Geography Commons^™

No. 06: The Urban Food System Of Nairobi, Kenya, Samuel Owuor, Andrea Brown, Jonathan Crush, Bruce Frayne, Jeremy Wagner

Hungry Cities Partnership

Nairobi is a city of stark contrasts. Nearly half a million of its three million residents live in abject poverty in some of Africa’s largest slums, yet the Kenyan capital is also an international and regional hub. In East Africa, rapid urbanization is stretching existing food and agriculture systems as growing cities struggle to provide food and nutrition security for their inhabitants. Nairobi is no exception; it is a dynamically growing city and its food supply chains are constantly adapting and responding to changing local conditions. It is also an international city and the extent to which it is food …

Visualizing The Diffusion Of Digital Mammography In New York State, Francis P. Boscoe, Xiuling Zhang

Epidemiology & Biostatistics Faculty Scholarship

Digital mammography saw rapid adoption during the first decade of the 2000s. According to data maintained by the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates mammography machines, fewer than 1 percent of the machines in 2001 were digital. By 2014, this figure had risen to 94%. We were interested in identifying the times and locations where the technology was introduced within the state of New York as a way of illustrating the uneven introduction of this technology. While the diffusion of medical innovation has been well-studied, there have not been many instances where maps or geographic information science methods have been …

Terror And Territory: A Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Isil, Robert Riley Strider

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), alternatively the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is one of many non-state organizations that resulted from the extensive foreign intervention in the Middle East leading up to current conflicts there. Like the wider network that it used to be part of, ISIL is considered to be a great threat to modern first world countries. Using data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), this paper analyzed the relationship between the amount of territory ISIL held from June 2014 to December 2015 and the attacks it carried out in that time, …

Laboratory X - Autonomous Vehicle Application, Nate Lant, Matthew Strong

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

Autonomous vehicles are currently the newest and hottest technology and show tremendous potential in making current transportation much more efficient. GIS is a key element in providing different mapping solutions and satellite assistance to support the cars in addition to their LIDAR and camera systems. Over the last few decades, different technologies have been integrated into cars to make them more user friendly--more autonomous. Recently, cars have been given a standardized range to categorize them into different levels of autonomy. The levels range from 0 to 5. Level 0 has no capacity of any autonomous technology; level 1 has cruise …

Laboratory Exercise – Calculating Runoff Over Land Parcels, Wade Bozeman, Steven Evans, Ryan Selee

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

When developing land, most municipalities will require that all runoff from the site be retained on site or flow into a storm water conveyance system. In the near future, new regulation will require that all runoff be retained on site. For this reason, it is important to know how much runoff can be expected to flow over a potential development site. In this lab, you will use ArcMap ModelBuilder to predict the amount of flow which can be expected over a land parcel in a storm event.

Laboratory Exercise – Frontrunner Extension, Meeya Apelu, Jordan Arrowchris, Joseph Browning

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

The Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) FrontRunner is a commuter rail line that runs 89 miles through Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties. There are 16 different stops along this line which are: Pleasant View, Ogden, Roy, Clearfield, Layton, Farmington, Woods Cross, North Temple, Salt Lake Central, Murray Central, South Jordan, Draper, Lehi, American Fork, Orem and Provo (UTA 2017). Using the FrontRunner is easy and is very convenient. The popularity of this transit system is increasing and UTA has announced their future plans to continue the rail line. UTA is exploring ways to go forward with this plan and …

A History Of The Participatory Map, Jo Guldi

History Faculty Publications

This article tells, for the first time, the story of the history of the participatory map: that is, the many-to-many map-making techniques that most people are familiar with through smartphone apps and Google maps. Archival research in previously untapped archives traces the origins of participatory mapping in subaltern conversations around the world, its embrace in the modern academy and development circles, its place in the World Bank, and its conversion to online formats like Google Maps and Open Street Map. The story begins in surprising places, as international networks in the 1970s began experimenting with many-to-many mapping, their members spanning …

Detroit Food Metrics Report 2017, Alex B. Hill, Amy Kuras

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

This report provides a snapshot of data and information on Detroit’s food system as well as trends over time. The report includes a broad range of programs and initiatives that local organizations, the Detroit Food Policy Council, and the City of Detroit are undertaking to address food insecurity, increase healthy food access and awareness, and support a more sustainable and just food system.

Engagement In The Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns Of Content Creation With A Focus On Sub-Saharan Africa, Sanna Ojanperä, Mark Graham, Ralph K. Straumann, Stefano De Sabbata, Matthew Zook

Geography Faculty Publications

Increasing digital connectivity has sparked many hopes for the democratization of information and knowledge production in sub-Saharan Africa. To investigate the patterns of knowledge creation in the region compared to other world regions, we examine three key metrics: spatial distributions of academic articles (traditional knowledge production), collaborative software development, and Internet domain registrations (digitally mediated knowledge production). We find that, contrary to the expectation that digital content is more evenly geographically distributed than academic articles, the global and regional patterns of collaborative coding and domain registrations are more uneven than those of academic articles. Despite hopes for democratization afforded by …

Cultivating A Culture Of Food Justice: Impacts Of Community Based Economies On Farmers And Neighborhood Leaders In The Case Of Fresh Stop Markets In Kentucky, Heather Hyden

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

In this thesis, I focus on two tensions within the alternative agro-food movement. First is a question of who/what community is allowed to define food systems problems and then implement solutions. For example, food desert metaphors rely discursively on defining communities as being “without”, which perpetuates needs-based narratives, in which only professional “experts” know how to solve problems of food access. These representations ignore the creativity, agency, and resiliency of everyday food justice mobilizations happening at the grassroots level. Second, what form can solutions take within hegemonic constructions of development? I build a theoretical model based on Black geographies (McKittrick, …

Protocol For Surveying Bat Use Of Lava Tube Caves During Winter In Craters Of The Moon National Monument And Preserve, Version 1.0, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Kathleen Slocum, Todd Stefanic, Shawn Thomas, Meghan Lonneker, Gordon Dicus

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The mission of the National Park Service (NPS) is “to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations” (NPS 1999). To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation’s natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring (NPS 1999). Through the Challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring (I&M) networks.

The Upper Columbia Basin Network Inventory …

Protocol For Surveying Bat Use Of Lava Tube Caves During Winter In Craters Of The Moon National Monument And Preserve, Standard Operating Procedures, Thomas J. Rodhouse, Kathleen Slocum, Todd Stefanic, Shawn Thomas, Meghan Lonneker

United States National Park Service: Publications

Background

The Upper Columbia Basin Network I&M (Inventory and Monitoring) program and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve are collaborating to monitor winter bat use in Arco Tunnel, which is a safely accessed cave in the northern portion of the monument that consistently has been found with the largest number of bats (~30/year) among the set of caves recently inventoried. The standard operating procedures documented here and the methods described in the associated protocol narrative will also be used to periodically inventory other caves within the monument and surrounding preserve as park resources and safety (winter environmental and …

Using Remote Sensing To Estimate Crop Water Use To Improve Irrigation Water Management, Arturo Reyes-Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Irrigation water is scarce. Hence, accurate estimation of crop water use is necessary for proper irrigation managements and water conservation. Satellite-based remote sensing is a tool that can estimate crop water use efficiently. Several models have been developed to estimate crop water requirement or actual evapotranspiration (ETa) using remote sensing. One of them is the Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model. This model has been compared with other methods for ET estimations including weighing lysimeters, pan evaporation, Bowen Ratio Energy Balance System (BREBS), Eddy Covariance (EC), and sap flow. However, comparison of METRIC model outputs to …

Examination Of The Potential Of Structure-From-Motion Photogrammetry And Terrestrial Laser Scanning For Rapid Nondestructive Field Measurement Of Grass Biomass, Sam D. Cooper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Above ground biomass (AGB) is a parameter commonly used for assessment of grassland systems. While destructive sampling of AGB is highly accurate, it is time consuming and often precludes repeat temporal sampling or sampling in sensitive ecosystems. Consequently, a number of nondestructive techniques that relate grass structural properties to AGB have been developed. This study investigated the application of two recent technologies, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and Structurefrom- Motion (SfM), in the development of rapid nondestructive AGB estimation of grassland plots. TLS and SfM volume metrics generated using a rasterized surface differencing method were linearly related to destructively measured total …

Land Surface Phenologies And Seasonalities Using Cool Earthlight In Temperate And Tropical Croplands, Woubet Gashaw Alemu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s world of increasing food insecurity due to more frequent and extreme events (droughts, floods), a comprehensive understanding of global cropland dynamics is critically needed. Land surface parameters derived from the passive microwave Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on EOS (AMSR-E) and AMSR2 data enable monitoring of cropland dynamics and they can complement visible to near infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) data. Passive microwave data are less sensitive to atmospheric effects, cloud contamination, and solar illumination constraints resulting in finer temporal resolution suitable to track the temporal progression of cropland cover development compared to the VNIR data that has …

Final Group Project - Optimal Route Finding, Jason Biesinger, Levi Burr, Tyson Terry

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

Emergency response teams are always preparing rescue plans and protocols so they may respond quickly to various incidents. Fire trucks and ambulances need to arrive at the scene of the incident rapidly to mitigate injury, and avoid more damage to property in the case of a fire (Kolesar et al. 1973). Holidays are times of high incidence, and officials always plan for potential risks that surround large events. The network analysis toolbox can be used to find and map out the quickest route from a variety of locations. The network analysis toolset in ArcMap makes it possible for us to …

Laboratory Exercise - Ideal Stargazing Locations Background, Michael Adamson, Brandon Walker, Nicholas Smith

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

Astrophotography is a specialized type of photography for recording photos of astronomical objects, celestial events, and large areas of the night sky. Astronomical photography employs long exposures so film or digital imaging devices can accumulate light photons over long periods of time. Urban areas produce light pollution so equipment and observatories doing astronomical imaging are often located in remote areas to allow long exposures without the film or detectors being swamped with stray light. Astrophotography is a popular hobby among photographers and amateur astronomers. Images of the night sky can be obtained with some of the most basic film and …

Laboratory Exercise: Calculating Hobble Creek 100 Year Flow Using Arcmap, Micklane Farmer, Saul Ramirez, Riley Vane

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

GIS is used extensively in watershed analysis. In previous labs, students have determined a watershed from DEM data. Calculating flow can be very useful in many engineering aspects. With the correct data, GIS can be used to develop a hydrologic model to calculate the flow from a watershed. The purpose of this lab is to develop a model to calculate the flow for the Hobble Creek 100 year event.

Final Laboratory Exercise - Amazon Hq2 Site Selection, Jared Lillywhite, Travis Mcstraw, Marco Rosas Rodriguez

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

GIS is often used by major corporations around the world to help manage processes such as shipping, inventory, sales, and expansion. GIS is specifically used in expansion to help determine suitable site locations for new stores, Headquarters, warehouses and other assets to a given corporation. This exercise is based on a real case study. On September 12th, 2017 Amazon announced that it would be opening up a second headquarters that would be equal in operation and size to its Seattle Headquarters. The company is currently taking proposals from different cities, however they are trying to determine which U.S. cities would …

Laboratory Exercise - Calculating The Volume Of Material Displaced By Mount St. Helens Eruption Of 1980, Donald Anderson, Alex Fisher, Ken Lippold

Engineering Applications of GIS - Laboratory Exercises

There are several active volcanoes in the state of Washington. On May 18, 1980, one of these volcanoes, Mount St. Helens, erupted. On March 1, 1980, the University of Washington set up a seismograph in the area to monitor the volcano’s activity. On March 20, a minor earthquake was recorded under Mount St. Helens and the entire area was put on alert. Thanks to this warning, the locals were able to evacuate before the mountain erupted. Before fully erupting, some steam and ash was seen billowing out of the top, and on May 18, the volcano was ready to blow. …