Digital Commons Network^™

Building A Gis Model To Assess Agritourism Potential, Brian G. Baskerville

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Rural areas of the world are developing and implementing tourism programs to diversify and reinvigorate their local economies. Often, these programs focus on privately-held lands in largely agricultural regions. In some countries, tourism development strategies have combined agriculture and tourism to create a new industry – agritourism. This industry, although not new in the United States, is still in its nascent stages. Before starting an agritourism enterprise, farmers and ranchers must consider the various factors that will likely influence their potential for long-term success. These factors can be grouped into 1) farm-specific factors such as an operator’s personality or the …

Flood Inundation Mapping Using Hec-Ras And Gis For Shelby County, Tennessee, Farid Javadnejad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Flood zones with 1% and 0.02% of annual flooding chance are projected in the ‎Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) digital flood insurance rate maps ‎‎(DFIRMs) and are suited for identifying flood risk at the largest impacts. However, less ‎severe floods, which are not mapped in DFIRMs, still cause significant damage and ‎occur on a more frequent basis. This article employs an easy-to-setup GIS-based ‎solution for rapid inundation mapping of small flood events. The linear interpolation ‎technique (LITE Flood) is developed to rescale the hydraulic behavior inherent with a ‎larger flood event without performing additional hydraulic simulations. The approach is ‎evaluated …

Crash Data Study For The City Of Germantown, Tn, Jared Wayne O'Dell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The City of Germantown has experienced a rise in intersection related crashes over the past several years. They currently must sort throught hundreds of documents to perform analysis on these intersections and the cause of increased crash rates. This thesis proposes a method of visual analysis of the 39 major intersections within the Germantown city limits. Visual mapping software is required for visual analysis. The incorporation of ArcGIS 10 is critical to the success of this project because it provides a means of quick visual analysis of intersection related crash data within the city. This provides Germantown officials with a …

Landfills – Territorial Issues Of Cities From North-East Region, Romania, Florin C. Mihai, Pavel Ichim

Florin C MIHAI

Landfilling prevails in waste management options in Romania like others new EU members, being contrary to the concept of waste hierarchy promoted in recent years by EC. Waste disposal is done usually in non-compliant landfills and Government established a program to close these sites. This paper aims to analyse the transition from traditional waste management systems to an integrated system at national, regional and local scale. Assessment of landfills location based on buffer analysis (using GIS techniques) is made according to the proximity of five critical factors (CF) such as: residential area, industry & commercial units, agricultural lands, rivers & …

A Rooftop Revolution? A Multidisciplinary Analysis Of State-Level Residential Solar Programs In New Jersey And Massachusetts, Alden Griffith, Monica Higgins, James Morton Turner

Faculty Research and Scholarship

The success of alternative energy policies is usually measured in terms of energy capacity. By this metric, state-level policies to promote solar installations in New Jersey and Massachusetts have been a success. To fully evaluate these policies, however, it is necessary to consider how these policy programs are structured and funded, who participates in these programs, and the complete life-cycle consequences of 'clean' energy technologies. This paper focuses specifically on residential solar installations, which represent more than half of the total U.S. rooftop solar capacity potential. It takes a multidisciplinary approach that draws on policy analysis, spatial and demographic analyses, …

Global Digital Elevation Model Accuracy Assessment In The Himalaya, Nepal, Luke G. Miles

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are digital representations of surface topography or terrain. Collection of DEM data can be done directly through surveying and taking ground control point (GCP) data in the field or indirectly with remote sensing using a variety of techniques. The accuracies of DEM data can be problematic, especially in rugged terrain or when differing data acquisition techniques are combined. For the present study, ground data were taken in various protected areas in the mountainous regions of Nepal. Elevation, slope, and aspect were measured at nearly 2000 locations. These ground data were imported into a Geographic Information System …

Rapid Riparian Buffer Width And Quality Analysis Using Lidar In South Carolina, Emre Akturk

All Theses

The importance of protecting water quality and aquatic resources are increasing because of harmful human impacts within and around waterways. Establishing or restoring functional riparian areas protect water quality and are a good mechanism to conserve aquatic systems, plants, and wildlife. Laser-based remote sensing technology offers a high resolution approach to both characterize and document changes in riparian buffer zones (RBZs). The objectives of this study were to build a model to calculate riparian buffer width on both sides of a stream using a LiDAR-derived slope variable, to classify riparian buffers and determine their quality, and to evaluate the appropriateness …

Analysis Of The Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Street Hawking: A Case Study Of The Accra Metropolitan Area, Alex Owusu Barimah, Stephen Abrokwah, Stephen Frimpong

Stephen Frimpong

To the street hawker, it is a means of making a living but to the managers of the metropolis, street hawking is a menace. These differences in perception have led to a game plan tied to spatio-temporal diurnal traffic regimes. While the city authorities plan may be to evict the street hawkers, the plan of the hawkers is to outwit the city authorities through make-shift hawking patterns in order to make a living. The difference in the two positions can be characterized by the city manager’s need for clean and less congested city streets, and the hawker’s desire to sell …

Anthropology And Gis: Temporal And Spatial Distribution Of The Philippine Negrito Groups, Sabino G. Padilla Jr

Human Biology

The Philippine "negrito" groups comprise a diverse group of populations speaking over 30 different languages, who are spread all over the archipelago, mostly in marginal areas of Luzon Island in the north, the central Visayas islands, and Mindanao in the south. They exhibit physical characteristics that are different from more than 100 Philippine ethnolinguistic groups that are categorized as non-negritos. Given their numbers, it is not surprising that Philippine negritos make up a major category in a number of general ethnographic maps produced since the nineteenth century. Reports from various ethnological surveys during this period, however, have further enriched our …

Riga: A Rich Internet Geospatial Analytics Application For Area-Based Data, Tin Seong Kam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this information age, more and more public statistical data such as population census, household living, local economy and business establishment are distributed over the internet within the framework of spatial data infrastructure. By and large, these data are organized geographically such as region, province as well as district. Usually, they are published in the form of digital maps over the internet as simple points, lines and polygons markers limited or no analytical function available to transform these data into useful information. To meet the analytical needs of casual public data users, we contribute RIGA, a rich internet geospatial analytics …

Restraurant Regions : An Ecological Community Based Model Of Restaurant Chain Distribution In The United States, Stephen Griego

Geography ETDs

The scope of this paper is an exercise in regional identification within the geography of the United States. This paper applied a hierarchical clustering methodology to analyze the distribution of restaurants in the landscape. The clustering model utilized in this study is commonly used in analysis of ecological communities. Each restaurant chain was treated as an individual biological species, and the clustering software analyzed it as such. The individual restaurant chain locations were treated as individual samples in the environment. Wards (1963) algorithm was used to group the individual restaurant chain locations into related clusters using simple correlation as the …

Assessing Uncertainty In Volunteered Geographic Information For Emergency Response, Michael Camponovo

Geography ETDs

This research project examines data produced by volunteers through the Ushahidi web platform in response to the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. Volunteers translated messages submitted by victims in Haiti, categorized each message based on its content, and georeferenced each message on a dynamic web based map. When categorizing the data, volunteers were able to assign up to 8 main and 42 subcategories to each message. Initial inspection of the attribute data produced by the volunteers indicated a strong discrepancy between the contents of the messages submitted by the victims and the corresponding attributes assigned to those messages …

Mobile 2d And 3d Spatial Query Techniques For The Geospatial Web, Junjun Yin

Doctoral

The increasing availability of abundant geographically referenced information in the Geospatial Web provides a variety of opportunities for developing value-added LBS applications. However, large data volumes of the Geospatial Web and small mobile device displays impose a data visualization problem, as the amount of searchable information overwhelms the display when too many query results are returned. Excessive returned results clutter the mobile display, making it harder for users to prioritize information and causes confusion and usability problems. Mobile Spatial Interaction (MSI) research into this “information overload” problem is ongoing where map personalization and other semantic based filtering mechanisms are essential …

Shoreline Evolution: Northampton County, Virginia Chesapeake Bay Shoreline 2013, Donna A. Milligan, Christine A. Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

Northampton County is situated along Virginia’s Eastern Shore (Figure 1). Because the County’s shoreline is continually changing, determining where the shoreline was in the past, how far and how fast it is moving, and what factors drive shoreline change will help define the shoreline’s future movement. These rates and patterns of shore change along Chesapeake Bay’s estuarine shores will differ through time as winds, waves, tides and currents shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments. The purpose of this report is to document how the Chesapeake Bay shoreline of Northampton County has evolved since 1938. Aerial imagery …

Evaluating The Performance Of A Filtered Area Weighting Method In Population Estimation For Public Health Studies, Andrew Chiang

Geosciences Theses

Areal interpolation is a geospatial analysis method that allows researchers to estimate the incidence of a phenomenon in one set of areal units given data based on different areal units. One practice implemented in conjunction with areal interpolation is known as filtered area weighting, in which ancillary data is introduced to exclude specific areas from the areal units based on certain criteria, thus providing a more accurate representation of population distribution. This thesis examines the benefits that filtered area weighting can provide to population estimation using a hospital accessibility case study. The study shows that filtered area weighting does not …

Introduction To Gis Using Open Source Software, 4th Ed, Frank Donnelly

Open Educational Resources

This tutorial was created to accompany the GIS Practicum, a day-long workshop offered by the Newman Library at Baruch College CUNY that introduces participants to geographic information systems (GIS) using the open source software QGIS. The practicum introduces GIS as a concept for envisioning information and as a tool for conducting geographic analyses and creating maps. Participants learn how to navigate a GIS interface, how to prepare layers and conduct a basic geographic analysis, and how to create thematic maps. This tutorial was written using QGIS version 1.8 "Lisboa", a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) desktop GIS software package.

A Comparison Of Recreational- And Intermediate Survey-Grade Gps Units For Importing Data Into Gis Software Packages, Tyler A. Brown, Lawrence R. Gering, Thomas J. Straka

The Journal of Extension

Global positioning systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become common tools for Extension professionals. These systems vary in terms of accuracy and cost. GPS ranges from recreational-quality to survey-quality, with intermediate levels in between. As the user moves from recreational-quality to survey-quality, both accuracy and cost increase. We compare a recreational GPS unit (Garmin) and importing data into Google Earth software and an intermediate survey-grade GPS unit (Trimble Juno) and importing data into ArcMap GIS software. These represent two of the most common GIS choices available to natural resource professionals. Cost effectiveness will depend on accuracy requirements.

Risk Assessment Model For Pipe Rehabilitation And Replacement In A Water Distribution System, Jan C. Devera

Master's Theses

The efficient delivery of potable water for a community through its distribution system has historically been the backbone of nearly all metropolitan developments. Much of these systems are comprised of pipe networks made of various materials including concrete, iron, PVC, and even steel. As these communities expand and urbanize, water demand and population density simultaneously increase. This develops higher strains and stresses in the community‟s water distribution network causing pipes to corrode, crack, or rupture prematurely while in service. As a result, the deterioration of water distribution systems in growing cities is increasingly becoming a major concern for our nation. …

Application Of Gis And Spatial Data Modeling To Archaeology: A Case Study In The American Southwest, Veronica Arias

Anthropology ETDs

One of the most important methodological advances in the archaeology of the past quarter century is the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in archaeological research. Within this time frame, GIS has evolved from an emergent geospatial technology with limited mapmaking capabilities to a technology of choice for cultural resource managers, planners, and academic archaeologists alike. This dissertation examines the evolutionary trajectory and impact of GIS in the discipline since its introduction, and its potential to support new applications of GIS-driven innovation in archaeological research. As part of this project, two separate studies were conducted. The first study assessed adoption …

Survey Of Well Water Contamination In A Rural Southwestern Pennsylvania Community With Unconventional Shale Gas Drilling, Shyama Karen Alawattegama

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recent increase in unconventional shale gas extraction (USGE) using hydraulic fracturing and associated claims of ground water contamination has raised awareness of ground water issues. The Woodlands, a community that relies on well water, reported changes in water quality and yield concurrent with USGE activities. In an effort to determine the extent of the issues and if a correlation existed, residents participated in a survey and well water samples were collected and analyzed. Base maps of the study area were created identifying current horizontal wells, legacy operations (e.g., gas and oil wells, coal mining), and topography. Fifty-six out of …

Treekit: Measuring, Mapping, And Collaboratively Managing Urban Forests, Philip Silva, Elizabeth Barry, Sophie Plitt

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

As cities across the United States expand their stock of street trees to address a range of environmental sustainability goals, municipal foresters are increasingly turning to volunteers to supplement their tree care efforts. TreeKIT is a small non-profit organization that helps city dwellers collaboratively measure, map, and manage urban forests. Using TreeKIT’s mapping methods, volunteers are able to create spatially accurate inventories of street trees. In the process, volunteers learn to identify street trees and develop an effective appreciation for their local urban forest. The following article describes the TreeKIT mapping methods and ongoing efforts to scale these techniques for …

Habitat Type Mapping In Montana De Oro State Park Through Gis Image Classification, Evan Corrales, Sarah Fockler

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This project involved using aerial imagery and GIS procedures to automatically map the basic vegetation communities present within Montana de Oro State Park, CA: grassland, coastal scrub, bare ground, woodland, and riparian areas. 1m resolution color imagery of the park from the NAIP 2005 (National Agriculture Inventory Program) and 1m resolution LiDAR height data were also used to determine the locations of the different vegetation types in the park. This data was then classified by color using the interactive supervised classification tool in ArcGIS. Points were taken in the park using a GPS unit, and compared with the GIS results …

Geographic Information Systems Analysis Of Crime In San Luis Obispo For 2012, Eric Delorme

Social Sciences

The research and final project that I plan to do will be composed of a few different parts. I will be taking crime report data from the city of San Luis Obispo and analyzing it with GIS software. The data will be from the most recent reported calendar year. I will be looking at the data spatially so that I can compare the areas of the city in which crime is most prevalent. I will be creating multiple maps which will be looking individually at different types of crime, such as violent crimes, burglary and theft, assault and battery, sex …

Change And Continuity: Euro-American And Native American Settlement Patterns In The St. Joseph River Valley, Allison M. Kohley

Masters Theses

In recent years there has been a particular interest in the fur trade and colonialism through identification and investigation of Fort St. Joseph. This fort was an 18th century French trading post in the St. Joseph River valley located in southwestern Michigan and northwestern Indiana. This study expands our current understanding of the change and continuity of the Euro- American and Native American settlement patterns in the valley during the periods immediately prior to, during, and after the abandonment of Fort St. Joseph through the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical analyses.

Data Storage Alternatives For A Gridded Crop Disease Risk Forecasting System, Paul J. Roehsner

Masters Theses

Three separate storage technologies able to serve gridded data were selected for comparison of performance in terms of providing speed and expandability to a crop disease forecasting system. The three storage technologies chosen were PostgreSQL (a relational database management system), MongoDB (NoSQL system), and netCDF files. Speed tests were performed for each by running two different crop disease risk forecasting models requiring data of different spatiotemporal resolutions. Multiple trials were done using different storage hardware. Systems were then qualitatively compared for expandability by noting the process involved in adding successive crop disease forecasting models.

It was found that due to …

Local Ideal Point Method For Gis-Based Multicriteria Analysis: A Case Study In London, Ontario, Xue Qin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

GIS-based multicriteria analysis (GIS-MCA) is a procedure for transforming and combining geographic data and value judgments (preferences) to evaluate a set of alternatives with respect to relevant criteria. Ideal Point Method (IPM) is one of the most often used GIS-MCA techniques. It has been applied in many research/planning areas including environmental planning, urban/regional planning, waste management, water resource management and agriculture. One of the limitations of IPM is that it has conventionally been used as a global approach based on the implicit assumption that its parameters do not vary as a function of geographic space. The conventional IPM assumes a …

Geospatial Services In Special Libraries: A Needs Assessment Perspective, Ilana R. Barnes

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

No abstract provided.

Advanced Techniques In Emergency Preparedness And Geoprocessing, Dean P. Chauvin Jr

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Research Of Spatial Data Cache Index Of Electricity Gis, Bo Hu

Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences

This paper studies the application of present situation of the GIS platform in the power industry, in view of the existing problems, putting forward a kind of spatial data model of the power facilities for power industry, and putting forward clustering indexing method based on semantic meaning, and accelerating the response speed of the multi-level cache mechanism. And finally the article is presented the possible problems, and the future outlook of the development of electric power GIS platform.

Site Location Modeling And Prehistoric Rock Shelter Selection On The Upper Cumberland Plateau Of Tennessee, Lucinda M. Langston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using data collected from 2 archaeological surveys of the Upper Cumberland Plateau (UCP), Pogue Creek Gorge and East Obey, a site location model was developed for prehistoric rock shelter occupation in the region. Further, the UCP model was used to explore factors related to differential site selection of rock shelters. Different from traditional approaches such as those that use (aspatial) logistic regression, the UCP model was developed using spatial logistic regression. However, models were also generated using other regression-based approaches in an effort to demonstrate the need for a spatial approach to archaeological site location modeling. Based on the UCP …