re working to assist their efforts.”

As aid and rescue workers pour into Port-au-Prince and other regions, GIS is playing an essential role in the assessment of priorities to get resources and people to the most critical areas. Organizations around the world are working around the clock to transport supplies to the hundreds of thousands of people in need. ESRI is supporting these activities to achieve the best possible response given the complex circumstances.

[Source: ESRI press release]

Volcanic Hazard Map Produced for Island of Gran Canaria

In Environmental Science, Geography on January 20, 2010 at 8:51 am

…from ScienceBlog…

“Spanish and French researchers have defined the age, location, size and geochemistry of the volcanoes of Gran Canaria during the Holocene, 11,000 years ago, in order to draw up a map of volcanic hazards for the island. The research shows that the area of greatest volcanic activity is one of the most heavily populated areas in the north east of the island, which has suffered 24 eruptions over the period studied.

“The team of French and Spanish scientists led by researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and the “Jaume Almera” Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC, Barcelona) combined the data from previous studies with the results of analysis of 13 new radiocarbon ages in order to gain an understanding of the history of the island and predict the areas to be struck by future volcanic eruptions.”

OGC and iEMSs to Cooperate on Standards for Environmental Modeling

In Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Science on January 19, 2010 at 2:10 pm

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the International Environmental Modeling & Software Society (iEMSs) Secretariat have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in standards development, education and outreach to enable and promote the use of interoperable Web based geospatial technologies in environmental modeling and software tools.

“The time has come for environmental models to interconnect flexibly with one another and with services and data from other disciplines,” explained Phillip C. Dibner, a consulting scientist and engineer, and chair of the OGC Earth System Science Domain Working Group. “Typically, this is difficult and cumbersome, but it becomes much more feasible when models implement open interface and encoding standards…”

Alexey Voinov, President of iEMSs, said, “Models are more than data and more than software. To connect various models in a meaningful and efficient way is a challenge since we need to connect paradigms, scales, algorithms, etc. Yet it is essential since there is growing interest in integrated modeling as a way to study complex systems. OGC has had much success in developing interfaces and encoding standards for data. We hope that together we can learn how to better connect models.”

About iEMSs

The iEMSs (pronounced “eye-em-es”) (http://www.iemss.org) is a not-for-profit organization uniting people and organizations dealing with environmental modeling, software and related topics. The iEMSs seeks to develop and use environmental modeling and software tools to advance science and improve decision making with respect to resource and environmental issues. This places an emphasis on interdisciplinary and the development of generic frameworks and methodologies which integrate environmental models and software tools.

About the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®)

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 385 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.

[Source: OGC press release]

Wilderness Society Seeks Landscape Ecologist with GIS Skills

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Science on January 19, 2010 at 10:50 am

“The Wilderness Society seeks a Landscape Ecologist to join our Center for Landscape Analysis. This is an exceptional opportunity for a conservation science professional to apply his or her spatial and ecological analysis expertise to land conservation and management challenges and to work in the nexus between science and public policy. We seek a leader who can apply skills in geographic information systems (GIS), ecology, and natural resource management. These skills will be used to design new spatially-explicit projects, conduct project work, and communicate scientific results to further our wildland management and conservation goals.”

Post-Doctoral Researcher Position: Developing Ocean Health Indices at UC Santa Barbara

In Education, Environmental Science, GIS, Statistics on January 19, 2010 at 8:46 am

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), UC Santa Barbara

A postdoctoral researcher is sought to work closely with Dr. Ben Halpern at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) as part of a large, multi-institution collaboration to develop and implement an Ocean Health Index (OHI; see below). There is guaranteed funding for 18 months and a commitment to find funding for an additional 18 months.

With support from a research assistant, the post-doctoral researcher will develop and test analytical approaches for (1) scaling and comparing indices relevant to ocean health across different regions and geographic scales, and (2) combining and/or reducing indices while preserving overall information about ocean health. S/he will also collaborate with the other post-doctoral researcher based at NCEAS to (3) conduct an extensive literature review to assess the state of indicator science (in general and in specific proposed locations) and (4) mine historical, empirical, and theoretical data sets to determine the quality and quantity of available data in specific locations. As part of the larger OHI team, s/he will communicate with the other project researchers to coordinate research projects and participate in project meetings, where appropriate.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in Ecology, Environmental Studies, Statistics, Oceanography, Geography or related fields and demonstrated experience with multivariate analyses. A strong quantitative background (e.g., experience with the statistical package R and/or SAS, collection and management of large databases, processing satellite data, GIS data analysis, and synthetic research) is a plus, and topical experience (e.g., familiarity with ecosystem modeling programs such as EcoSim and Atlantis, indicator science, and/or food web and ecosystem ecology) would be ideal. Must work well in a collaborative research environment.

Timeframe: 1.5 years guaranteed with additional 1.5 years likely, starting as soon as possible

To apply,: submit CV and cover letter to Ben Halpern (Halpern@nceas.ucsb.edu) by 08 February 2010.

Spatial Distribution of African Animal Trypanosomiasis in Western Kenya

In Environmental Science, Spatial Analysis on January 19, 2010 at 8:35 am

Spatial Distribution of African Animal Trypanosomiasis in Suba and Teso Districts in Western Kenya

Samuel Thumbi, Joseph Jung’a, Reuben Mosi, Francis McOdimba

BMC Research Notes 2010, 3:6

“Studies on the epidemiology of African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) rarely consider the spatial dimension of disease prevalence. This problem is confounded by use of parasitological diagnostic methods of low sensitivity in field surveys.

“Here we report a study combining highly sensitive and species specific molecular diagnostic methods, and Geographical information system (GIS) for spatial analysis of trypanosome infection patterns, to better understand its epidemiology. Blood samples from 44 and 59 animals randomly selected from Teso and Suba districts respectively were screened for trypanosomes using PCR diagnostic assays.”

Assessment of a Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network Using Vulnerability Mapping and Geostatistics: A Case Study from Heretaunga Plains, New Zealand

In Environmental Science, Statistics on January 19, 2010 at 8:23 am

Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 97 Issue 2 (February 2010), pages 240-246

Husam Baalousha

“A groundwater monitoring network can provide quantity and quality data necessary to make informed decisions regarding the state of the environment. A properly designed monitoring system provides a representative understanding of the state of the monitored area. The selection of the optimum number of monitoring sites and their spatial distribution is a major challenge for the hydrogeologist. On the one hand, improper distribution of monitoring sites or insufficient number of sites will not provide a representative view of the state of the environment. On the other hand, if the sampled sites are too many, the information obtained is redundant and the monitoring network is costly and inefficient. A new methodology combining vulnerability mapping and geostatistics is proposed to help define the most efficient groundwater quality monitoring network on a regional scale. Vulnerability mapping identifies areas with high pollution potential, and in turn, prioritises for monitoring. A geostatistics methodology is then used to interpret the obtained data and to examine the spatial distribution of monitored parameters at different sites. The accuracy of spatial mapping reflects the effectiveness of the distribution of the monitoring sites. The methodology was applied to assess the nitrate monitoring network in the Heretaunga basin, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The DRASTIC approach was used to prepare a vulnerability map for the area of study, and kriging variance was used to check the spatial distribution of the sites. Based on this study, it was found that some areas with high vulnerability are not covered within the existing network indicating the number of monitoring sites and their distribution is not efficient. Some sites should be dropped and some others need to be added to the existing network.”

More information

Spatial Statistics in ArcGIS: Free Sample Chapter from the Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis

In Books, ESRI, GIS, Statistics on January 19, 2010 at 7:30 am

Handbook of Applied Spatial Analysis

Software Tools, Methods and Applications

Fischer, Manfred M.; Getis, Arthur (Eds.)

2010, XVI, 811 p. 190 illus., Hardcover

ISBN: 978-3-642-03646-0

Chapter A.1:  Spatial Statistics in ArcGIS, by Lauren M. Scott and Mark V. Janikas

“Tools to perform spatial analysis have been extended over the years to include geostatistical techniques (Smith et al. 2006), raster analysis (Tomlin 1990), analytical methods for business (Pick 2008), 3D analysis (Abdul-Rahman et al. 2006), network analytics (Okabe et al. 2006), space-time dynamics (Peuquet 2002), and techniques specific to a variety of industries (e.g., Miller and Shaw 2001). In 2004, a new set of spatial statistics tools designed to describe feature patterns was added to ArcGIS 9. This chapter focuses on the methods and models found in the Spatial Statistics toolbox.

“Spatial statistics comprises a set of techniques for describing and modeling spatial data. In many ways they extend what the mind and eyes do, intuitively, to assess spatial patterns, distributions, trends, processes and relationships. Unlike traditional (non-spatial) statistical techniques, spatial statistical techniques actually use space – area, length, proximity, orientation, or spatial relationships – directly in their mathematics (Scott and Getis 2008).”

V1 Magazine Interview with Jack Dangermond: GeoDesign, Virtual Cities, Climate Change, ArcGIS 10, and More

In Climate Change, Design, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Science, Spatial Analysis, Visualization on January 19, 2010 at 6:53 am

…from V1 Magazine…

“V1: You’re a high-energy individual that has applied every waking hour for more than 40 years toward the design and application of technology to help manage the earth. Are your concerns for our planet a strong motivator for you?

“Dangermond: This purpose has always been the reason for ESRI, and why all of us here work so hard. I think in our own small way ESRI, through the incredible work of our users, has been able to make a difference. However, given the immensity of the problem there is so much more to be done, and we need to keep driving our vision of integrating  geographic thinking into virtually all human activities.”

The Role of Spatial Analysis in Livestock Research for Sustainable Development

In Environmental Science, Spatial Analysis on January 18, 2010 at 6:15 am

GIScience & Remote Sensing, v. 46(1). p. 128-138.

Notenbaert, A.M.O.

“The role of spatial analysis in livestock research for sustainable development is pervasive because its versatility supports livestock researchers at many stages of their work. Spatial analysis assists case study identification, characterizes the geographic context of research findings, and subsequently is used to assess the context for out-scaling purposes. Components of livestock systems and elements of their context and interrelationships can be characterized with an explicit spatial dimension. Output from spatial analysis linked to the results of simulation and optimization models provides support for decision-making. This is especially important where decisions involve different disciplines and interaction with a variety of experts usually working together in a sustainable development team.”

Post Doctoral Fellow: Remote Sensing and Forest Resource Inventory

In Environmental Science, Imagery on January 18, 2010 at 6:14 am

Laboratory for Remote Sensing of Earth and Environmental Systems (LaRSEES)
Department of Geography
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario Canada

“We are seeking an individual with a Ph.D. in one of the following disciplines: geography, forestry, environmental science, environmental engineering; with an emphasis on remote sensing, spatial data analysis and/or modeling for forestry. Experience with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data analysis is a definite asset. Other skills and background of the applicant should include some of the following:

  • Knowledge of forest mensuration and field techniques (i.e., with an ability to lead the design, implementation and collection of forest inventory data);
  • Computer programming skills/experience;
  • Familiarity with the application of statistics/biostatistics;
  • Knowledge of image processing and GIS software; and
  • Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.

“The focus of the project is to derive accurate estimates of forest inventory variables (e.g., tree height, stem density, diameter and breast height, volume, biomass, etc.) using lidar and high resolution digital photos. The individual will be involved in the development of algorithms and procedures for extracting forest structural and terrain variables from the LiDAR data collected for over one million hectares of boreal forest near Hearst Ontario. The PDF will coordinate activities of the project, specifically the field-based activities during two summer field campaigns and the development and application of LiDAR height and density metrics to the LiDAR data collected for Hearst. The PDF will be responsible for supervising the application of the individual tree crown (ITC) method to the ADS40 imagery collected for the same forest. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to define their own research goals within the scope of the overall project (i.e., enhanced forest inventory using LiDAR and/or high resolution digital photography). The successful candidate will also assist the principal investigator with the administration and management of the project. The fellowship holder will be expected to collaborate and work closely with the research team at Queen’s and Nipissing Universities as well as government (e.g., OMNR, CFS) and industrial partners (Hearst Forest Management Inc., Tembec Inc., etc.).”

Nova Southeastern University Receives $15 Million to Build America’s Largest Coral Reef Research Center

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 18, 2010 at 6:04 am

…from newswise…

“Nova Southeastern University on Friday received $15 million in federal stimulus money to build America’s largest coral reef research center.

“The 86,000-square-foot Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Science Research Facility will house local, national and international coral reef research. The facility will be located at NSU’s Oceanographic Center at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach.

“The Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Science Research Facility, a multi-disciplinary center will address national and international priorities in coral reef research in five areas: 1) Impacts of global and local stressors; 2) Geospatial analysis and mapping; 3) Deep sea coral reefs and biodiversity; 4) Genetic and genomic connectivity; and 5) Hydrodynamics.”

Quote of the Day

In Design, Quotes on January 15, 2010 at 7:28 am

“Urban planning is dead in the U.S.”

– Frank Gheary

Spatial Assessment and Analysis of Vulnerability: GIScience Applied in the Interdisciplinary Domain of Hazard and Climate Change Research

In Climate Change, Conferences, GIS, GIScience, Spatial Analysis, Temporal Analysis, Visualization on January 15, 2010 at 6:59 am

06 – 07 July 2010,  Salzburg, Austria

“This theme is expected to highlight different developed and currently investigated methodologies to spatially assess vulnerability. It will specifically address the issue of vulnerability assessment, independent from conceptual discussions. The focus will be on the review and discussion of different methods of GIScience employed to assess, quantify and represent vulnerability as integrated spatial phenomena. Within a workshop session, current achievements and future research challenges will be identified and formulated.

“Topics:

  • Assessments in the domains of disaster risk reduction, climate change, natural hazards and human security;
  • Methods for indicator selection and index construction;
  • Scale issues in vulnerability assessments;
  • Validation and accuracy of vulnerability assessments;
  • Spatio-temporal visualisation of complex indicators.

“The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6 and Wednesday, July 7, 2010 and will be followed by the annual GI_Forum. In addition to presentations ranging from different scholarly schools of vulnerability the workshop will focus on output oriented discussion sessions.

“The papers will be peer-reviewed and published in a book.”

Remapping the World’s Population: Visualizing Data using Cartograms

In ESRI, GIS, Geography on January 15, 2010 at 6:37 am

…from the Winter 2010 issue of ArcUser…

“The Worldmapper project has successfully produced a series of maps to visualize data concerning a range of issues facing the modern world based on the idea of density-equalizing maps. With this approach, ArcGIS 9.3 plays a crucial role as an interface to convert suitable raster datasets and produce updated cartograms. The data is converted using ArcMap’s ArcToolbox, while the cartograms were calculated using a geoprocessing tool available from ESRI’s ArcScripts site. The final visualization was performed in ArcMap. This article introduces and evaluates further new mapping approaches that move depictions beyond their simple descriptive form. It gives an insight into these new developments, focusing on subnational-level data that has, until now, been neglected.”

Research Associate, Texas Fisheries and Wildlife Coop Unit

In Climate Change, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Statistics on January 15, 2010 at 6:28 am

Research Associate needed ASAP

Location: Texas Fisheries and Wildlife Coop Unit, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Timing and duration:  To be filled ASAP and funded at least through Sept 2011.

Duties: Support principal investigator and coordinate with other investigators and cooperators from USGS, Texas Tech University, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, New Mexico State Game and Fish Department, Texas Commission on Environmental  Quality, and others on a large scale meta-analysis project examining the impacts of climate change and water quality on fish communities and algal blooms, including database management, statistical and landscape level analyses, report writing, manuscript preparation.

Minimum requirements:  Master’s degree in biology, hydrology, or natural resource related field, experience with ArcGIS, statistical analysis, and professional writing skills.

Salary: $40,000 per year with benefits

Please send a cover letter and CV with references to:

Dr. Reynaldo Patiño
Texas Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit Texas Tech University Agricultural Sciences Rm 218 Mailstop 2120 Lubbock, TX 79409-2120
(806) 742-2851
reynaldo.patino@ttu.edu

Retiring Forest Service Employee Gives Thoughts on Impact of Technology

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 14, 2010 at 2:17 pm

…from the Standard Journal…

“When Mark Orme first worked at the Targhee National Forest in St. Anthony in 1981, timber sale maps were drawn by hand from aerial photos, and acreages were calculated using a dot overlay counts.

“Now, using GIS (geographic information systems) and electronic analysis, timber sale maps may be created to be 100 percent accurate — down to the inch rather than mile.”

West Virginia Expands Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education with GIS

In ESRI, Education, GIS, Science on January 14, 2010 at 2:06 pm

Statewide License Enables Students to Build Skills to Further Their Education

The adoption of ESRI’s geographic information system (GIS) software statewide marks the next step for West Virginia in doing its part in the national effort to expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

Many policy makers, researchers, and educators are concerned about the lack of STEM-oriented subjects taken by today’s high school students as they prepare to enter college or the workforce. State and district education agencies, as well as private educational organizations, are boosting their effort to address STEM content and skills.

According to Charlie Fitzpatrick, K–12 education manager at ESRI, “More and more states see value in GIS for all students, in all grades and subject areas, because it fosters integrative thinking, analysis, problem solving, and communication. These are critical skills students must master not only to make the most of social studies and STEM education but also to become effective workers and informed citizens.”

During the past few years, West Virginia’s Department of Education has conducted GIS seminars for its teachers at its Social Studies Summer Institute and annual Teacher Leadership Institute. In addition, the West Virginia Geographic Alliance regularly offers seminars and classes in ArcGIS software.

“We are excited about the prospect of providing GIS instruction throughout our elementary and secondary schools,” says Regina Scotchie, social studies coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education. “We are focusing our attention on grades 6 through 12; however, we have not limited the use of GIS to any particular grade level.”

For more information about ESRI’s GIS for Schools program, visit www.esri.com/schools.

[Source:  ESRI press release]

Quote of the Day

In Design, Quotes on January 14, 2010 at 12:45 pm

“If you’re going to change the world, you might as well do it at the world scale.”

– Carl Steinitz

ORNL’s Budhendra Bhaduri Named to Mapping Science Committee of the National Academy of Sciences

In GIS, Geography, Science on January 14, 2010 at 11:45 am

…from knoxnews.com…

“Budhendra Bhaduri, leader of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Georgraphic Information Science & Technology Group, will serve a three-year term on the Mapping Science Committee of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.

“The committee oversees the council’s studies that provide info and advice on issues pertaining to geospatial science, technology and policy, according to ORNL.

“More information on the committee is available here.”

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of the Nitrate Concentrations in Groundwater for South Africa

In Environmental Science, Spatial Analysis, Temporal Analysis on January 14, 2010 at 9:00 am

Biennial Groundwater Conference of the International Association of Hydrogeologists. Somerset West, South Africa, 16-18 November 2009

Maherry, A; Clarke, S; Tredoux, G; Engelbrecht, P

“The aims of this investigation was to create an updated view of the nitrate distribution for the country, to identify whether there are any gaps or significant changes in the distribution of nitrate concentration over the sampling record and identify areas where nitrate pollution occurs as an ecological hazard for priority research and remediation. Data was sourced from the national groundwater database for the entire country for the period up until 2008. Previous maps used data pre-1990 and up to 2001. Additional nitrate data was sourced to supplement the NGDB data. The data was evaluated using excel pivot tables, and maps plotted using ArcMAP. Maps of the total count representing the total number of points sampled and their densities for South Africa, as well as the minimum, maximum and average nitrate concentration for the various decades were used to evaluate the extent and duration of nitrate pollution in South Africa. The nitrate concentrations were overlayed on the geological or hydroterrains and land cover for South Africa to investigate if there are links between lithology, land cover and nitrate concentrations. Comparison of maps compiled for different periods indicate that the Western Cape now has elevated nitrate levels, possibly associated with agricultural stock farming. The Northern Cape Province, in particular the Kalahari has elevated nitrate levels, but a distinct lack of recent sampling may mask the extent of the current spatial distribution of nitrate concentrations. The scarcity of sampling points within urban centres makes it difficult for pollution monitoring and control to take place.”

GeoDesign Bibliography Updates

In Design, GIS on January 14, 2010 at 8:56 am

The GeoDesign Bibliography has been updated with a number of recent articles and blog posts (below), many related to the recently completed 2010 GeoDesign Summit.  Note that presentations from the 2010 GeoDesign Summit are not yet included in the bibliography, but I will add these as soon as the presentations are posted online (hopefully in a few weeks).  And if you find anything I’ve missed, please email me at martz@esri.com or leave a comment.

Ball, Matt.  2009. “Dangermond on GIS and Design.” Spatial Sustain blog, 17 June 2009.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/dangermond-on-gis-and-design.html

Ball, Matt.  2009. “Dealing with a Rapidly Changing Planet.” Spatial Sustain blog, 13 July 2009.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/dealing-with-a-rapidly-changing-planet.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “Goodchild on the Yin and Yang of GIS.” Spatial Sustain blog, 06 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/goodchild-on-the-yin-and-yang-of-gis.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “GeoDesign as a Return to the Potential of GIS.” Spatial Sustain blog, 06 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/geodesign-as-a-return-to-the-potential-of-gis.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “Ferren Asserts that GeoDesign is the Next Storytelling Medium.” Spatial Sustain blog, 07 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/ferren-asserts-that-geodesign-is-the-next-storytelling-medium.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “Steinitz Discusses Different Design Approaches.” Spatial Sustain blog, 07 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/steinitz-discusses-different-design-approaches.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “GeoDesign Provides the Basis for a New Language.” Spatial Sustain blog, 07 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/geodesign-provides-the-basis-for-a-new-language.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “GeoDesign Challenge to Spur Meaningful Work.” Spatial Sustain blog, 08 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/geodesign-challenge-to-spur-meaningful-work.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “The Inclusive Push for GeoDesign.” Spatial Sustain blog, 08 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/the-inclusive-push-for-geodesign.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “The Fresh Start that GeoDesign Offers.” Spatial Sustain blog, 10 January 2010. http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/the-fresh-start-that-geodesign-offers.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “Vancouver Embodies GeoDesign.”  Spatial Sustain blog, 12 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/vancouver-embodies-geodesign.html

Ball, Matt.  2010. “Avoid Thinking of GeoDesign as a Manifestation of the Singularity.” Spatial Sustain blog, 13 January 2010.  http://vector1media.com/spatialsustain/avoid-thinking-of-geodesign-as-a-manifestation-of-the-singularity.html

Batty, Peter.  2009.  “Shakespeare on GeoDesign.”  Geothought blog, 17 September 2009. http://geothought.blogspot.com/2009/09/shakespeare-on-geodesign.html

Batty, Peter.  2009.  “Jack Dangermond on GeoDesign.”  Geothought blog, 07 October 2009. http://geothought.blogspot.com/2009/10/jack-dangermond-on-geodesign.html

Entchev, Atanas. 2010. “GeoDesign 2010 and Beyond.” The ENTCHEV GIS blog, 06 January 2010. http://blog.entchev.com/2010/01/06/geodesign-2010-and-beyond.aspx

Fee, James.  2010.  “Thoughts on the GeoDesign Summit.”  Spatial Adjusted blog, 09 January 2010.  http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2010/01/09/thoughts-on-the-geodesign-summit/

Fisher, Tom. 2010. “Monday Minute, January 11, 2010.” University of Minnesota College of Design, 11 January 2010. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cdescomm/cdes_memo/2010/01/monday_minute_january_11_2010.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “ESRI Geodesign Summit Day 1 AM.” All Points blog, 06 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7095-ESRI-Geodesign-Summit-Day-1-AM.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “ESRI Geodesign Summit Day 1 PM.” All Points blog, 07 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7097-ESRI-Geodesign-Summit-Day-1-PM.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “Jack Dangermond’s Research Vision for #Geodesign Parallels that for GIS.” All Points blog, 07 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7096-Jack-Dangermonds-Research-Vision-for-Geodesign-Parallels-that-for-GIS.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “Tidbits from the Geodesign Summit.” All Points blog, 07 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7098-Tidbits-from-the-Geodesign-Summit.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “ESRI #Geodesign Summit Day 2 PM.” All Points blog, 07 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7103-ESRI-Geodesign-Summit-Day-2-PM.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “ESRI #Geodesign Summit Day 2 AM.” All Points blog, 07 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7102-ESRI-Geodesign-Summit-Day-2-AM.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “Geodesign Summit Day 3 AM.” All Points blog, 08 January 2010. http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/7106-Geodesign-Summit-Day-3-AM.html

Schutzberg, Adena. 2010. “GeoDesign Summit Reflections.” Directions magazine. 14 January 2010. http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=3377

Thurston, Jeff.  2010.  “Putting Your Finger on the Spatial Pulse of Design.”  Vector One blog, January 14, 2010.  http://www.vector1media.com/vectorone/?p=4605

The Accuracy and Precision Revolution: What’s Ahead for GIS?

In ESRI, GIS on January 14, 2010 at 6:57 am

…from the Winter 2010 issue of ArcUser…

“The ability to obtain precise information is nothing new. With great patience and skill, mapmakers and land surveyors have long been able to create information with an impressive level of accuracy. However, today the ability to determine and view locations with submeter accuracy is now in the hands of millions of people. Commonly available high-resolution digital terrain and aerial imagery, coupled with GPS-enabled handheld devices, powerful computers, and Web technology, is changing the quality, utility, and expectations of GIS to serve society on a grand scale. This accuracy and precision revolution has raised the bar for GIS quite high. This pervasive capability will be the driver for the next iteration of GIS and the professionals who operate them.”

NGA Visiting Scientist Fellowship Program Accepting Applications

In GIS, Geography, Science on January 14, 2010 at 6:37 am

“The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking to select undergraduates, postgraduate students or faculty members to provide technical support for research and development activities. NGA conducts work in the areas of remote sensing, sensors and signatures, geodesy and geophysics, and geospatial analytic techniques. These include work in automated image analysis, spectral exploitation, gravitational and geomagnetic modeling, subsurface geophysical sensor applications, human computer interfaces, neuroscience, information technology, and other related subjects.

“This appointment may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Signal extraction and exploitation from overhead imagery.
  • Testing algorithms, evaluating and developing analytical techniques, analyzing data and physical models, and other R&D work commensurate with the applicant’s background and experience;
  • Working closely with NGA data, with NGA scientists and other outstanding scientists in the NGA environment, and with NGA analysts;
  • Planning and executing original research; and
  • Assembling a corpus of evaluated ground-truth data.

“Several appointments are available at NGA sites or mutually agreeable facilities.”

Coastal Environmental Changes Along the Northwestern Coast of Egypt: Case Study from Alexandria to El Alamein Coast

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS on January 14, 2010 at 6:05 am

Forum Geografic. Studii şi cercetări de geografie şi protecţia mediului. Year 8, No. 8/ 2009, pp. 14-22

Gehan MANSOUR EL-BAYOMI

“The present papers aims at highlighting the urban development, fishing activities, tourism, industrial development and agricultural activities that affect delicate and valuable coastal ecosystems. A supervised classification, post-classification, change detection techniques were applied to Land sat images acquired in 1991 and 2007, respectively, to map land cover changes along the north-western coast of Egypt, from Alexandria to El Alamein. A supervised classification was carried out on the six reflective bands for the two images individually with the aid of true ground data. The truthful ground information, collected during field trips using ancillary data, visual interpretation and experts’ knowledge of the area using GIS, further refined the classification results. Post-classification change detection technique was used to produce image through cross-tabulation. Changes among different land cover classes were assessed.  During the study period, a very severe land cover change has taken place as a result of agricultural and tourist development projects. These shoreline and land cover changes led to modifications of the environmental properties.”

Tom Fisher on GeoDesign

In Conferences, Design, GIS, Science, Social Science on January 13, 2010 at 2:51 pm

…from the University of Minnesota College of Design…

“Dear Colleagues,

“I was in California last week giving a keynote address at the first GeoDesign Summit, hosted by alumnus Jack Dangermond’s company, Environmental Systems Research Institute, the world’s largest producer of GIS software. The conference brought together academics in design, geography, and computer science, along with Federal agency and professional association representatives, to talk about a new field that Jack has dubbed GeoDesign, which combines the analytical capabilities of GIS with the creative capacities of designers. The event reinforced for me the great potential of the sciences and social sciences, focused on the world as it is, joining forces with design, which envisions the world as it could be.

“One of the speakers at the conference, Bran Ferren of the think tank, Applied Minds, made an argument particularly relevant to our world. He offered ample evidence that the digital revolution has only just begun, and that the disruptions that digital media have brought to the news and music industries will eventually transform every field, including the design professions and higher education. While the core content of what we do may not change much, said Ferren, how it gets delivered, when, and by whom, will change dramatically and quickly, once it starts. All food for thought as we enter the second decade of a century that already seems very different from the last.

“Tom”

A Hybrid Approach for Land Use/Land Cover Classification

In Geography, Imagery on January 13, 2010 at 2:40 pm

GIScience & Remote Sensing, Volume 46, Number 4 / October-December 2009

Yanbing Tang, Clifton W. Pannell

“Atlanta has continuously changed its physical landscape as well as its socioeconomic appearance over the past decades. A hybrid image processing approach, which integrated unsupervised, supervised, and spectral mixture analysis (SMA) classification methods, was used to identify urban land use/land cover changes over a decade (from 1990 to 2000) in the Atlanta metropolitan area. During this process, SMA was proven to be an effective analytical approach for characterizing mixed feature areas, such as a metropolitan area. According to accuracy assessment, the classification results were acceptable.”

NSF Awards SDSC, Arizona State University $1.7 Million for National OpenTopography LiDAR Facility

In Imagery, Science on January 13, 2010 at 1:17 pm

The San Diego Supercomputer Center ( SDSC ) at UC San Diego and Arizona State University have been awarded a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation ( NSF ) to operate an internet-based national data facility for high-resolution topographic data acquired with LiDAR ( Light Detection and Ranging ) technology.  The facility will also provide online processing tools and act as a community repository for information, software and training materials.

The three-year project, which includes a grant of $1.4 million to SDSC and $300,000 to the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, will be based on SDSC’s OpenTopography portal, which will be scaled up to a national facility to make topography data available in multiple formats. This includes “raw” LiDAR point cloud data, standard LiDAR-derived digital elevation models, and easily accessible Google Earth products to better serve LiDAR users at various levels of expertise.

OpenTopography currently hosts and distributes a limited number of data sets acquired with funding from the NSF, NASA, and the U.S. Geological Survey ( USGS ). It is the product of the NSF-funded GEON ( GeoSciences Network ) project that has developed cyberinfrastructure for the integration of three- and four-dimensional earth science data.

“The fundamental goal of this project is to provide centralized access to community earth science LiDAR topography data,” said Christopher Crosby, SDSC’s project manager for the OpenTopography Facility.  “There is wealth of public domain LiDAR data available, but much of it is not yet easily accessible. We intend to leverage available cyberinfrastructure to make these powerful data sets, as well as online processing tools and knowledge resources, accessible to a large and diverse user community.”

The OpenTopography Facility will be primarily focused on large, community-oriented, scientific data sets, while building collaborations with existing LIDAR topography data providers and hosts such as the USGS and the NSF-funded National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping ( NCALM ) to link to their data archives and/or to host and distribute their data. An advisory committee representing OpenTopography users will prioritize which data sets are of greatest value to the community.

As one of the most powerful tools available to study the earth’s surface, overlying vegetation and man-made structures, high-resolution LiDAR data sets are widely regarded as revolutionary for earth science, environmental and engineering applications, as well as natural hazard studies. LiDAR makes it possible to generate digital elevation models ( DEMs ) at resolutions that are more than one order of magnitude better than those currently available. Moreover, large geographic areas can be surveyed at relatively low expense.

“LiDAR topography data is revolutionizing the way we study the geomorphic processes acting along the Earth’s surface,” said Ramon Arrowsmith, associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and project co-investigator. “From earthquake hazards research to examining the impact of human development on natural systems, LiDAR is emerging as a fundamental tool.”

“High-resolution topographic data collection is burgeoning for research, planning and regulatory activities, yet the massive size of the data sets has made online community access to them difficult,” said Chaitan Baru, SDSC Distinguished Scientist and principal investigator for OpenTopography and GEON. “LiDAR is an interesting test case because of those data volumes and the on-demand access our users require, but ultimately the strategies developed in this work could be applied to all types of scientific data over a very wide range of domains.”

OpenTopography addresses the basic challenge of how to efficiently manage, archive, distribute process and integrate tens of terabytes of community geospatial data. Many organizations that acquire LiDAR topography do not have the disk space, bandwidth, and in-house expertise necessary to make these data available via the Internet for community-level access and analysis.

The OpenTopography LiDAR Facility is funded under NSF award number 0930731 ( SDSC ) and 0930643 ( ASU ).

About SDSC

As an organized research unit of UC San Diego, SDSC is a national leader in creating and providing cyberinfrastructure for data-intensive research. Cyberinfrastructure refers to an accessible and integrated network of computer-based resources and expertise, focused on accelerating scientific inquiry and discovery. SDSC recently doubled its size to 160,000 square feet with a new, energy-efficient building and data center extension, and is a founding member of TeraGrid, the nation’s largest open-access scientific discovery infrastructure.

[Source: SDSC press release]

Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Science, Clark University

In Education, GIS, GIScience on January 13, 2010 at 1:13 pm

Clark University invites applications for an assistant professor position in Geographic Information Science (GIS) to begin Fall 2010. This is a three-year term appointment with the possibility of renewal. We are particularly interested in candidates with a specialization in one or more of the following GIS application areas: public health, environmental justice, food security, and humanitarian assistance. A major responsibility will be to teach core courses in GIS (including both raster and vector analysis) and to advise students in Clark’s Master of Arts program in GIS for Development and Environment. PhD. or equivalent in a relevant discipline is required by May 2010. Knowledge of programming languages used in GIS, experience with geospatial analysis and online mapping applications are also highly desirable.

This position will serve the needs of both the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) (www.clarku.edu/departments/idce) and Clark’s School of Geography (www.clarku.edu/departments/geography). Applicants must show a commitment to teaching and working collaboratively within an interdisciplinary program. A detailed statement of interest, curriculum vitae, and a list of references should be sent via email attachment to Jackie Murphy (jmurphy@clarku.edu) or via postal mail to the GISDE Search Committee, IDCE, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610. Review of applications will begin January 15 and will continue until the position is filled. AA/EOE. Minorities and Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information, contact GIS Faculty Search, Clark University (jmurphy@clarku.edu) or visit the Clark University Human resources web site.

Jane Goodall Institute-Tanzania Awarded More Than $2.7 Million USD by Royal Norwegian Embassy

In Climate Change, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 13, 2010 at 1:04 pm

Grant Will Enable Local Communities to Protect Forest Habitat and Ultimately Profit from Reducing Carbon Emissions

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania recently awarded more than $2.7 million (USD) to the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI)-Tanzania. The three-year grant will enable JGI to provide local community-based organizations and district governments with the training, equipment and other materials needed to protect their forestland and-ultimately- benefit from income earned through the sale of carbon credits through the financing mechanism known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). REDD was a hot topic at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which was attended by world-renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace.

“One of the major concerns raised at the Copenhagen conference is that traditional landowners won’t benefit from forest-based projects that reduce carbon from the atmosphere,” said Dr. Goodall. “JGI-Tanzania’s new project-generously funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy-will clearly demonstrate that this does not have to be the case. In fact, we will show how rural communities can lead REDD efforts, working together with governments to improve their lives, conserve the rich natural landscapes in which they live, and secure the future for generations to come.”

The funds provided by the Norwegian Embassy will support JGI’s work in the Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem, one of the least developed areas of the world. JGI’s REDD project will produce a model demonstrating that traditional rural communities can lead actions to reduce carbon emissions and sequester carbon through sustainable management of their forest resources. The lessons learned from JGI’s efforts can guide other communities in Tanzania and elsewhere that wish to replicate the REDD process.

The project will primarily conserve approximately 70,000 hectares of pristine forests and woodlands found in one of the last large expanses of intact forest in Tanzania, enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem functions such as providing habitat for chimpanzees. Communities will be eligible to earn credits for the carbon stored in their protected forest areas. They will then have the opportunity to sell these credits in the international marketplace in order to raise funds to support forest management efforts and improve community living conditions. In addition, participating communities will benefit from secondary products obtained from the protected forests, including sales from wild honey, medicinal plants, fuel wood and tourism.

Over the course of the three-year project, JGI will develop methodologies and provide technical training to communities and local and national government partners to help inventory, monitor and manage the forest. JGI will utilize a number of cutting-edge technologies in partnership with Google, ESRI and DigitalGlobe such as mobile Android/ODK and web-based mapping systems along with GIS and high-resolution satellite imagery. JGI will also work to strengthen management practices among participating organizations and improve communication between the government, community-based groups and local residents.

“By using geospatial technologies and the Internet, local communities will be able to interact directly with the global carbon marketplace and demonstrate unequivocally the concrete benefits of their efforts to protect the forest,” said Dr. Lilian Pintea, director of conservation science at the Jane Goodall Institute. “As a result, local information will directly inform and influence national and global decisions regarding climate change.”

About the Jane Goodall Institute

Founded in 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute continues Dr. Goodall’s pioneering research on chimpanzee behavior-research that transformed scientific perceptions of the relationship between humans and animals. Today, the Institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, the global environmental and humanitarian youth program that has groups in more than 120 countries. For more information, please visit www.janegoodall.org.

[Source: Jane Goodall Institute press release]

Beaufort Sea Project for Climate Change: Impact and Adaptation to Climate Change for Fish and Marine Mammals

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS on January 13, 2010 at 12:59 pm

“Based on existing scientific research for environmental impacts in the Beaufort Sea, this project examines climate change and impacts on fish and marine mammals in the Canadian Beaufort Sea region, subsistence uses by the Inuvialuit, and the management of these species by the Fisheries Joint Management Committee and other government agencies and departments. The research identifies impacts of climate change and interactions with other environmental factors, illustrates these impacts and interactions with GIS analysis, and develops an interactive web-based communication strategy to discuss results and to recommend adaptive strategies that based on integrated management approaches.”

Health GIS 2010, University of Nottingham, UK, 03 February 2010

In Conferences, GIS on January 13, 2010 at 12:52 pm

“The HealthGIS 2010 is an invitation only event organised by the Centre for Healthcare Associated Infections and Centre for Geospatial Science of the University of Nottingham.”

USFWS Biological Science Technician (Wildlife) in Bismarck, North Dakota

In Environmental Science, GIS, Imagery, Statistics on January 13, 2010 at 10:36 am

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Vacancy Announcement
R6-10-310487-D

Open Period:  January 07-21, 2010

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE TECHNICIAN – WILDLIFE

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 6, Habitat and Population Evaluation Team (HAPET), Bismarck ND, will be hiring a biological science technician to assist staff biologists with the collection and processing of wildlife population and habitat data in an ongoing breeding waterfowl survey.

The candidates primary duties will involve the processing of aerial photography using specialized software and photo interpretation techniques for the delineation of wetlands, entry of field data into databases, and the building of spatial data using GIS software. These duties will require extended periods of sitting and viewing computer and video monitors.  The candidate will also be involved in collection of field data for several ongoing wildlife and habitat surveys.  A valid drivers license is necessary.  Basic GIS and statistics background a plus.

Salary range is $31,315 to $40,706, depending on qualifications and experience.  This is a full-time, TERM position not to exceed 13 months.

This position may be extended for a total appointment of 4 years.  Position will be based in Bismarck, North Dakota. This position offers a great opportunity to experience the wildlife of the Prairie Pothole Region and to work with waterfowl and non-game biologists who are conserving wetland and grassland habitat in the region.  Candidate will be stationed at a leading landscape ecology and conservation GIS facility.

Apply for the job at http://www.usajobs.gov/.  Search Jobs for R6-10-310487-D; position is Biological Science Technician (Wildlife).

Application period ends January 21, 2010.

For more information, contact Brian Wangler (701-355-8536,
Brian_Wanlger@fws.gov) or Ron Reynolds (701-355-8535, Ron_Reynolds@fws.gov).

Genetics + Lifestyle + Environment = Risks: Can Geographic Information Keep You Healthy?

In Environmental Science, GIS, Geography on January 13, 2010 at 8:51 am

…from the Winter 2010 issue of ArcUser…

“The value of GIS in enhancing response to emergencies, such as wildfires or hurricanes, is widely recognized. However, this technology can also play a lifesaving role in responding to catastrophes on a more personal level.

“At TEDMED 2009, the Technology, Entertainment, and Design in Medicine conference, ESRI global marketing manager for health and human services Bill Davenhall recounted how this was brought home to him by a heart attack in 2001 that hit him so forcefully and unexpectedly that he referred to it as “a train wreck.”

“In his presentation Can Geographic Information Keep You Healthy? Davenhall suggested that a patient’s geographic (or place) history should routinely be considered by physicians when diagnosing and treating patients.”

US Forest Service Seminar on Climate Change and Natural Resource Management

In Climate Change, Environmental Science on January 13, 2010 at 7:28 am

“The US Forest Service International Programs and the University of California, Davis, are pleased to announce a new International Seminar on Climate Change and Natural Resource Management, to take place May 9—30, 2010, in California.  Because of its national leadership on climate change legislation, greenhouse gas reduction targets, and multiple resource management agencies, California is an ideal location to learn about cutting edge land management practices under climate change.  The State contains many ecosystems affected by climate change, while facing pressure from rapid human growth, water scarcity, and important agricultural land uses.  The seminar is designed for natural resource managers with a professional interest in climate change issues who wish to participate in an engaging, interactive, and highly informative training and field study program.  Attendees will learn about adaptation and mitigation practices for managing natural resources in the face of climate change and its potential effects on natural resources, and will be introduced to policy and technological developments in carbon markets and offsets.”

Realizing Spatially Enabled Societies: Call for GSDI 12 Workshops and Tutorials

In Conferences, GIS, SDI on January 13, 2010 at 7:19 am

The morning of the opening day of the GSDI 12 conference (19 October 2010) is dedicated to concurrent workshop and tutorial offerings. GSDI 12 invites attendees to submit proposals for workshops and extended tutorials. Please note that all workshops and tutorials will be opened to all GSDI 12 conference attendees at no additional cost.

Workshops and tutorials are expected to be instructional and address skills or a knowledge base germane to the development of spatial data infrastructure. Spatial data infrastructure is broadly defined here as the technology, policies, standards, human resources, and related activities necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain, and preserve spatial data. The infrastructure incorporates many sectors including commercial, government, NGO and non-profit sectors; applications may range from local to global scales.

Workshops with participatory aspects will be preferred over straight lectures. The tutorials and workshops should be led by recognized experts in the material to be taught.

Each workshop or tutorial proposed should be for a single 90-minute session. A typical conference participant may register for up to two 90-minute workshops or tutorials. A half-hour coffee break will be arranged between the two workshop sessions. An instructor whose proposal to offer a workshop is accepted will be expected to register for the conference before 1 August 2010. Please note that there will be no remunerations to instructors and they should be solely responsible for the running of workshops and tutorials.

Facilities for Workshops

All workshop rooms will be arranged in classroom style and tables will be provided for participants to rest their laptop computers. All rooms are equiped with standard computer projectors. Although wireless computer access is available for instructors and students, workshop or tutorial materials should be prepared and stored in CDs or USB drives rather than via live downloads. No computer labs are available in the conference venue; as such, workshop participants are advised to bring their own laptops in the event that hands-on computer exercises are conducted by instructors. Rooms will be of sufficient size to handle the pre-enrolled participants as well as any last minute enrollees.

Submission Requirements

If you are interested in submitting a workshop proposal, please provide the following information:

1. Proposed Workshop Title

2. Organizer/Contact Person (name, title, address, country, phone, fax, e-mail) 3. Workshop Description and Goals (250 words or less suitable for posting on the web. Please indicate in the description if the session will involve lecture, hands-on exercises, group exercises, etc., and whether any take-home materials will be supplied. Moreover, please indicate whether participants should each bring a laptop computer or anything else to the workshop.) 4. Workshop Topics (90 Minutes) 5. Tentative Workshop Instructor(s) (please provide name, title, affiliation and indicate whether confirmed at the time of proposal submission) 7. Intended Audience and any prerequisite skills or interests required (technicians, managers, or policymakers, etc., whether it is pitched at introductory or advanced level, what skills if any participants should possess)

Please provide the above headings and your responses in the body of an email (NOT as an attached file).

Descriptions of workshops offered at past GSDI Conferences may be found at the following links: GSDI 11 Workshops, GSDI 10 Workshops and GSDI 9 Workshops.

Attendees will be asked to evaluate the quality of content and instruction of each workshop. Those workshops rated highly by attendees at past conferences are given priority in selection at future conferences.

Submission Deadline

1 February 2010

Submit your proposal on or before 1 February 2010 to Harlan Onsrud at onsrud@spatial.maine.edu with a copy to Alan Stevens at astevens@gsdi.org

GSDI 12 World Conference

Singapore

19-22 October 2010

Theme: Realizing Spatially Enabled Societies

http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi12

Patterns of Urban Violent Injury: A Spatio-Temporal Analysis

In GIS, Social Science, Spatial Analysis, Temporal Analysis on January 13, 2010 at 7:13 am

Michael Cusimano, Sean Marshall, Claus Rinner, Depeng Jiang, Mary Chipman

PLoS ONE 5(1)

“Injury related to violent acts is a problem in every society. Although some authors have examined the geography of violent crime, few have focused on the spatio-temporal patterns of violent injury and none have used an ambulance dataset to explore the spatial characteristics of injury. The purpose of this study was to describe the combined spatial and temporal characteristics of violent injury in a large urban centre.

“Using a geomatics framework and geographic information systems software, we studied 4,587 ambulance dispatches and 10,693 emergency room admissions for violent injury occurrences among adults (aged 18–64) in Toronto, Canada, during 2002 and 2004, using population-based datasets. We created kernel density and choropleth maps for 24-hour periods and four-hour daily time periods and compared location of ambulance dispatches and patient residences with local land use and socioeconomic characteristics. We used multivariate regressions to control for confounding factors. We found the locations of violent injury and the residence locations of those injured were both closely related to each other and clearly clustered in certain parts of the city characterised by high numbers of bars, social housing units, and homeless shelters, as well as lower household incomes. The night and early morning showed a distinctive peak in injuries and a shift in the location of injuries to a “nightlife” district. The locational pattern of patient residences remained unchanged during those times.

“Our results demonstrate that there is a distinctive spatio-temporal pattern in violent injury reflected in the ambulance data. People injured in this urban centre more commonly live in areas of social deprivation. During the day, locations of injury and locations of residences are similar. However, later at night, the injury location of highest density shifts to a “nightlife” district, whereas the residence locations of those most at risk of injury do not change.”

GIS for Water Resources Publications

In GIS on January 13, 2010 at 6:36 am

ESRI publishes numerous industry-specific periodicals, including Water Writes and Hydro Line for users in the water resources and water/wastewater communities.

How to Subscribe

You can subscribe free of charge to these and any of ESRI’s other periodicals by simply going to www.esri.com/subscribe.

Mapping Forestry: New Book Details Evolving Use of GIS in Forestry Industry

In Books, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 12, 2010 at 6:28 am

Mapping Forestry from ESRI Press provides a unique view into some of the many ways geographic information system (GIS) technology is being used throughout the world to support better forestry and land management decisions. The book provides firsthand reports from forestry professionals on their use of GIS to manage commercial operations and promote sustainable stewardship. Presented are approaches for determining the best route for building roads through forest lands, whether logging in a particular area is commercially viable, which fire-damaged areas of forest should be restored first, and more.

Peter Eredics, editor of Mapping Forestry and ESRI’s manager for forestry solutions, comments, “From developing countries to the developed world, forestry professionals rely on GIS to understand the timber resource, make strategic plans, manage resources sustainably, reduce costs, create efficiencies, and increase profitability.”

Forestry managers today must deal with unprecedented challenges posed by increasingly complex regulatory requirements and evolving social expectations. As a result, the business of sustainable forestry is currently undergoing transformation in an era of dramatic economic change and intensifying global competition. Mapping Forestry details how GIS software is helping foresters manage, view, and model data so they can meet environmental and commercial demands.

Mapping Forestry (ISBN: 9781589482098, 88 pages, $39.95) is available at online retailers worldwide, at www.esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit www.esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options or contact your local ESRI distributor. For a current distributor list, visit www.esri.com/distributors. Interested retailers can contact ESRI Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.

[Source: ESRI Press Release]

Improving Access to Clean Water in Sub-Saharan Africa

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Social Science on January 12, 2010 at 6:19 am

GIS Used to Explore the Spatial Dimensions of Public Health

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

Clean drinking water is hard to find in Mayange, Rwanda.

That’s why a group of university students and two professors from the University of Redlands (U of R) in Redlands, California, traveled to this African region. Using the GIS technology and GPS equipment they brought along, they mapped the area’s water sources and collected water use information. Their survey is helping improve access to clean drinking water in the community and in similar communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

The maps are useful in providing local sustainable development programs with accurate locations of where people get their water. For example, the data can be used to identify areas where water sources are contaminated and support decisions about improving water quality, such as how to protect an open pit water source or where to dig a new water source. Ultimately, this field collection and mapping model may be used for mapping other water networks in Rwanda and other parts of Africa and to contribute to the implementation of sustainable practices in impoverished nations.

Mukund Rao Steers Data and GIS for Global Spatial Data Infrastructure

In ESRI, GIS, SDI on January 11, 2010 at 7:17 am

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

A geologist by education, Dr. Mukund Rao understands how studying the earth can uncover solutions to problems that affect people all over the world. His passion for understanding the earth and its activities led Rao to a rich career furthering earth observation, GIS, and spatial data infrastructure (SDI) applications at both the national and international levels.

To honor this exemplary work record for the past three decades, Rao has been bestowed two honors, the 2008 National Geospatial Award for Excellence from the Indian Society of Remote Sensing and the Exemplary Service Medal from the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association. The Indian Society of Remote Sensing recognized Rao’s outstanding contributions in promoting geospatial science and technology and applications in India through longtime association and involvement in GIS technology, including his current position as president and chief operating officer of NIIT GIS Limited (ESRI India). The GSDI Association recognized Rao for his role in building and developing GSDI in its formative years and steering its activities as its first president from 2004 to 2006. Rao served as president at the GSDI-7/8 conferences in Bangalore, India/Cairo, Egypt, and has been involved in directing and furthering the technology and application of SDI throughout the world.

Jack Dangermond Moderates Day 3 of the GeoDesign Summit

In Conferences, Design, ESRI, GIS on January 8, 2010 at 11:49 am

Fishing Ground Prediction Using a Knowledge-based Expert System Geographical Information System Model in the South and Central Sulawesi Coastal Waters of Indonesia

In GIS, Imagery, Modeling on January 8, 2010 at 7:30 am

International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 30, Issue 24 2009 , pages 6429 – 6440

M. Sadly;  N. Hendiarti;  S. I. Sachoemar; Y. Faisal

“A knowledge-based expert system model working on the basis of a geographical information system (GIS) was applied to predict fishing ground spots in the coastal waters of South and Central Sulawesi. The model is designed by the integration of multisource data to answer ‘what?’, ‘where?’, and ‘why?’ questions of the fishing ground location. Despite the fact that GIS is a powerful tool for dealing with the first two questions, GIS is inferior for answering the ‘why?’ question in geo-studies. One of the possible ways of overcoming the inferiority of GIS for answering the ‘why?’ question of geo-studies is by integrating an expert system in a GIS to form a knowledge-based expert system GIS model. In this study, we used a series of sea surface temperature (SST) satellite data, sea surface chlorophyll-a (SSC) and turbidity derived from MODIS Aqua in the period 2003-2005 as input data, to understand the temporal and seasonal variability of the marine environment of the study area, and identified the oceanographic phenomena, i.e. upwelling, front or eddy. A spatial configuration map of the predicted fishing ground spots was then developed and integrated using a knowledge-based expert system GIS model generated by the Erdas Macro Language (EML) of Erdas Imagine 9.0 software. To verify this result, a series of in situ fishing ground spot data of the study area were collected for similar periods, and they were then analysed using a simple statistical method. The result shows that the predicted fishing ground spots generated by the knowledge-based expert system GIS model corresponded well with in situ data with a high accuracy level of 85%. This result has demonstrated that the knowledge-based expert system GIS model can be applied to predict, localize and determine fishing ground spots in which their accuracy level will be determined by the completeness of spatial knowledge of the domain expertise and the sophistication level of the programming utilities being used.”

Disease Causing Steep Decline of Bats

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 8, 2010 at 7:29 am

Mapping the Spread of White-Nose Syndrome with GIS

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

Caves have become graveyards for what biologists estimate as more than one million bats, the victims of a devastating disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS).

Building on the work of its partners, Bat Conservation International (BCI) is using GIS to create a geodatabase of critical hibernation sites and map the probable spread of the disease. Understanding how WNS has spread and is expected to spread in the future will help biologists respond to the disease using surveillance and conservation actions.

The first case of WNS in hibernating bats was discovered in a cave near Albany, New York, in February 2006. Since then, the disease is known to have killed bats in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Developing a Web-Based e-Research Facility for Socio-Spatial Analysis to Investigate Relationships between Voting Patterns and Local Population Characteristics

In GIScience, Social Science, Spatial Analysis on January 7, 2010 at 7:19 am

Journal of Spatial Science, Vol. 54, No. 2

E. Liao, T- K. Shyy, R. J. Stimson

“This paper describes the development of an e-research facility for socio-spatial analysis. It is illustrated with the example of a prototype Web-based GIS and statistical application for the analysis, modelling and visualisation of the relationships between patterns of voting at the 2007 Australian federal election and the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of local populations using 2006 census data. The facility incorporates a web-based GIS which can generate maps displaying patterns of voting for political parties across polling booths with overlay data showing the population characteristics living within the surrounding polling booth catchments. Various classification approaches including equal interval, quantile, median-based natural breaks, and location quotients can be used to generate different map displays. Statistical analysis functionality – such as regression analysis, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis – enables researchers to conduct on-line statistical modelling and the visualisation of outputs. This prototype facility not only gives researchers and students on-line access to socio-spatial datasets through a metadata directory, but also enhances the capacity and capability of researchers and students to undertake spatially integrated social science research.”

Monitoring the Albertine Rift in Africa

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 7, 2010 at 7:08 am

Custom Web GIS Functionality Facilitates Data Exchange

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

Stretching from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and spanning portions of Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Tanzania, the Albertine Rift is one of Africa’s most important—and most threatened—sites for the conservation of biodiversity. Formed over the course of millions of years, the Albertine Rift is the result of two tectonic plates that collided and are now slowly pulling apart. This geologic activity has created some of the continent’s tallest mountains and a number of the world’s deepest lakes and contributed to the diversity of habitats that include active glaciers, alpine grasslands, volcanoes, lowland and montane forests, and various grass and woodland savannas.

Since the early 1990s, however, this hot spot of biodiversity (home to more than 7,500 species of endemic plants and animals) has been plagued by a series of devastating conflicts, resulting in more than 3 million deaths and the displacement of approximately 2.7 million people. The region is one of the most populous in Africa, with up to 300 people per square kilometer in some locations. In addition to the pressures of population density, an influx of refugees and the lack of settlement policies have compounded the problem of forest degradation, fragmentation, and loss—particularly in protected areas.

Assessment of Water Availability in the Mountainous Watersheds of Idaho

In Environmental Science, GIS on January 7, 2010 at 7:07 am

American Water Resources Association 2010 Summer Specialty Conference: GIS & Water Resources VI, 29 – 31 March 2010, Orlando, Florida

Session 4: Hydrologic Modeling I.  Monday, 29 March, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Venkataramana Sridhar, Boise State University, Boise, ID

“It is both complex and challenging to model the hydrologic water balance in mountain watersheds due to the lack of observations from high elevations at a resolution that is critical to accurately understand and partition precipitation into streamflow, evapotranspiration, drainage and ground water recharge. This study will involve hydrological modeling of two basins namely the Treasure Valley and Rathdrum Prairie and Palouse Basin located in different parts of Idaho which are also the priority watersheds under the Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan of the Idaho Department of Water Resources. Using the spatially distributed watershed model, Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), we plan to quantify current and future water availability under climate change conditions by providing GIS information including landuse, vegetation, soil and weather conditions at a high resolution to the model. SWAT-predicted streamflow and ET at some selected sites will be validated using the available data. The insights gained from this project will directly benefit in quantifying the spatial distribution and heterogeneity in ET, streamflow and groundwater over a large area on a continuous time scale.”

Michael Gallas presenting at the 2010 GeoDesign Summit

In Conferences, Design, ESRI, GIS on January 6, 2010 at 2:31 pm

Wyoming Shares Water Resources Data

In GIS on January 6, 2010 at 11:42 am

GIS Used to Provide Hydrological, Climatological Information

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

From the snow-packed peaks in Grand Teton National Park to the harsh, dry plains of the Red Desert, Wyoming is truly a land of climate extremes. As the fifth driest state in the United States, Wyoming is constantly threatened by drought. Since 1999, much of Wyoming has been gripped by moderate to severe drought, prompting the state to take careful account of its water resources. To help meet those demands, the Water Resources Data System (WRDS) at the University of Wyoming provides both hydrological and climatological information to the public and to federal, state, and local agencies. WRDS offers extensive current and historical spatial data with related attribute information. With so much of the water data in Wyoming linked to spatial attributes, WRDS has taken steps to disseminate all this data via the Internet to water managers, legislators, and stakeholders across the state.

WRDS has long been a library and data repository for Wyoming water- and climate-related information. WRDS is often tasked with the creation of maps for various water plans around the state, and this is accomplished using different GIS applications. WRDS has taken advantage of the University of Wyoming’s ESRI University Site License and made available water and climate data using customized ArcIMS services. Publishing this type of data via customized ArcIMS applications allows numerous water stakeholders to examine how different areas of the state are developing and using existing water and to determine where in the state those resources may be most sensitive to changes in climate, shifts in demand, and increasing human populations.

Blast from the Past: “ARC/News”, Winter/Spring 1987

In ESRI, GIS on January 6, 2010 at 7:26 am

The Winter/Spring 1987 issue of “ARC/News” is 16 pages long.  Click on a thumbnail below to view a larger version of the page.

Predicting Pre- and Post-Wildfire Runoff using ArcGIS 9.4

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling on January 6, 2010 at 7:04 am

American Water Resources Association 2010 Summer Specialty Conference: GIS & Water Resources VI, 29 – 31 March 2010, Orlando, Florida

Session 4: Hydrologic Modeling I.  Monday, 29 March, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Lorri Peltz-Lewis, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Sacramento, CA (co-author: Richard Easterbrook)

“The Department of the Interior’s National Interagency Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams conduct analysis of fire effects using aerial and ground reconnaissance methods within the fire areas with the goal of stabilizing the fragile condition of the land to protect life, property, water quality, and ecosystems. Vegetation loss exposes soil to erosion, which could increase runoff and causing flooding. Previous tools developed for the BAER Team hydrologists automated the process of predicting post-wildfire watershed runoff using ArcGIS ModelBuilder utilizing tools within the ArcToolbox. The tools created predict pre- and post-wildfire watershed runoff for a selected rain event are being updated using ArcGIS 9.4 capabilities and updated algorithms.”

Vegetation Management Goes Mobile

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 6, 2010 at 6:43 am

Vermont Electric Power Company, Mobile GIS Application Serves Both Office and Field Operations

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

The Vermont Electric Power Company’s (VELCO) 688 miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines and 12,000 acres of rights-of-way share space with a wide and colorful variety of plant life. There are ferns, azaleas, holly, laurels, blackberry bushes, cedars, maples, and oak trees—more than 75 different types of vegetation. All of it needs to be managed, and any vegetation that exceeds a mature height of 12 feet needs to be removed.

VELCO developed an innovative vegetation management program that is saving the company hours of work, assisting in compliance, and significantly improving accuracy of treatment on its rights-of-way. Located in Rutland, Vermont, VELCO was formed in 1956 when local utilities joined forces to create the nation’s first statewide, transmission-only company in order to share access to clean hydroelectric power and maintain the state’s transmission grid.

The Spatial Patterns of Adverse Health Effects of Ozone Pollution on Childhood Respiratory Diseases in Urban Houston

In ESRI, GIS, Geography, Science, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 6, 2010 at 6:38 am

Annals of GIS, Volume 15, Issue 2 December 2009 , pages 127 – 140

Shing Lin; Yongmei Lu

“This paper reports on the investigation of the spatial patterns and variations of adverse health effects of ozone pollution on childhood respiratory diseases in Houston, Texas. The study period is June to September of 2001. No significant global relationship exists between ozone pollution and prevalence of childhood respiratory diseases. However, geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis reveals spatially varied adverse health effect. With the guidance from GWR results, the association between ozone pollution and childhood respiratory disease prevalence is proved to be significant in three sub-regions. Moreover, spatial regression analysis suggests the presence of spatial dependence of the prevalence of childhood respiratory diseases.

“The spatial variation of the relationship between ozone pollution and childhood respiratory disease prevalence indicates health effects of confounding or intervening factors. The spatial dependency of disease prevalence is related to both the spatial patterns of pollution and those of confounding factors. The findings call for future investigation to examine the factors that might be working together with or against ozone pollution when health effects are concerned. For health practice and management, a set of neighborhood-specific policy, practice, and resource allocation strategies need to be developed to minimize the adverse health effects of ozone pollution.”

Directory of GIS Conference Proceedings

In Conferences, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, GIScience, Geography, Imagery, Modeling, Science on January 5, 2010 at 1:01 pm

[Source: ESRI GIS Bibliography,  http://training.esri.com/campus/library]

AAG Annual Meetings
2007 2002 2000 1999 1998 1995 1993 1991 1990 1989 1987 1978 1971 1970 1969

ACM CIKM Proceedings
2003 2002 2001

ACM Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems
2006 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

ACM/IEEE-CS Proceedings
2002

ACSM/ASPRS Proceedings
2002 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1985 1982

Advances in Spatial Databases (SSD)
1995 1993

AGI Conferences
1997

ASPRS Proceedings
2006 2001 2000 1998 1995 1994

ASPRS/ISPRS Proceedings
2003 2002

Association of Geographic Information Laboratories Europe (AGILE)
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

AutoCarto Proceedings
2008 2006 2005 1997 1995 1993 1991 1989 1987 1986 1983 1979 1975

COSIT Proceedings
2007 2005 2003 2001 1999 1997 1995 1993 1992

Earth Observation & Geo-Spatial Web and Internet Workshop (EOGEO)
1998

ESRI Education User Conferences
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001

ESRI European User Conferences
2006 2003 2002 1999 1998 1997 1996

ESRI International User Conferences
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989

ESRI Survey & Engineering GIS Summits
2009 2008 2007 2006

European Conference on Geographical Information Systems (EGIS)
1994 1993 1992 1991 1990

European GIS Education Seminar (EUGISES)
2004 2002 2000

Geo-Spatial Education
2000

GeoComputation
2003 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

GeoTec
2006

GIS Planet
2005

GIS/LIS Proceedings
1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986

GIScience
2004 2002 2000

GITA
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

Harvard Library of Computer Graphics Mapping Collection
1981 1980 1979

Harvard Papers on Geographic Information Systems
1978

ICA abstracts
2007 2006 2005 2003 2001 1999 1997 1989

IEEE Proceedings
1997

Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling
2000 1996 1993

International Federation of Surveyors
2007 2006 2005 2002

International Symposia on Spatial Data Handling
2004 1994 1992 1990 1988 1986 1984

Interop ’99
1999

Symposia on Geographic Information Systems for Transportation (GIS-T)
1998 1996 1995 1994

Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1967

URISA GIS in Addressing
2007 2006 2005 2004 2000

URISA GIS/CAMA Technologies
2004

URISA Integrating GIS and CAMA
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

URISA IT/GIS in Public Works
2004 2002 2001

URISA Public Participation GIS (PPGIS)
2005 2004 2003

Astronomer Tyler Nordgren to Discuss “Stars Above, Earth Below” January 13 at ESRI Conference Center

In ESRI, Environmental Science, Science on January 5, 2010 at 11:57 am

Since 2005, University of Redlands astronomer and physics professor Tyler Nordgren has been working closely with a team of astronomers and park rangers to promote astronomy education in the national parks. He will speak about these efforts at 5:30 p.m. on January 13, 2010, at the ESRI Conference Center at 380 New York Street in Redlands, California.

America’s national parks protect spectacular geologic and ecological environments from development. They also protect our natural viewsheds beneath the horizon by day and above the horizon at night. A mere hundred years ago, stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies were clearly visible in the nighttime sky from anywhere. Now, dark, starry nights are a rare sight for urban dwellers.

In 2007, Dr. Nordgren made a journey across the American landscape, exploring the connections between national parks and the wonders of the night sky. He visited 12 parks in 12 months, from Denali in Alaska to Bryce Canyon in Utah. He met with park rangers and examined the themes that link the parks to other landscapes in the solar system, then wrote about what he discovered on the Planetary Society’s Web site. His book Stars Above, Earth Below: A Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks is intended for the public and is due in February 2010.

While earning his Ph.D. from Cornell University, Nordgren’s research involved measuring the amount of dark matter in spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way. He has worked with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he helped build a telescope designed to look at the surfaces of other stars. In 2004, he was part of a team of seven astronomers and artists who converted the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rover camera calibration targets into functioning sundials and saw the rovers land safely in Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum.

This talk is part of an ongoing educational and cultural series of speeches, performances, and programs that ESRI and the University of Redlands Town & Gown organization are cosponsoring.

The event will be free to the public. It will be held in ESRI’s new state-of-the-art auditorium and followed by a short reception for the speaker and attendees. To register and ensure seating, visit www.esri.com/culturalseries on the Internet or call 909-748-8011.

[Source: ESRI Press Release]

Geospatial Modelling Environment: A Platform Designed for Rigorous Spatial Analysis and Modelling

In ESRI, GIS, Modeling, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 5, 2010 at 7:57 am

“The promise of GIS has always been that it would allow us to obtain better answers to our questions. But this is only possible if we have tools that allows us to perform rigorous quantitative analyses designed for spatial data. The Geospatial Modelling Environment (GME) is a platform designed to help to facilitate rigorous spatial analysis and modelling.

“GME provides you with a suite of analysis and modelling tools, ranging from small ‘building blocks’ that you can use to construct a sophisticated work-flow, to completely self-contained analysis programs. It also uses the extraordinarily powerful open source software R as the statistical engine to drive some of the analysis tools. One of the many strengths of R is that it is open source, completely transparent and well documented: important characteristics for any scientific analytical software.

“It incorporates most of the functionality of its predecessor, HawthsTools, but with some important improvements. It has a greater range of analysis and modelling tools, supports batch processing, offers new graphing functionality, automatically records work-flows for future reference, supports geodatabases, and can be called programatically.”

The New York City Open Accessible Space Information System Cooperative

In GIS, Geography on January 5, 2010 at 7:54 am

“The New York City Open Accessible Space Information System Cooperative (OASIS) is a partnership of more than 30 federal, state, and local agencies, private companies, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations to create a one-stop, interactive mapping and data analysis application via the Internet to enhance the stewardship of open space for the benefit of New York City (NYC) residents.

“A community-based undertaking, local organizations design and test the first city wide, web-based, open space mapping resource for NYC. OASIS facilitates and focuses the delivery of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) resources to provide timely and accurate information about the green infrastructure of NYC.”

An Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Water Resources in Spain

In Climate Change, Modeling on January 5, 2010 at 7:44 am

American Water Resources Association 2010 Summer Specialty Conference: GIS & Water Resources VI, 29 – 31 March 2010, Orlando, Florida

Session 4: Hydrologic Modeling I.  Monday, 29 March, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Javier Alvarez-Rodriguez, Centre for Hydrographical Studies of Cedex, Madrid, NA, Spain (co-authors: Barranco Sanz, Luis.,Potenciano de las Heras, Angela, Quintas Ripoll, Luis)

“Some results are shown of work carried out in CEDEX to assess the climate change impact on water resources in natural regime. The work is developed under the coordination of the Spanish General Directorate of Waters. 12 climate regionalized projections were provided by the Spanish Office of Climate Change (OECC) and the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET). They give estimates of precipitation and maximum and minimum daily temperatures during the control period (1961-1990) and three future periods (2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100) in which the impact was evaluated. A preliminary comparison of climate projections and observed data was done for the control period. It was followed by an interpolation of the atmospheric forcing variables. Also potential evapotranspiration was estimated. Finally, atmospheric forcing variables were implemented in a semidistributed version of Tmez model to obtain maps of actual evapotranspiration, soil moisture, groundwater recharge and runoff. The model is integrated into SIMPA (An Integrated System for Rainfall Runoff Modelling) system, a GRASS based GIS tool, developed by CEDEX since the 90′s. Atmospheric and hydrological variables are distributed with the exception of groundwater discharge, which is simulated using a tank model in defined hydrogeological units. More than 200,000 maps of 1 km2 resolution have been generated covering the whole of Spain in a monthly basis. The impact of climate change on water resources is presented as percentage deviations of runoff in each future period of the XXIth century with respect to the control period.”

Assistant/Associate Research Professor – Ecosystem Modeler, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling on January 5, 2010 at 7:40 am

The Desert Research Institute (DRI), Reno, Nevada, is seeking an enthusiastic and motivated scientist in the area of Ecological Modeling at the level of Assistant Research Professor. For exceptional candidates hiring at the Associate Research Professor level will be considered. The appointment is expected to begin 1 September 2010 and the successful candidate will participate in or lead individual research tasks, develop new directions in ecological research, and supervise post-doctoral fellows and graduate students within ongoing and planned ecological experimental studies. The individual selected is expected to interact with a diverse group of scientists, including plant physiological ecologists, soil scientists, remote sensing/GIS specialists, climate modelers, hydrologists and atmospheric scientists. The initial focus of this position will be to assess the response of Great Basin ecosystems to future climate change scenarios. It is expected that the candidate will participate in analysis of observational and model data, and take a lead in publication writing and reporting. All candidates will be evaluated on past experience, communication skills, proposal and publication record, grant and contract activities, ability to work both collaboratively and independently, supervision experience, and personal area of expertise that complements existing staff. The successful candidate may have an opportunity to teach classes relevant to climate change at the University of Nevada, Reno if desired but this is not a requirement of the position.

Required Qualifications

  • Ph.D. degree in Ecology with a strong background in Mathematics or vice versa or related field.
  • Ability to work collaboratively and productively in an interdisciplinary environment and advise graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
  • Ability to work independently and as a lead of a scientific team to fulfill project goals and meet project deadlines.
  • Record of peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations at professional meetings appropriate for the candidate’s professional rank
  • A record of program development or other demonstrated ability to obtain and complete research grants and contracts appropriate for the candidate’s rank.
  • Evidence of potential to secure and maintain adequate funding through federal, state and local agencies.

More information

Reducing Pollution on the Black Sea Coast

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 5, 2010 at 7:39 am

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

Marine pollution has been a concern for a long time, but during the last decade, the issue has become more pressing as human influences have exacerbated the problem and vast ecosystems have been affected. It is no longer a local or regional matter; it is a major international problem that must be addressed with a systematic approach.

Seas inside and surrounding Russia have intensive anthropogenic loading, both in water bodies and as a result of industrial activities near catchment basins. The main sources of pollution are river drainage, sewage, and water transportation.

Pollution in the Black Sea is particularly worrisome, especially as Russia prepares to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. There are dire ecological consequences to deal with because of chemical, physical, and biological pollution; the change of the hydrological balance of the Black and the Azov seas; and man-made stressors on the seas.

Generative Statistical 3D Reconstruction of Unfoliaged Trees from Terrestrial Images

In Environmental Science, Imagery, Statistics on January 5, 2010 at 6:58 am

Annals of GIS, Volume 15, Issue 2 December 2009 , pages 97 – 105

Hai Huang; Helmut Mayer

“This article presents a generative statistical approach for the automatic three-dimensional (3D) extraction and reconstruction of unfoliaged deciduous trees from terrestrial wide-baseline image sequences. Unfoliaged trees are difficult to reconstruct from images because of partially weak contrast, background clutter, occlusions, and particularly the possibly varying order of branches in images from different viewpoints. This work combines generative modeling by L-systems and a statistical approach for maximum a posteriori estimation for the reconstruction of the 3D branching structure of trees. Background estimation is conducted by means of gray scale morphology to provide a good basis for generative modeling. A Gaussian likelihood function based on intensity differences is used to evaluate the hypotheses. The target tree is classified into three typical branching types after the extraction of the first level of branches and specific production rules of an L-system are used. Generic prior distributions for parameters are refined based on already extracted branches in a Bayesian framework and are integrated into the maximum a posteriori estimation. By these means most of the branching structure besides the tiny twigs can be reconstructed. The results are presented in the form of virtual reality modeling language models and show the potential of the approach.”

Interactive Map: Tracking Anchorage Grizzly Bears

In Environmental Science, Geography, Visualization on January 4, 2010 at 1:21 pm

…from the Anchorage Daily News…

From 2005 to 2007, 11 grizzly bears in Anchorage were captured and fitted with radio collars that transmitted their locations. Follow their travels through the town.

2010 Advanced Spatial Analysis Workshop Schedule from PRI and CSISS

In Education, GIScience, Spatial Analysis, Statistics on January 4, 2010 at 11:23 am

The Population Research Institute (PRI) at Penn State and the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) at UC Santa Barbara are pleased to announce the offering of two summer workshops in 2010 under the Advanced Spatial Analysis Training for Population Scientists program (funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). This year both workshops will take place in July 2010 on the UC Santa Barbara campus with Don Janelle serving as the local coordinator. These workshops have a participation cap and are highly competitive. Anyone interested in these workshops must complete an application form (to be posted on‐line at the project website in mid‐January 2010). Closing dates for receipt of an application will be March 31, 2010 and successful applicants will receive notification of invitation to participate by mid‐April.

  • Geographically Weighted Regression – July 12‐16, 2010 (arrival day July 11th)
    The instructors include A. Stewart Fotheringham, Martin Charlton and Chris Brunsdon. A similar workshop was held at Penn State in 2008 and the format for the 2010 workshop will likely be similar. See http://www.csiss.org/GISPopSci/workshops/2008/PSU/agenda.php
  • Spatial Pattern Analysis ‐ July 19‐23, 2010 (arrival day July 18th)
    The instructors include Art Getis, John Weeks and Jared Aldstadt. A similar workshop was held in 2008 at UCSB and the format for the 2010 workshops will likely be similar. See http://www.csiss.org/GISPopSci/workshops/2008/UCSB/agenda.php

Please consult the training program website for updates: http://www.csiss.org/GISPopSci/

Doug Richardson, Executive Director of the Association of American Geographers, on GIScience and Climate Change

In Climate Change, ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS, GIScience, Science on January 4, 2010 at 10:15 am

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

“Geographers and GIScientists have long played key roles in climate change research, and the tools and methods of geography—including GIS—will be crucial to understanding, limiting, and adapting to climate change in the decades ahead.

“After years of delay and denial, responsible climate change research and responsive policy agendas are now assuming center stage in President Barack Obama’s administration. Nearly all federal agencies now have legacy or newly mandated and funded research programs that actively seek to identify causes and impacts of global climate change and policies for mitigating or adapting to these impacts. Geography and GIScience, with long experience in the integration of the physical and social sciences, offer a well-placed bridge that can bring together the disparate natural and human system elements of climate change research and policy.”

Contemporary Roles for Spatial Analysis in Archaeology: Seminar Series at University College London

In Social Science, Spatial Analysis on January 4, 2010 at 9:49 am

The UCL Institute of Archaeology Seminar Series (January–March 2010)
31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY
Mondays 4pm, Room 612 (followed by a wine reception)

Schedule

  • 11 January 2010 – Benjamin Ducke (Oxford Archaeology)
    ‘Science without software no longer. Archaeological data analysis and the Open Source paradigm’
  • 18 January 2010 – Chris Green (University of Leicester)
    ‘Temporal GIS and archaeology’
  • 25 January 2010 – Tony Wilkinson (Durham University)
    ‘From household to region: incorporating agency into the interpretation of regional settlement’
  • 1 February 2010 – Tim Williams (University College London)
    ‘Earth viewers and GIS in archaeological resource management: access and accessibility’
  • 08 February 2010 – Luke Premo (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)
    ‘A spatially explicit model of Early Stone Age archaeological landscapes’
  • 15 February 2010 (Reading Week – no seminar)
  • 22 February 2010 – Frederic Fol Leymarie (Goldsmiths College)
    ‘Advances in 3D procedural modelling with applications to archaeology’
  • 01 March 2010 – Michael Barton (Arizona State University)
    ‘Stories of the past or science of the future? Archaeology and computational social science’
  • 08 March 2010 – Irmela Herzog (Archaeological Heritage Management of the Rhineland)
    ‘Patterns of movement, least cost paths and our understanding of the archaeological record’
  • 15 March 2010 – Kate Devlin (Goldsmiths College)
    ‘Illuminating virtual reconstructions of past environments’
  • 22 March 2010 – Mark Lake (University College London)
    ‘Rewind and fast‐forward: how archaeological GIS analyses recapitulate general theory’

On Three-dimensional Visualization of Geospatial Information: Graphics Based or Imagery Based?

In GIS, Imagery, Visualization on January 4, 2010 at 9:10 am

Annals of GIS, Volume 15, Issue 2 December 2009 , pages 75 – 84

Li Deren;  Wang Mi;  Hu Qingwu; Hu Fen

“The three-dimensional (3D) visualization of geospatial information constitutes a fundamental property of the geo-information services nowadays, along with the requirements of popularity, openness and capabilities of target measuring and knowledge mining. Accordingly, in this article, the two major technical routines now applied to 3D visualization of geospatial information, that is the graphics-based approaches and the imagery-based approaches, are both described and discussed. After a comparative analysis of both advantages and disadvantages of the two manifestation modes, an optimized integrative strategy for 3D visualization of geospatial information is proposed finally.”

University of New Mexico Graduate Research Opportunity in Historical Geography

In Education, Geography on January 4, 2010 at 8:48 am

The Department of Geography at the University of New Mexico is seeking to hire a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) in Historical Geography, starting Fall 2010. GRAs are expected to be enrolled full-time in the MS in Geography program. Some of the specific research projects the GRA will be working on include:

  • Historical transitions in New Mexico’s water resource management funded by the National Science Foundation. This research examines the ways local New Mexican communities responded to federal and territorial/state initiatives for centralized water management in the early 20th century. Data sources include district court cases, newspaper publications, and archival materials.
  • Development of hydrological science in the arid West funded by the National Science Foundation. This research examines the rhetorical, cultural, and structural development of hydrology as a “science” for irrigation in the late-nineteenth-century American West, focusing on the ways water engineers and water administrators represented their work. Data sources include government documents, newspaper publications, and personal papers of water engineers.
  • Cartography and expertise in water management funded by the National Science Foundation. This research examines the role of cartography in early 20th-century water management in New Mexico. Data sources include government documents, district court cases, and personal papers of water engineers.

Qualified applicants should have an undergraduate degree in Geography, History, or related field, with strong research and writing skills. Interest in natural resource management and experience with archival materials is also desirable. The GRA position consists of a competitive monthly stipend, including tuition waiver and benefits. Those interested in the position should apply to the MS program in Geography and indicate that they would like to be considered for the GRA position in Historical Geography. Application deadline to be considered for Fall 2010 is February 1, 2010.

Applications materials can be accessed at www.unm.edu/grad/admissions/admissions.html.

Details on the Department of Geography and the MS program in Geography can be found at http://geography.unm.edu .

More details on these specific research projects can also be found at
www.unm.edu/~mdlane.

For more information, contact:

Maria Lane, Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
Bandelier West Room 111, MSC01 1110
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
E-mail: mdlane@unm.edu
Tel: (505) 277-1752

Using GIS to Assess Climate Change Impacts on the Rio Grande and its Riparian Forest

In Climate Change, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling on January 4, 2010 at 8:36 am

American Water Resources Association 2010 Summer Specialty Conference: GIS & Water Resources VI, 29 – 31 March 2010, Orlando, Florida

Session 4: Hydrologic Modeling I.  Monday, 29 March, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Julie Coonrod, Department of Civil Engineering, Albuquerque, NM (co-authors: Kelly Isaacson, Venkatesh Merwade)

“River restoration projects in the vicinity of Albuquerque, New Mexico are often focused on the riparian forest. Exotic species are removed, while native cottonwood trees are planted. The cottonwood trees are ‘pole planted’ such that their roots tap into the groundwater table adjacent to the river. Such projects are located anywhere current cottonwood trees exist and not necessarily where groundwater depths have been estimated to determine likelihood of species survival. This work is aimed at utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) along with the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System (RAS) to determine depth to groundwater as a function of river flow rate. The RAS model utilizes a terrain model developed by various data sets including point data from Light Detection and Ranging, surveyed cross-section points, and aerial photographs. The RAS model is calibrated with readily available flow gage data. In-channel water surfaces from RAS are combined with well data in GIS to create groundwater surfaces. The groundwater surfaces are thus created as a function of flow rate. Doing so allows for simulation of groundwater surfaces for average years, dry years, and wet years. Furthermore, climate change scenarios (that employed GIS methods) can be used to estimate changes in stream flow. These changes show the groundwater surface can drop below the depth that the cottonwood trees can reach. By subtracting the groundwater surface from the digital terrain, the depth to groundwater is determined. Locations where riparian vegetation will be most stressed can be identified.”

Genocide and GIScience: Integrating Personal Narratives and Geographic Information Science to Study Human Rights

In GIS, GIScience, Social Science on January 4, 2010 at 8:22 am

The Professional Geographer, Volume 61, Issue 4 November 2009 , pages 508 – 526

Marguerite Madden; Amy Ross

“This project combines qualitative data of personal narratives with geographic information science (GIScience) technologies to explore the potential for critical cartography in the study of mass atrocity. The case study used is northern Uganda, where millions have been affected by physical violence and hardship, displacement, and fear. Web-based virtual globes as a ready source of imagery for remote areas and derived spatial data imported to geographic information systems (GIS) provide quantified data that complement testimonials and other qualitative data from the field. Cartographic functions, geovisualization, and spatial analyses available in GIS are used to extract information from high-resolution remote sensing images documenting internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and quantifying evidence of crimes against humanity. These techniques explore spatial relationships and communicate results on the extent and impact of the atrocities in northern Uganda.”

PhD Scholarship, Institute of Geomatics and Analysis of Risk (IGAR), University of Lausanne

In Education, Environmental Science, GIS, Modeling, Statistics, Temporal Analysis on January 4, 2010 at 8:10 am

IGAR opens a position in the field of application of machine learning algorithms (neural networks of different architectures, support vector machines, etc.) and geostatistics for geo/environmental sciences. The main tasks concern the development, adaptation, and programming of data mining (pattern recognition) models and tools. In particular, topics to be studied include modeling of data clustering, novelty detection, feature selection, manifold learning, risk mapping, and spatio-temporal simulations. In addition to the PhD the candidate is expected to assist in teaching (French, English) and other projects at the institute.

Requires an MS degree in one of the following disciplines: statistics, machine learning, computer science, physics, geosciences, applied mathematics. Candidates should have a sound background in spatio-temporal data analysis using machine learning and geostatistical approaches. Knowledge of scientific programming languages as Matlab, C, or R is important.

GIS, Multi-criteria and Multi-factor Spatial Analysis for the Probability Assessment of the Existence of Illegal Landfills

In Environmental Science, GIS, Spatial Analysis on January 4, 2010 at 7:21 am

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, Volume 23, Issue 10 October 2009 , pages 1233 – 1244

Giancarlo Biotto;  Sonia Silvestri;  Lucia Gobbo;  Elisa Furlan;  Sonia Valenti; Roberto Rosselli.

“This work deals with the identification of potentially contaminated areas using remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria spatial analysis. The identification of unknown illegal landfills is a crucial environmental problem in all developed and developing countries, where a large number of illegal waste deposits exist as a result of fast, and relatively unregulated, industrial growth over the past century. The criteria used to perform the spatial analysis are here selected by considering the characteristics which are ‘desirable’ for an illegal waste disposal site, chiefly related to the existence of roads for easy access and to a low population density which facilitates unnoticed dumping of illegal waste materials. A large dataset describing known legal and illegal landfills and the context of their location (population, road network, etc.) was used to perform a spatial statistical analysis to select factors and criteria allowing for the identification of the known waste deposits. The final result is a map describing the likelihood of an illegal waste deposit to be located at any arbitrary location. Such a probability map is then used together with remote sensing techniques to narrow down the set of possibly contaminated sites (Silvestri and Omri, 2008), which are candidates for further analyses and field investigations. The importance of the integration of GIS and remote sensing is highlighted and represents a key instrument for environmental management and for the spatially-distributed characterization of possible uncontrolled landfill sites.”

Combating the Asian Tiger Mosquito

In ESRI, Environmental Science, GIS on January 4, 2010 at 7:21 am

For the County of Mercer, New Jersey, Mosquito-Borne Diseases Pose a Serious Challenge

…from the Winter 2009/2010 issue of ArcNews…

The County of Mercer, New Jersey, lies equidistant between New York City, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its geography ranges from Appalachian piedmont forests to farms on the coastal plain. It hosts extensive freshwater and tidal marshes, the state’s urban capital of Trenton, and a booming interstate “edge city” near Princeton University. Such diversity provides an ideal location to study mosquitoes and arthropod-borne diseases (arboviruses).

Mercer County Mosquito Control (MCMC) monitors, inspects, and manages all mosquito-related activities within the county. Its two main responsibilities are to monitor and control nuisance mosquito populations and to protect the safety of the general public from mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis. MCMC uses integrated pest management techniques, along with continual surveillance of local mosquito populations and responses to service requests generated by local residents, to keep mosquitoes at tolerable levels.