Geography Commons^™

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.

Validating Uas-Based Ndvi Data With Satellite Landsat Imagery For Bald Eagle Habitat Prediction In The Del Rio Springs Ecosystem, Noah Morales, Colton Weeks, Hank Vincent, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

Vegetation health is commonly assessed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which can be derived from multispectral sensors operating at different spatial resolutions. Validating NDVI products across sensor platforms is essential to determine their reliability for environmental monitoring and habitat assessment. This research compares NDVI derived from moderate-resolution satellite imagery and high-resolution unmanned aircraft system (UAS) imagery collected over the same study area. Landsat imagery, provided through the joint USGS–NASA mission, was used to represent satellite-based vegetation patterns, while high-resolution multispectral data were acquired using a MicaSense sensor mounted on a UAS to capture fine-scale vegetation detail.

NDVI values …

Validating Uas Lidar With Airborne Lidar For Precision Streamline Generation In Del Rio Springs, Arizona, Brad Rudy, Colton Weeks, Hank Vincent, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

Accurate streamline delineation and high-resolution topographic products are essential across numerous disciplines, including hydrological analysis, environmental monitoring, construction, and erosion modeling. Products derived from high-accuracy elevation data provide greater reliability and improved decision-making outcomes for all fields that depend on them. A 2018 USGS airborne LiDAR dataset covering the Del Rio Springs riparian area north of Chino Valley, Arizona, offers a valuable opportunity to evaluate the relative accuracy of the DJI L1 LiDAR sensor when mounted on a Matrice 300 RTK UAV platform. Compared to traditional manned airborne systems, the UAV-mounted L1 provides high-accuracy, high-density point cloud data over small …

Integrated Geospatial Analysis Of Burn Severity And Vegetation Recovery Of The California August Complex Fire In 2020, Dharm Barot, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

Large wildfires increasingly alter vegetation structure and ecosystem recovery trajectories at landscape scales, requiring reliable geospatial methods for post-fire assessment. This study evaluates burn severity and vegetation recovery following the 2020 California August Complex Fire using an integrated framework combining multispectral satellite imagery, spatial statistics, and airborne LiDAR data.

Burn severity was quantified using differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), and vegetation recovery was assessed through a multi-temporal NBR time series spanning pre-fire (2015), fire-year (2020), and post-fire (2025) conditions. Optimized Hotspot Analysis (Gi*) was applied to isolate statistically significant clusters of high burn severity and reduce bias in recovery estimates. …

Integrated Geospatial Analysis Of Burn Severity And Vegetation Recovery Of The California August Complex Fire In 2020, Dharm Barot, Ronny Schroeder, Elise Anderson

Student Works

Large wildfires increasingly alter vegetation structure and ecosystem recovery trajectories at landscape scales, requiring reliable geospatial methods for post-fire assessment. This study evaluates burn severity and vegetation recovery following the 2020 California August Complex Fire using an integrated framework combining multispectral satellite imagery, spatial statistics, and airborne LiDAR data.

Burn severity was quantified using differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), and vegetation recovery was assessed through a multi-temporal NBR time series spanning pre-fire (2015), fire-year (2020), and post-fire (2025) conditions. Optimized Hotspot Analysis (Gi*) was applied to isolate statistically significant clusters of high burn severity and reduce bias in recovery estimates. …

Geospatial Analysis Of Wildfire Ignitions And Proximity To Electric Transmission Lines In Arizona’S National Forests, Shane Ishmael, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

The number of wildfires in Arizona rose by 18% from 2023 to 2024. Wildfires hit the Western United States hard, especially in states like Arizona and California, where vast national forests often fall victim to the biggest blazes. According to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, 19% of wildfires from 2016 to 2020 were sparked by electrical transmission lines.

This study explores whether wildfire start-location hotspots line up with power transmission routes running through Arizona’s Coconino and Tonto National Forests. The main hypothesis is that areas near power lines are more likely to become wildfire hotspots than other regions.

We used …

Precision Rockslide Hazard Mapping With Multispectral Imaging And Lidar Along Arizona Highway 89a, Hank Warner, Ronny Schroeder

Student Works

Along mountainous roads, rockslides, mud slides and avalanches pose a significant risk for continued access to a region and can cause large amounts of damage to infrastructure, taking time to clear and repair. The prediction of where these events will occur can allow preventative measures to be taken, allowing sustained access and preventing costly repairs.

This study develops a method to analyze and predict rockslide risk using satellite-sourced multispectral imagery and airborne LiDAR data.

The developed method started with multispectral LANDSAT 8 imagery and airborne LiDAR captures over Arizona Highway 89A, with all data taken between late August and early …

Using Maximum Entropy (Maxent) Tool In Arcgis Pro For Species Distribution Modelling Of Pseudoscorpions In The Pacific Northwest, Elliot Toshihiro Cochran

Masters in GIS Practicum Reports

The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create Species Distribution Models (SDMs) is rising among many scientific disciplines. Many professionals who were not originally focused on GIS are increasingly becoming more invested in this technology. SDMs are widely used to estimate species’ potential geographic distributions and to evaluate the environmental factors that constrain their ranges. The presence-only maximum entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm implemented in the MaxEnt tool in ArcGIS Pro was used in this project to model habitat suitability for two species of pseudoscorpions, M. pacificus and an undescribed species, in Oregon and Washington. Presence points (of specimen sample locations) …

Investigating The Impact Of Winter Exposure To Natural Environments On Perceived Health And Well-Being Using Geographic Ecological Momentary Assessment: A Case Study At Arrowhead Provincial Park, Faith M. Laing

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examined how winter exposure to specific natural environments influenced perceived health and well-being outcomes using Geographic Ecological Momentary Assessment (GEMA) in Arrowhead Provincial Park. Studies performed in the wintertime are limited, as is our understanding of how specific park features and/or activities impact health and well-being. To address this, GEMA was used with a video component to capture participants’ real-time experience and emotional responses in specific park locations defined by polygon boundaries. Two surveys were administered through participants mobile devices, one being an in-situ engagement survey triggered by entering a bounded location, which included a video and …

Youth Perspectives On Developing A Sustainable Food Future In Sambaa K’E Nwt., Danielle Elizabeth Bayne Ms

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Food systems in Northern Indigenous communities are shaped by complex and interconnected social, environmental, economic, and political forces that determine how food is accessed, practiced, and governed. Indigenous food systems are deeply rooted in Land-based practices and relationships that support cultural continuity and intergenerational knowledge transfer. However, these systems have been profoundly disrupted by ongoing colonial structures that restrict access to and devalue Indigenous Knowledge and alter harvesting practices. Climate change further intensifies challenges related to traditional food access by altering wildlife behaviour, shifting seasonal patterns and reducing the safety and reliability of traditional harvesting territories. In response, many Northern …

Identifying Socio-Economic Areas Of Concern Towards Inclusion In Gis Hazard Management In Detroit, Michigan., Ernestina Osei

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This study examined the spatial distribution of socio-economic vulnerability and accessibility to essential services in Detroit, Michigan, using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based approach. The research aimed to identify areas of greatest concern by integrating socio-economic indicators, including poverty, housing vacancy, income, unemployment, and crime, with spatial measures of access to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and grocery stores. Both feature-based and raster-based analyses were employed, including buffer and overlay analysis, service area evaluation, Euclidean distance modeling, and multi-criteria suitability analysis.

A mixed-methods framework was adopted to combine quantitative spatial analysis with contextual understanding of urban …

Inside The Box: Containerization And The Limits Of Trade Unionism In The International Longshoremen's Association, 1945-1977, Calvin Horning

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the union of dock workers on the East Coast of the United States, saw a dramatic change in form and fortune in the middle of the 20^th century as the shipping industry and global labor underwent an immense reorganization. In the context of this reorganization, I argue that due to internal conservatism and racism alongside external state pressure, the ILA moved from an unruly, mafia-ruled union to a highly organized, professionalized, well-paid core of workers that served to support the United States’ capitalist-imperialist project.

Through archival material spanning over three decades, I analyze the …

(En)Counter Cartographies: Data Collection, Interpretation, And Visualization In Lexington’S Urban Forest, Claire Hilbrecht

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This thesis examines how urban forestry data practices shape relationships between people, trees, and knowledge in Lexington, Kentucky. Drawing on political ecology, science and technology studies, and critical making, it argues that conventional methods of data collection, interpretation, and visualization privilege Western scientific and market-based frameworks that often exclude affective, embodied, and more-than-human ways of knowing. Using autoethnography and six semi-structured interviews with urban forestry professionals, the study explores how practitioners experience tensions between treating trees as measurable commodities and engaging them as relational beings. It finds that while urban foresters rely on dominant discourses such as ecosystem services to …

Spatial Marginalization Of Emotional Support: Understanding Animal-Human Dynamics Of Care On College Campuses, Aleksandra Craine

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

In 2015 Kearny-Nebraska court case determined that student campus housing is considered a dwelling and is therefore covered by housing antidiscrimination laws. Since then, increasing numbers of students across U.S. campuses applied to bring an emotional support animal to live with them. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as “trained or untrained animals that do work, perform tasks, provide assistance, and/or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities.” Persons requesting ESA accommodations usually must provide documentation from a medical provider or therapist. ESAs remain a legally and socially contested category …

Sinking City To Breakthrough City: A Political Analysis And Evaluation Of Indonesia's Capital City Relocation From Jakarta To Nusantara, Yuji Jones

CMC Senior Theses

This paper analyzes Indonesia’s national decision to move its capital city from Jakarta to Nusantara. Indonesia is facing a dire catastrophe in its most populous city. The land surrounding Jakarta is sinking, and without significant mitigation efforts, the streets will be submerged by 2045. This is a slow-motion disaster coming for Indonesia and Jakarta. This left the country with a crucial decision: to save the capital city. In response to this environmental crisis, Indonesia’s government has committed to making a nationwide and ambitious decision to move the capital to Nusantara, a smaller city bustling with tropical forests 1,000 kilometers away, …

The Future Of U.S. Higher Education: Equity Implications Of Shifting Immigration Policies, Research Institute For Social Equity Rise

Research Institute for Social Equity

This report examines the impact of U.S. immigration policies on higher education and international students from 2000 to 2025. It traces five major policy eras, from the post- 9/11 security overhaul and Obama-era expansion to the restrictive turns of 2017–2020 and 2025, and analyzes how shifting regulations have influenced enrollment patterns, economic contributions, and student well-being. Despite hosting more than 1.1 million international students in 2023–2024, the U.S. share of the global student market has fallen from 20% to 16%, underscoring how policy volatility and restrictive measures weaken national competitiveness. Drawing on federal data, scholarly research, and institutional reports, this …

Systematics Of Disk-Winged Bats (Thyroptera), Courtney L. Klumpp

Capstone Showcase

This thesis investigates the evolutionary relationships among disk-winged bats in the genus Thyroptera, a small group of Neotropical bats known for the adhesive suction disks on their wings and feet that allow them to roost inside tightly rolled leaves. The distinctive morphology and behavior of these bats have not been extensively documented, and their phylogenetic relationships remain only partially resolved. The goal of this research is to better understand how these species are related to one another and to determine whether the five recognized species of Thyroptera form a single monophyletic group. To address this question, morphological and genetic …

Improving Flood Risk Mapping By Incorporating Local-Scale Calibration Data Derived From Stakeholder Input, Jennifer M. Holifield, Wei Wu, Patrick D. Biber, Margo Posten, Dennis Mcgrury, Stephen C. Deal, Alexandria Hancock

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Globally, flooding is the most frequent and costly natural hazards, disproportionately affecting populations based on environmental, social, and economic factors. Understanding the spatial variability of flood risk as well as the respective flood drivers is essential for informing cost-effective mitigation strategies and enhancing community resilience. Here we mapped flood risk that combines flood hazards and vulnerability in an under-resourced coastal community prone to compound flooding. Our approach integrates stakeholder engagement with GIS-based analysis using open-access datasets.

We first developed an initial flood hazard map using an equal-weight combination of factors commonly associated with flood occurrence/prevention, including upslope area, impervious surface …

Assessment Of Truck Parking Demand And Safety During Normal And Severe Weather Conditions In Nebraska, Nathan Huynh, Li Zhao, Zhenghong Tang, Aida Riahifar, Jahangeer Jahangeer

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This project examined truck parking capacity, demand, and utilization patterns along I-80 in Nebraska. The objectives were to (1) document the capacity of public and private truck parking facilities along I-80, (2) analyze spatial and temporal trends in parking demand, (3) develop models to predict occupancy at parking facilities, (4) identify clusters of undesignated parking during inclement weather, and (5) assess whether truck parking shortages contribute to truck-involved crashes. Within a one-mile buffer of I-80, 21 public facilities and 49 private facilities were identified. The spatiotemporal analysis of these public and private truck parking facilities using the National Agriculture Imagery …

Sangha: Displacement And Memory In Nikkei Dena, Isabella Rae Uriu

Honors Theses

Sangha: Displacement and Memory in Nikkei Dena explores how layered displacements have shaped the Nikkei (Japanese-American) community in Altadena and Pasadena (Dena), CA, and how Nikkei resist forces of displacement and ‘unbelonging’ through cultural practice, community care, and memory-work at the Pasadena Buddhist Temple. This thesis argues that these practices of place-making build belonging and sustain the Nikkei community across displacement; particularly, the forced removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II, freeway displacement during the mid-century, and most recently, the 2025 Eaton Fire, which has displaced tens of thousands of Denans, including a small, but …

Lake As Body: Ecofeminism And Animacy At The Great Salt Lake, Shae Barber

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water shapes cultural, social, and ecological systems. Yet, dominant economic, political, and academic frameworks often treat water as a backdrop or passive resource, ignoring it as an active participant in meaning-making and relationship-building. Viewing water as “nonliving” obscures how it participates in and co-creates relationships, limiting understanding about impacts of and responses to climate change and environmental degradation.

This thesis takes a mixed-methods and participatory approach including semi-structured interview, photovoice, and participatory mapping to examine relational practices between environmental advocates and the Great Salt Lake, a desiccating saline lake in Utah, U.S. As the lake continues to decline, dominant Western …

Between A Rockpile And A Hard Place: Mapping The Folk-Hydronymy Of Southern New England, Amanda Gilmore

Open Access Master's Theses

Fishermen in Southern New England (SNE) utilize a wide variety of placenames to delineate areas of significance on the open ocean. This information provides new revelations not just about the way fishermen navigate the ocean, but also insight about overlaps between Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) and Fishermen’s Ecological Knowledge in the historically prolific fishing sector of Southern New England. Prior to this study, this collection of vernacular place names on the water, or folk-hydronymy, had never been documented or analyzed, as it was held almost entirely in cognitive maps and proliferated through communication with other fishermen. This project’s goal was …

Using Remote Sensing Technology To Develop A Framework For Improving Hydrologic Models, Marissa Cook

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

With increased storm intensity due to climate change and urbanization, flash flooding has become an increasingly significant issue globally and regionally. Although the factors influencing urban flash flooding are well-known, there is a growing need for technology to accurately and remotely predict the chance of a flash flood occurring from any given rain event to give people time to prepare. This study aims to use multispectral satellite imagery to provide a framework for improving near real-time flood predictions in an urban area of a high gradient, fourth order stream impacted by flooding. Specifically, we utilize satellite imagery to create the …

Gis Is A Tool, Not The Story: The Journey Towards An Ethnographically Informed Gis Analysis Of Frenchman Coulee, Eastern Washington, Joseph T. Gambino

All Master's Theses

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have seen increased use in ethnographic and archaeological studies over the last several decades. Though revolutionary in their ability to predict and document sites of archaeological or cultural significance, they remain limited in their capacity to communicate the full extent of potential values certain geographies offer to both cultural specialists and their communities. These limitations are amplified when attempting to represent how the landscape is experienced within GIS’s statistical framework. In this manuscript I present different approaches to GIS modeling that attempt to identify some of the advantages Frenchman Coulee could have offered to the Indigenous …

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)

Drag’S Impact On Drag Lives, José L. Oropeza Iii

Anthós

Drag’s Impact On Drag Lives

In light of recent political developments where Drag and Trans identities are being punished, why do people still participate in Drag? If there are repercussion to face for being a Drag Queen, then surely it must affect their lives for the better for them to continue the practice.

Through an autoethnographic approach to researching the Portland, OR Drag community, I collected transcripts of conversations with local Queens, took notes of community interactions, and put myself in Drag for the first time as a Queer man to better understand the Drag community and why they Drag. …

Data-Driven Methodologies For Mapping Cultural Heritage: The Case Of The National Coal Heritage Area, West Virginia, Usa, Hossain Mohammad Nahyan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The objective of this dissertation was to develop a comprehensive, data-driven spatial framework for characterizing the complex cultural landscape of the National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA) in West Virginia. By transitioning away from traditional, heuristic spatial mapping, this research integrates advanced spatial statistics, machine learning, and GIS-based methodologies to objectively quantify the physical, visual, and cultural dimensions of the post-mining environment. The research is structured around three interconnected empirical studies, each addressing a specific scale of the Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) framework to support heritage conservation and sustainable spatial planning. The first paper focused on landform classification, developing an automated …

Legibility Grabs: Contesting Hegemony And Water Governance In Western Bahia, Brazil, Rowan A. Compton, Gustavo De L.T. Oliveira

Geography

This article examines how irrigated agribusiness interests in western Bahia, Brazil, are capturing the infrastructure of water governance itself — the basin committees, digital monitoring platforms, and fee structures through which water becomes visible and governable. Drawing on Gramscian theories of hegemony and James Scott's analysis of state legibility, we develop the concept of ‘legibility grabs’ to describe how dominant actors appropriate not only resources but the institutional mechanisms that render those resources objects of governance. Based on documentary analysis and 48 interviews conducted during fieldwork in 2024–2025, we demonstrate how agribusiness has waged wars of position within participatory institutions, …

Improved Climate Services In Hawai‘I: The Collaborative Development Of Drought-Related Decision Support Tools, Ryan J. Longman, Derek Ford, Cherryle Heu, Jennifer Geis, Abby Frazier, Christian P. Giardina, James T. Potemra, Sean B. Cleveland, John J. Marra

Geography

Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and increasingly variable rainfall are negatively impacting natural and cultural resources and agricultural production systems in Hawai‘i. To effectively manage resources in the face of these changes, stewards and producers now require accurate, timely, and site-specific climate data and information. However, access to such data as well as the ability to interpret available data remain limited for many sectors. In response to various needs, a team of scientists working with the Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange (PDKE) has developed two open-source decision-support tools (DSTs) through a collaborative, user-informed process aimed at closing longstanding gaps in local climate …