Geography Commons^™

Geospatial Governance Failures In The Department Of Defense: Contractor Noncompliance, Ai Adoption, And The Parallel Treatment Of Gis And Cybersecurity, Lyndsey Olmstead

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Department of Defense's treatment of geographic information systems and cybersecurity as parallel rather than integrated policy domains produces geographically predictable vulnerability patterns across its global military installation footprint. This capstone investigates that conclusion through original spatial analysis, constructing a five-variable composite geospatial vulnerability index across the six U.S. Combatant Command regions using publicly available unclassified data. EUCOM ranked highest overall, driven by GPS/PNT spoofing density, commercial satellite coverage, and cyber incident frequency; CENTCOM ranked second, driven by OSINT exposure incidents and governance risk. The null hypothesis of random geographic distribution is rejected. Findings confirm the structural governance gap documented …

Datums And Benchmarks From Sylvester Manor Umass Boston Archaeological Work, Shelter Island, Ny, John M. Steinberg, John Schoenfelder, Chiara M. Torrini, Joseph E. Kinney, Stephen A. Mrozowski, David B. Landon

Data and Datasets

Datums from Sylvester Manor Archaeological work (2019-2026).  Includes zipped shapefile of points and complementary csv, that includes the site areas for each datum.

Model Data Of "Aerial Imagery Resolution Optimization And Machine Learning Model Comparison For Land Cover Classification", Jessica Suoja

Research Data Sets

Downloadable zip file contents:

• 1MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 8.5 KB)
• 1MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 81.4 MB)
• 2MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.6 KB)
• 2MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 20.8 MB)
• 5MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.1 KB)
• 5MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 2.4 MB)
• 50CentimeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.7 KB)
• 50CentimeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 333.3 MB)
• 75CentimeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.6 KB)
• 75CentimeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 147.0 MB)
• 1125MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.0 KB)
• 1125MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 65.8 MB)
• 125MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.6 KB)
• 125MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 53.1 MB)
• 1375MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.5 KB)
• 1375MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 44.1 MB)
• 150MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.0 KB)
• 150MeterPrediction.csv (CSV file, 37.0 MB)
• 175MeterModel.csv (CSV file, 9.6 KB)
• 175MeterPrediction.csv …

Model Data Of "Land Cover Classification Of A Desert Riparian Ecosystem Using A Basic Stacked Ensemble Modeling Approach", Jessica Suoja

Research Data Sets

Downloadable zip file contents:

• CARTscript.R (R script, 2.2 KB)
• ForModel.csv (CSV file, 9.5 KB) 
• ForPrediction.csv (CSV file, 44.1 MB)

Modeling Social Isolation: A Data-Driven Index Function Design And Implementation, Jeremis N. Morales Morales, Carmen Caiseda, Phyllis Muniu, Joshua Atsu, Folashade B. Agusto

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Fear Of Hunger (Foh) Survey Data, 2024: Multi-Country Telephone Survey On Food Security And Migration In The Sahel And Central America, Domenico Parisi, Shrinidhi Ambinakudige, Christian Kelly Scott, Arif Husain, Jessica Harmer, Ève Chalifour

Research Data

This database underpins the analysis of the Fear of Hunger (FOH) Hypothesis, based on a large-scale telephone survey conducted between April and August 2024 across eight countries—Burkina Faso, Chad, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. The dataset includes 12,000 nationally representative adult respondents (1,500 per country) aged 18 and above. The survey instrument, translated into multiple local languages, collected detailed demographic, socioeconomic, and attitudinal information related to food security and migration. Core variables encompass WillMove (migration intention), MovePlace (international vs. internal migration), Score1–Score5 (five FOH levels from minimal to extreme), Age, Gender, Marital Status, Education …

Erosion Of Coastal Beaches And Dunes During The Highest Water Level On Record In Southern Maine, Usa (Data Files), Katelyn Dewater, Matthew Pittsley, Johanna Birchem, Ruth Ellis, Tyler Janik, Paige-Marie Merrill, William Kochtitzky

Geographic Information Systems Data Projects

Maine experienced its highest water level ever recorded on January 13, 2024, just two days after another winter storm with an even higher storm surge on a smaller tide. In this study, we aimed to quantify the impact of these storms along five shorelines in York County, Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, Fortunes Rocks, Middle, Biddeford Pool, and Hills, in Biddeford, and Camp Ellis, Ferry, and Bayview beaches in Saco. We used aerial and unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV/drone) imagery to analyze the changes in area and volume of dunes and sand along the beaches before, after, and during recovery due …

Dataset Supporting The Manuscript Fire Spread, Intensity, And Emissions Observations By Multiple Satellites: The Southern California Wildfires Of January 2025, Fangjun Li, Xiaoyang Zhang, Mark Cochrane, Shobha Kondragunta, Shuai An

Global Land Surface Season Data Sets

The data is for the paper "Fire Spread, Intensity, and Emissions Observations by Multiple Satellites: the Southern California Wildfires of January 2025" which has been submitted to the journal AGU Advances.

The downloadable file contains:

• README file that provides an overview of all all supporting files and scripts.
• 12 files folders containing the data and scripts

File type : zip/application
File size :  1.2GB

Streamlining Digital Elevation Model Construction From Historical Aerial Photographs: The Impact Of Reference Elevation Data On Spatial Accuracy, Xin Hong, Christopher H. Roosevelt

All Works

This study proposes a streamlined workflow for producing historical digital elevation models (hDEMs) from scanned 1950s aerial photographs using structure-from-motion and multi-view-stereo (SfM-MVS) techniques along with co-registration methods. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of DEM references with varying spatial resolutions on the SfM-MVS process and co-registration accuracy. The DEM references included a 30 m SRTM DEM (low resolution), a 12 m TanDEM-X DEM (medium resolution), and a 5 m DEM provided by the General Directorate of Mapping of the Ministry of National Defense, Republic of T & uuml;rkiye (high resolution). Results indicate that higher resolution …

Inventory Of Western United States Glaciers- 2020, Shrinidhi Ambinakudige, Bernard Abubakari

CAS Publications

The dataset employed for delineating glacier boundaries in the Western United States comprises a compilation of original Sentinel-2 images obtained from the European Space Agency's Copernicus website. These images were instrumental in generating the glacier inventory. Additionally, the dataset includes a Python and R script specifically crafted for processing and classifying Sentinel images. The outcome of this process is represented in an ESRI shapefile, which contains an inventory of glaciers extracted from Sentinel images.

Evaluating Quoddy Region Archaeological Site Vulnerability To Sea Level Rise And Erosion Through The Integration Of Gis Modeling And Surveys (Data Files), Katelyn Dewater, Arthur Anderson, Gabriel Hrynick, William Kochtitzky

Geographic Information Systems Data Projects

Modeling coastal archaeological site erosion often depends on regional site databases that record sites accurately but with variable precision or do not define site extent. This case study examines the impact of sea level rise and erosion on 10 coastal archaeological sites in the Quoddy Region of Maine through the comparison of sea level rise models and field observations. Three sea level scenarios were modeled to predict the vulnerability of sites: current sea level, a 0.457 m increase (Low 2050 scenario), and a 0.914 m increase (High 2050 scenario), reflecting levels recommended by the Maine Climate Council for preparation efforts. …

Widespread Expansion Of Salt Marsh Pools Observed On Maine Marshes Since 2009 (Data Files), Katelyn Dewater, William Kochtitzky, Ruth Ellis, Paige-Marie Merrill

Geographic Information Systems Data Projects

Salt marshes contain standing water, which we refer to here as pools. We manually digitized salt marsh pools on 12 salt marshes in Maine (given as Name and corresponding ID number (see ID in Attributes)) in 2009 and 2021: Scarborough (1), Webhannet (2), Spurwink (3), Marshall Point (4), York River (5), Ogunquit (6), Brave Boat Harbor (7), Cousins River (8), Biddeford Pool (9), Little River (10), Goosefare Brook (11), Gooch’s Beach (12). Marsh extents were delineated with the Maine Natural Areas Program Current Tidal Marshes layer. All pools were digitized at a scale of 1:400 to 1:1000. Features were digitized …

Providing Risk Of The Environment’S Changing Climate Threats For Galleries, Libraries, Archives, & Museums (Protecct-Glam) Data File, Edward Benoit Iii, Jill Trepanier, Jennifer Vanos, Haley Moore, Kaitlyn Bailey, Emily Fisher, Annie Waddell, Mandy Hatman, Mary Sidwell, Symonne Russell, Virginia Seger, Paige Boutte, Amanda Latta, Zoe Mohammad, Kyriel Felton, Erin Deliman, Breanna Benson-Pearce, Wendy Johnson, Allyson Russell, Baillie Pretzer, Christopher Reeder, Melissa Mcconnell, Lisa Dahlke, Kaitlynn Melear, Lillian Bodi, Savannah T. Lyle, Zach Lannes, Gwen L. Wells, Benjamin A. Teincuff, Jason M. Straight, Tiffany Rockwell, Shane T. Manthei, Jennifer L. Benner, Jane Fiegel, Amanda Lima, Elizabeth Rininger, Caroline Melinger, Deborah Metz-Andrews, Meryl Roepke, Karen Isaac, Mallory Collins

School of Information Studies Datasets

The data file was created as part of the IMLS-funded project, PROTECCT-GLAM: Risk of The Environment’s Changing Climate Threats for Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums in an effort to gather the identities and georeferences of all galleries, libraries, archives, and museums located within the United States.

The data file includes 22,388 archives, 21,189 libraries, and 29,781 museums.

Unraveling The "Thin Blue Line": Policing As An Engine Of Inequality - Appendix: Survey Materials, Vanessa Massaro, Geoff A. Boyce

Other Faculty Research and Publications

This zip file contains the data collection materials that accompany this forthcoming paper.

The Possibilities Of Explicit Striga (Striga Asiatica) Risk Monitoring Using Phenometric, Edaphic, And Climatic Variables, Demonstrated For Malawi And Zambia, Emily Kimathi, Bester Tawona Mudereri, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Saliou Niassy, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Tobias Landmann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Food insecurity continues to affect more than two-thirds of the population in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly those depending on rain-fed agriculture. Striga, a parasitic weed, has caused yield losses of cereal crops, immensely affecting smallholder farmers in SSA. Although earlier studies have established that Striga is a constraint to crop production, there is little information on the spatial extent of spread and infestation severity of the weed in some SSA countries like Malawi and Zambia. This study aimed to use remotely sensed vegetation phenological (n = 11), climatic (n = 3), and soil (n = 4) variables to develop a …

Off-Peak Ndvi Correction To Reconstruct Landsat Time Series For Post-Fire Recovery In High-Latitude Forests, Cuizhen Wang, Aiai Wang, Dianfan Guo, Haibo Li, Shuying Zang

Faculty Publications

Collecting long-term satellite image series in high latitudes has been challenging due to its short growing season. For off-peak imagery, its reflective properties need to be corrected to maintain the spectral consistency. This study compares three statistical approaches to reconstructing a 30-year normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) series for forest recovery assessment after the 1987 Black Dragon Fire in the Greater Hinggan Mountains Forest, Northeast China. To correct the off-peak NDVI to peak NDVI, the Landsat paired regression takes advantage of the scene-to-scene linear relationship between the two images, the GIMMS booster approach compensates the NDVI increment rate based on …

The Times, They Are A-Changin’: Tracking Shifts In Mental Health Signals From Early Phase To Later Phase Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Australia, Siqin Wang, Xiao Huang, Tao Hu, Mengxi Zhang, Zhenlong Li, Huan Ning, Jonathan Corcoran, Asaduzzaman Khan, Yan Liu, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction Widespread problems of psychological distress have been observed in many countries following the outbreak of COVID-19, including Australia. What is lacking from current scholarship is a national-scale assessment that tracks the shifts in mental health during the pandemic timeline and across geographic contexts.

Methods Drawing on 244 406 geotagged tweets in Australia from 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2021, we employed machine learning and spatial mapping techniques to classify, measure and map changes in the Australian public’s mental health signals, and track their change across the different phases of the pandemic in eight Australian capital cities.

Results Australians’ …

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 …

The Case Against The Case For Zoning, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Power points used in a presentation on a work in progress, responding to Christopher Serkin's "Case For Zoning" article at 96 Notre Dame L. Rev. 749.

Pollinator Supplementation Mitigates Pollination Deficits In Smallholder Avocado (Persea Americana Mill.) Production Systems In Kenya, Rose Nyakemiso Sagwe, Marcell K. Peters, Thomas Dubois, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, H. Michael G. Lattorff

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a major horticultural crop that relies on insect mediated pollination. In avocado production, a knowledge gap exists as to the importance of insect pollination, especially in East African smallholder farms. In this study, conducted in a leading smallholder avocado production region in Kenya, we assessed the dependence of avocado fruit set on insect pollination and whether current smallholder production systems suffer from a deficit in pollination services. Furthermore, we assessed if supplementation with colonies of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) to farms mitigated potential pollination deficits. Our results revealed a very high reliance …

Use Of Earth Observation Satellite Data To Guide The Implementation Of Integrated Pest And Pollinator Management (Ippm) Technologies In An Avocado Production System, Marian Adan, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Stella Gachoki, Beatrice W. Muriithi, H. Michael G. Lattorff, Vivian Kerubo, Tobias Landmann, Samira A. Mohamed, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Thomas Dubois

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Insect pollinators provide an important ecosystem service by improving agricultural productivity. However, their populations have been declining in recent years due to excessive use of synthetic pesticides, climate and land use/land cover (LULC) changes. Climate and LULC changes have resulted in land fragmentation and consequently pollinator habitat loss. To conserve pollinators, there is a need for sustainable agricultural practices such as integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM), which is a holistic landscape management approach that minimizes pesticides use while conserving pollinator abundance and diversity. This study aimed to use earth observation (EO) data to characterize landscape dynamics in terms of …

Leveraging Of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing On Estimating Biomass Yield Of Moringa Oleifera Lam. Medicinal Plant, Thulani Tshabalala, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Bhekumthetho Ncube, Ashwell R. Ndhlala, Onisimo Mutanga

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a functional plant considered to be high in nutrients as well as medicinal properties, largely utilised in most of the developing countries. Therefore, early prediction of M. oleifera biomass yield is a valuable pre- and post-harvest planning strategy for ensuring a reliable supply of the plant products and for marketing purposes. Subsequently, the objective of the current study was to explore the potential use of hyperspectral data in predicting biomass yield of different cultivars of M. oleifera. Canopy hyperspectral data were collected on five M. oleifera cultivars when they were one month and two months old …

Resettlement Capacity Assessments For Climate Induced Displacements: Evidence From Ethiopia, Solomon Zena Walelign, Susan L. Cutter, Paivi Lujala

Faculty Publications

Climate change migration is increasing and necessitates a re-examination of resettlement planning and processes. Although evidence-based selection of host places would improve climate change resettlement outcomes, few methods for the selection of host communities exist. Consequently, the information base on which most resettlement programs select a host place is often inadequate. This article proposes an empirical methodology to assess resettlement capacity. The methodology uses a hierarchical aggregation approach, where resettlement capacity indicator values are aggregated first into sub-dimension resettlement capacity scores, then further into dimension resettlement capacity scores, and finally into an overall resettlement capacity index. The aggregation allows for …

Ziba, Ziba, Sherianne Schow, Brandi Kilmer, Heather Oman

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ziba, a promising medical student, fled Afghanistan in 2018 due to instability and for her safety. Life was difficult upon arrival in the United States. In Afghanistan Ziba was involved in national and international poetry, math and science competitions. Ziba went from having everything to starting completely over in a new country. Her anxiety and depression became extremely difficult to deal with She reminded herself who she was, what her passions were and in January 2019 started medical school while working part time as a cashier. Her hope for future arriving refugees is to have a mental health network established …

The Tijeras Pueblo (La 581) Archaeofaunal Project, Emily Lena Jones, Scott Kirk, Caitlin S. Ainsworth, Asia Alsgaard, Jana Valesca Meyer, Cyler Conrad

Anthropology Datasets

These files contain data generated by the Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581) Archaeofaunal Project, a project of the University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology Zooarchaeology Laboratory between 2011 and the present. This project has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1732622 and by a grant from the Research Allocations Committee of the University of New Mexico.

These data are the basis of the analyses presented in the following publication:

Jones, Emily Lena, Scott Kirk, Caitlin S. Ainsworth, Asia Alsgaard, Jana Valesca Meyer, and Cyler Conrad. 2021. The Community at the Crossroads: Artiodactyl Exploitation and …

Landscape Fragmentation In Coffee Agroecological Subzones In Central Kenya: A Multiscale Remote Sensing Approach, Gladys Mosomtai, John Odindi, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Régis Babin, Pinard Fabrice, Onisimo Mutanga, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Guillaume David, Tobias Landmann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Smallholder agroecological subzones (AEsZs) produce an array of crops occupying large areas throughout Africa but remain largely unmapped. We explored multisource satellite datasets to produce a seamless land-use and land-cover (LULC) and fragmentation dataset for upper midland (UM1 to UM4) AEsZs in central Kenya. Specifically, the utility of PlanetScope, Sentinel 2, and Landsat 8 images for mapping coffee-based landscape were tested using a random forest (RF) classifier. Vegetation indices, texture variables, and wavelength bands from all satellite data were used as inputs in generating four RF models. A LULC baseline map was produced that was further analyzed using FRAGSTAT to …

Phenology Of Short Vegetation Cycles In A Kenyan Rangeland From Planetscope And Sentinel-2, Yan Cheng, Anton Vrieling, Francesco Fava, Michele Meroni, Michael Marshall, Stella Gachoki

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The short revisit times afforded by recently-deployed optical satellite sensors that acquire 3–30 m resolution imagery provide new opportunities to study seasonal vegetation dynamics. Previous studies demonstrated a successful retrieval of phenology with Sentinel-2 for relatively stable annual growing seasons. In semi-arid East Africa however, vegetation responds rapidly to a concentration of rainfall over short periods and consequently is subject to strong interannual variability. Obtaining a sufficient density of cloud-free acquisitions to accurately describe these short vegetation cycles is therefore challenging. The objective of this study is to evaluate if data from two satellite constellations, i.e., PlanetScope (3 m resolution) …

Potential Of Resampled Multispectral Data For Detecting Desmodium-Brachiaria Intercropped With Maize In A 'Push-Pull' System, B. T. Mudereri, E. M. Abdel-Rahman, T. Dube, T. Landmann, S. Niassy, H. E.Z. Tonnang, Z. R. Khan

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Poor crop yields remain one of the main causes of chronic food insecurity in Africa. This is largely caused by insect pests, weeds, unfavourable climatic conditions and degraded soils. Weed and pest control, based on the climate-adapted g'push-pull' system, has become an important target for sustainable intensification of food production adopted by many small-holder farmers. However, essential baseline information using remotely sensed data is missing, specifically for the g'push-pull' companion crops. In this study, we investigated the spectral uniqueness of two of the most commonly used g'companion' crops (i.e. greenleaf Desmodium (i Desmodium intortum/i) and Brachiaria (i Brachiaria/i cv Mulato) …

Samsts Satellite Time Series Gap Filling Source Codes - Landsat, Lin Yan, David P. Roy

SAMSTS Satellite Time Series Gap Filling Source Codes

• SAMSTS is open-source software (coded in C) for gap filling of Landsat multispectral time series developed by Drs. Lin Yan and David Roy.
• SAMSTS 1.1.1 release includes source codes, user manual and test data.
• The test data are year-2013 time series of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI ARD surface reflectance products (http://landsat.usgs.gov/ard) over Kansas and Iowa. Each ARD tile is composed of 5000 x 5000 30m pixels with six bands (blue, red, green, NIR, SWIR 1, SWIR 2).
• Major Software functionality:
  
  • Automatic gap filling of Landsat multispectral time series caused by clouds, shadows, SLC-off (for Landsat-7 …

Is It Possible To Discern Striga Weed (Striga Hermonthica) Infestation Levels In Maize Agro-Ecological Systems Using In-Situ Spectroscopy?, Bester Tawona Mudereri, Timothy Dube, Saliou Niassy, Emily Kimathi, Tobias Landmann, Zeyaur Khan, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The invasion by Striga in most cereal crop fields in Africa has posed a significant threat to food security and has caused substantial socioeconomic losses. Hyperspectral remote sensing is an effective means to discriminate plant species, providing possibilities to track such weed invasions and improve precision agriculture. However, essential baseline information using remotely sensed data is missing, specifically for the Striga weed in Africa. In this study, we investigated the spectral uniqueness of Striga compared to other co-occurring maize crops and weeds. We used the in-situ FieldSpec® Handheld 2™ analytical spectral device (ASD), hyperspectral data and their respective narrow-band indices …