Geography 291: Geospatial Analysis with Desktop GIS

1. Hello! My name is Alida Askill and I am a freshman at OWU. I plan to major in environmental science and zoology. I am from Seven Mile, OH, which is a very small town located in southwest Ohio. I have always been interested in the outdoors and wildlife conservation. 

2. Before starting to read the article and look up answers on google, I didn’t really know much about GIS and how it works. It’s cool how one system can have so many different uses throughout the world and spectrum. Companies from starbucks to police officers are using GIS in order to get their job done. All of these different places need the GIS system to turn spatial data into digital data. I had no idea that the GIS system was being developed back in the 1960’s. GIS is both focused on the hardware and software of the technology, so there’s lot of different components coming together to create GIS. A lot of the different diagrams and maps are similar to the ones I used in my stats class last year. There’s a lot of different types of areas of study that use GIS. In simple terms, GIScience answers the how questions, while GISystems answers the what questions. GIS is truly involved in our lives every single step of the way. 

3. Two examples of GIS applications are within the fields of marine biology and public health. Within the field of marine biology, GIS is used to map floor beds, determine ocean currents, manage oil spills, and so much more. People can use GIS for public health by mapping where certain diseases are more common, or mapping emergencies and coordinating between different emergency responders. There is a map below put out by the CDC with help from GIS relating stroke death rates to the area of the USA. This is very helpful to see where many of the stroke patients are to better understand the disease. 

Mapping marine habitats lets scientists study the relation between species and their fellow organisms. Ecosystems can be determined using this system. The map below shows the same area of Sleeping Bear Dunes located in Michigan. The same area is broken up into four different types of mapping, showing depth of water, geomorphological features, habitat segmentation, and backscatter utilities. All four of these different types of maps can be brought together to see how all of these things affect habitats and the animals that live there. 

 

This is a link to a site describing how habitat mapping on marine sea beds  are helpful and how they are conducted.

https://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/science/habitat-mapping/

 

Hi! My name is McKenna Tuttle. I am a junior on the softball team. I am a huge UK fan and have a cat named Zeke. I am an exercise science major and environmental science minor. I am from Richmond Kentucky. I’m the oldest of four girls and two of us have moved to Ohio since graduating high school. I plan on going into physical therapy after undergrad but the environment has been a big part of my life pretty much as long as I can remember.

This is my introduction to GIS. I have been impressed by the magnitude with which GIS can be used. I am particularly interested in how GIScientists and GISystems can tell us very specific information on how a community is being served and whether one neighborhood is treated the same as another. Before taking this class I did not even know that GIS existed, so it was shocking to realize how quickly GIS and spatial analysis has grown since its beginning in the late 1950s. Vancouver has dedicated over 135km of pavement to bike paths that have been determined with the help of GIS. The system also keeps bikers away from heavily trafficked areas and ensures they are safe. Seeing GIS as something that can be used so broadly is interesting to me. Using GPS to determine where the blight is on a wheat field and GIS can assist the farmers in determining where the best place for the next planting of crops is such a unique tool. In the text, it talks about how the GIS application is only as good as the data being put in. I also find that very interesting because there aren’t a lot of spaces where something so black and white can be skewed by false data. I would be very keen to do a study on what we could falsify using slightly incorrect data and GIS applications. It says that GIS has assisted urban planning. I am invested in walkable cities and city planning that are specifically designed for patrons to lower their emissions by walking/biking. I’m curious if GIS would be able to determine areas of a city that could be renovated into walkable areas only. If the information given to the system about traffic and jobs and living conditions was accurate I would see no reason that would not be available. 

The first thing I looked into was GIS applications for LGBTQ+ youth resources because I know that it can be difficult for kids and teens to find help in some parts of the country and world. I asked ChatGPT to help me get familiarized with GIS and how exactly to research the topic on Google. Once on Google, I found a couple of maps with resources, but they were only in big cities like LA and New York. I had a hard time finding a nationwide map of resources. I would like to know if there is a disparity as we move into the Midwest and Bible Belt.

https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/blog/nypd-pride-lgbtqia-resources/

Next, I looked at the Appalachian Mountains and coal mining. I’m from Kentucky and obviously, coal mining is a very divisive topic there. I found some interesting maps of counties that were most affected. I think the most interesting thing I found was a timelapse of mountaintop removal from 1984 to 2022 from an aerial satellite view. Below I left a link that will take you directly to that. I am also interested in looking at the GIS application of maybe where the mountaintop removal is taking place and where jobs are in Eastern Kentucky/West Virginia.

http://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/before-after/#%20 

Hello! My name is Gaia Mulloy. I’m a freshman studying Environmental Science as my major. I’m from a small rural town outside Cleveland, Ohio. My sister, Eva, also went to OWU and so I already knew a bit about the town and professors. I’m a big music nerd, and I’ve always had a passion for the environment ever since I was young. Growing up a bike ride away from a state park certainly influenced my interests

 

Beginning this course, I had a slight bit of prior knowledge of GIS. My mother’s work involves legal zoning and she uses GIS fairly regularly at her job, so I’ve heard a bit about its potential. Initially, It didn’t occur to me it’s possible utility, especially in the environmental fields. It is incredibly fascinating how much more diverse and useful GIS is as a tool. It’s more than just a mapmaking software, it’s instead used as a way to apply information to maps for computation and analysis.

I didn’t quite understand personally how a lack of “identity” so to speak would ever be a problem. From what the chapter says, it really just seems like it’s an incredibly versatile tool that allows for putting information onto maps and conducting analysis. Another piece of software that came to mind that I think could be compared to this is Blender, which is a 3d modeling program. It’s mostly used for art (3d sculpting, animation, VFX, Motion Capture, etc.), but it has a variety of applications, such as physics simulations or video editing. The reason GIS feels so different, however, is because it’s unique and important uses, analysis and computing, are hidden behind the face of “just another mapping software.” In Blender’s case, the main use (3d modeling for artistic purposes) is the main appeal of the software and it’s fully at the front of advertising. It makes considerably more sense that because it’s best features were hidden, people tended to simply prefer handmade maps. 

There is something to be said about “visual intuition” when it comes to analyzing data. Using one’s visual intuition is obviously a step up from text, but additionally, using a program and tool that can accurately map many different factors and display them is likely considerably more useful on a digital map from something like GIS than on other types of maps. Also, having everything in one place where it’s so easily accessible and shareable seems like it was a game changer for anyone who had to work with maps.

 

As previously stated, my mother uses GIS at her workplace. For her job, it’s more about land ownership. She works in the sale and operation of retail real estate, so things like malls and shops. Having GIS as a tool for zoning and drawing those property lines allows her to clearly see what is and isn’t under certain people’s control. Not only this, but GIS is also a useful tool for seeing certain other information about a piece of real estate. Certain factors that apply to land may make that land more or less valuable and therefore more or less desirable. 

 

Here’s a web GIS data extract of Delaware county, including information such as property lines and farm lots.

https://gisdata-delco.hub.arcgis.com/apps/delaware-county-gis-data-extract/explore

Here’s a screenshot from this Data extract that shows property lines of commercial buildings on North Sandusky, which is the exact type of work my mother deals with.

A topic I studied last semester was Green Infrastructure for stormwater management. In order to decipher the locations of things like Rain Gardens or storm sewers, city planners needed to study the land and map out the locations of those items. Here is an example of green infrastructure mapped in an area of Washington DC.

https://owugis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=b1ae7b7b110447c3b452d9cacffeed36

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187802961200309X

My name is Charlie Hornacek, I am a junior, studying environmental science and a minor in zoology. I enjoy cooking, playing football, and enjoying time with friends. I took this course as I thought it would be able to help have better understanding of then environment and give me good experience for later in my career as I would love to work as a park ranger or in the national parks. 

 As someone who is new to the GIS system , I found the information presented in  “Introducing the Identities of GIS”  to be useful in establishing a foundation for further learning. The various identities of GIS, including GIScience and GISystems, were explained in detail, making it easier for me to understand the different aspects of GIS technology. I also found it interesting to learn about the history of GIS and everything that was involved with its development. One of the more informative  sections for me was the discussion on the importance of visualization in GIS analysis. Understanding the relevance of visual display and its ability to help me reach conclusions about factors affecting different cases. I had never really considered how a visual representation of geographic information could significantly impact decision making. The distinction between GIScience and GISystems was also helpful in clarifying the roles of each in GIS analysis. Making this clear is helpful for someone stating out fresh trying to learn.

The First topic I was interested in was the population of gray wolves in the United States as I have done a research project over the group of wolves at the Columbus Zoo which gave me a better understanding and a valued interest in this animal. So I was wondering if you could track the progress of the animals in the wild as this is a recovering species in the United States. 

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=da949c568f7a497d9ac2f4196f262e4a 

The second topic I thought was interesting is invasive species as their is so many and is such a broad topic you have plants, animals, fungus I was wondering how gis could be used to maybe interpret the movements of these animals and use it to predict and stop the invasive species before they could get to a new environment. 

https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70176086  

 

My name is Auzlynd Katterhenrich, I am a junior, studying environmental science and biology. I love to do outdoorsy stuff so hiking, camping, and gardening. The picture below is me and my sister, Piper!

 

I thought the reading as an introduction to GIS was beneficial, It explained GIS as a useful tool to visualize data, conveying a more easily interpreted feel for a landscape as opposed to a data table. It was helpful to see how the text distinguished GISystems and GIScience, which was new to me. It explained GISystems as the use of processes like classification, digital encoding, spatial analysis, and output into software which is different from GIScience which gives theoretical bases and justifies the way the process is executed. I also thought it was interesting when the issue of categorization of spatial data was brought up. That is a good point because depending on what boundaries one is trying to create between objects or even resources, there are always grey areas or “fuzzy boundaries” that need to be represented visually. In the final pages of the reading, I found that learning about all the different ways GIS can be used and who uses it was valuable. Specifically, a concept that stood out to me was “precision farming”. This farming management concept is based on improving crop yields by responding to the crops’ variability. I think an effective way to accomplish this is through the use of GIS to visualize ideal locations for future farming through various layers like soil type, soil chemistry, wheat variety, pesticide load, and irrigation information. The use of GIS in this area can model the various factors that play a role in crop yield. Overall I found it helpful to know exactly what GIS is, how it began, what it does, and how it is used today. 

I first wanted to see how GIS could be applied in missionary work and outreach and I was able to find an article called, Geographic information systems and the spiritual dimension of health: a short position paper, by Maged N Kamel Boulos. This article stated that “GIS are ideal tools for improving and coordinating the integration of the health (physical), social, and spiritual/ pastoral dimensions of individual and community care”. 

Secondly, I was curious about how GIS could be applied in mapping soil erosion. I found that it could be used in erosion risk mapping to create maps that identify areas prone to soil erosion based on various factors. I found an article that looked at soil erosion in Africa that gave this map showing the Grid surface of the Keiskamma catchment showing the spatial distribution of the rainfall erosivity factor.

Hi, my name is Max Huntington. I am a sophomore transfer student from Massachusetts. I am an environmental science major and I spend like to spend my free time reading or playing video games. I have never used GIS before but I am excited to learn.

This chapter was an interesting introduction to GIS and its history throughout the late 20th century.  It is interesting that so many geographers have mixed feelings about GIS, but I suppose it makes sense in context. I was also completely unaware of the insane reach and scale of GIS in the modern world, the many ways in which it has affected my life are crazy to think about. All the different ways GIS can be used makes me glad I am taking this course, as the software is so broadly applicable that it will be helpful regardless of the field I end up going into. I am not entirely sure what the difference between spatial analysis and mapping is, but I gather it is related to the type and amount of information that can be extracted from the process. It is also interesting to see the threads of convergent development in the 50s and 60s across multiple countries and fields arriving at similar software solutions. I hadn’t heard of the concept of “black boxes” in that sense, but it is strange to think about just how many things in our lives operate in this manner. The average person (me included) does not understand the methods by which many things happen, but we accept them as fact nonetheless.

The National Weather Service has a fascinating online GIS portal that can display all sorts of weather and climate related data, from forecasts and advisories, to flood risk assessments and and satellite imagery for the entire country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another interesting application I found was the “Global Wind Atlas” used to determine the efficiency of wind power in various locations by the energy industry. It was created so professionals could determine optimal locations for wind power all over the world.

Hi, my name is Maddy Howard and I am a sophomore majoring in Environmental Studies & Geography. I am from outside of Cleveland, Ohio- Avon Lake, on the west side. I like coffee, hanging out with my friends, and occasionally photography. My campus activities include being a part of Delta Zeta Sorority 🙂

I knew that GIS was something very important, but didn’t exactly know why, or really anything about it. I took this class to get a better understanding of GIS, as I knew that it was a skill to learn and know about, so I wanted to understand it more. This article really helped me understand more about the subject, including the background of it. I had no idea how many uses GIS truly has, from the well known use of navigation, to what you eat, to Starbucks using it, to police officers being trained in it, and so much more. Also, its foundations going all the way back to the 1960’s and that it didn’t even use a computer was quite surprising to me. The fact that the development of GIS was happening simultaneously within multiple different countries not knowing of the others is also quite interesting. The background of GIS involving landscape architecture and surveying, not purely geography, and that its history doesn’t involve just technology, plus the actual history of GIS being of contempt, is also something I didn’t expect. The complexities between GISystems and GIScience is something I might need more clarification on, as even though broadly GIScience is the theoretical basis for GISystems, it is not as simple as that. I know it is explained a lot in the reading, but sometimes elaboration about certain topics just confuses me more. I also never thought about spatial analysis and relationships in GIS. Using that to predict future events is extremely interesting but also seems hard to actually do. Overall, learning about all the different ways you can use GIS makes me more excited about the class itself. Its complexities will surely be hard to understand, as anything that is woven into everyday life seemingly unnoticed that much of the time should be, but it will be interesting to try to figure it all out.

At risk terrestrial plant and animal species in the U.S.- This online GIS map shows the total number of species that are either listed as G1, G2, or federally endangered residing in each U.S. watershed. The data is from NatureServe in 2011. The owner of this map, Enviroatlas, is part of the EPA and provides geospatial data, tools, and resources about ecosystem services, ecosystem chemical and non-chemical stressors, and human health. This website, https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas , provides more information about the map owner and creator.

https://m.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=c481510217f347b7b026febd15839dca

Invasive species in Vermont- This online GIS map I came across shows sightings of invasive species. This data is from the State of Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Invasive Species Database, which provides information about invasive species and how to identify them for the public at https://anr.vermont.gov/special-topics/invasive-species.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=b1ae7b7b110447c3b452d9cacffeed36

 

Rose Week 1

• Hello, my name is Evan Rose, a senior from Fairfield, Connecticut. I study Health and Human Kinetics here and I am a part of the lacrosse team. Because of this I enjoy studying exercise and movement along with the food we put into our body. I have used ArcGIS in the past as I was a part of the GEOG 292 class last semester but not the 291.

 

• Because I took GEOG 292 and have some GIS programs, some of this was a review for me. I am well aware how powerful GIS mapping is and how it is used in all facets of our lives. It is used to look at almost an infinite amount of data regarding anything you can think of. Some of the things I did not know was the history behind GIS, especially it being founded and created so early. I figured a program with the amount of strength and use the GIS has probably would have been created later in history rather than in the early 1960s. GIS has an absurd amount of utility and versatility in the modern world as it helps us understand geographical trends. Because of this, GIS has created lots of controversy in the realm of geography as it changes how people perceive maps, data, and geography. People who know GIS and have been using it are thought to be out of touch with the quantitative side and how data is viewed when doing research. I did not realize the philosophical turmoil that GIS has caused since its debut and how it has influenced people’s way of thinking. However, after reading and thinking about it, it does make a lot of sense to me as a program like this with as much power and versatility was bound to shake up the very way people think and look at the field. However, I cannot completely understand the schools of thought and the true extent of influence GIS has had on our world as I am not deeply embedded into the field myself but I can understand that it does have significant impact. 

 

• I find studying food security or lack thereof around the world very interesting and GIS is used a lot in looking at trends in certain areas to help combat food insecurity. GIS helps map out areas of food insecurity and possible geographical reasons that lead to these issues

https://link-springer-com.owu.idm.oclc.org/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-03273-9_8

• Another thing I looked at was the rates of obesity. GIS was used in a study to mark hot spots and areas that are at risk for childhood obesity in Portugal. From this data they are able to come up with ways to combat this risk and increase the health of others in these areas. 

Spatial distribution of the odds ratio of obesity at 7 years of age across Porto Metropolitan Area. (A) Unadjusted model; (B) adjusted for maternal education; (C) adjusted for maternal education and neighborhood socio-economic and built environment characteristics.

https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/49/3/934/5585655

1. 

1. My name is Sammy Maglott and this is my last semester of senior year. I am majoring in Environmental Science and Zoology. I run Cross Country and Track and am a member of the SEAL house. 

2. Schuurman Reading: Chp.  1 

It’s cool how GIS can be applied outside of the environmental field. I chose to take this class to fulfill my credit to graduate and because I noticed that in many job positions, I was interested in, experience working with GIS mapping was at least desired, if not a requirement. I thought it was really interesting that “spatial analysis” and “mapping” are very different. I was also surprised that spatial analysis allows more information to be obtained than mapping. I’m still a little confused about what information spatial analysis obtains that mapping does not, though. It’s strange to think that GIS is still fairly new as it was first introduced and used in the 1960s. I definitely could understand certain geographers being uninterested in switching from cartography to relying on computer spatial analyses. Growing up in a world where there was already so much technology surrounding us, I think our generation has been more apt to utilize technology. I think it would be difficult to switch from doing something by hand to trying to use a program on a computer. The part about the GIScientist was something that I had never heard of or thought about before. However, I think that it is important that there are people who question the reliability and accuracy of GIS results to ensure that the data we are collecting is correct and usable. It would be sort of a waste to use GIS to analyze lots of data and get a result that isn’t necessarily true or very accurate. I also had never considered how GIS might categorize things, like mountains mentioned in the book, and how these categories or boundaries could become very important when it comes to graphing things like areas in need of federal funding. In conclusion, GIS has a much broader application than I initially thought. Not only can it be beneficial to geographers, but can be used for farming, identifying disease outbreak zones, finding which roads are most likely to flood or degrade, planning electrical grids and gas lines, and much more!

3.Google Applications

Amanda J. Zellmer, Margaret M. Hanes, Sarah M. Hird, Bryan C. Carstens, Deep Phylogeographic Structure and Environmental Differentiation in the Carnivorous Plant Sarracenia alata, Systematic Biology, Volume 61, Issue 5, October 2012, Pages 763–777, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys048

This is a map showing the distribution of different carnivorous plants along with the location of bodies of water in each area. One GIS application used was CIrcuitscape, which allowed them to calculate the total resistance of the landscape separating the pairs of populations. GIS layers are used to find the resistance distance.

Kabatha, P. (2018). An open source web GIS tool for analysis and visualization of elephant GPS telemetry data, alongside environmental and anthropogenic variables. Master Thesis in Geographical Information Science.

This map shows the distribution of elephants where red areas show higher elephant presence and yellow areas show low elephant presence. GIS applications such as Python, Toolkit, ArcPy, and more were used to generate the map with the different bodies of water and landscapes as well as mark where elephant presence was the highest. 

Hi there! I’m Sydney Gassert. I’m a sophomore majoring in ENVS with a strong interest in animal behavior. I was born here in Ohio, but have lived in California, Texas, and Arizona. I’ve gained a lot of experience with animals over my time in high school in Arizona, working with an organization called Fallen Feathers. While volunteering there, I worked with wild birds to be rehabilitated and rescue parrots to find new families. I currently work at the Columbus Zoo in guest relations and at a vet/pet boarding facility as a kennel tech. After college, I hope to advance at the zoo and become a part of the animal care team either in the aviaries or with the pinnipeds!

A few more little fun facts about me; I play the violin, I’m into photography, and I keep bugs as pets (that is my spiny flower mantis on my face in the pic I posted. Her name is Matcha and she’s very silly)

 

This chapter gave me a good refresher on what GIS is and what it can be utilized for. I’ve never used an actual digital GIS system myself, but seeing this now I remember reviewing maps of Mexican wolf populations in Arizona for one of my classes I had in high school. We were challenged to analyze the map and figure out where the different wolf packs were traveling and where they frequented based on coordinates. If GIS wasn’t popularized when it was, a lot of advancements may not have been made. Without GIS systems, it would be harder to map out and identify different regions. Many different categories of people can benefit from GIS systems to do their jobs. Architects, biologists, oceanographers, and geologists just to name a few. The fact that you can also add different layers to GIS maps to show changes over time and movement is also incredibly fascinating and helpful to give a visual of migration patterns of animals for example. I hope to gain more knowledge on how to generate and use the GIS myself to possibly help a little in my career path.

 

Being that I have a heavy interest in animal behavior, I decided to take a look at southern resident killer whale sightings. I have an unhealthy obsession with orcas, so why not take a look at one of the most threatened populations? All of the circular dot marks on the map mean different things like foraging, feeding, and even social interactions between the pods. The square dots on the map indicate boat travel and types of boats that sail the same areas that the SRKWs frequent. This map shows a good amount of interference between boats and the whales, which can interrupt the whales’ way of life. 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=226b74dc38ba46eba2e5d6317ddf0b54