Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Big Data Applications And Challenges In Giscience (Case Studies: Natural Disaster And Public Health Crisis Management), Amir Masoud Forati

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the application and significance of user-generated big data in Geographic Information Science (GIScience), with a focus on managing natural disasters and public health crises. It explores the role of social media data in understanding human-environment interactions and in informing disaster management and public health strategies. A scalable computational framework will be developed to model extensive unstructured geotagged data from social media, facilitating systematic spatiotemporal data analysis.The research investigates how individuals and communities respond to high-impact events like natural disasters and public health emergencies, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In particular, it assesses the impact of socio-economic-demographic …

Visibility And Intervisibility: A Viewshed Analysis Of The Oneota Component Of The Lake Koshkonong Locality, Rebekah Joy Gansemer

Theses and Dissertations

This research was conducted to analyze the visual relationship between Oneota village sites, Late Woodland habitations, and mound sites during a period of time that saw all of these groups living contemporaneously on Lake Koshkonong. My research seeks to not only understand what and who Oneota sites could see on the landscape, but also who might have been able to see them. This research adds to the discussion of Lake Koshkonong Oneota relationships with contemporaneous groups during the 11th-15th centuries.This study focuses on four sites within the Lake Koshkonong Locality that date to the Oneota period: Crescent Bay Hunt Club …

Terrestrial Perspective On The Formation, Evolution, And Detection Of Zeolites In Lacustrine Environments On Early Mars, Gayantha Roshana Loku Kodikara

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the possible formation and evolution mechanisms of zeolites on early Mars with possible explanations for their limited detections using Earth analogs. This study focuses on the formation of zeolites in the closed basin lakes where the largest relatively pure concentrations of natural zeolites are found on Earth. Five working hypotheses were formulated to explore the limited detection of zeolites in closed basin lakes on Mars and different styles of scientific reasoning with suitable examples were used to test the independent, converging lines of inquiry. Zeolites may not be identifiable in certain locations on Mars using orbital data …

Exploring Micro-Scale Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Restaurant Entrepreneurship With Public Open Data, Chanwoo Jin, Alan T. Murray

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Commercial activities within a city have competed to attract people, and the interactions between these activities have affected urban dynamics. Among many services, the restaurant business accounts for a significant portion of the urban economy, with spatiotemporal variations in survivability reflecting crucial signs of changes in urban structure. This study aims to identify the patterns of spatiotemporal changes in restaurants locations to deepen our understanding of urban dynamics. Studies have utilized a variety of data sources, including social media and consumer review services, but they cover relatively short periods and focus on currently operating businesses. Public open data, however, offers …

The Spatial Prevalence And Associated Factors Of Opioid Overdose Mortality In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Andrew Schendl

Theses and Dissertations

Mortality from opioid overdose has become the leading cause of non-natural death in Milwaukee County, WI in recent years. In order to better understand the opioid epidemic and formulate pro-active responses to the crisis at the local level, this study examines the spatial prevalence and associated factors of opioid overdoses that end in mortality in Milwaukee, WI using the spatial econometrics model. The social determinants of health framework is used to identify the potential related socioeconomic factors associated with opioid abuse. Using principal component analysis, 6 primary components were identified from the chosen social determinants and used as explanatory variables …

Mapping For Indoor Walking Environment From Point Clouds By Using Mobile Mapping Systems, Nurfadhilah Ruslan, Nabilah Naharudin, Abdul Hakim Salleh, Maisarah Abdul Halim, Zulkiflee Abd Latif

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Walkability is one of the issues to be addressed in the planning of smart urban cities. Although, there is a substantial amount of studies on outdoor walking pedestrian, limited study has been done to address indoor walkability. Recently, most of the pedestrians are likely to use indoor route than outdoor route to protect themselves from sun and rain as most of the indoor routes are located on the buildings such as shopping mall and rail transit station. Therefore, it important to collect all the relevant information in the indoor building to addressed the walkability issues. The GeoSLAM ZEB REVO scanner …

A Simulation Framework For Traffic Safety With Connected Vehicles And V2x Technologies, Md Abu Sayed

Theses and Dissertations

With the advancement in automobile technologies, existing research shows that connected vehicle (CV) technologies can provide better traffic safety through Surrogate Safety Measure (SSM). CV technologies involves two network systems: traffic network and wireless communication network. We found that the research in the wireless communication network for CV did not interact properly with the research in SSM in transportation network, and vice versa. Though various SSM has been proposed in previous studies, a few of them have been tested in simulation software in limited extent. On the other hand, A large body of researchers proposed various communication architecture for CV …

Geographical Counterpoint To Choreographic Information Based On Approaches In Giscience And Visualization, Hyowon Ban, Ola Ahlqvist

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

This study provides geographical counterpoint to existing knowledge of a dance piece through approaches from GIScience and visualization by focusing on spatio-temporal movement of dancers in a large dataset of the dance. The goal of this study is to introduce a new application to bridging art and science in the domain of dance and geography disciplines. The study utilizes existing methodologies in GIScience, including exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), spatial analysis, Relative Motion (REMO) analysis, and Qualitative Trajectory Calculus (QTC) analysis for the reasoning of the dance data. The results of the study demonstrate the following. First, spatio-temporal information in …

A Comparison Of Network Clustering Algorithms In Keyword Network Analysis: A Case Study With Geography Conference Presentations, Youngho Lee, Yubin Lee, Jeong Seong, Ana Stanescu, Chul Sue Hwang

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

The keyword network analysis has been used for summarizing research trends, and network clustering algorithms play important roles in identifying major research themes. In this paper, we performed a comparative analysis of network clustering algorithms to find out their performances, effectiveness, and impact on cluster themes. The AAG (American Association for Geographers) conference datasets were used in this research. We evaluated seven algorithms with modularity, processing time, and cluster members. The Louvain algorithm showed the best performance in terms of modularity and processing time, followed by the Fast Greedy algorithm. Examining cluster members also showed very coherent connections among cluster …

Triple Threat Gateway? Respiratory Health, Demographics And Land Use In Metro East St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois, Usa, Stacey R. Brown-Amilian

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

This paper examines a triple threat for residents of two counties in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Previous environmental justice research has focused on demographics and toxic facilities. This research builds upon those assessments by incorporating hospital discharge data and demographics as well as three different types of pollution sources. Air pollution monitors were unavailable to use during the time period of 2009-2011, therefore proxy measures of pollution in the form of major roadways, industrial land use parcels, and toxic facility information from the EPA Toxic Release Inventory are utilized. This study integrates both spatial coincidence and proximity analysis methods …

A Conceptual Agent-Based Model Of Farming Households’ Vulnerability To Winter Storms, Yiyi Zhang

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Vulnerability assessments are implemented to identify regions and groups at risk and factors that need to be addressed to reduce vulnerability. Existing assessments have allowed multidimensional factors to be examined in various settings and adopted complex models to simulate human-environment-weather interactions. However, these models are far less accessible than traditional models due to model abstraction and there has been limited research detailing a formalized way to simulate the interactions between rural households and external changes in response to a specific extreme weather event. To supplement applied efforts in vulnerability assessments and address the challenge in communicating agent-based models, this study …

Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis In Traffic Safety, Amin Azimian, Dimitra Pyrialakou

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

This paper presents an exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) of road traffic crashes at different severity levels in West Virginia (WV). Although ESDA can support transportation safety decision-making by helping planners understand and summarize crash data, it is underutilized in practice. This paper describes the application of five representative easy-to-use method to identify crash patterns and high crash-risk counties in WV. Analysis of crash data from 2010 to 2015 indicated that traffic crashes in WV were not spatially correlated. However, crash severities were found to be positively correlated.

Enhancing Equity In Public Transportation Using Geographic Information Systems And Spatial Optimization, Ho-Seop Cha, Alan T. Murray

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Public transportation is a vital part of urban living. For instance, public transportation services help reduce road congestion, oil consumption and air pollution, and they serve people who need to travel throughout urban environments at the same time do not have access to private vehicles. The latter aspect is an important matter of social justice. Therefore, it is important to understand why the interest in equity in transport is growing, why public transportation should favor the transport disadvantaged, and why analyses of equity measurement and improvement are needed. Measuring the level of access to public transportation among the transport disadvantaged …

Everyday Perseverance & Meaningful Toil: Mapping The (In)Distinguishable Process Of Recovery Post-Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Louisiana, Monique Hassman

Theses and Dissertations

For nearly a century, anthropological scholarship on disaster has contributed to advancing emergency preparation and management, however examination focusing on survivors’ return and responses in the aftermath of catastrophe, specifically the ways in which residents work to recover—if at all—remains far from comprehensive, especially in urban, post-industrial settings.

Following calamity, what remains? What is disturbed? What becomes reconstructed? Who repairs the tattered social fabric or restores the built environment? And how do these processes transpire? These questions summarize the research interests of this dissertation, which examines the place-making practices not of experts or administrators, but, rather, those enacted by (extra) …

Using Historic Glo Data And Gis To Assess The Potential For Local Bison Bison Near Two Wisconsin Late Prehistoric Oneota Localities, Andrew Michael Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

Bison (Bison bison) remains are rare in the archaeological record of Wisconsin. This thesis uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to better understand native vegetation near sites with reported bison bone to assess their ecological viability to support local bison herds. The distribution of bison bone recovered in archaeological contexts in Wisconsin can be summarized as follows: few sites report bison remains, the archaeological contexts that do report bison are clustered in a few Late Prehistoric period locations (approximately A.D. 1300-1650), and bison remains are rare in comparison to other fauna at those sites (Arzigian et al. 1989; Boszhardt 1989, …

Using Historic Glo Data And Gis To Assess The Potential For Local Bison Bison Near Two Wisconsin Late Prehistoric Oneota Localities, Andrew Michael Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

Bison (Bison bison) remains are rare in the archaeological record of Wisconsin. This thesis uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to better understand native vegetation near sites with reported bison bone to assess their ecological viability to support local bison herds. The distribution of bison bone recovered in archaeological contexts in Wisconsin can be summarized as follows: few sites report bison remains, the archaeological contexts that do report bison are clustered in a few Late Prehistoric period locations (approximately A.D. 1300-1650), and bison remains are rare in comparison to other fauna at those sites (Arzigian et al. 1989; Boszhardt 1989, …

Using Gis And Remote Sensing To Map Grassroots Sustainable Development For A Small Ngo In Nepal, Suzanne C. Walther, Elizabeth M. Dengenis, Krishna Gurung

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Geographic information systems, through analysis and visualizations, can aid in pursuing and improving sustainable development. Thousands of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in developing countries provide a wide range of services and local organizations with fewer resources must often be more efficient to offer their services effectively. The accessibility of spatial data for assessment and, in turn, improved planning could enable these organizations to increase efficiency, thereby maximizing aid and sustainable development, as well as the number of people helped in a variety of ways. Focusing on mapping outreach and quantifying land use for a locally run NGO in Nepal, this study …

Implications Of Dam Removal: Modeling Streamflow In Lansing, Michigan Using The Soil And Water Assessment Tool, Ryan J. Filbin, Laiyin Zhu, Lisa Dechano-Cook, Lei Meng

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

This paper uses hydrologic modeling methods to determine the effects of dam removal in Lansing, Michigan, on the streamflow of the Grand River, flooding risks, and flood mitigation strategies. In Michigan, more than one-half of the state’s dam infrastructure is more than 50 years old, and more than one-third are classified as having a moderate-to high-risk potential. Lansing, Michigan, contains two moderate-to high-risk dams along the Grand River that are a significant hazard to the surrounding community in the event of structural failure. This research utilizes the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model the impacts of the Moores …

Accuracy Evaluation Of The Canadian Openstreetmap Road Networks, Hongyu Zhang, Jacek Malczewski

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

Volunteered geographic information (VGI) has been applied in many fields such as participatory planning, humanitarian relief and crisis management. One of the reasons for popularity of VGI is its cost-effectiveness. However, the coverage and accuracy of VGI cannot be guaranteed. The issue of geospatial data quality in the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project has become a trending research topic because of the large size of the dataset and the multiple channels of data access. This paper focuses on a national study of the Canadian OSM road network data for the assessment of completeness, positional accuracy, attribute accuracy, semantic accuracy and lineage. The …

Ash Tree Identification Based On The Integration Of Hyperspectral Imagery And High-Density Lidar Data, Haijian Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Monitoring and management of ash trees has become particularly important in recent years due to the heightened risk of attack from the invasive pest, the emerald ash borer (EAB). However, distinguishing ash from other deciduous trees can be challenging. Both hyperspectral imagery and Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data are two valuable data sources that are often used for tree species classification. Hyperspectral imagery measures detailed spectral reflectance related to the biochemical properties of vegetation, while LiDAR data measures the three-dimensional structure of tree crowns related to morphological characteristics. Thus, the accuracy of vegetation classification may be improved by combining …

Late Prehistoric Lithic Economies In The Prairie Peninsula: A Comparison Of Oneota And Langford In Southern Wisconsin And Northern Illinois, Stephen Wayne Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the environmental settlement patterns and the organization of lithic technology surrounding Upper Mississippian groups in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The sites investigated in this study are the Washington Irving (11K52) and Koshkonong Creek Village (47JE379) habitation sites, contemporaneous creekside Langford and Oneota sites located approximately 90 kilometers apart. A two-kilometer catchment of Washington Irving is compared to that of the Koshkonong Creek Village to clarify the nature of environmental variation in Langford and Oneota settlement patterns and increase our understanding of Upper Mississippian horticulturalist lifeways. Lithic tool and mass debitage analyses use an …

Food Inequities, Urban Agriculture, And The Remaking Of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Margaret Pettygrove

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence of growing food insecurity and diet-related disease (e.g., diabetes) in North America has raised concerns among scholars and community groups about the quantity and quality of food available to urban residents (Guthman 2012). Research indicates that low-income and racial or ethnic minority populations experience disproportionately limited food access (Zenk et al 2005). Scholars hypothesize that limited physical proximity to full-service retail food stores or to sources of affordable fresh produce leads to unhealthy dietary practices (such as overconsumption of fat) that then produce diet-related illness. This “obesogenic environment thesis” has shaped much of the geographic research on food access, …

Land Use Analysis Of The Milwaukee County Institutional Grounds: A Chronological And Spatial Depiction Of Cultural Change, Sarah Klingman-Cole

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses GIS analysis of spatial data and historical documentation to determine land use change in the Milwaukee County Institutional Grounds (MCIG) located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. This chronological and spatial land use analysis specifically examined aspects of the grounds in relationship to historically documented changes taking place during MCIG operations from 1850 to 1980. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a more accurate account of the grounds throughout the timeframe. This thesis, featuring a GIS model, includes a series of digitized maps that provide for a more accurate account of the grounds throughout the timeframe studied. Results …

Public Geospatial Data In Wisconsin: Information Access, Data Sharing, And The University, Stephen Robert Appel

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores public geospatial data sharing in Wisconsin. The research is informed by literature on GIS and Society, Participatory GIS, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Information Justice, The Digital Divide, and Library and Information Science. Original research consists of a survey and follow up interview to public land information professionals in Wisconsin gauging their interest in a UW System-wide geographic information portal for distributing public spatial data to UW System users. The research finds that social and institutional rather than technical factors are major drivers of data-sharing activities in Wisconsin. However, technical aspects of geographic information are changing quickly with a …

Spatial Dimensions Of Tower Karst And Cockpit Karst: A Case Study Of Guilin, China, Wei Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Tower karst (fenglin) and cockpit karst (fengcong) are two globally important representative styles of tropical karst. Previously proposed sequential and parallel development models are preliminary, and geomorphological studies to date do not provide enough satisfactory evidence to delineate the spatial and temporal relation between the two landscapes. This unclear interpretation of tower-cockpit relationships not only obscures understanding of the process-form dynamics of these tropical karst landforms, but also confuses their definition. Moreover, previous technological limitations, as well as the fragmental nature of the karst landscapes, has limited incorporation of geologic and other data into broad geospatial frameworks based on geographic …

Landscape Genetics Of The American Badger: Understanding Challenges In Elusive Species, Elizabeth Marie Kierepka

Theses and Dissertations

American badgers are one of the most poorly understood carnivores in North America due to their highly elusive, semifossorial lifestyle. To complicate understanding their biology further, badgers possess life history characteristics that predict radically different responses to habitat heterogeneity. In particular, they are considered grassland specialists, so their movement and population viability could be highly dependent on grassland habitats. Badgers are also highly mobile, which suggests they experience high gene flow. Predicting how these life history traits impact gene flow, however, is difficult based on the high diversity in responses to landscape heterogeneity among carnivores. To assess how landscape heterogeneity …

Measuring Spatial Health Disparity Using A Network-Based Accessibility Index Method In A Gis Environment: A Case Study Of Hillsborough County, Florida, Huairen Ye, Hyun Kim

International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research

In recent decades, the health care delivery system in the United States has been greatly transformed and more widely examined. Even with one of the most developed health care systems in the world, the United States still experiences great spatial disparity in health care access. Increasing diversity of class, culture, and ethnicity also has a significant impact on health disparity. The goal of this paper is to address the spatial disparity of health care access using a network-based health accessibility index method (NHAIM) in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. Ensuring a desired level of accessibility for patients is the …

Examining Spring And Autumn Phenology In A Temperate Deciduous Urban Woodlot, Rong Yu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an intensive phenological study in a temperate deciduous urban woodlot over six consecutive years (2007-2012). It explores three important topics related to spring and autumn phenology, as well as ground and remote sensing phenology. First, it examines key climatic factors influencing spring and autumn phenology by conducting phenological observations four days a week and recording daily microclimate measurements. Second, it investigates the differences in phenological responses between an urban woodlot and a rural forest by employing comparative basswood phenological data. Finally, it bridges ground visual phenology and remote sensing derived phenological changes by using the Normalized Difference …

An Anthropological Investigation Of The Dynamic Human-Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus Aethiops Sabaeus) Interface In St. Kitts, West Indies, Kerry M. Dore

Theses and Dissertations

Over 350 years ago, the ecology of St. Kitts was dramatically altered by the advent of sugar cane production and the introduction of a highly adaptable, invasive animal species: the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). This project employed both primatological and ethnoprimatological techniques to assess conflict between vervet monkeys and Kittitian farmers. Methodological tools from primatology allowed for the creation of a predictive model of monkey crop-raiding behavior. The model was highly informative about monkeys' current raiding patterns; however, viewing Kittitian farmers and vervet monkeys as interconnected through an ethnoprimatological perspective revealed the significance of history with regard to this …

Regionalization Of Hydrologic Response In The Great Lakes Basin: Considerations Of Temporal Variability, Jonathan Martin Kult

Theses and Dissertations

Methods for predicting streamflow in areas with limited or nonexistent measures of hydrologic response commonly rely on regionalization techniques, where knowledge pertaining to gaged watersheds is transferred to ungaged watersheds. Hydrologic response indices have frequently been employed in contemporary regionalization research related to predictions in ungaged basins. In this study, regionalization models were developed using multiple linear regression and regression tree analysis to derive relationships between hydrologic response and watershed physical characteristics for 163 watersheds in the Great Lakes basin. These models provide a means for predicting runoff in ungaged basins at a monthly time step without implementation of any …