Geography Commons^™

Exploration Of Phenomenological Geospatial Analysis For The Late Archaic In The Esopus Drainage Of The Hudson Valley, Glenn Kolyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Esopus Drainage of the Hudson Valley, New York, has been utilized by the Indigenous population for its vast resources embedded within the landscape. Consequently, the changing climate and warming trends of the Holocene transformed the landscape, shifting rivers, fauna, and floral resources. Relevantly, due to the prehistoric nature of these populations, the archaeological record is pointedly incomplete. The landscape’s geographical features are still within reach of archaeological and phenomenological study to fill in some of the interruptions.

This dissertation focuses on the Late Archaic hunter-gatherer population of the Snook Kill phase of the Esopus Drainage running west of the …

Identifying Socially Sensitive Populations Susceptible To New York City’S Coastal And Pluvial Flooding: A Vulnerability Analysis, Gowri A. Anand

Theses and Dissertations

This paper provides an approach to quantifying coastal and pluvial flooding for New York City using the exposure-sensitivity-adaptive capacity theoretical framework. Vulnerabilities for different flood scenarios are calculated and discussed in order to show nuance in the flooding that could be experienced in NYC.

Techniques For Tree Species Classification With Hyperspectral Imagery At Neon Science Sites, Anthony T. Albanese

Theses and Dissertations

Studies three sets of techniques for hyperspectral tree species classification at NEON science sites, aiming to work towards producing a general classification model.

Poverty In New York City: Social, Demographic And Spatial Characteristics, 1990-2019, Marco Castillo

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction:

This report analyzes trends in poverty in New York City over a period spanning from the year 1990 to 2019, including maps of poverty hot spots in the city.

Methods:

This report uses the American Community Survey PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) data for all years released by the Census Bureau and reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa, (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml). See Public Use Microdata Series Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, …

Expulsive Greening: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Of Green Gentrification In The Resilience Paradigm, Brooklyn 2010–2020, Rose Jimenez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: This project analyzes the spatial coincidence between gentrification typologies and urban greening in Brooklyn, New York from 2010 to 2020. Assets formed under the NYC Green Infrastructure Program were chosen as a proxy for urban greening to represent the spatial practice specifically within the 21st-century climate change resilience paradigm of development. Methods: First, five indexes measuring variations of economic and demographic conditions related to gentrification were applied to Brooklyn for comparative analysis: NOAA’s Social Vulnerability Indicators of Gentrification Pressure, The NYC Heat Vulnerability Index, The Small Area Index of Gentrification, Typologies of Gentrification and Displacement, and The Housing Risk …

A Decade Review Of Disease Surveillance Research Trends In The International Journal Of Health Geographics (2009 To 2018), Rose Jimenez, Paradorn Wongchanapai

Publications and Research

The field of health geographics is rapidly growing in its methods and epistemologies. This is a review of the open-source journal International Journal of Health Geographics, and the trends in disease surveillance over ten years (2009-2018). Drawing from research review methodologies, we wrote a Python script to quantify research trends within the field of geographic disease surveillance, finding many articles focusing on population health, techniques of GIS, qualitative techniques, and geospatial technology for health monitoring. This was foundational in conducting an in-depth qualitative lexical analysis of article content and epistemologies. Overall, we concluded that over the time period, the …

Why, New York City? Gauging The Quality Of Life Through The Thoughts Of Tweeters, Sheryl Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As a resource for social data, Twitter’s platform has been used to measure the quality of life through sentiment analysis. This capstone project explores another methodological technique—querying Twitter data around specific keyword terms to determine dominant topics, word patterns, and sentiment leanings in a geographical area. Focusing on New York City and Los Angeles for comparative analysis, the keyword term “why” will be used to build a Python analysis around topic modeling and sentiment analysis. Using this approach, the analysis reveals social and cultural differences, the overall sentiment of tweets, and subjects of interest to tweeters.

GitHub Repository for all …

Mapping The Covid-19 Pandemic In Staten Island, Vincenzo Mezzio

Student Theses

COVID-19 has had diverging effects in New York City. Out of the five boroughs, Staten Island has one of the largest percentages of COVID-19 cases relative to population. This research examines key social and spatial factors that contribute to the increase in COVID-19 cases in Staten Island). It asks: Which parts of Staten Island have higher rates of transmission of COVID-19? Which parts of the borough have higher population who are more vulnerable to COVID-19? What is the relationship between the location of vaccination centers with the rates of COVID-19 cases? Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this research examines the …

Pluto In Hand: Design And Implementation Of A Location-Based Mobile Augmented Reality Application For Viewing Open Data, Matthew O. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Immersive mobile augmented reality (AR) technology has improved while geolocational data volume has grown. City governments can utilize this technology to share their geospatial data with the public, promoting smart city aims. This research describes the design and implementation of a novel open-source ARGIS application to view property tax lot information in New York City. This proof-of-technology demonstrates web-based AR can visualize location-based spatial data.

Gang Culture And Their Territorial Space: Graffiti Analysis Using Geographical Information Systems (Gis), Christian F. Delgado

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand gang culture and how gangs come to define their territorial space. This thesis will focus on identifying gang spaces by utilizing geographic techniques to aid in determining where high gang activity and/or crime is taking place. This will be done by point pattern, data analysis, visualization analysis, and heat mapping on complaints, arrest, shooting, and graffiti data. This research has been conducted deductively, as it will use the theories mentioned in the literature review to define hypotheses.

Gangs are known for their violent and disruptive behavior. They ravage community resources and introduce …

Using Geospatial Analysis To Evaluate Relationships Between Cancer Incidence And Social Factors In Brooklyn, Ny, Sheena Philogene

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the spatial distribution of cancer incidence in Brooklyn, NY. Using publicly available data, the relationships between cancer incidence and factors linked to cancer were investigated. Furthermore, the study explored the value of using large amounts of data with GIS techniques to quickly analyze geographic trends for cancer.

Comparing Geostatistical Methods On Flood Risk To Infrastructure In Southeast Asia Using Google Street View Imagery: A Master’S Thesis, Christopher S. Aime

Theses

Urban flooding poses a serious challenge to development and the lives of people, particularly the residents of the rapidly expanding towns and cities in developing countries. Floods affect people's livelihood in Southeast (SE) Asia, ranging from death and injury to damaged homes, infrastructures, and agricultural land. In addition, floods expose infrastructure to more risks of structural damage, wearing them out, and aging them quickly, thus increasing maintenance and replacement costs.

Presented study found associations between such infrastructure elements as sill height, floors, building structures (e.g., attached vs. detached), slope, drainage, land-use, and street conditions. The study used Mechanical Turk method …

Development And Disparity In Glasgow: The Desirability Of Urban Water Proximity, Brian Morgan

Theses

This study was conducted to examine the possibility that a spatial relationship exists between demographic trends considered to be indicative of gentrification, and ongoing regenerative activity taking place along an urban canal and the adjacent neighborhoods in a northern section of Glasgow, Scotland. Rates of demographic change between the 2001 and 2011 Scottish Census results for the study area were contrasted with the same variables citywide, using the census Output Area (OA) as the aggregate unit. Results were combined to produce an index of gentrification. Positive results towards gentrification were identified in many of the OAs for a significant number …

Monumentality, Fortification, And Movement: Preclassic Maya Developments As Seen At Muralla De León, Petén, Guatemala, Justin D. Bracken

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Analysis of settlement patterning in relation to natural and constructed defensive elements expands understanding of the impact of warfare well beyond the relatively brief period of active battle. Advance preparation in advance of conflict, including reshaping the landscape for defensibility and conscription of labor toward that end, alters patterns of movement, social interaction, and physical settlement, effects that can extend for generations beyond the cessation of hostilities. This project investigates the role played by warfare in shaping the physical and social landscape of the Maya of the central Petén during the Late Preclassic period (400 B.C. – A.D. 150), as …

Do Heat Vulnerable Neighborhoods In New York City Experience Disproportionate Power Outages?, Gabrielle Alper

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the implications of power outages on environmental justice communities in New York City by comparing heat vulnerability index rankings and power outage complaints during summer months. This study is distinct in the identification of hotspots, discussions of air conditioning equity and implications for climate resiliency planning.

Digital Earth: The Impact Of Geographic Technology Through The Ages, Mishka Vance Huq

Theses and Dissertations

Geographic technology encompasses a wide range of geographic knowledge, concepts, processes, and artifacts. Because of its interdisciplinarity and integration with other technologies, the paper examines the diffuse impacts of geographic technology within the evolving relationship between technological and societal developments over time.

Fine-Grained, Spatiotemporal Datasets Measuring 200 Years Of Land Development In The United States, Johannes H. Uhl, Stefan Leyk, Caitlin M. Mcshane, Anna E. Braswell, Dylan S. Connor, Deborah Balk

Publications and Research

The collection, processing, and analysis of remote sensing data since the early 1970s has rapidly improved our understanding of change on the Earth’s surface. While satellite-based Earth observation has proven to be of vast scientific value, these data are typically confined to recent decades of observation and often lack important thematic detail. Here, we advance in this arena by constructing new spatially explicit settlement data for the United States that extend back to the early 19th century and are consistently enumerated at fine spatial and temporal granularity (i.e. 250m spatial and 5-year temporal resolution). We create these time series using …

Geoprivacy, Convenience, And The Pursuit Of Anonymity In Digital Cities, Jerome Dobson, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

Cities demand spatial efficiencies that can be achieved only through sharing of information. Current technologies support collection, processing, and dissemination of unprecedented quantities of personal, public, and corporate information. Inherent in this milieu is an inevitable contest among societal efficiency, corporate profits, consumer convenience, personal privacy, and even freedom. The authors examine current trends in technology, data collection, legislation, and public acceptance. They find that without broad specific regulations limiting location data collection and use—including a universal protected right for individuals to pursue anonymity—governments, commercial enterprises, employers, and individuals increasingly will exploit tracking technologies at the expense of geoprivacy.

An Application Of The Sleuth Model: Future Urbanization Of Davidson County, Tennessee, Caitlyn J. Linehan

Theses

As the urban population is expected to grow in the coming decades, there is pressure on urban areas to expand to accommodate this growth. Often times, these expansions are not sustainable, they consume valuable lands and cause significant environmental, social, and economic burdens, a theory which is known as urban sprawl. Therefore it is often imperative to model areas more likely to urbanize in order for cities to plan for their expansion in the most sustainable way possible. Nashville, Tennessee located within Davidson County is an area that has been experiencing a significant period of urban growth. The objective of …

Reassessing The Ranging Behavior Of Black-And-White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Variegata) In Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, Jelisa R. Oliveras

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) space use and movement using autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE), a new methodology available from the continuous-time movement model (ctmm) package in R. Data were collected from 24 adults and subadults (10 males, 11 females, 3 subadult males) living in two adjacent V. variegata communities at Mangevo bush camp in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar (RNP) for 11 months (February – December 2008) to estimate annual and seasonal patterns of individual and community-level range use. Autocorrelated kernel density estimates generated in this study are compared to earlier kernel density estimates from …

The Quest For Greener Pastures: Evaluating The Livelihoods Impacts Of Providing Vegetation Condition Maps To Pastoralists In Eastern Africa, Elia Machado, Helene Purcell, Andrew M. Simons, Stephanie Swinehart

Publications and Research

The survival of millions of pastoral households in Eastern Africa has become increasingly at risk. Due to mounting socioeconomic and climatic stressors, pastoral households are faced with making migration decisions under increasing uncertainty about resource availability and limited coping strategies. We assess the potential of providing vegetation condition maps to support the migration decision of pastoralists in Ethiopia and Tanzania and the effect of map usage on their herd condition and size. The maps were generated from remotely sensed data using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a proxy for vegetation condition and overlain with pastoralists’ preferred grazing areas. …

Snow-Albedo Feedback In Northern Alaska: How Vegetation Influences Snowmelt, Lucas C. Reckhaus

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates how the snow-albedo feedback mechanism of the arctic is changing in response to rising climate temperatures. Specifically, the interplay of vegetation and snowmelt, and how these two variables can be correlated. This has the potential to refine climate modelling of the spring transition season. Research was conducted at the ecoregion scale in northern Alaska from 2000 to 2020. Each ecoregion is defined by distinct topographic and ecological conditions, allowing for meaningful contrast between the patterns of spring albedo transition across surface conditions and vegetation types. The five most northerly ecoregions of Alaska are chosen as they encompass …

Philosophical Perspectives, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

This entry follows in the footsteps of Anselin’s famous 1989 NCGIA working paper entitled “What is special about spatial?” (a report that is very timely again in an age when non-spatial data scientists are ignorant of the special characteristics of spatial data), where he outlines three unrelated but fundamental characteristics of spatial data. In a similar vein, I am going to discuss some philosophical perspectives that are internally unrelated to each other and could warrant individual entries in this Body of Knowledge. The first one is the notions of space and time and how they have evolved in …

The Geographical Distribution Of The Latino Population Of The New York City Metropolitan Area, 2018, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report investigates where all Latinos lived in the New York City Metropolitan area, including the Northern Suburbs, Long Island, and selected New Jersey counties. The six largest Latino nationalities are mapped by census tract for a very precise visualization of the data.

Methods:

This report uses one-year sample data for 2018 from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and the 2014 – 2018 five-year sample data at the census-census tract level. The ACS dataset is reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota and is available at IPUMS USA (https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V10.0) and …

Visualization And Analysis Of Environmental Data, Sean Macdonald

Publications and Research

The virtual exploration of place has been employed in a variety of learning environments across many disciplines, creatively expanding upon the experience of place. This chapter explores the value of mapping environmental data as a tool that can enhance students’ virtual exploration of place as they investigate local environmental policies and problems within their own urban surroundings. This visualization project engages students in making meaningful connections between the theoretical study of local and global environmental problems and the “observation” and investigation of these data using mapped data. The virtual learning environment is viewed as one that is interactive, exploring how …

The Effect Of Citi Bike Introduction On Injury Rates In New York City, Masakazu Hiruma

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests the hypothesis that the introduction of Citi Bike influences bicycle injuries by observing the gradual expansion of the bike share system in NYC. Data is analyzed from 2012-2018 New York Police Department (NYPD) Motor Vehicle Collisions and Citi Bike Station Feeds (NYC Open Data).

Aesthetic Perception Of Urban Spaces: New York, Timur Pozhidaev

Theses and Dissertations

Aesthetic perception is an important field of interest in many aspects of everyday human life. It affects individual and social unconscious behavior and is strongly related to the decision-making processes in the human mind. The current study can serve as an important prototype for planning purposes and social and environmental justice among the regional units of New York City. With the current scientific sphere lacking a comprehensive methodology for assessing social superstructure, an aesthetic framework has the potential for success in evaluating the aspects of sustainable and resilient urban development.

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Leading Pedestrian Interval Signals In Nyc, Jeremy J. Sze

Theses and Dissertations

I evaluated the impact of the phased introduction of Leading Pedestrian Interval Signals (LPIs) on collision and injury outcomes at 12,987 signalized traffic intersections in New York City over the course of 25 quarters from 2012 to 2018. An intersection is treated when a LPIs is installed to give pedestrians lead time to cross the street before vehicles are allowed to move. Outcomes from NYPD’s Motor Vehicle Collisions data were matched to signalized intersections. I hypothesize that LPIs would reduce collisions and reduce injuries for pedestrians at intersections. A difference in difference fixed effects panel regression was used to identify …

Exploring Local Environmental Factors Influencing Geographic Distribution Of Black-Legged Tick Questing Activity, Chong Di

Theses and Dissertations

The deer tick (Ixodes scapularis or I. scapularis), also known as the black-legged tick, is the primary vector that transmits Lyme Disease (LD) in Northeastern United States. To contain the geographic expansion of Lyme disease ticks across the US in recent decades, ecological studies have been conducted to understand the biotic and abiotic environmental factors affecting tick activity. We observed in preliminary surveys that the tick host-seeking activity varies across small local areas. The primary objective of this project is to identify the environmental factors that impact deer tick questing activities at the micro-geographic scale. From 2017-2018, we …

Open Source Foundations For Spatial Decision Support Systems, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) were a hot topic in the 1990s, when researchers tried to imbue GIS with additional decision support features. Successful practical developments such as HAZUS or CommunityViz have since been built, based on commercial desktop software and without much heed for theory other than what underlies their process models. Others, like UrbanSim, have been completely overhauled twice but without much external scrutiny. Both the practical and the theoretical foundations of decision support systems have developed considerably over the past 20 years. This article presents an overview of these developments and then looks at what corresponding tools …