Mapping
4
Feb 10
Natural Earth
Natural Earth is an online map dataset organized by Nathaniel Kelso of the Washington Post and Tom Patterson, a cartographer working with the U.S. National Park Service. The dataset is consistently updated, modified, and corrected by collaborators worldwide (many of which happen to be members of the North American Cartographic Information Society). GIS and cartographic data can be downloaded at a variety of scales in both raster and vector formats. All map data are free and in the public domain.
So… GO CRAZY!
25
Jan 10
Thanks!
I was recently introduced to a land surveyor starting his own surveying company in Fresno, California. He let me pick his brain about the industry and how he got started. He also gave me some great job hunting tips for someone just out of grad school looking to start a career in GIS. I sent him this postcard as a token of my appreciation for taking the time to impart advice to a young GIS professional. The grid is the transportation network of Fresno. I hope he notices!
23
Jan 10
Web Mapping for Disaster Relief in Haiti
Driving into Sacramento today, I heard a story on Public Radio International’s “The World” about how the GIS community is responding to the current crisis in Haiti. Reacting to the initial inadequacy of available geographic data (for example, there was little to no public information on transportation networks and building locations in the country), thousands of volunteers took up researching and digitizing historic maps of Haiti. Also, mobile GPS devices have been distributed in Haiti to provide accurate locational information to relief workers. Much of this data is being visualized and printed for distribution using OpenStreetMap, a free, online map that receives most of its data from the general online community.
8
Jan 10
Mapping Phosphorus in the Everglades
Phosphorus and the Everglades
In the 1880s, a real-estate developer named Hamilton Disston bought four-million acres in Florida for $1 million and began what would eventually develop into a network of 2400 km of canals and an extensive water management system. The establishment of the canal system, in conjunction with urban and agricultural development, reduced the historic Florida Everglades over time by 50% and introduced a variety of nutrients foreign to the ecosystem, including phosphorus. Large-scale efforts to sustainably manage what’s left of the Everglades involve an amalgamation of efforts from scientists and policymakers to understand, monitor, and direct future drivers of environmental change. One of these drivers is phosphorus, a nutrient that previously did not exist in the region and which has immensely altered the ecosystem.
13
Oct 09
The Everglades Explorer
The Everglades Explorer is an interactive web map I’ve been developing through my internship with the Everglades Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization based in Palmetto Bay, Florida. The map, developed using ArcGIS, Adobe Flex, ActionScript, Illustrator, and the Google Maps API for Flash, is meant to communicate geographic information about the Foundation’s projects to a variety of audiences. You can check out an early draft of map-in-progress by clicking on the image above. Feedback is always welcome!
1
Oct 09
The Historic Everglades
During my internship with the Everglades Foundation, I worked on a variety of GIS and mapping projects, including a historical ecology analysis of the Florida Everglades. In collaboration with the senior GIS Scientist at the Everglades Foundation, Rosanna Rivero, and Noosha Mahmoudi, a PhD student at FIU, a vegetation map of South Florida produced in 1913 was transformed for GIS compatibility using ArcGIS, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop. The final result is a polygon shapefile (illustrated above) that will be applied toward land cover change analysis and assessment of historical environmental conditions in the Everglades. The project was presented in the form of a poster at the 2009 NACIS conference in Sacramento, California, as well as the 2009 South Florida GIS Expo, where it won first place in the poster contest.
27
Sep 09
Miami Homeless Shelters
My neighbor recently asked if I would make some photo-copies of a list of homeless shelters for him. He always keeps a few copies of the list on hand, just in case he runs into someone who might need the information. I thought it was a pretty good idea, so I made some copies for myself as well and used Google Maps to put together a map of the shelters. You can download a PDF with the list and the map here.
View Miami Homeless Shelters in a larger map
16
Sep 09
Synthetic Aperture Radar and the Florida Everglades
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an active remote sensing technique in which microwave signals are emitted from a transmitter toward a subject area, reflected by the features of that area, and returned to a sensor. SAR is recognized as a valuable and effective tool in mapping and monitoring wetland ecosystems. This study examines three different SAR platforms (ERS, Radarsat, and JERS) in terms of their usefulness in monitoring the changing hydrologic conditions in a region within the Florida Everglades known as the Shark River Slough. A synthesis of methods and techniques is used to evaluate the hydrology-backscatter relationship and to assess the capability of SAR data in hydrologic monitoring, including regression, profile analysis, neighborhood statistics, and zonal statistics. The objective of this study is to contribute to the foundation of knowledge surrounding the relationship between SAR and wetland hydrology and to advance hydrologic monitoring techniques. Continue reading →
13
Sep 09
Interactive Web Mapping and GIS
Web-based cartography and geographic information systems (GIS) have proliferated alongside developments in web application technologies and the integration of these technologies with GIS. Commonly manifested as navigational tools, weather maps, and “infotainment”, the interactive web map has become a widespread, familiar mode of communication for many individuals and organizations with computer and Internet access. These maps are not only user-friendly but also can be easily developed using free open-source mapping application programming interfaces (APIs) made available on the Internet. This project exemplifies one way in which interactive web mapping technologies can be used to communicate geographic research to scientists, professionals, and the general public via the Internet by applying web technologies to the organization and visualization of geographic research involving the use of GIS and remote sensing data in monitoring the hydrology of the Florida Everglades. Three technologies are utilized: XML, Google Maps API for Flash, and ActionScript (Adobe Flash/Flex). Continue reading →