Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

The Cost Of Hauling Timber: A Comparison Of Raster- And Vector- Based Travel-Time Estimates In Gis, Sara M. Loreno

Geography Masters Research Papers

The cost of transporting forest products from harvest site to processing facility is a critical indicator of timber project feasibility. In order to accurately assess these timber haul costs, least-cost travel-time estimates among the site and the facility can be estimated using vector- or raster-based GIS methods. This study explores the applicability of both the raster- and vector-techniques within a variety of landscapes, including forested areas where comprehensive transportation data is limited. A comparison between the travel-time estimates derived from both methods was performed on three study sites using real-world data. The comparison also tested the effect of resolution on …

Common Metrics For Web-Based Mapping Applications In Academic Libraries, Ningning Kong, Tao Zhang, Ilana Stonebraker

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Purpose – This study aims to establish common metrics for web-based mapping applications to facilitate user decision making and enhance information providers’ product design.

Design/methodology/approach – The metrics were developed from a combination of literature review and case studies. From the literature review, we identified three major areas of assessment for web-based mapping applications. We then studied six online applications to refine the metrics.

Findings – Our results suggest that web-based mapping applications can be evaluated from three major aspects: data content, GIS functionality, and usability. We have developed detailed measures for each factor through our evaluation of the six …

Assessing Cultural Ecosystem Services Using Gis-Based Landscape Values Mapping. Case Study: Olympic Peninsula Human Ecology Mapping Project, Diane Besser, Rebecca J. Mclain, Lee Cerveny, David Banis

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the Olympic Peninsula mapping project objectives:

• Develop and test a method for mapping sociocultural values at a Bioregional scale
• Test techniques for analyzing spatialized sociocultural values data
• Explore ways to integrate spatialized sociocultural values into forest management planning

Introduction To Gis Using Open Source Software, 4th Ed, Frank Donnelly

Open Educational Resources

This tutorial was created to accompany the GIS Practicum, a day-long workshop offered by the Newman Library at Baruch College CUNY that introduces participants to geographic information systems (GIS) using the open source software QGIS. The practicum introduces GIS as a concept for envisioning information and as a tool for conducting geographic analyses and creating maps. Participants learn how to navigate a GIS interface, how to prepare layers and conduct a basic geographic analysis, and how to create thematic maps. This tutorial was written using QGIS version 1.8 "Lisboa", a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) desktop GIS software package.

The Development Of An Electronic Data Collection Tool And Comparison Of The Electronic And Manual Methods Of Land Use Inventory, Wesley M. Catanzaro

Master's Theses

An important component of Planning Information Systems for municipal planning agencies is a comprehensive land use inventory that provides information on the location, distribution, and intensity of land uses throughout a community. This data is a necessary prerequisite for the informed creation of planning documents such as General Plans, Specific Plans, Housing Inventories, and Climate Action Plans. Beyond location, distribution and intensity of land uses, planners may also wish to incorporate additional information at the parcel level, such as the number of housing or commercial units, building condition, and/or access and connectivity to adjacent streets. Because some of this information …

Amazonian States Map Threatened Borderlands, David S. Salisbury, A. William Flores De Melo, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Bertha Balbin Ordaya

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Recently, the Regional Initiative to Integrate South America has begun promoting a transboundary road that would bisect the forested borderlands and connect the two largest cities in the region, while the state governments seek to promote a direct ecological railroad alternative. Both transportation initiatives promise to alter forests and rivers and transform economies and cultures, but these projects also lack the base geographic information necessary to understand their potential transboundary impacts and benefits.

Identifying Optimal Cellulosic Biomass Feedstock Supply Areas For Potential Biorefineries In Arkansas, Mark Cooper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In February 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the revised Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), mandating at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be produced annually in America, and blended into all on/off road, locomotive, and marine gasoline and diesel by the year 2022. America's existing biorefineries fall significantly short of being able to meet this mandate, resulting in the need for rapid expansion in the near future if this goal is to be met. The state of Arkansas has abundant resources to offer the renewable energy industry, if properly utilized. The goal of this thesis is to …

Geographic Information Systems Facilitate Youth, Youth Workers And Community Stakeholder Efforts, Helenmary Hotz

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

A large population of underserved students and residents in the City of Boston suffer from behavioral and/or discipline problems, as well as substance and/or alcohol abuse. A side effect of this behavior is the increasing instance of trash such as cigarette butts, condoms, syringes and packaging being discarded in public areas. The South Boston Youth Action Center (SBYAC) is tackling this problem by making the community aware of the locations and probable sources of this problem. The SBYAC is implementing an effort to rid South Boston parks, playgrounds and areas frequented by children of refuse associated with substance abuse. And, …

Gis Maps And The Amazon Borderlands, David S. Salisbury

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

With training, GIS can be used by all sectors of Latin American society and is the mapping tool of choice for institutions ranging from the Inter-American Development Bank to remote communities in the Amazon rain forest. Geographic information systems are thus a tool of the powerful and the marginalized and the official and the unofficial. [...] In this chapter, we see how GIS maps can improve our ability to analyze conflict over resources and allow additional participation in the process of mapping, but we also confront some of the many political and technical challenges that must be overcome to construct …

Site Identification, Delineation, And Evaluation Through Quantitative Spatial Analysis : Geostatistical And Gis Methods To Facilitate Archaeological Resource Assessment, James Scott Cardinal

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis presents a brief overview of quantitative spatial analysis in archaeology with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological issues involved, and describes a set of methods for using Geographic Information System (GIS) software and spatial statistics for the assessment of archaeological resources. GIS has become a nearly ubiquitous and indispensable tool in many fields of resource management including archaeology. It is, however, applied by archaeologists most frequently for basic cartographic representations, large-scale regional analyses, or resource management data warehousing. Such applications underutilize the scale-independence of GIS, which is equally potent for intra-project data assessment. This thesis describes a …

Introduction To Gis Using Open Source Software, 1st Ed, Frank Donnelly

Open Educational Resources

This tutorial was created to accompany the GIS Practicum, a day-long workshop offered by the Newman Library at Baruch College CUNY that introduces participants to geographic information systems (GIS) using the open source software QGIS. The practicum introduces GIS as a concept for envisioning information and as a tool for conducting geographic analyses and creating maps. Participants learn how to navigate a GIS interface, how to prepare layers and conduct a basic geographic analysis, and how to create thematic maps. This tutorial was written using QGIS version 1.5 "Tethys", a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) desktop GIS software package.

Susceptibility Modeling And Mission Flight Route Optimization In A Low Threat, Combat Environment, Brett J. Machovina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Movement and transportation systems are a primary topic in the study of humans and their relationship with the environment. Only a few modes of transportation allow for nearly full freedom of movement that is unconstrained by rigid nodes and networks. Individual human travel (walking, climbing, swimming, etc.) is one example while rotorcraft travel is another. Although other criteria constrain movement, independence from a network allows for a unique examination of human spatial decision-making and choice behavior. This research analyzes helicopter flight route planning in a low threat combat environment with respect to geography. The particular problem addressed, which ultimately concerns …

Smart Density: A More Accurate Method Of Measuring Rural Residential Density For Health-Related Research, Peter M. Owens, Linda Titus-Ernstoff, Lucinda Gibson, Michael L. Beach, Sandy Beauregard, Madeline A. Dalton

Dartmouth Scholarship

Studies involving the built environment have typically relied on US Census data to measure residential density. However, census geographic units are often unsuited to health-related research, especially in rural areas where development is clustered and discontinuous. We evaluated the accuracy of both standard census methods and alternative GIS-based methods to measure rural density.

Research Poster: Gis And Remote Sensing Core Lab For Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research In Climate Change, Haroon Stephen, William J. Smith, Craig Palmer, Thomas C. Piechota

2010 Annual Nevada NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Conference

Research poster

The Study Of Radio Frequency Interference (Rfi) For Radio Astronomy In Some Remote Locations In Peninsular Malaysia., Syed Bahari Ramadzan Syed Adnan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is the main parameter to find the best site for radio astronomy research development. The increasing levels of RFI will pose a big problem for researchers in the radio astronomy field. The radio astronomers are encouraged to choose sites as free as possible from interference. In this research we aimed to survey the RFI at frequency 1 MHz-2000MHz to look the overview of the RFI profile and at frequency 1419 MHz-1421 MHz to monitor the RFI profile at Hydrogen line frequency (1420.4 MHz). We chose Peninsular Malaysia as the research area for RFI observation. We have …

Updating The Web-Based Geographic Information System Of The Water Resources Institute, Prava Tiwari

Theses Digitization Project

The main scope of this project is to rebuild and deploy web applications that will help share historical artifacts related to the Santa Ana watershed. This project is designed to give a consistent user interface and add extra tools to enhance the functionality of existing applications at the Water Resources Institute (WRI) at California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB). The purpose of this project is to migrate all applications to a single server and update the applications using ArcGIS Server 9.2. Also to give a consistent look to the applications and to make them user friendly.

Healthy Eating And Active Living In North Portland: Asset Mapping With G.I.S., Arthur Aldridge, Susan M. Anderson, Mike Aspros, Lisa Barnes, Matt Bergstrom, Ambra Bingham, Ernest Bork, Sara Cottam, Jeremy Crawford, Shawna Graber, Jonathan Jubera, Patrick Louisel, Rebecca Symonds, Eric Wright

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

Making community development as democratic as possible has long been a challenge for urban planners and municipalities alike. A number of obstacles stand in the way of greater community participation in the planning process and consequently communities who are best served by their design. Visual Preference Surveys (VPS) are a tool planners can use to increase participation in the design process within the communities they serve. This can result in community plans that more accurately reflect the wants or needs of its members. Relying heavily on image driven content, VPS offers communities a straightforward methodology that asks participants to rate …

Key Concepts And Techniques In Gis, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Changing Demographic, Legal, And Technological Contexts Of Political Representation, Benjamin Forest

Dartmouth Scholarship

Three developments have created challenges for political representation in the U.S. and particularly for the use of territorially based representation (election by district). First, the demographic complexity of the U.S. population has grown both in absolute terms and in terms of residential patterns. Second, legal developments since the 1960s have recognized an increasing number of groups as eligible for voting rights protection. Third, the growing technical capacities of computer technology, particularly Geographic Information Systems, have allowed political parties and other organizations to create election districts with increasingly precise political and demographic characteristics. Scholars have made considerable progress in measuring and …

Information Technology Implementation And Sustainment Model: Data Collection Instrument, Walter K. Yazzie

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to develop a data collection instrument for an existing information technology implementation and sustainment model. In 2003, a unique system dynamics model was developed at the Air Force Institute of Technology to predict the behavior of information technology implementation and sustainment (Fonnesbeck, 2003). However, no empirical data was used during the model development. In order to collect the needed empirical data, this research develops a data collection instrument for the model. The instrument was sent to 60 Air Force community planners who are currently implementing a geographical information system (Air Force GeoBase) into their …

Geospatial Analysis Of Gravel Bar Deposition And Channel Migration Within The Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Missouri (1955-2003), Derek J. Martin

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Historical land clearing is believed to be responsible for present-day channel instability in main stem reaches in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) in south-central Missouri. The nature of instability is related to the delivery of excess amounts of gravel sediment to stream channels and higher rates of lateral bank erosion. These conditions are of concern to resource managers because of the potential damaging effects on recreational facilities and aquatic habitat. The purpose of this study is to develop a geographic information systems (GIS)/remote sensing (RS) based methodology to monitor spatial patterns of gravel deposition and lateral channel migration within …

Investigation Of Geobase Implementation Issues: Case Study Of Information Resource Management, Mario L. Oliver

Theses and Dissertations

Billions of dollars have been wasted on failed information system (IS) projects over the last decade in the private and public sectors. More specifically, the tri-service environment of the U.S. military has not implemented a single successful geospatial IS (GIS). The lack of a service-wide insertion process for GIS was cited as the most significant cause for military GIS failures. GeoBase represents the USAF's most recent GIS implementation. The GeoBase program focuses on Information Resource Management (IRM) and cultural issues. The GeoBase Sustainment Model (GSM), anecdotally developed by GeoBase leadership to reflect implementation issues and the IRM practices of the …

Building And Maintaining A Statewide Transportation Framework, Kenneth Dueker, Paul Bender

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Creating and maintaining up-to-date sharable Geographic Information SystemsTransportation (GIS-T) data is challenging. Many states are working on Transportation Framework efforts to build a complete, consistent, and current transportation data layer in conjunction with the NSDI and Geospatial One-Stop efforts. This paper summarizes an effort that systematically re-examined transportation data sharing issues as part of the development of a Transportation Framework for the State of Washington. Business needs were assessed in terms of spatial and temporal accuracy needs of stakeholders and users of a state-wide Transportation Framework. A conceptual model was developed for a Transportation Framework with emphasis on data flows …

Gis Enhancements Using Gps Technology, Marc R. Beckel

Dissertations and Theses

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is a viable tool for the collection and creation of Geographic Information System (GIS) databases. Organizations have turned their attention to using this tool to develop new databases for their existing GIS. The integration of these new GPS derived databases with older existing databases leads to both technical and organizational repercussions. With the integration of GPS derived data, an organization's existing GIS requires enhancements to GIS databases and the organization must be prepared to manage the integration.

This thesis examines the technical issues that occur due to integration and conflation of GPS data in an …

The Ohio Gis Network: Stage 1 1993 Investment Fund Development Grant Progress Report To The Ohio Board Of Regents (Ohio Gis Network), Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Ohio Geographic Information Systems Network (Ohio GIS-Net) is an innovative consortium of Ohio’s urban and rural universities. The consortium is building a center of excellence where state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) technology is applied to a research agenda that is critical to Ohio's economic development and central to research issues in policy sciences, civil engineering, public administration, economics and the environmental, urban and regional sciences. This cutting edge technology is an essential component of the basic research infrastructure of universities. It is also a critical resource in state and local economic development efforts, building and maintaining public infrastructure, and …

Gis Address-Matching And Transportation Analysis, James D. Orrell

Dissertations and Theses

Geographic Information System (GIS) address-matching combined with other GIS processing offers new analytical opportunities in the area of transportation planning and analysis. Address-matching, an automated method for generating geographically-referenced (geocoded) point locations on a map from common tabular databases, can facilitate transportation analysis by providing a planning tool based on individual rather than aggregated spatial distributions more common to transportation issues.

This thesis presents a case study in which GIS address-matching was I applied to a transportation problem at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. The transportation problem at OHSU is common to major employment centers in urban …