Digital Commons Network^™

Final Group Project - Optimal Route Finding, Jason Biesinger, Levi Burr, Tyson Terry

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

Emergency response teams are always preparing rescue plans and protocols so they may respond quickly to various incidents. Fire trucks and ambulances need to arrive at the scene of the incident rapidly to mitigate injury, and avoid more damage to property in the case of a fire (Kolesar et al. 1973). Holidays are times of high incidence, and officials always plan for potential risks that surround large events. The network analysis toolbox can be used to find and map out the quickest route from a variety of locations. The network analysis toolset in ArcMap makes it possible for us to …

Laboratory Exercise - Ideal Stargazing Locations Background, Michael Adamson, Brandon Walker, Nicholas Smith

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography for recording photos of astronomical objects, celestial events, and large areas of the night sky. Astronomical photography employs long exposures so film or digital imaging devices can accumulate light photons over long periods of time. Urban areas produce light pollution so equipment and observatories doing astronomical imaging are often located in remote areas to allow long exposures without the film or detectors being swamped with stray light. Astrophotography is a popular hobby among photographers and amateur astronomers. Images of the night sky can be obtained with some of the most basic film and …

Laboratory Exercise: Calculating Hobble Creek 100 Year Flow Using Arcmap, Micklane Farmer, Saul Ramirez, Riley Vane

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

GIS is used extensively in watershed analysis. In previous labs, students have determined a watershed from DEM data. Calculating flow can be very useful in many engineering aspects. With the correct data, GIS can be used to develop a hydrologic model to calculate the flow from a watershed. The purpose of this lab is to develop a model to calculate the flow for the Hobble Creek 100 year event.

Final Laboratory Exercise - Amazon Hq2 Site Selection, Jared Lillywhite, Travis Mcstraw, Marco Rosas Rodriguez

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

GIS is often used by major corporations around the world to help manage processes such as shipping, inventory, sales, and expansion. GIS is specifically used in expansion to help determine suitable site locations for new stores, Headquarters, warehouses and other assets to a given corporation. This exercise is based on a real case study. On September 12th, 2017 Amazon announced that it would be opening up a second headquarters that would be equal in operation and size to its Seattle Headquarters. The company is currently taking proposals from different cities, however they are trying to determine which U.S. cities would …

Laboratory Exercise - Calculating The Volume Of Material Displaced By Mount St. Helens Eruption Of 1980, Donald Anderson, Alex Fisher, Ken Lippold

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

There are several active volcanoes in the state of Washington. On May 18, 1980, one of these volcanoes, Mount St. Helens, erupted. On March 1, 1980, the University of Washington set up a seismograph in the area to monitor the volcano’s activity. On March 20, a minor earthquake was recorded under Mount St. Helens and the entire area was put on alert. Thanks to this warning, the locals were able to evacuate before the mountain erupted. Before fully erupting, some steam and ash was seen billowing out of the top, and on May 18, the volcano was ready to blow. …

Laboratory Exercise - Temple-View Least- Cost Mountain Bike Trail, Brad Wells, Jacob Wilcock

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has created several guidelines that are used when locating and building new mountain bike trails. A GIS is can be used to generate possible locations for mountain bike trails while following guidelines given by the IMBA. These guidelines include maximum allowable slopes, avoiding fall lines, avoiding flat areas, and seeking areas that include control points such as viewpoints, water, or other attractions. One way to determine the most appropriate placement of a mountain bike trail is to create and run a model in ArcMap that has the necessary input parameters defined within the model. …

Laboratory Exercise – Possible Zara Locations In Utah, Garlick Alyssa, Whitney Robison, Olivia Sorenson

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

GIS ModelBuilder can be used well for site selection. For this exercise, we will build a model that will automate the process of creating a map for the best locations in Utah to open a new Zara store. The principles presented here can easily be extrapolated to another state, country, or dataset to automate the process of site selection for retail stores.

Laboratory Exercise – Saratoga Springs Temple Site Locator, Jordi Berrett, Josh Gibbons, Tyler Mickelson

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

On April 2, 2017, President Thomas S. Monson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) announced that the LDS Church would build a temple in Saratoga Springs, Utah. The temple will be the eighteenth LDS temple built in Utah and the fifth in Utah County. It is anticipated that the temple will serve church members in Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, and other surrounding areas. The LDS Church carefully chooses optimal sites for their temples. LDS temples tend to be view-able from the surrounding area, usual. Temples are also usually near major highways and in areas that …

Zombie Shelter Location, Shanna Carroll, Tyler Lindsay, Hannah Rasmussen

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

One common use of GIS is determining ideal locations for projects. This is because GIS makes it very easy to combine and analyze spatial data in a customized way. In this exercise, assume that there has been a recent zombie outbreak in Utah, USA. To determine the ideal hideout location, data that indicates a safe location must be acquired and combined with geography that is conducive to wilderness survival. Once the data is gathered, spatial analysis using GIS overlay tools must be conducted to determine the ideal location for an anti-zombie hideaway hut. In this exercise, multiple tools will be …

Savannah's Ethnic Irish Neighborhoods In The Nineteenth Century: A Historical Multimethod Examination, Sarah A. Ryniker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to identify residency patterns and neighborhoods for Savannah-Irish immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century. Using a multimethod approach, this thesis explores historical, social, and economic factors that influenced settlement patterns and cultivated the conditions for an Irish-American identity, particularly in two neighborhoods, Old Fort and Yamacraw. Guided by Yancey et al.’s (1976) emergent ethnicity theory, this study uses archival materials, as well as chi-square tests for association, and the 1860 Federal Census of Chatham County, Georgia, to geolocate Irish immigrants. With an emphasis on County Wexford, Ireland, the results suggest residency was associated with Irish …

Before Abandonment: Social Change In Pre-Colonial Housepit 54, Bridge River Site (Eerl4), British Columbia, Kathryn L. Bobolinski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Housepit 54 at the Bridge River pithouse village in south-central British Columbia provides a glimpse into the complex cultural practices that occurred in this area in the past. This village, which includes approximately 80 semi-subterranean structures, was occupied during four periods, approximately 1800- 1600 cal. B.P., 1600-1300 cal. B.P., 1300-1000 cal. B.P. and 500-100 cal. B.P, firmly placing the site within both a historic and a pre-Colonial context. The two pre-Colonial floors, IIb (1288-1058 cal B.P.) and IIa (1184-1050 cal B.P.), that represent the occupation of Housepit 54 directly prior to the pre-Colonial villages abandonment are the focus of this …

A Landscape Of Water And Waste: Heritage Legacies And Environmental Change In The Mesabi Iron Range, John Baeten

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation explores the intersection between mining technology, industrial heritage, and environmental history, using iron mining in the Mesabi Range of the Lake Superior Iron District as its core case study. What impact did technological shifts in iron mining and ore processing have on the environment of the Lake Superior basin? How did the environmental changes wrought from low-grade iron ore mining and processing, such as the expansion of open-pits and the production of tailings, affect different communities in Minnesota’s Mesabi Range? And finally, how have the environmental legacies of iron mining been remembered and memorialized, or ignored and forgotten?

Using Geospatial Analysis For High School Environmental Science Education: A Case Study Of The Jane Goodall Institute's Community-Centered Conservation Approach, Madison G. Vorva

Pomona Senior Theses

Given my experiences as a young conservation advocate, I saw a need to teach students the importance of interconnectedness, cultural awareness and systems-thinking skills through a spatial lens. I believe these skills are required for holistic, equitable and sustainable conservation decision-making in local and international contexts. This thesis uses geospatial tools to teach conservation ecology vocabulary and concepts from high school environmental science curriculum in two online resources. The purpose of my lesson plan is to show students how conservationists address complex conservation and land-use challenges using the Jane Goodall Institute’s community-centered conservation approach as a case-study. My hope is …

Evaluating The Potential Of A Geospatial/Geostatistical Methodology For Locating Rain-Derived Infiltration And Inflow Into Wastewater Treatment Systems In The Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, Usa, Vinson Aaron Williams

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A significant issue facing municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure (WWTI) is how to manage infiltration and inflow (I/I). I/I of rain and ground water permeate into WWTI after precipitation events, periods of groundwater table rise, and percolation from surrounding surface waters. This can create discharges above the infrastructure's flow capacity, increase costs for processing the wastewater and add undesired stress to aging wastewater networks. In an attempt to assess this problem cost and time inefficient approaches have commonly been applied. This study utilizes a new and more radical methodology to try and make WWTI management more efficient. This study applies ArcGIS …

Information Technology Approaches To Forest Management, Mary Snow, Richard Snow

Publications

The majority of the world’s forests occur where there is a dry season long enough to affect a seasonal change in the forest community. The seasonal forest may include evergreen, semi-deciduous, deciduous trees, or some combination of these. Local differences in soil or other site characteristics often determine which community persists. Since the seasonal forests exist where there is seasonal precipitation, the character of the forest is closely associated with the length of the rainy season. As the length of the rainy season decreases, the density of the canopy decreases. If the global climate system warms and prolonged drought gives …

Modeling Algae Powered Neighborhood Through Gis And Bim Integration, Florina Dutt, Steven Jige Quan, Erik Woodworth, Daniel Castro-Lacouture, Ben J. Stuart, Perry Pei-Ju Yang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper aims to propose a modeling method for algae powered neighborhoods through GIS-BIM integration. In the first part of the paper, the applicability of different types of algae systems in an urban neighborhood are studied. The various systems of algae provide different strengths and weakness that affect their performance and suitability for given urban scenarios. Through extensive literature review, the variables that affect the performance of the micro-algae in the built environment are identified, with a focus on flat-panel photo bio-reactors and tubular photobioreactors. A previous GIS model for data management, performance analysis and design of the algae systems …

Brazilian Surface And Upper-Level Wind Characteristics Based On Ground And Model Observations From 1980–2014, Joshua M. Gilliland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The examination of temporal changes in surface winds has been analyzed by scientists for a variety of physical, biological, climatological, and socioeconomic reasons. This research uses surface and upper-level wind data from historical in-situ and climate models to examine the geographical and climatological characteristics of wind across Brazil during 1980–2014. Overall linear and quantile regression shows that surface wind speed trends are changing regionally across Brazil. Wind speeds across northeastern Brazil are increasing, while a decreasing trend is documented for interior and southeastern Brazil. The spatial and temporal trends found are possibly related to alterations in the physical landscape (urbanization …

Impacts Of Enso On Tornado Frequency, Intensity, And Geography Across The Eastern United States, Coryn Ann Collins

LSU Master's Theses

Tornadoes are a reoccurring severe weather hazard, with the highest rates globally occurring in the central United States. Despite their high frequency in the U.S., the scientific community’s disagreement of tornado activity during varying phases and intensities of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) justifies a need for further research. In this study, tornado events from 1950 to 2014 in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains were investigated for seven phases of ENSO: strong, moderate, and weak El Niño/La Niña and the neutral phase. A seasonal Niño 3.4 index was used as the definition of ENSO. ENSO influences on …

Change In Urban Fabric Through Space And Time At Differing Levels Of Automobility, Kristin A. Floberg

Master's Theses

For thousands of years cities have been centers for commerce, creativity, and livelihood, consisting of relatively unchanged characteristics such as walkable streets, diverse land-uses, and human-scaled buildings and streets. With the introduction of the automobile, this past century the desire for free-flowing traffic and convenient parking has drastically transformed the fabric of many cities. Transforming cities into places that accommodate automobiles has transformed downtowns into office parks rather than vibrant mixed-use environments and destroyed communities.

Investigation into reducing automobiles in cities has increasingly piqued the interest of stakeholders in the environmental, safety and economic development communities. This body of research …

Hill-Fort Sites And Tumuli In The Shkodra Plain Region Of Northern Albania: A Geospatial Perspective, Dora Jane Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research was to determine the environmental and social factors that led to the shift of settlement patterning from agro-pastoral in the late Neolithic to hillort sites at the turn of the Early Bronze Age and why burial mounds (tumuli) were erected further than anticipated from corresponding hillort sites in the Shkodra Plain region in Northern Albania. Geospatial techniques were used to examine 168 tumuli and seven hillort sites. These were mapped to examine visibility, viewshed, slope, and potential prehistoric networks. Based on the landscape visibility GIS results, it was found that hillort sites and tumuli were …

Aiddata Gis International Fellowship: Ghana West-Africa, Jason N. Ready

Sustainability and Social Justice

My internship, or fellowship as it was commonly referred to, was funded by a non-profit organization out of Williamsburg Virginia called AidData. This fellowship took place in in the country of Ghana, West-Africa beginning in May of 2016 and continued for 14 weeks with 40 hours each week. The objective of this internship was to provide in-depth training on the use of geographic Information Systems to Private and Public sectors within the country to allow for increased efficiency, and transparency through data visualization. In accordance with the requirement of Clark Universities GISDE master’s program this paper will delve into the …

Site Layout Optimization Using Gis, Sulyn Gomez, Mohd Samrah, Jenan Almullaali

Purdue GIS Day

The aim of the research if to analyze the use of ArcGIS to optimize site layout and reduce the cost associated with the construction of a university campus by: - Optimizing the productivity of the equipment fleet after selecting the spatial position, type, and number of equipment with GIS. - Minimizing travel time (Noncontributory activity or waste) and maximizing labor productivity by selecting the spatial position and the number of warehouses. Although there are many temporary facilities in the construction site, the study is focused in managing warehouses and the lifting equipment (cranes). One important step for site layout optimization …

Gis In Archaeology: The Pedestrian Survey Of Dana Island In Turkey, Noah Kaye, Gunder Varinlioglu, Nicholas K. Rauh

Purdue GIS Day

An international team of archaeologists conducted a surface survey of the remains on Dana Island, ancient Pithussae, near Silifke in south Coastal Turkey. The island sits 2 km offshore and is uninhabited. Architectural remains of stone quarries, large cisterns, houses and churches extend approximately 1.6 km along its western coast. At the crest of the mountain that rises above the shore stands the remains of an Iron Age fortress incorporated into later Byzantine structures. Relying on a base map constructed of the Google earth view of the island, digitized topographical maps, and an aerial photograph from 1990, the pedestrian team …

How Gis Will Support Next Gen 9-1-1, Jim I. Sparks

Purdue GIS Day

While most practitioners have a general awareness that GIS will play a more prominent role in Next Generation 9-1-1, few have much definitive information about what that means for Indiana GIS. This presentation will provide background information and an introduction to the requirements that NG 9-1-1 will place on our location data. Time will be left for some discussion centered on the challenges that are ahead of us.

Mapping Religion And Chinese Society, Jonathan E.E. Pettit

Purdue GIS Day

Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has enacted a series of regulations that have made the collection of geospatial data illegal, and have tried to use existing technologies (e.g., cell phone towers, online mapping programs) to avert attempts to map sensitive areas in China. This talks examines the recent work of Purdue graduate students at the Center on Religion and Chinese Society, who have developed a web-based GIS program that provides researchers worldwide a way to make and use accurate data on religious and demographic data in China.

Women In The Gis Profession, Livia Betancourt-Mazur, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

In many technical professions, women are underrepresented. While a gender imbalance also has been assumed to exist in the realm of professional GIS, no data existed to corroborate it. The original survey presented here was developed by the authors to add both quantitative and qualitative research about the numbers and current experience of women in GIS to address this knowledge gap. A total of 484 women responded to the survey, providing a healthy sample size and a reliable and informative data set.

A key finding is that some 42 percent of women are, overall, not grossly underrepresented in the GIS …

Hspm 7090a - Selected Topics In Health: Geographic Information Systems, Jeffery A. Jones

College of Public Health: Faculty Syllabi (2014-2021)

This course will introduce students to geographic information systems (GIS) to map and spatially analyze public health and demographic data. Students will learn the fundamentals of the ArcMap software system and ways to integrate cartography into biomedical informatics practice. Beyond use of GIS for cartography, this course will also examine ethical issues and methods of analyzing demographic and spatial health patterns using GIS and demography analysis methods. The versatility of GIS in a public health setting will be examined and will include exercises involving GIS applications in health marketing, demography, epidemiology, and health care systems. For example, we will look …

Land Cover Data For The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011, Gregory A. Carter, Carlton P. Anderson, Kelly L. Lucas, Nathan L. Hopper

Faculty Publications

Land cover on the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands was surveyed in 2010–2011 as part of continuing research on island geomorphic and vegetation dynamics following the 2005 impact of Hurricane Katrina. Results of the survey include sub-meter GPS location, a listing of dominant vegetation species and field photographs recorded at 375 sampling locations distributed among Cat, West Ship, East Ship, Horn, Sand, Petit Bois and Dauphin Islands. The survey was conducted in a period of intensive remote sensing data acquisition over the northern Gulf of Mexico by federal, state and commercial organizations in response to the 2010 Macondo Well (Deepwater Horizon) oil …

Investigating The Spatial Distribution And Effects Of Nearshore Topography On Acropora Cervicornis Abundance In Southeast Florida, Nicole D'Antonio, David S. Gilliam, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Dense Acropora cervicornis aggregations, or patches, have been documented within nearshore habitats in Southeast Florida (SE FL) despite close proximity to numerous anthropogenic stressors and subjection to frequent natural disturbance events. Limited information has been published concerning the distribution and abundance of A. cervicornis outside of these known dense patches. The first goal of this study was to conduct a spatially extensive and inclusive survey (9.78 km²) to determine whether A. cervicornis distribution in the nearshore habitat of SE FL was spatially uniform or clustered. The second goal was to investigate potential relationships between broad-scale seafloor topography and …

Lidar-Assisted Extraction Of Old Growth Baldcypress Stands Along The Black River Of North Carolina, Weston Pierce Murch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The remnants of ancient baldcypress forests continue to grow across the Southeastern United States. These long lived trees are invaluable for biodiversity along riverine ecosystems, provide habitat to a myriad of animal species, and augment the proxy climate record for North America. While extensive logging of the areas along the Black River in North Carolina has mostly decimated ancient forests of many species including the baldcypress, conservation efforts from The Nature Conservancy and other partners are under way. In order to more efficiently find and study these enduring stands of baldcypress, some of which are estimated to be more than …