Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Gis For Public Health: Exploring Diseases Of Despair In Metro Atlanta, Chanice Brown

Symposium of Student Scholars

Diseases of despair are a set of behaviors that can cause a significant amount of mortality within a population. These behaviors, which typically include drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicides, have existed for quite some time. However, the idea of “Diseases of Despair” is fairly recent. In 2015, researchers Anna Case and Angus Deaton first coined the concept while studying an increase in mortality and decrease in life expectancy amongst middle-aged, white populations in different rural communities. They theorized that external pressures, like economic insecurity and increased morbidity, were driving these populations to seek out dangerous methods to relieve their stress. …

Spatial Associations Of Liver Disease Rates With Socioeconomic And Health Risk Factors In Georgia, Nguyet Le

Symposium of Student Scholars

According to the CDC Cancer Statistics Report in 2020, Liver and Intrahepatic Bile Duct is the 6th leading cancer in both USA and the State of Georgia ranked by Rates of Cancer Death. Aflatoxin-containing foods, alcohol consumption, smoking, overeating, and other risky behaviors are among the factors linked to liver diseases. They have also been related to the socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals. The behaviors and SES of individuals are affected by the socioeconomic characteristics of the communities where they live. However, the relationships between the rates of liver diseases and community-level socioeconomic factors are not well studied. The objective …

Streamlined Hpc Environments With Cvmfs And Cybergis-Compute, Alexander C. Michels, Mit Kotak, Anand Padmanabhan, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources provide the potential for complex, large-scale modeling and analysis, fueling scientific progress over the last few decades, but these advances are not equally distributed across disciplines. Those in computational disciplines are often trained to have the necessary technical skills to utilize HPC (e.g. familiarity with the terminal), but many disciplines face technical hurdles when trying to apply HPC resources to their work. This unequal familiarity with HPC is increasingly a problem as cross-discipline teams work to tackle critical interdisciplinary issues like climate change and sustainability. CyberGIS-Compute is middle-ware designed to democratize to HPC services with the …

Geospatial Data Integration Middleware For Exploratory Analytics Addressing Regional Natural Resource Grand Challenges In The Us Mountain West, Shannon Albeke, Nicholas Case, Samantha Ewers, Jeffrey Hamerlinck, William Kirkpatrick, Jerod Merkle, Luke Todd

I-GUIDE Forum

This paper describes CyberGIS-based research and development aimed at improving geospatial data integration and visual analytics to better understand the impact of regional climate change on water availability in the U.S. Rocky Mountains. Two Web computing applications are presented. DEVISE - Derived Environmental Variability Indices Spatial Extractor, streamlines utilization of environmental data for better-informed wildlife decisions by biologists and game managers. The WY-Adapt platform aims to enhance predictive understanding of climate change impacts on water availability through two modules: “Current Conditions” and “Future Scenarios”. It integrates high-resolution models of the biophysical environment and human interactions, providing a robust framework for …

An Agent-Based Modeling Approach To Spatial Accessibility, Alexander C. Michels, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

Place-based spatial accessibility represents the ability of populations within geographic units to access goods and services, and thus is an important indicator for sustainable development. Existing spatial accessibility models treat population as simply demand, calculating statistics or optimizing average cost for the population within each geographic unit, rather than modeling individual decisions. This paper proposes AgentAccess, a general-purpose Agent-Based Model (ABM) for spatial accessibility analysis. An ABM framework brings us closer to reality by simulating individual and imperfect decision-making. We introduce the model and compare its results against existing spatial accessibility models using a case study of hospital beds in …

Reducing Uncertainty In Sea-Level Rise Prediction: A Spatial-Variability-Aware Approach, Subhankar Ghosh, Shuai An, Arun Sharma, Jayant Gupta, Shashi Shekhar, Aneesh Subramanian

I-GUIDE Forum

Given multi-model ensemble climate projections, the goal is to accurately and reliably predict future sea-level rise while lowering the uncertainty. This problem is important because sea-level rise affects millions of people in coastal communities and beyond due to climate change's impacts on polar ice sheets and the ocean. This problem is challenging due to spatial variability and unknowns such as possible tipping points (e.g., collapse of Greenland or West Antarctic ice-shelf), climate feedback loops (e.g., clouds, permafrost thawing), future policy decisions, and human actions. Most existing climate modeling approaches use the same set of weights globally, during either regression or …

Community Resilience: Conducting A Tornado Risk Assessment For Oklahoma City, Oklahoma​, Chanice Brown

Symposium of Student Scholars

On May 20th, 2013, the Newcastle-Moore tornado carved a 14-mile-long path of destruction through Oklahoma City, McClain, and Cleveland Counties. This event led to the deaths of 24 people, more than 200 injuries, and at least 2 billion dollars in damages. Tornadoes like the Newcastle-Moore are sporadic and technological advances have provided an extra layer of protection against them. However, researchers have found that one of the best methods for bolstering the safety of a community when facing such severe weather threats is developing a hazard mitigation plan. As such, the focus of this particular project was to identify the …

Gis Observations Of Missouri Amphibian Diversity, Kat Townsend, Tara Vansell

2023 Student Academic Showcase

Over the past decade, amphibian populations have been noticeably declining. As struggles between climate change, human development, and sustaining healthy ecosystems grows, it is vital to understand how these threats impact amphibians. Missouri has a rich diversity of toads, frogs, and salamanders but some of these species are struggling, such as the spring peeper and Ozark hellbender. Projects such as the St. Louis Zoo’s Frog Watch and iNaturalist observations have been implemented to involve citizens of Missouri in collecting valuable data pertaining to where amphibians are present and establishing where populations are struggling to thrive. The goal of this project …

The Human And Environmental Concerns Of The Ohio Train Derailment Using Geographic Information Systems, Lillian M. Nix, Tara Vansell

2023 Student Academic Showcase

The Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio poses many long term concerns for humans and the environment. Over a hundred thousand gallons of hazardous chemicals were released into the air, soil, and waterways after the train derailed and started a fire. Norfolk Southern performed a controlled burn of the chemicals after residents were told to evacuate. Was this really the best solution? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) datasets and tools can be used to get a better understanding of the impact the accident has had on the community. Overlaying datasets of waterways and cropland onto a map can help …

Permission-Based Marketing: Using Gis To Create Information Visualizations For Nonprofit Organizations., Mark J. Sciuchetti Dr., Jianping Huang

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Lidar Field Data Collection For 3d Cartography, Danny Jang

Symposium of Student Scholars

Remote sensing using LiDAR technology for terrestrial mapping can be done using airborne or ground-based methods. Ground-based methods of LiDAR scanning have the favorable advantage of being much more cost-effective compared to the majority of aerial choices (balloons and drones might overcome this advantage in the future) for small-area large-scale cartography. LiDAR data collection has been traditionally utilized for urban applications, forest applications, agricultural applications, and geoscience applications. This student research aims to use the data gathered from this process for crafting 3D maps using cost-effective 3D printers.

Measuring The Exposure And Vulnerability Of Transit Riders To Cold Temperatures In London, Ontario, Armin Mahboubi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Due to the expansion of suburban areas in many cities around the world, accessibility to public transit through walking has become a new challenge for riders. Considering the impacts of climate change in creating more extreme weather, such as extreme cold, heat, or flooding, transit riders may thus be at a higher risk of exposure for various weather-related illnesses (Fraser & Chester, 2016).

Using ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap software, and data collected from City of London’s Open Portal, the United States Geological Survey, Open Mobility Data, and Statistics Canada, the exposure and vulnerability of transit riders to cold temperatures in …

Temporal Variability Of Public Transit Supply-Demand Gaps In London, On, Canada, William Yang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This study looks at early morning hourly public transit use in London, Ontario, from 5:00 AM to 8:59 AM and measures the transit gaps between supply and demand at each hour to identify not only areas of oversupply or undersupply but how their occurrence and positions develop over a temporal scale.

U.S. Embassy In Bengaluru, India, Ella Hilliard

Symposium of Student Scholars

Ensuring U.S. citizens are safe while traveling to other countries is a top priority. This project helps students explore the United States' relationship with other countries and is meant to serve as a guide to find the best location for a new U.S. embassy located in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India. For this purpose, a map was created on the city of Bengaluru and incorporates data on many different factors. GIS tools are used to analyze factors such as government buildings, inclement weather, and dangerous weapons to find a new embassy that will also provide accessibility to its civilians by not being …

Us Embassy Site Selection In Vienna, Austria, Chandler T. Dixon

Symposium of Student Scholars

My project proposition is to find a suitable location for a new US embassy in Vienna, Austria. Maintaining a proper embassy in foreign cities is vital in order to protect any US citizens that may be living abroad. In order to find the most suitable location, there are a number of different demands that must be met. Maintaining distance from larger venues, hazardous areas, and other embassies that are not allies with the US has to be taken into account, along with other undesirable locations. However, the embassy will be located close to ally embassies also stationed in the city, …

Using Arcgis Pro For A U.S. Embassy Site Suitability Study: Douala, Cameroon, Derek Romanek

Symposium of Student Scholars

Using ArcGIS Pro for a U.S. Embassy site suitability study: Douala, Cameroon

Derek Romanek (Uli Ingram), Department of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, 30144

The Bureau of Overseas Building Operations wants to know the ideal location for a U.S. Embassy in the Douala, Cameroon. The suitability for the U.S. Embassy location will be determined from feature layer data acquired from ArcGIS Online. The ideal location will be accessed through vacant parcels and industrial sites, points of interest, vulnerabilities to natural hazards, social and economic issues, and a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Through ArcGIS Pro, I …

Possible Location For Us Embassy In Copenhagen, Denmark, Danny Jang

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of this research is for students to experience using GIS in a professional setting for a public organization. Copenhagen, Denmark hosts numerous embassies for other countries including the USA which was established nearly a century ago! After going through a couple of public opinions left by the locals (Google review), it would be nice if another location was established to assist both USA and Denmark’s bureaucratic needs. The population has surged compared to the numbers from when the building was established, which also changed the geospatial environment that was established when the building was opened. This research will …

Social Vulnerability, Diabetes, And Obesity In Georgia, Danny Jang

Symposium of Student Scholars

This project examines factors of health geography and population geography by examining the spatial correlation between diabetes and obesity prevalence among the population of Georgia. Diabetes and obesity are closely linked together, however, they are still far apart in various aspects which can be from personal to environmental impacts like geographical locations. This research attempts to investigate diabetes and obesity prevalence by examining the SVI of given counties of a state. This project uses data from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Opendata (which can be found on ESRI). Future studies can examine these health factors …

Geography Of Covid-19 Waves In Georgia, Walker Tompkins

Symposium of Student Scholars

Geography of COVID-19 Waves in Georgia

Over the past 2 years everyone on the globe’s lives have been changed drastically after the COVID-19 virus spread across the world. This united and divided us more than any other event in most of our lifetimes. The pandemic everyone and now that there are two years of data, it is important to examine impacts at various geographic scales. As such, focusing on the state of Georgia, this project explores how the different variants, public policy, and vaccination of our population has changed the trajectory of the virus and how many deaths it has …

Mapping The Impact Of A Trailway System On The Amount Of Trash Present Within Two Watersheds Of Lynchburg City, Virginia, Lillian Smith

Student Scholar Showcase

Transportation of trash debris within water systems is a prominent occurrence which has been linked to natural and artificial processes such as wind, rain, and littering. Recreational areas, such as activities along greenway trails, have been determined to be a source of debris found in waterways. This study examines whether the presence of an established recreational trail system limits trash accumulation in the entirety of a watershed. Trash data collected at Blackwater Creek, which contains an established trail system, was compared to trash data collected at Fishing Creek, containing a non-established trail system, to answer this hypothesis. A distance of …

Correlational Analysis Of Mammals And Residential Land Use: Amherst, Ma, Ella Gutkowski

Massachusetts GIS Day

Mammal diversity varies in different types of land uses. Residential land use oftentimes interferes with the natural occurrence of mammal species. This study conducts a correlational analysis using camera trap data from Excel and land use data in GIS to uncover whether humans have disrupted mammal occurrence in residential land use areas in Amherst, MA. Results reveal that human activity in residential land use areas in Amherst did not strongly influence the occurrence of these mammals.

Empowering The Human-Nature Bond, Lightning Talk (7 Min), Valeria Widjaja

GIS Day

What is land? Is it dirt, the Earth, property, a resource? But rarely we ask who is land? When we change the question, it changes the way we think about land. It transforms the way we make decisions about how we might protect land. Through the Deshkan Ziibi Conservation Impact Bond, this story map explores how Carolinian Canada, Chippewas of the Thames First Nations, VERGE Capital, Ivey Business School, Thames Talbot Land Trust, and 3M are striving to heal the landscape. Overall, this story map visualizes both the human-nature and human-human relationships being facilitated by the bond. Learn the about …

Atlanta Region Food Access: A Study Of Food Access As It Relates To Population Growth, Derek Romanek

Symposium of Student Scholars

Atlanta region food access: A study of food access as it relates to population growth

Derek Romanek (Uli Ingram), Department of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, 30144

The Atlanta region is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States of America. With a growing population there is an increase in the demand for resources including food. Food security is a global issue and does not only effect developing nations. To improve sustainability the United Nations came up with 17 Sustainable Development goals. To better understand what we can do to improve sustainability and meet the …

Georeferencing The Macconnell Aerial Photo Collection, Alex Heilmann, Matthew Martin, Camille Barchers, Forrest J. Bowlick, Rebecca M. Seifried

Massachusetts GIS Day

In the 1950s, Professor William P. MacConnell from the University of Massachusetts Forestry Department began working with his students to map the land cover in Massachusetts via the state’s earliest aerial photography program. These individual photographs are now part of the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, and although they have been digitized and made available online, they have not yet been georeferenced.

In Spring 2021, our team (Alex and Matthew) began manually georeferencing the photos in ArcMap 10.8 software onto USGS 2019 color orthoimagery of Massachusetts available from MassGIS. Ideal ground control points …

Population And Income Differences Of Metro Atlanta, Andrew Anderson

Symposium of Student Scholars

POPULATION AND INCOME DIFFERENCES OF METRO ATLANTA

Abstract

This study examined the population and median income among Asian, Black, and White residents within the immediate Metropolitan Atlanta area. The objective of this project was to determine differences in population and income within these counties, determining if there were any notable disparities. The information studies population and income numbers from 2019 of the U.S. Census via the American Community Survey. The areas of focus are Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. The population data is represented on a Dot Density map which plots a dot for every 3,000 individuals of …

A Story About Chickens, Adrienne Pinkard

Symposium of Student Scholars

This project analyzed the last few decades of production and consumption of chicken eggs and broilers. The first documented chicken from 8000 years ago was the Red Junglefowl. Throughout history chickens were not consumed but used for fighting and religious symbology. It wasn’t until the 1990s when consuming chicken surpassed beef (80 pounds per capitia), thanks to favorable climate in the south for raising chickens and the fortification of chicken feed that allowed factory farms to raise chickens indoor. I consider raising chickens in your backyard as sustainable since they provide year-round fresh eggs, are low maintenance, provide free garden …

Cobb County: A Tapestry Of Diversity, Tim Willson

Symposium of Student Scholars

Named for former senator Thomas Cobb, Cobb County is a major Metro-Atlanta county. Situated north-west of Atlanta, and touched by 3 Interstates, it has become a place that many call home. With a population of 760K, it is the 3^rd most populous county in Georgia. While working on a direct applied research project about Hispanic communities in Marietta for the Marietta Museum of History, I wanted to show how Cobb County’s population has become distinct yet diverse. More than just standard demographics, ESRI has developed a tapestry to describe America’s neighborhoods and broken them down into LifeMode Groups. Each …

Hispanic Demographics In Cobb County, Ga, Cole Thompson

Symposium of Student Scholars

This research was part of the Direct Applied Research (DAR) GIS: 4100 course. This research was in partnership with the Marietta Museum of History. The objective was to display Hispanic Demographics in Cobb County. Areas focused include education, population, and community. The analysis concluded similar trends in all three topics. Hispanic enrollment has gradually increased in Cobb County public high schools since 2011. High schools with the highest percentage of Hispanic enrollment were located close to interstates or in the southern region of Cobb. The population analysis concluded that zip codes 30008 and 30060 had the highest percentage of Hispanics …

Understanding Map Reading With Eye Motion Tracking, Luke Freiler

Symposium of Student Scholars

Digital maps have become an integral part of people’s daily lives, helping to convey numerous kinds of vital information. As the popularity of digital maps has increased, the ways that they are both created and understood have evolved. This project’s goal is to analyze how people view and interpret digital maps and in turn gain a better understanding of how to create more impactful maps. Digital maps are used differently from physical maps, and therefore require different approaches to their creation.

Eye tracking hardware and software from Pupil Labs was used to record students while viewing a series of maps. …

General Transit Feed Specification (Gtfs) Data In Transportation Research: A Review Of Applications And Methods, Stanley Ho

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research falls under the discipline of Urban Geography/ Geographic Information Science (GIS). The objective of this research is to sharing knowledge of a public transportation dataset named General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). Transportation research using GTFS and other open source data can be easily reproduced in many cities and to answer many urban geography questions that involves public transportation. Readers can find that GTFS and related research are conducted globally through the selected collection of journal articles. The demonstration aims to showcase that research using GTFS is feasible and easy to learn by public with little amount of open …