Day: March 14, 2011

Esri Press Publishes Arc Hydro Groundwater

/ Matt Artz

Essential Reference Portrays Subsurface Hydrologic Modeling with GIS

A new book from Esri Press, Arc Hydro Groundwater: GIS for Hydrogeology, provides water resource engineers, hydrologists, hydrogeologists, and academics with detailed information on a new geographic data model for groundwater. Coauthored by Gil Strassberg, Norman L. Jones, and David R. Maidment, Arc Hydro Groundwater is the long-awaited companion to Arc Hydro: GIS for Water Resources, the seminal text on the application of geographic information system (GIS) technology to surface water modeling.

“This new book is an invaluable resource for those working with groundwater data, and it includes great descriptions on the use of GIS to support groundwater modeling applications,” said Clint Brown, Esri’s director for software products. “The book is clearly written, allowing any hydrologist to understand and apply the models presented.”

The Arc Hydro Groundwater data model shares a common framework with the surface water components of the Arc Hydro data model, which enables a standard methodology to apply GIS to water resource issues.

Arc Hydro Groundwater includes details on

● Groundwater simulation models

● 3D subsurface representation in GIS

● Modeling aquifers, wells, and boreholes

● 3D hydrogeologic models

● Time series for hydrologic systems

Arc Hydro Groundwater: GIS for Hydrogeology (ISBN: 978-1-58948-198-5, 176 pages, $64.95) is available at online retailers worldwide, at esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options, or visit esri.com/distributors to contact your local Esri distributor. Interested retailers can contact Esri Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.

For additional information on Esri’s GIS solutions for groundwater, visit esri.com/industries/water_resources/business/ground_water.html.

[Source: Esri press release]

URISA GISCorps Volunteers Recruited for Japan Earthquake Relief Mission

/ Matt Artz / 2 Comments

Six URISA’s GISCorps volunteers were recruited to assist in mining various datasets in earthquake stricken areas of Japan. This mission is in collaboration with Crisis Commons http://crisiscommons.org. The mined and organized datasets will become available to the humanitarian relief community. For specific details about this project, click here.

For updates on this project and other URISA GISCorps projects currently in progress, visit www.giscorps.org.

Operating under the auspices of URISA, GISCorps coordinates short term, volunteer based GIS services to underprivileged communities .

[Source: URISA press release]

Multi-dimensional Error Analysis of Nearshore Wave Modeling Tools, with Application Toward Data-driven Boundary Correction

/ Matt Artz

Proceedings of the International Conference on Coastal Engineering, No 32 (2010)

Boyang Jiang and James Kaihatu

“As the forecasting models become more sophisticated in their physics and possible depictions of the nearshore hydrodynamics, they also become increasingly sensitive to errors in the inputs, such as errors in the specification of boundary information (lateral boundary conditions, initial boundary conditions, etc). Evaluation of the errors on the boundary is less straightforward, and is the subject of this study. The model under investigation herein is the Delft3D modeling suite, developed at Deltares (formerly Delft Hydraulics) in Delft, the Netherlands. Coupling of the wave (SWAN) and hydrodynamic (FLOW) model requires care at the lateral boundaries in order to balance run time and error growth. To this extent, we will use perturbation method and spatio-temporal analysis method such as Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis to determine the various scales of motion in the flow field and the extent of their response to imposed boundary errors.”

Exploring Faceted Geo-spatial Data with Tangible Interaction

/ Matt Artz

GeoViz: Linking Geovisualization with Spatial Analysis and Modeling, 10-11 March 2011, Hamburg, Germany

Till Nagel and Frank Heidmann

“In this paper we introduce a case study on tangible geo-visualization on an interactive tabletop to enable the exploration of architectural projects in Venice. The tangible user interface consists of a large display showing projects on a map, and a polyhedral object to browse these data interactively by selecting and filtering various metadata facets. With the object we aim to reduce the barrier between the physical world and virtual data, and ease the understanding of faceted geo-spatial data.”

National Assessment of Shoreline Change: A GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the New England and Mid-Atlantic Coasts

/ Matt Artz

United States Geological Survey (USGS), 2011

Himmelstoss, Emily A.; Kratzmann, Meredith; Hapke, Cheryl; Thieler, E. Robert; and List, Jeffrey

“This publication responds to the increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes, which results from development rise despite the fact that coastal infrastructure is subjected to flooding and erosion. It compiles a comprehensive database of digital vector shorelines and shoreline-change rates for the New England and Mid-Atlantic Coasts. It intends to develop a standardized method that is consistent from coast to coast for measuring changes in shoreline position. It aims to facilitate the process of periodically and systematically updating the results in an internally consistent manner.”