Geography Commons^™

A Synergetic Use Of Satellite Imagery From Sar And Optical Sensors To Improve Coastal Flood Mapping In The Gulf Of Mexico, Naira Chaouch, Marouane Temimi, Scott Hagen, John Weishampel, Stephen Medeiros, Reza Khanbilvardi

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

This work proposes a method for detecting inundation between semi-diurnal low and high water conditions in the northern Gulf of Mexico using high-resolution satellite imagery. Radarsat 1, Landsat imagery and aerial photography from the Apalachicola region in Florida were used to demonstrate and validate the algorithm. A change detection approach was implemented through the analysis of red, green and blue (RGB) false colour composites image to emphasise differences in high and low tide inundation patterns. To alleviate the effect of inherent speckle in the SAR images, we also applied ancillary optical data. The flood-prone area for the site was delineated …

Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Crime Hotspots By Trajectories And Self-Organizing Maps, Marco Helbich, Julian Hagenauer, Michael Leitner

Faculty Publications

The exploration of spatial relationships between crime incidents, the socio-economic characteristics of neighborhoods, as well as physical and structural compositions of the urban landscape is an ongoing research issue in Geographic Information Science. Spatial data mining tools improve the ability to gain knowledge from geographic data and help to understand spatio-temporal processes that contribute to the presence or absence of criminal offenses. However, most of the currently available tools focus either on the spatial, the temporal, or a combination of both aspects. But crime has a spatial and temporal component in a multidimensional attribute space. Therefore, it is reasonable to …

A Gis Analysis Of The Pre-Columbian Chaco Landscape: Applying New Tools To Old Problems, Aaron Clark, Joy Fritschle

Geography & Planning Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Seeing The Forest Of Information For The Trees Of Papers: An Information Literacy Case Study In A Geography/Geology Class, Linda Blake, Tim Warner

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

After receiving a mini-grant for developing integrated information literacy programs, a Geography/Geology Department faculty member worked with the Science Librarian to embed information literacy in a cross-listed geology and geography course, Geog/Geol 455, Introduction to Remote Sensing. Planning for the revisions to the class started with identification of five key literacy standards for the discipline of remote sensing. Each standard was addressed through a combination of teaching, assignments and measurements. From this planning exercise, two lectures and two laboratory exercises on information literacy were developed. Student response to the information literacy material, as measured through pre- and post-course surveys, was …

Ohio's Use Of Geographic Information Systems To Demonstrate Public Participation In The Redistricting Process, Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems For Redistricting A Case Study In Ohio, Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems for Redistricting A Case Study in Ohio, Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, Vol. 23, Number 1, forthcoming.

Death To Kappa: Birth Of Quantity Disagreement And Allocation Disagreement For Accuracy Assessment, Robert Gilmore Pontius, Marco Millones

Geography

The family of Kappa indices of agreement claim to compare a map's observed classification accuracy relative to the expected accuracy of baseline maps that can have two types of randomness: (1) random distribution of the quantity of each category and (2) random spatial allocation of the categories. Use of the Kappa indices has become part of the culture in remote sensing and other fields. This article exam- ines five different Kappa indices, some of which were derived by the first author in 2000. We expose the indices' properties mathematically and illustrate their limitations graphically, with emphasis on Kappa's use of …

A Vegetation Reconstruction Of Union County, Pennsylvania During The Early Historical Period (1755-1855), Nick Gonsalves

Honors Theses

This thesis assesses relationships between vegetation and topography and the impact of human tree-cutting on the vegetation of Union County during the early historical era (1755-1855). I use early warrant maps and forestry maps from the Pennsylvania historical archives and a warrantee map from the Union County courthouse depicting the distribution of witness trees and non-tree surveyed markers (posts and stones) in early European settlement land surveys to reconstruct the vegetation and compare vegetation by broad scale (mountains and valleys) and local scale (topographic classes with mountains and valleys) topography. I calculated marker density based on 2 km x 2 …

Climate Services To Support Sustainable Tourism And Adaptation To Climate Change, D.J. Scott, Christopher J. Lemieux, Leslie Malone

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Tourism is one of the largest global economic sectors, is a vital contributor to the economy of many nations, and is highly promoted as an important means of future development and poverty reduction in developing countries. The interface between climate and tourism is multifaceted and complex, with broad significance for tourist decision-making and expenditures, as well as industry marketing and operations worldwide. With the close relationship of tourism to the environment and climate, the integrated effects of climate change are anticipated to markedly affect tourism businesses and destinations, as well as the destination choices and mobility of individual tourists in …

A History Of Resilience Is A History Of Resistance, Melissa Ooten

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications

As an historian, I’m struck by the emphasis this documentary places on non-humans – be it animals, plants, soil, or mountains – although as a native of Appalachia, that doesn’t surprise me. The film is billed as “America’s first environmental history series: and as such, it gives us a bold, unique template of how to talk holistically about the concept of place and the specific place of Appalachia. While it may be particularly prescient to talk about the broader concept of place through ecology and other facets when analyzing the history of Appalachia, surely it is no less important when …

"We Are The Owners": Autonomy And Natural Resources In Northeastern Nicaragua, Mary Finley-Brook

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Although focused predominately on Miskitu politics, this chapter identifies various constraints to multi-ethnic self-determination, while noting barriers exist even among aid programs targeting political empowerment and community development. Nevertheless, I also explore examples of progress toward decentralization at regional and local levels regardless of an overall national context of political containment and economic exploitation.

Conservación Y Desarrollo En Las Fronteras Amazónicas Entre Perú Y Acre, Brasil, David S. Salisbury

Geography and the Environment Maps

Conservación y Desarrollo en las Fronteras Amazónicas entre Perú y Acre, Brasil

Conservation and Development in the Amazonian Frontier between Peru and Acre, Brazil

Market Intermediaries And Rural People In Bolivia's Forest Products Sector: Are Trusting Partnerships Possible?, James T. Murphy, Mary Lawhon

Geography

Decentralization in access to and control of Bolivia's forest resources, coupled with a rising global demand for tropical hardwoods, raises important questions about whether increased trade and community forest management (CFM) initiatives can enable forms of market integration that have more favourable outcomes for rural communities. This paper assesses the prospects for such a transition through an examination of the relationships linking wood product market intermediaries (brokers and buyers) to rural suppliers and forest communities in Bolivia. The analysis centres on whether trust - conceptualized as a power-laden sociospatial process driven by multiscalar factors - can evolve between buyers and …

Does Terrestrial Drought Explain Global Co 2 Flux Anomalies Induced By El Niño?, C. R. Schwalm, Christopher A. Williams, K. Schaefer, I. Baker, G. J. Collatz, C. Rödenbeck

Geography

The El Niño Southern Oscillation is the dominant year-to-year mode of global climate variability. El Niño effects on terrestrial carbon cycling are mediated by associated climate anomalies, primarily drought, influencing fire emissions and biotic net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Here we evaluate whether El Niño produces a consistent response from the global carbon cycle. We apply a novel bottom-up approach to estimating global NEE anomalies based on FLUXNET data using land cover maps and weather reanalysis. We analyze 13 years (1997-2009) of globally gridded observational NEE anomalies derived from eddy covariance flux data, remotely-sensed fire emissions at the monthly time step, …

Detection Of The Timing And Duration Of Snowmelt In The Hindu Kush-Himalaya Using Quikscat, 2000-2008, Prajjwal K. Panday, Karen E. Frey, Bardan Ghimire

Geography

The Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region holds the largest mass of ice in Central Asia and is highly vulnerable to global climate change, experiencing significant warming (0.21 ± 0.08 °C/decade) over the past few decades. Accurate monitoring of the timing and duration of snowmelt across the HKH region is important, as this region is expected to experience further warming in response to increased greenhouse gas forcing. Despite the many advantages and applications of satellite-derived radar scatterometer data shown for capturing ice and snow melt dynamics at high latitudes, similar comprehensive freeze/thaw detection studies at lower latitudes (including the HKH region) are …

Utilizing Temporally Invariant Calibration Sites To Classify Multiple Dates And Types Of Satellite Imagery, Joe Fortier, John Rogan, Curtis E. Woodcock, Daniel Miller Runfola

Geography

Mapping past time periods (retrospective mapping) using remotely sensed data is hindered by a lack of coincident calibration and validation information. The identification of features of same ground cover invariant across time and their use as calibration and validation data addresses this challenge by: (a) streamlining the process of image calibration for multiple dates, and (b) allowing each image to generate its own spectral signature. This study investigates the use of temporally invariant calibration and validation data to map land-cover in Massachusetts, employing five satellite images collected from five separate dates and different sensors. The results indicate that this technique …

Shaw Studies The Geography Of Affluence, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Constructing Coldstream: Sustainability And The Politics Of Local Economic Development, John Taylor Shelton

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis explores the evolution of the Coldstream Research Campus, a high-tech research park operated by the University of Kentucky. Conceived of in the late 1980s and built in 1992, Coldstream was expected to become the „economic engine‟ of central Kentucky through the commercialization of applied scientific and technological research coming out of the university. Twenty years later, with Coldstream having failed to live up to expectations, the university initiated the process of updating the Coldstream Master Plan to incorporate a decided emphasis on the concept of sustainability. Through a mix of archival research and semi-structured interviews, this thesis argues …

Values In Place: Intersecting Values In Rails To Trails Landscapes, Lisa Rainey Brownell

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the values and meanings people attach to places and why exploring those values is important in trails and historic preservation planning. From a foundation in critical humanistic geography and values based preservation literatures, the dissertation examines three rails to trails projects as case studies. Primary research questions include: how does a landscape become valued, devalued, and/or revalued through time? In what ways do different values of different people or groups intersect in rails to trails landscapes and how do they shape the landscape? How do historic values intersect with economic, social, political, and other …

Disjuncture Among Classic Period Cultural Landscapes In The Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico, Wesley Durrell Stoner

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Teotihuacan was the most influential city in the Classic Mesoamerican worldsystem. Like other influential cities in the ancient world, however, Teotihuacan did not homogenously affect the various cultural landscapes that thrived in Mesoamerica during the Classic period (300-900 CE). Even where strong central Mexican influences appear outside the Basin of Mexico, the nature, extent, and strength of these influences are discontinuous over time and space. Every place within the Classic Mesoamerican landscape has a unique Teotihuacan story. In the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico, Matacapan, located in the Catemaco Valley, drew heavily upon ideas and symbols fostered at Teotihuacan, …

Monitoring Ecosystem Dynamics In An Arctic Tundra Ecosystem Using Hyperspectral Reflectance And A Robotic Tram System, Santonu Goswami

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Global change, which includes climate change and the impacts of human disturbance, is altering the provision and sustainability of ecosystem goods and services. These changes have the capacity to initiate cascading affects and complex feedbacks through physical, biological and human subsystems and interactions between them. Understanding the future state of the earth system requires improved knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and long term observations of how these are being impacted by global change. Improving remote sensing methods is essential for such advancement because satellite remote sensing is the only means by which landscape to continental-scale change can be observed.

The Arctic …

An Integrated Geographic Information Systems (Igis) Analysis And Definition Of The Tectonic Framework Of Northern Mexico, Carlos Manuel Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Crustal rupture structures reactivated in the course of the tectonic history of northern Mexico are the surface expressions of planes of weakness, in the form of simple or composite rectilinear features or slightly curved, defined as lineaments. Unless otherwise defined as strike-slip faults, lineaments are part of parallel and sub-parallel oblique convergent or oblique divergent tectonic zones cross cutting the Sierra Madre Occidental and northern Mexico, in a NW trend. These shear zones are the response to the oblique subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America.

Kinematic analysis of five selected sites in northern Mexico, three basins and two …

Development Of A Web-Based Geographic Information System For Arctic Science, George Walker Johnson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Environmental science is a large field of study that requires the acquisition of data for decision making in solving environmental issues. Leveraging desktop geographic information systems (GIS) and web-based GIS (WebGIS) systems for assisting in the problem solving processes can benefit both the research community and policy makers for decision making activities. Ensuring interoperability between desktop, web, and server GIS is essential for maximizing access, sharing and manipulation of data. Interoperability is maximized through the adoption of best practices, use of open standards, and utilization of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). While many of the interoperability challenges such as infrastructure, data …

Upscaling Carbon Fluxes Over The Great Plains Grasslands: Sinks And Sources, Li Zhang, Bruce K. Wylie, Lei Ji, Tagir G. Gilmanov, Larry L. Tieszen, Daniel M. Howard

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Previous studies suggested that the grasslands may be carbon sinks or near equilibrium, and they often shift between carbon sources in drought years and carbon sinks in other years. It is important to understand the responses of net ecosystem production (NEP) to various climatic conditions across the U.S. Great Plains grasslands. Based on 15 grassland flux towers, we developed a piecewise regression model and mapped the grassland NEP at 250 m spatial resolution over the Great Plains from 2000 to 2008. The results showed that the Great Plains was a net sink with an averaged annual NEP of 24 ± …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 39, 2010-2011, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

Placing Agency In Neoliberalism: Contested Citizenship In Spaces Of Migrant Organizing, Joseph Rasmussen

Geography Honors Projects

The presence of millions of immigrants without recognition from the federal government presents serious challenges to American democracy and its legitimacy. By analyzing immigration activism in Austin, Texas, this paper will consider how those excluded from formal citizenship seek full membership, or at least its associated rights and protections, and how institutions at a variety of scales responds to these efforts. This activism challenges prevalent notions of what citizenship means, expanding the lines of who deserve rights and protection, and constructs participatory citizenship at the city level rather than relying on the more passive, exclusionary model of federal politics.

Foreword, From Holy Places And Pilgrimages: Essays On India, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

This collection of twelve articles continues a long and rich body of information about pilgrimages. Written materials in the form of pamphlets, guidebooks, manuals, itineraries, and treatises about pilgrimages date from antiquity (see, e.g. the discussion in this volume by Rana Singh about ancient epics, pp. 15-20). Travelling to places regarded by worshippers as having extraordinary spiritual power is a phenomenon permeating all religious traditions so it is logical that it appears in various literary forms.

Our Theories, Ourselves: Hierarchies Of Place And Status In U.S. Academia, Karen M. Morin, Tamar Rothenberg

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Pollution Knowledge And Urban Water Politics In The Ganges River Basin (India), Sya Buryn Kedzior

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Millions of people rely upon the Ganges River as a source of water provision and a site of disposal for sewage, solid waste, agricultural runoff and industrial effluent. The river is also a goddess in the Hindu pantheon who is worshipped for her purificatory powers, despite water quality levels that fall far short of standards for use in bathing, washing, and drinking. In recent years, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have formed to oppose both pollution of the river and the failure of state-run pollution abatement programs. They are joined by an increasingly frequent number of seemingly spontaneous protests …

Lavapiés, Madrid As Twenty-First Century Urban Spectacle, Matthew Isaiah Feinberg

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Informed by the theories of Henri Lefebvre regarding the production of space and the theories of scale found in current scholarship in Cultural Geography, my methodology analyzes both dramatic texts and theater spaces to investigate how cultural production and capital converge in the “spectacle” of urban space. While employing this term “spectacle” to describe how dramatic texts, theater productions, and modern architecture transform the urban landscape into a metaphoric theater space for the production of local, national, and global identities, this project examines the relationship between theater and urban change in Lavapiés, an iconic, multicultural, and oftenunderserved neighborhood located in …