GIS Day Copyright (c) 2013 Purdue University All rights reserved. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday Recent documents in GIS Day en-us Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:40:37 PST 3600 Long Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment – Model Builder Approach http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/23 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/23 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:36:56 PDT Climate change has significant impact on hydrology and water quality. A simple Long Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment tool has been developed using model builder in ArcGIS 9.3 to simulate hydrology and water quality. The model developed to read precipitation data from netCDF format to simulate runoff. The tool box developed to simulate hydrology based on the widely used USDA Curve Number method and water quality using EMC (event mean concentration) of pollutant. The model in GIS allows easier management of input and output data and allows critical spatial and visual interpretation. The model developed for Wisconsin State, where the precipitation data (estimated) was available for 200 years (1900 to 2100). The tool box was found to be very useful and user friendly

]]> Cibin Raj Sound Diversity in the Landscape: the Effects of Land Use http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/22 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/22 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:36:54 PDT Climate change, land use change and the introduction of exotic species are the three most important anthropogenic threats to the ecosystems and their biodiversity. In order to evaluate the impacts these threats are having, ecologists need better methods to measure, in space and time, the biodiversity in a fast and scalable way. Our group is proposing the use of the sounds produced by animals in a landscape, the biophony, as a proxy for the biodiversity. As a first step in the quantification of biophony, we collected sound recordings from seven sites in the Tippecanoe County, Indiana. These sites were located across a gradient of land use categories, from forests and wetlands to agricultural fields. At each site we recorded the sounds during 15 minutes of every hour, from the beginning of Spring until the end of Fall. These recordings were analyzed by extracting the proportion of the time and frequency ranges that the sounds occupied as a biophony score. We found that the biophony was higher in the forests and wetlands than in the agricultural fields. In addition, we found that the biophony follows the same pattern as the biodiversity in the area, with peaks at dawn, from the bird activity, and after sunset, from the frogs and insects. These sound recordings of this pilot project will allow us to further refine the analysis tools as well as improve out understanding of the sound diversity and its usefulness as a proxy in the measurement of the biodiversity at the landscape scale.

]]> Luis J. Villanueva-Rivera et al. Land use as it relates to land slope http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/21 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/21 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:36:53 PDT The goal of this project is to analyze the relationship between the slope of land and agricultural land use. The output was analyzed to determine a threshold point at which agriculture practices drop off in relation to higher slope values. Slope of the land is important to agricultural practices because it impacts drainage and net crop primary production. Agricultural land was extracted from the 2001 National Land Cover Dataset using reclassification tools in ArcGIS 9.3. The slope of the contiguous United States was derived from the United States Geological Survey National Elevation Dataset by using the slope tool in the spatial analyst toolbox. Agricultural land was multiplied by the slope in order to determine the amount of agriculture for each degree of slope. The results of this project will be used to help guide future land use models.

]]> James D. Plourde et al. Soundscape Conservation in U.S. National Parks: Implications for Adjacent Land Use Planning http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/20 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/20 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:36:52 PDT Humans have altered the Earth’s ecosystems and biodiversity significantly. With the conversion of land and the loss of biodiversity, the world loses its natural sounds. The loss of natural sounds is compounded by the growing intrusions of motorized noise. Noise pollution is a ubiquitous problem in cities around the world, but the issue is spreading to more remote areas due to expanding transportation networks, motorized recreation and urban sprawl. The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) recognizes park soundscapes, or entire acoustic environment of a given area, as resources just as air and water are resources. However, national park resources are only provided protection within a legally defined boundary separating it from surrounding land uses. To better understand the acoustic resources and noise issues in parks, the U.S. NPS Natural Sounds Program sent a survey to each of the park units (n=391) in 2009. There were 149 respondents representing 141 different park units. We analyzed the data using qualitative theme identification and quantitative analyses. The primary noise impacts for parks were from motorized noise sources (n=97), and specifically road noise was reported by 36 respondents. Adjacent land uses were identified as causing specific impacts by 15 respondents. We demonstrate how Geographic Information Systems can be used to quantify the noise impacts from surrounding development mentioned by park respondents. We buffered urban land use of responding park units using ArcGIS. The total urban area of each park unit was compared to survey results to determine if urban area correlated to parks conducting noise mitigation measures. Respondents (n=14) mentioned adjacent land use planning as a measure that they were using to mitigate noise impacts. The research findings from this study will help guide future soundscape conservation efforts by NPS.

]]> Sarah L. Dumyahn et al. Lower Tropospheric Temperature Variability Over the USA: a GIS Approach http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/19 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/19 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:50:00 PST We use the high resolution North American Regional Analysis (NARR) dataset to build for the United States a Temperature Change Index (TCI) based on four contributing variables derived from the layer-averaged temperature and lapse rate of the 1000mb - 700mb layer (near-surface to 3000 meters) for the 1979-2008 period. The analysis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods to identify distinct regional patterns based on aggregate temperature trends and variability scores. The resulting index allows us to identify and compare regions that experience high (low) temperature trends and variability that are referred to as hot spots (cold spots). The upper Midwest emerges as the region that experiences the largest increases and variability, due to the large magnitude of variability and trends of all variables. In contrast, the lowest TCI scores are observed over southeastern regions and the Rocky Mountains.

Regarding landscape characteristics, high TCI scores occur mostly over agricultural lands (thus implying the problem of temperature variability-dependant crop yields) while low scores generally prevail over forests.

At a seasonal time scale, the largest and most contrasting TCI scores occur during the winter and, to a lesser extent, fall seasons. All variables used to build the TCI show well defined seasonal patterns and differences, especially between winter and summer.

Our method, based on the use of thickness layers, provides a more complete analysis than methods based on monolevel data and confirms that temperature is a robust component of climate change in general and must be included in any study that deals with vulnerability assessment of climate change risks.

]]> Souleymane Fall et al. The International Charter and Flood Mapping http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/18 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/18 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:03:50 PST An overview of recent Purdue activities related to the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters, including general information about The Charter, 3 Indiana flood examples, and a summary of the lessons learned therefrom.

]]> Jie Shan Mash-ups in ABE Models, and the New EPA Waters Web Services http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/17 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/17 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:27:22 PST Documents recent efforts to integrate Purdue's Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment (L-THIA) land use change model with data from Purdue, USEPA, and Michigan State’s Institute of Water Research within Google Maps

]]> Larry Theller Purdue Terrestrial Observatory Activities http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/16 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/16 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:25:08 PST Recent Purdue Terrestrial Observatory (PTO) activities (in data acquisition and access, hardware, partnerships, other) are described in overview.

]]> Larry Biehl et al. Validation of a Commercial Geographical Information Systems Database of Walking and Bicycling Destinations http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/15 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/15 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:41:30 PST Background: Recent interdisciplinary studies in public health, transportation, and urban planning have shown that stores and other destinations such as banks, post offices, and physical activity facilities within close proximity to residences are positively related to recreational and transportation physical activity. The built environment has been measured several different ways, including conducting field audits and by surveying individuals’ perceptions of their neighborhood. Increasingly researchers are also using geographic information systems (GIS) software and commercially available data sources to create objective measures of the built environment. The advantages of commercial data are that they are relatively easy to access and are regularly updated. Despite these advantages it is important to assess the validity of these databases for developing measures of accessibility and density of neighborhood destinations. Two recent studies have investigated the validity of GIS databases of physical activity facilities and food stores, but to our knowledge less research has been conducted to validate a broader range of facilities that may serve as important walking and bicycling destinations.

Objective: The objective was to assess the validity of a commercially-available GIS database of facilities that may serve as walking and bicycling destinations for adults.

Methods: Researchers conducted field audits to verify the presence of 402 facilities contained in a commercial database. A list of North American Industrial Classification System codes was reviewed to identify the types of commercial facilities in the database which could serve as walking or bicycling destinations for adults. These were further categorized into five domains; food and drink (n=139), social or cultural organizations (n=115), retail establishments (n=101), services (n=28), and physical activity resources (n=19). Two high, medium, and low population density tracts in both Hartford County, Connecticut and Tippecanoe County, Indiana were selected for the analysis (12 tracts in total). Three levels of agreement were defined; 1) facilities in the database were considered to be an “exact match” if they were located on the same street segment and had the same proprietary name, 2) “close to exact match” if the facility was located on the street segment and was of the same domain, but with a different proprietary name, and 3) an “adjacent street segment match” if the facility was found to be located on an adjacent street segment. The percentages of facilities in the database that were located in the field were calculated overall, and by county, population density, and domain. Chi-square analyses were used to examine differences in match rates by county, population density, and type of facility.

Results: Overall, among the 402 facilities examined, field audits identified 67.7% were an exact match. When the ‘close to exact matches’ were included the percentage matched increased to 76.9%, and with the addition of adjacent street segments it increased to 85.8%. Percent agreement for exact matches was higher in Tippecanoe County than Hartford County (71.5% vs. 63.9%). However when all three levels of matches were included the percent agreements for the two counties were more similar (86.5% vs. 85.1%). Overall, match rates were higher in high population density census tracts than in low population density tracts (71.0% vs. 60.6%). Among the five facility domains, the exact match rates were 64.0% for food and drink establishments, 64.3% for services, 67.3% for retail establishments, 70.4% for social and cultural organizations, and 84.2% for physical activity facilities. Overall, chi-square analyses did not show statistically significant differences in match rates by county, population density, or by domain.

Conclusions: The results of this validation study demonstrated moderate to good accuracy of the commercial GIS database with more than two-thirds of the facilities correctly located in the field overall. The estimates generated in this study were similar to those in two previous validation studies of physical activity facilities and food stores which found agreement was 71%-73%. The findings in this study suggest that the commercially available GIS database provided a valid alternative to conducting extensive field audits or resident surveys.

]]> Heather A. Whitcomb et al. GIS Day 2009: Program & Announcements http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/14 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/14 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:40:09 PST Emcee slides for Purdue's celebration of GIS Day, 2009. These slides include the schedule of events, but also several short lists of important URLs, communities, and courses important to the geospatial community at Purdue University.

]]> Christopher C. Miller Exploratory Study of Environmental Effects on Physical Activity and Overweight in Older Women: Research Update http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/13 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/13 Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:38:25 PST Background: Physical inactivity and obesity are major public health issues. Recent studies have provided evidence that attributes of the built environment influence physical activity among adults and that factors such as greater urban sprawl are related to overweight and obesity. Few studies have developed objective individual-level measures of the built environment, a geographic scale that may be more relevant to certain types of physical activity, such as walking. In addition, further research is needed to assess the associations of both objective and perceived environmental factors with physical activity. In this 2-year exploratory study funded by the National Cancer Institute, we are addressing these research gaps. Purpose: The purpose of this poster presentation is to provide a brief overview of progress to date on a major component of this study, which is to develop objective measures of the built environment for approximately 30,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques and to examine associations with physical activity and weight-related outcomes. In particular, we will briefly summarize pilot work focused on development and testing of built environment variables. Methods: A sample of 300 NHS participants from six counties in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and California were selected for the pilot GIS work. Geocoded home addresses, U.S. Census population data, an InfoUSA facilities database, and street network files were loaded into ArcGIS 9.3. GIS methods were used to derive variables in three domains: 1) street connectivity, 2) land use mix, and 3) population density. For each domain at least two variables were created using different operational definitions. We also created variables using 400, 800, and 1200 m network buffers. We merged the built environment data with NHS survey data. Statistical analyses included calculating mean values for environmental variables, both overall and at the county level, and running correlations between environmental variables and physical activity outcomes. Next steps: A next step in the project is to create environmental variables for the full sample of NHS participants living in the three states (n≈30,000) and merge these data with NHS survey data. In addition, we are conducting a small validation study with the InfoUSA data. During November, we are also implementing a supplemental survey with a sub-sample (n≈3,800) of NHS participants to assess perceptions of the neighborhood environment and to collect detailed information on physical activity. In another component of the study, we are testing the use of available tools such as Google Map/Earth, Google Street View, and Microsoft Visual Oblique to develop micro-scale measures of the built environment, such as the presence of sidewalks availability and their condition.

]]> Heather A. Whitcomb et al. The epidemiology of Giardia spp. infection among pet dogs in the United States indicates space-time clusters in Colorado http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/12 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/12 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:39:30 PST Giardia infection has been found in a wide range of hosts including human, domestic, and wild animals. Dogs are the definitive host of G.duodenalis, which can cause diarrhea and other symptoms. Although zoonotic transmission of Giardia remains unclear, epidemiologic evidence suggests that some Giardia species are zoonotic. Additionally, Giardia has been associated with epidemics in the US and other countries making it one of the most important public health concerns. Prevalence of Giardia among dogs in the United States ranged from 10% in well-treated dogs to 30-50% in puppies and up to 100% in breeding kennels. However, prevalence of Giardia in pet dogs visiting private hospitals in the United States is not well known. Our objective was to estimates Giardia prevalence in US pet dogs visiting private hospitals and its distribution in some urban areas in the State of Colorado.

]]> Ahmed S. Mohamed et al. Using Virtual Machines to Prototype Mapping Applications http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/11 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/11 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:05:34 PST We have recently started using the virtual machine technology to speed up our development of online maps, based on ArcIMS or Google Maps -- and various databases. These are developed in our department on a virtual or physical server, and then the image of the machine is loaded on the Agriculture Information Technology groups virtualized cluster. It is successful in that the hardware costs of setting up servers are eliminated, management is available 24/7, security is handled by professionals, and performance is quite good. I will display the steps in the process of virtualizing, which are not difficult.

]]> Larry Theller Construction of an Indiana Water Monitoring Inventory Using the Google Maps API http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/10 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/10 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:19:54 PST The Indiana Water Monitoring Inventory is a portal for locating water monitoring information conducted by a variety of government agencies and organizations in the state of Indiana. The goal of this project was to implement a web site through which potential users of monitoring information can find location and attributes of water monitoring sites. To accomplish this, the user interface was developed with Google Maps Application Programming Interface (API). Basic functionality of displaying geographic information, the database structure, loading data, interaction between PHP and Java Script and the user interface will be described in the presentation. The inventory can be accessed at https://engineering.purdue.edu/~inwater

]]> Jae Sung Kim et al. Modular, Distributed Spatial Metadata Repository on the Services Principle http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/9 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/9 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:53:34 PST Despite major improvements in GIS technologies in recent years, it remains particularly difficult to efficiently locate geospatial data. Purdue Libraries, in keeping with their efforts to build a distributed, cross-discipline data repository, is nearing an alpha release of a metadata portal through which large amounts of base data as well as Purdue-produced geospatial data can be located, downloaded or connected to. GIS Librarian Miller will discuss the project and how it might interact with existing campus systems.

]]> Christopher C. Miller Mash Something http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/8 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/8 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:50:26 PST This is the lead document from a hands-on workshop held on November 18, 2008 at Purdue University Libraries. The session led participants through the creation of an online map mashup. Mashups are all the rage, of course (or have been since ~2005, anyway), and the tools available to make them have increased almost exponentially. This document walks through the basics of the mashup, with a look at Google Maps, Yahoo! Pipes, and OpenLayers, then proceeds to step through the process of creating one's own. The objectives of the session were as follows:

create a simple map mashup using tabular data from some external source achieve a better understanding of how these modern applications take advantage of data fluidity understand the connection between these lightweight web apps and the larger field of GIS

]]> Christopher C. Miller GIS Day@Purdue http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/7 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/7 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:49:20 PST This presentation file was used for opening remarks at GIS Day 2008. Included are some details about the event itself, some announcements about upcoming projects and events, tips for staying up to date with information about GIS and geospatial news at Purdue, and the names of a GIS Day geocaching contest.

]]> Christopher C. Miller Using GIS to Predict the New Range Boundary of an Old Pest Insect http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/6 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/6 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:26:24 PST The use of GIS to gather and analyze insect population data in changing habitats is presented. By taking a "larval time travel" approach, standard dendrochronology techniques to date larval scars of species of longhorned beetles on living trees are used to determine the exact year that a species was within a given tree. By combining this information with detailed studies of the trees, forest habitat, and forest maps collected over the same period by other Purdue University researchers, it is possible to correlate changes in the borer prevalence and occurrence with changes to the forest habitat.

]]> Jeffrey D. Holland What I’ve learned about Python http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/5 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/5 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:21:52 PST An overview of the trials and tribulations of simultaneously learning and using Python for geoprocessing in ArcGIS.

]]> Carolyn Foley Using Accelerometry and Wearable GPS Units to Measure Trail Users’ Physical Activity: Preliminary Findings http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/4 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gisday/4 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:16:29 PST In recent years, there has been a growing body of public health research examining the role of community trails and paths in the promotion and maintenance of physical activity. However, little is known about how much activity occurs on trails, the impact of community trails on overall physical activity levels or about the relationships between specific trail characteristics and utilization. The integration of activity measurements technologies, specifically accelerometers and wearable global positioning system (GPS) units that can track spatial patterns of activity, provide a unique opportunity to study some of these issues. The current transdisciplinarystudy builds on a previous Active Living Research project that developed and evaluated objective geographic information system (GIS) measures of trail characteristics. This will be accomplished by objectively measuring activity of users with two devices and linking activity data to detailed environmental data on trails.

]]> Philip J. Troped et al.