2014 GIST Master Projects
Projects | Date and time | |
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Utilizing ArcGIS Desktop and Online Tools to Dynamically Evaluate and Share Conservation ProjectsAuthor: Jessica Fraver, fraverj@gmail.com conservation; land trust; overlay analysis; project evaluation; Python scripting As the need for land and water conservation dollars will always outweigh available funds, land trusts must be able to quickly and creatively respond to new information to be successful. Land trusts play an important role in conservation as land and water transaction specialists and success depends on the ability to build strategic partnerships between funders, supporters and clients. Land trusts commonly use GIS to identify high priority regions within larger focus areas – an exercise that requires costly review and processing of existing data into ranked conservation criteria based on specified priorities of the trust. Results of these mapping efforts are often static, only marginally used to evaluate potential projects and do not allow for options to match potential projects with diverse requirements of different funders. This study develops a Project Evaluation System (PES) that addresses the need for flexibility in project identification and prioritization based on the diverse and changing priorities of funding opportunities for conservation in southeast Arizona. The PES Python script enables easy updates to potential projects and conservation variable inputs without the need to modify the script itself. The script provides options to compare overall conservation scores between projects and highlight specific values that contribute to the overall conservation score of an individual project. The script generates intermediate data and an option to create a new overlay of particular conservation values for further investigation or cartographic display. The resulting ArcGIS Online feature service also addresses the need for an interactive mapping platform to enhance planning efforts. |
12/17/2014 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm | |
Urban Fire: An Exploration of Brushfire Incidents from 2000 to 2013 in Tucson, Arizona.Author: Nathan R. Wasserman, nrw1@email.arizona.edu urban brushfire; geographically-weighted regression (GWR); Tucson, Arizona; US Census; population Brushfires are a health and safety hazard to the citizens Tucson, Arizona. Brushfires can cause ecological and plant community change in the fire-sensitive Sonoran Desert, damage property, and potentially lead to loss of life. This study examines the spatial distribution of brushfires within Tucson city limits by US Census tract. Tucson Fire Department recorded all brushfires from January 2000 to December 2013. All years of brushfire records, as well as brushfires within 500 feet of washes, are illustrated utilizing choropleth mapping. This study shows intriguing trends involving brushfire locations. Because most brushfires occurred in northern Tucson, it might appear that areas with greater population and number of housing units would show a higher frequency of brushfires. However, a geographically-weighted regression (GWR) and a Global Moran’s I Spatial Autocorrelation report show no significant pattern between areas that had greater population and a greater number of housing units when compared to the number of bushfires by census tract in Tucson in 2000 and 2010. |
12/17/2014 - 7:00pm to 7:20pm | |
Exploratory Analysis of Violent Crime Using Spatial StatisticsAuthor: Manny Lizarraga, mannylizarraga@gmail.com violent crime; spatial statistics; Tucson; Arizona; Pima County Violent crime is a hazard to public safety. The application of spatial statistics is useful for making informed decisions and allocating resources such as police presence. Spatial statistics can also be a tool for intelligently recommending and applying strategies for remediation, such as community based programs for preventing violent crime in areas of need. This project explores the spatial patterns and distribution of violent crime in Tucson, Arizona during January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2013. It tracks the mean center of incidents per year to show that the center concentration moves south, then northeast over the period of the study. This analysis uses the Average Nearest Neighbor statistic to determine that the global distribution of incidents is clustered, but also that the intensity of clustering is steadily decreasing. Additionally, this analysis examines local distributions to identify areas of statistically significant clustering and dispersion of violent crime, violent crime in proportion to all crime, and violent crime in proportion to population. |
12/17/2014 - 7:35pm to 7:55pm | |
Vegetation Cover Change Detection in Saguaro National Park, 1987 and 2010Author: Shane T. Clark, hopper@email.arizona.edu Vegetation; Imagery analysis; Land cover changes; NDVI; Saguaro National Park Saguaro National Park is located in the Sonoran Desert. Key factors influencing vegetative cover change on a landscape include precipitation, temperature, and land use change. In the desert, vegetation growth is primarily limited by water availability. Vegetative cover change across the landscape is a troublesome and costly management problem due to the logistical, temporal and manual control efforts involved. Efficient land and water management makes use of spatial data to assess and develop best management practices to mitigate vegetative cover changes. Comparative GIS mapping of the changing landscape is a powerful tool that managers can utilize for decision-making. This project analyzes changes in vegetative cover within the Tucson Mountain and Rincon Mountain districts of Saguaro National Park in 1987 and 2010. Landsat 5 TM images were processed using the Layer Stack, and Image Differencing tools of ERDAS Imagine. The Image Analysis and NDVI creation tools were employed using ArcMap 10.2. Results indicate that in 2010 there was an overall decrease of vegetative cover on the landscape than was present in 1987 within both districts of Saguaro National Park. This study identifies specific areas of vegetative change for Saguaro National Park. Land managers can use this information to make informed future landscape management decisions. |
12/17/2014 - 7:55pm to 8:15pm | |
Does the United States Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) Consider Diné Cultural Values and Intervisability in the Placement of Communication Towers?Author: Judy Begay-Taylor, jbegay@email.arizona.edu Intervisibility; NEPA; Sec. 106; Traditional Cultural Landscape The impacts of cultural assets in the siting of visual infrastructure, such as communication towers, on tribal landscapes has not been extensively addressed in federal environmental policy. Examples of this infrastructure include cell towers, lattice towers, monopole towers, guyed towers, and stealth towers. The National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA) cultural policies differ from those of the tribal community’s interpretation of the implicit and explicit definition of “cultural”. Specifically, the Navajo Nation Policy to Protect Cultural Properties includes the NEPA definition of culture, however, it also defines how the Diné value the landscape. This study uses the concept of intervisibility to understand the possible conflict between the siting of cell towers and its effect on traditional Dine cultural values and the landscape. Using the location of towers, Dine culturally significant features, hogans, significant landscapes, and sacred mountains and rivers a viewshed analysis was performed on the entire Najavo reservation. The analysis illustrated that eighteen cell towers impede visual communication of three primary Diné traditional cultural properties and significant landscapes. This project demonstrates how basic GIS analysis can be used as a tool in understanding the impacts of communications siting with policy and cultural values. |
12/17/2014 - 8:15pm to 8:35pm | |
Does the United States Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) Consider Diné Cultural Values and Intervisability in the Placement of Communication Towers?Author: Judy Begay-Taylor, jbegay@email.arizona.edu Intervisibility; NEPA; Sec. 106; Traditional Cultural Landscape The impacts of cultural assets in the siting of visual infrastructure, such as communication towers, on tribal landscapes has not been extensively addressed in federal environmental policy. Examples of this infrastructure include cell towers, lattice towers, monopole towers, guyed towers, and stealth towers. The National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA) cultural policies differ from those of the tribal community’s interpretation of the implicit and explicit definition of “cultural”. Specifically, the Navajo Nation Policy to Protect Cultural Properties includes the NEPA definition of culture, however, it also defines how the Diné value the landscape. This study uses the concept of intervisibility to understand the possible conflict between the siting of cell towers and its effect on traditional Dine cultural values and the landscape. Using the location of towers, Dine culturally significant features, hogans, significant landscapes, and sacred mountains and rivers a viewshed analysis was performed on the entire Najavo reservation. The analysis illustrated that eighteen cell towers impede visual communication of three primary Diné traditional cultural properties and significant landscapes. This project demonstrates how basic GIS analysis can be used as a tool in understanding the impacts of communications siting with policy and cultural values. |
12/17/2014 - 8:15pm to 8:35pm |