2016 GIST Master Projects

December 12, 2016, S107 Agnese Haury Lecture Hall, SW Corner 1st Floor

Buffelgrass Probability Modeling in Saguaro National Park

Author: Kevin R. Curley, krcurley@email.arizona.com

The Sonoran Desert is well known for its diverse ecology, but most of all it is well known for housing the great saguaro cactus. The Saguaro National Park was created to harbor and protect the saguaro cactus from ever encroaching threats. Today, buffelgrass is threating the native Sonoran species by intruding the native species’ water supply and increasing fire hazards because of its dense growth. With the continuation of this threat, the Sonoran Desert is at high risk of brush fire and loss of native species. Volunteers of the Weed Free Trails program are helping with data collection processes and eradication of buffelgrass, and their efforts are improving with introduction of technological advancements in data collection with Collector for ArcGIS. This project uses data collected from volunteers to find a correlation between buffelgrass and favorable geographical features that promote its growth through the Chi-Squared method. These geographical features are then used to run a logistic regression to create a probability map that shows likely places for buffelgrass to arise in the Saguaro National Forest. The logistic regression provided a R2 of 0.294, which only explains ~30% of the standard deviation. The probability model created using the R2 of 0.294 proved to be efficient in predicting all the sites used as the dependent variable. This method is a useful tool for the prediction of buffelgrass, but more variables and further study is needed to improve the model.

12/12/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Visualization and GIS Analysis of Recorded Bicycle and Pedestrian Collisions in Tucson, AZ

Author: Gregory Rothwell, grothwell@email.arizona.edu

The Open Data Initiative, sponsored by the White House under President Barack Obama, has incentivized many law enforcement agencies across the country to open their GIS datasets to the public. The Tucson Police Department joined this collective by openly distributing its bicycle and pedestrian collisions data. Although the City of Tucson previously released general police data, the release of specific datasets is unprecedented and allows for greater in-depth analysis. This study, one component of the TPD version of the larger Open Data Initiative, provides maps, infrastructure attributes, and attribute summarizations of the collisions by visualizing and statistically analyzing the collision feature classes using ArcGIS for Desktop. The geospatial locations of the collisions were plotted via geocoder and Google Earth to determine clustering levels through ESRI’s Average Nearest Neighbor tool, visualize Point and Kernel Density, locate the most common intersections for collisions using Geographically Weighted Buffers, and utilize Proximity Analysis to join collisions to other layers for in-depth attribute characteristics of each collision. Results included statistically significant clustering, highly accurate density visualizations for the purpose of optimizing police resources, a realization that nearly half of collisions occurred near intersections, identification of the most collision-prone intersections, and bicycle collision frequency by bicycle path type. With this newly available analysis, TPD has geospatial statistics on bicycle and pedestrian collisions and a foundation for analysis of future collision datasets.

12/12/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm

Assessing the Accuracy of E911 in Tucson, Arizona

Author: Alexander L. Gerrish, gerrisha@email.arizona.edu

The existing 9-1-1 system (E911) relies on outdated technology to locate people calling from cellphones as it was initially designed to work with a network of static landlines. The only method of locating wireless callers involves triangulation using cell towers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not yet declared a nationwide spatial accuracy standard for E911 but the implementation of Next Generation 911 (NG911) may change that. Until that time, E911 is still in use for most of the country. This study sought to answer the question: how accurate is E911 with regard to locational services? To answer this question, 48 field test calls were conducted, twelve for each of the four local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). For each test call, an XY coordinate pair was obtained from a 9-1-1 operator and compared with a GPS control point. The findings for these test calls indicated a median error of ten meters, well below the target of 50 meters. Due to some outliers, the mean error was just above the target at 56 meters. Additionally, archived 9-1-1 call data was used to find areas with high confidence radius values (low spatial accuracy). A hot spot and cluster/outlier analysis indicated areas of lower spatial accuracy in several areas around the borders of the City of Tucson PSAP. While this research indicated only isolated occurrences of low spatial accuracy, those outlying areas should not be ignored as they represent a population at a higher risk when an emergency arises.

12/12/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Canopy Change Assessment and Water Resources Utilization in Civano Community, Arizona

Author: Yajuan Pan, yjpan108@gmail.com

The Civano community of Tucson, Arizona, is built for sustainability. Trees and plants are precious resource in the community and balancing human needs and natural resources. The design of rainwater harvesting systems and the usage of reclaimed water inside the community effectively irrigate plants and save drinking water. This project estimates canopy changes over time and explores the effect of water resources on plant growth for developed areas and natural areas, respectively. This project generates land cover classifications for 2007, 2010, and 2015 using supervised classification method and measures canopy cover change over time. Based on City of Tucson Water “harvesting rainwater guide to water-efficient landscaping”, this project discusses if water supply meets plant water demand in the developed areas of the community. Additionally, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data for developed area and natural area over ten years are compared and provide a correlation analysis with water sources. The results show that canopy cover across the entire community decreased from 2007 to 2010, then increased from 2010 to 2015. Water supply in the developed areas is sufficient for plant water demand. In natural areas plant growth changes dramatically as a result of precipitation fluctuation. In addition, it’s proved that 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) tree canopy underestimates canopy cover in the Civano community. The final products not only provide the fundamental canopy cover data for other studies, also serve as a reference of water efficient landscaping within a community.

12/12/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Quantifying Urban Development Using Remote Sensed Imagery and GIS for the Tucson Metropolitan Region

Author: Philippe Labadie, plabadie@email.arizona.edu

This project demonstrates the usefulness of using remotely sensed imagery in conjunction with GIS for urban studies. Utilizing 1-meter high-resolution imagery and GIS, this project provides land-cover change statistics and spatial variables describing new urban development.  Statistics of land-cover change were used to quantify the amount of new urban development in acreage. The project then employed a global logistic regression to determine the significant topographic variables influencing the new urban development. The project focused on urban growth from 1998 to 2010 for the Greater Tucson Metropolitan Region.  These methods provide accurate and useful information for quantifying urban growth.

12/12/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:55pm

December 13, 2016, S107 Agnese Haury Lecture Hall, SW Corner 1st Floor

Navajo Dendroarchaeology Database: A Web Map Application

Author: Jennifer A. Geiger, jag16@email.arizona.edu

Large amounts of Navajo dendroarchaeology data, tree-ring samples, have been collected and reside with the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Navajo dendroarchaeological data has been and continues to aid in answering research questions including Navajo migration, land-use patterns, adaptation and social organization. Tree-ring sample data have typically been stored in formats including paper files, outdated electronic formats, and Microsoft Excel files. Due to current data storage methods retrieval of this rich data set can be difficult and display of accompanied spatial data nearly impossible. This project describes a web-based application capable of filtering and displaying selected archaeological site attribute and tree-ring data. Using ArcOnline AppBuilder a user friendly, searchable, and accessible format was developed. The resulting Navajo Dendroarchaeology Database web application allows researchers and academics to access and filter this large data set that can be used in current and future research projects.

12/13/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Traces of Existence: Evidence of Prehistoric Populations in the Cibola National Forest of New Mexico

Author: Teresa L. Gregory, tgregory@email.arizona.edu

Is there more we can learn about the movement of prehistoric Puebloan people during the A.D. 900–1400 time period?  In those moments of time when small groups of people dispersed across the landscape and formed aggregated communities.  Some of the answers lie in the generally understudied landscape of the federally protected Cibola National Forest in west-central New Mexico.  This area is on the eastern periphery of a well-documented Zuni region, and preliminary archaeological site data revealed the potential to further that knowledge.  During a 10-day pedestrian survey, 42 archaeological sites containing a variety of traditional Zuni and local Lion Mountain pottery types were recorded.  The presence of these Puebloan peoples was confirmed through analysis of the ceramics using the accepted Stanley South Mean Ceramic Dating techniques.  Patterns of site locations dating from the Pueblo II to Pueblo IV time period were evaluated using ESRI ArcGIS mapping software.  Specific data analysis including nearest neighbor, euclidean distance, and least cost analysis were used to relate the archaeological sites to each other and to the Pueblo communities in the southwest.  This recently discovered settlement area near Lion Mountain revealed remnants of past Zuni populations and is further evidence of the expansion of these prehistoric peoples. The pottery shreds discovered at those sites, along with the architecture and specific kiva types, links the distinctive aggregated Zuni and Lion Mountain Communities together and allows for further investigations to explore settlement organization, exchange networks, and a facet of other archaeological questions.

12/13/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm

Evolving Shorelines: Using GIS to Analyze Beach Erosion near Neskowin, Oregon between 1927 and 2014

Author: Jacob Marker, jacobmarker@email.arizona.edu

Sandy beaches act as buffers to often densely-packed and expensive residential and commercial structures along shorelines, generate substantial economic activity through recreation and tourism, and provide habitat to many flora and fauna. Thus, beach erosion poses a potential threat to the many benefits they provide and to large populations that live near sea level. In order to assess risk and create mitigation plans, it is important to understand how beaches change over time. This project uses historical maps and aerial imagery to assess the change between a 1927 and 2014 shoreline near Neskowin, Oregon. Using the two shorelines, rates of change were calculated along thirty meter transects of the beach. The patterns of change along Neskowin Beach were analyzed and possible hot spots of erosion or danger zones to Neskowin properties were identified. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Digital Elevation Models were also used to evaluate the topography of the area and assess risk. Of 246 transects, forty-nine had statistically significantly erosional rates and twenty-four had significant progadational rates. The maximum erosional rate was -0.67 meters/year (+/- 0.28 meters/year). Severe El Niño events and increased wave heights are likely the primary cause of the erosion, followed by lack of sediment supply and finally, sea level rise. With sea level and storm severity projected to rise in the coming century, beach erosion is destined to become a larger problem. Historical maps, high-resolution imagery, and LiDAR offer an effective way to access and plan for the world’s changing shorelines.

12/13/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Silica Deposits and Mars: Using Curiosity Rover Data to Create a Hydrology Model in the Gale Crater

Author: Kathleen A. Markham, markhamkathleen@gmail.com

Since launching in November of 2011, NASA’s Mars Space Laboratory, commonly known as the Curiosity Rover, has been reporting data collected from the Martian surface to provide scientists with better understanding of the planet’s geological past. In 2015 Curiosity identified rock samples containing unexpectedly high concentrations of silica deposits, potentially indicating the one-time presence of water within the region. By applying Hydrology Spatial Analysis tools to Digital Terrain Models created from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery along with the spatial location and metadata recorded by Curiosity at the high silica sites, this study provides a hydrologic model to demonstrate possible waterflow which considers the silica deposits. This model provides a precise hypothesis into Mars’ aqueous history which considers both the terrain and geology within the Gale Crater and discusses the implications of a silica-based watershed. This model could serve as a potential decision support for NASA scientists who may choose to further investigate these deposits as evidence of past waterflow in order to advance our understanding of the forces that shaped Mars into the planet we see today.

12/13/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Parks and Recreation Analysis

Author: Chris Quintanar, cdq@email.arizona.edu

The City of Tucson has many departments that are dedicated to serving the people of the Tucson. The Parks and Recreation Department is one such department that provides services for the people to enjoy. Among their services are leisure classes that the people of Tucson can participate in for fun and recreation. The department is always attempting to learn new ways to better serve the Tucson community. This project focused on locating individuals who may be traveling farther than necessary to attend a particular class. Through the use of GIS, it was possible to create maps that contain spider diagrams with an extension called Business Analyst that link individuals with the locations they attend their classes. By linking these individuals, analysis showed where people are going, for what purpose, and most importantly, how far they are traveling for their intended class. Although the results of the analysis do not show any class where people are traveling greater distances; the final product of this analysis can be used to assist the Parks and Recreation Department in better tailoring the classes offered by the department to these individuals’ needs.

12/13/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:50pm

Augmented Reality University of Arizona Campus Map iPhone Application

Author: Steven Steinmetz, steinmetz@email.arizona.edu

Are you often lost and wondering which campus building is which? Run this app to locate yourself, name your surroundings, and help navigate the University of Arizona (UofA) campus.  This project demonstrates the stages of development, testing, and application of a smartphone augmented reality app for the UofA campus.  Augmentation superimposes names and distances onto campus buildings.

This smartphone application for Apple’s iPhone uses an augmented reality software development kit and Apple’s programing language, Swift to write, develop, test, and deploy.  One may use this application to view one’s surroundings and superimpose distances and names onto one’s environs.  The app can later be expanded to include wider geographic deployment and also be modified to use different data to orientate and augment the end users’ world. 

12/13/2016 - 7:55pm to 8:15pm

December 14, 2016, S107 Agnese Haury Lecture Hall, SW Corner 1st Floor

Geospatial Web-Mapping and Application Development for the Southeast Arizona Sustainable Recreation Strategy

Author: Jessica Little, jflittle90@gmail.com

Within the last decade, the United States Forest Service (USFS) has initiated a nation-wide project of Sustainable Recreation as a response to the decreasing amount of resources available to maintain the current recreation infrastructure, including trails, campgrounds, etc. These unmaintained trails and facilities pose a potential safety threat to users and the landscape in which they reside. This smaller pilot project, as part of the Southeast Arizona Sustainable Recreation Strategy, is the second pilot project in the Southwest Region of the USFS aimed at growing the Sustainable Recreation initiative. The main goal of this project is to create the framework for an inter-agency web application of recreation opportunities in Southeast Arizona, with an aim to increase communication between land management agencies, and to increase public participation and conservation of public lands. To achieve this, recreation data were gathered from multiple participating agencies and merged into a new schema in order to provide useful attribute information. This schema was then uploaded to ArcGIS Online and saved as a web map for internal, agency use. In addition, a public-facing web application and corresponding Story Map were also created. The result better portrays the Sustainable Recreation initiative and provides a one-stop-shop of useful recreation information and links for users who wish to become more involved. This project provides the groundwork for which more data from additional agencies and areas can be added and the participation of both land management agencies and the general public can grow.

12/14/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Modeling the Hillside Development Overlay Zone: Balancing Development and Mountainside Protection in the Urban Core of Pima County, Arizona

Author: Chloe Jackson, chloejackson@email.arizona.edu

Sustainable urban growth can be achieved in part by increasing density through infill development. Done right, infill development encourages already developed areas to become more diverse and livable, while limiting urban sprawl and all the public health, environmental, and infrastructure problems that come with. In Pima County’s 2015 update to the Comprehensive Plan, infill development is identified as a goal for land use policy. This study utilizes a Python script to build a model of the Hillside Development Overlay Zone (HDZ). This a) improves the permitting process b) encourages purchase of parcels outside of hillside areas and c) encourages innovative design on hillside areas. The visualization is available on Pima County’s MapGuide website, allowing developers to make informed decisions about purchasing, permitting, and designing on HDZ parcels. In addition, this study uses a Kernel Density analysis to suggest areas where HDZ can be removed, without losing protection for mountainous areas. These suggestions are submitted to Pima County Development Services and will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

12/14/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm

High Times in Denver

Author: Tatum Hill, tlh1683@email.arizona.edu

Since the legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use in Colorado in 2000 and 2012, there has been a proliferation of medical and recreational dispensaries.  This project investigates whether, as a result of the commercialization of these dispensaries, there has been an increase in the amount of non-violent, marijuana-related crimes and marijuana-related DUID traffic accidents related to the dispensaries’ locations.  This project used three techniques to investigate the potential relationship between marijuana-related crimes and DUIDs and dispensary locations: 1) Hot Spot Analysis, 2) Chi-Square Analysis and, 3) Hot Spot/Income Overlay.  The Hot Spot Analysis shows that marijuana-related crimes are generally centered in the downtown Denver area.  The Chi-Square Analysis shows that there is a weak to moderate relationship between dispensary locations and both marijuana-related non-violent crimes and DUIDs.  The Hot Spot/Income Overlay showed that most of the marijuana-related crimes occur in the relatively lower income classes.  The results of this project show that there is a need for continuation of data gathering to be able to construct a larger database to be utilized in future research of marijuana within communities.

12/14/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Modeling Spring Potential in Southeast Arizona

Author: Jared Rogers, jaredrogers@email.arizona.edu

Water is an important resource for all life.  Water resource management is crucial to maintain our way of life as well as for the natural environment.  To had better manage a resource and the affected habitats, the hydraulic groundwater regime needs to be known.  One approach the groundwater regime can be better interpreted is through spring monitoring.  In the Madrean Sky Islands, monetarization and research could be improved.  A springs potential map is created using stepwise logistic regression to assist managers in progressing spring and habitat research for the Madrean Sky Islands.  An area is selected for study in southeast Arizona that has 484 springs. A control variable, 484 random spring locations, is created to test the model for validity.  Many variables from geology, topography, and precipitation are included to best represent the landscape and climate.  Results show that a model is 74 percent efficient.  The contributing variables that are the most relevant are elevation, precipitation, distance to streams, profile curvature, and distance to low permeable lithology units.  This is the first model to represent spring occurrence in the Madrean Sky Islands.  This analysis supports that spring monitoring does provide insight that wasn’t already available or known and should be further invested. With a decent model rating, hopefully this will aid land conservation managers and the like.  Nonetheless, more analyses should be done so that a new model can better predict and represent spring occurrence accuracy and precision.

12/14/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Imagining Imperial Space: Towards Modeling a Mental Map of the British Empire

Author: Joe Bickley, jbickley00@email.arizona.edu

This project explores the relationship between the presence of armed forces and the creation of capital to create a Cartogram that facilitates further analysis of social, political and cultural conditions in the British Empire in 1898.  A base map of the 1898 political boundaries of the British Empire was created by georeferencing historical maps.  Working at the nation/colony scale, data regarding the presence of British Army and Royal Navy was obtained from primary historical sources and used to build feature classes. Similarly, data regarding capital created in 1898 also supported a feature class. Further relevant economic data, such as imports and exports supported another feature class. The nation/colony polygons were given a value based on the presence of these military and economic variables.  These feature classes were rasterized and added together to form a single surface with the combined total values from the feature classes. This raster was then clipped to the polygon features of the base map and processed with ESRI’s cartogram tool, producing the final cartogram. This cartogram shows the relative value of each nation/colony. Arguing that spaces a higher presence of these variables loomed larger in the minds of British imperial subjects, the cartogram represents a mental map of the British Empire reflecting how the imperial subjects imagined space. 

12/14/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:55pm

Creating Elevation Models Using GIS for Visualization and Analysis of Inundation Potential on Oahu Island

Author: Jonathan Mather

It is generally accepted that average global temperatures have risen nearly 1C over the past century, and will rise between 2 and 4C before 2100. Increased temperatures will drive a corresponding rise in sea levels threatening over a billion people with inundation along coastlines worldwide.  his project seeks to analyze and visualize potential inundation on the island of Oahu, which presents an important conflagration of conditions highlighting vulnerability to sea level rise: an island environment, situated in the tropical Pacific, with a densely populated and heavily developed low-lying coastline. Focus centers on the impacts to population and infrastructure in the Honolulu area, as well as those to the extensive military and industrial development around Pearl Harbor. Methods include production of digital elevation models (DEM) using the Topo to Raster tool, and their use in mapping inundation footprints based on IPCC and NOAA predictions. Analysis of these model’s accuracy is quantified using the RMSE metric, underlining the importance of quality input data collection.  Application of these models suggests that between eight and ten thousand structures are vulnerable to inundation, along with over a thousand miles of roadway within the study area alone. GIS provides an important component in the visualization of and planning for impacts of sea level rise, and quality elevation modeling is critical to its successful application. Modeling techniques used on Oahu will likely have application not only in other island environments, but in other highly developed, low-lying coastal areas across the globe.

12/14/2016 - 7:55pm to 8:15pm
December 14, 2016
Projectssort descending Date and time

Geospatial Web-Mapping and Application Development for the Southeast Arizona Sustainable Recreation Strategy


Author: Jessica Little, jflittle90@gmail.com
Sustainable Recreation, public land management, web application, Southeast Arizona, United States Forest Service

Within the last decade, the United States Forest Service (USFS) has initiated a nation-wide project of Sustainable Recreation as a response to the decreasing amount of resources available to maintain the current recreation infrastructure, including trails, campgrounds, etc. These unmaintained trails and facilities pose a potential safety threat to users and the landscape in which they reside. This smaller pilot project, as part of the Southeast Arizona Sustainable Recreation Strategy, is the second pilot project in the Southwest Region of the USFS aimed at growing the Sustainable Recreation initiative. The main goal of this project is to create the framework for an inter-agency web application of recreation opportunities in Southeast Arizona, with an aim to increase communication between land management agencies, and to increase public participation and conservation of public lands. To achieve this, recreation data were gathered from multiple participating agencies and merged into a new schema in order to provide useful attribute information. This schema was then uploaded to ArcGIS Online and saved as a web map for internal, agency use. In addition, a public-facing web application and corresponding Story Map were also created. The result better portrays the Sustainable Recreation initiative and provides a one-stop-shop of useful recreation information and links for users who wish to become more involved. This project provides the groundwork for which more data from additional agencies and areas can be added and the participation of both land management agencies and the general public can grow.

12/14/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Creating Elevation Models Using GIS for Visualization and Analysis of Inundation Potential on Oahu Island


Author: Jonathan Mather
climate change, ocean level, LiDAR

It is generally accepted that average global temperatures have risen nearly 1C over the past century, and will rise between 2 and 4C before 2100. Increased temperatures will drive a corresponding rise in sea levels threatening over a billion people with inundation along coastlines worldwide.  his project seeks to analyze and visualize potential inundation on the island of Oahu, which presents an important conflagration of conditions highlighting vulnerability to sea level rise: an island environment, situated in the tropical Pacific, with a densely populated and heavily developed low-lying coastline. Focus centers on the impacts to population and infrastructure in the Honolulu area, as well as those to the extensive military and industrial development around Pearl Harbor. Methods include production of digital elevation models (DEM) using the Topo to Raster tool, and their use in mapping inundation footprints based on IPCC and NOAA predictions. Analysis of these model’s accuracy is quantified using the RMSE metric, underlining the importance of quality input data collection.  Application of these models suggests that between eight and ten thousand structures are vulnerable to inundation, along with over a thousand miles of roadway within the study area alone. GIS provides an important component in the visualization of and planning for impacts of sea level rise, and quality elevation modeling is critical to its successful application. Modeling techniques used on Oahu will likely have application not only in other island environments, but in other highly developed, low-lying coastal areas across the globe.

12/14/2016 - 7:55pm to 8:15pm

High Times in Denver


Author: Tatum Hill, tlh1683@email.arizona.edu
Denver County, Marijuana, non-violent crimes, marijuana dispensaries, crime rate

Since the legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use in Colorado in 2000 and 2012, there has been a proliferation of medical and recreational dispensaries.  This project investigates whether, as a result of the commercialization of these dispensaries, there has been an increase in the amount of non-violent, marijuana-related crimes and marijuana-related DUID traffic accidents related to the dispensaries’ locations.  This project used three techniques to investigate the potential relationship between marijuana-related crimes and DUIDs and dispensary locations: 1) Hot Spot Analysis, 2) Chi-Square Analysis and, 3) Hot Spot/Income Overlay.  The Hot Spot Analysis shows that marijuana-related crimes are generally centered in the downtown Denver area.  The Chi-Square Analysis shows that there is a weak to moderate relationship between dispensary locations and both marijuana-related non-violent crimes and DUIDs.  The Hot Spot/Income Overlay showed that most of the marijuana-related crimes occur in the relatively lower income classes.  The results of this project show that there is a need for continuation of data gathering to be able to construct a larger database to be utilized in future research of marijuana within communities.

12/14/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Imagining Imperial Space: Towards Modeling a Mental Map of the British Empire


Author: Joe Bickley, jbickley00@email.arizona.edu
British Empire; Spatial Imaginary; Capital Created; British Army; Royal Navy; Economic History; Military History; Mental Map; Cartogram

This project explores the relationship between the presence of armed forces and the creation of capital to create a Cartogram that facilitates further analysis of social, political and cultural conditions in the British Empire in 1898.  A base map of the 1898 political boundaries of the British Empire was created by georeferencing historical maps.  Working at the nation/colony scale, data regarding the presence of British Army and Royal Navy was obtained from primary historical sources and used to build feature classes. Similarly, data regarding capital created in 1898 also supported a feature class. Further relevant economic data, such as imports and exports supported another feature class. The nation/colony polygons were given a value based on the presence of these military and economic variables.  These feature classes were rasterized and added together to form a single surface with the combined total values from the feature classes. This raster was then clipped to the polygon features of the base map and processed with ESRI’s cartogram tool, producing the final cartogram. This cartogram shows the relative value of each nation/colony. Arguing that spaces a higher presence of these variables loomed larger in the minds of British imperial subjects, the cartogram represents a mental map of the British Empire reflecting how the imperial subjects imagined space. 

12/14/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:55pm

Modeling Spring Potential in Southeast Arizona


Author: Jared Rogers, jaredrogers@email.arizona.edu
springs, stepwise regression, Madrean Sky Islands, permeability, Southeast Arizona

Water is an important resource for all life.  Water resource management is crucial to maintain our way of life as well as for the natural environment.  To had better manage a resource and the affected habitats, the hydraulic groundwater regime needs to be known.  One approach the groundwater regime can be better interpreted is through spring monitoring.  In the Madrean Sky Islands, monetarization and research could be improved.  A springs potential map is created using stepwise logistic regression to assist managers in progressing spring and habitat research for the Madrean Sky Islands.  An area is selected for study in southeast Arizona that has 484 springs. A control variable, 484 random spring locations, is created to test the model for validity.  Many variables from geology, topography, and precipitation are included to best represent the landscape and climate.  Results show that a model is 74 percent efficient.  The contributing variables that are the most relevant are elevation, precipitation, distance to streams, profile curvature, and distance to low permeable lithology units.  This is the first model to represent spring occurrence in the Madrean Sky Islands.  This analysis supports that spring monitoring does provide insight that wasn’t already available or known and should be further invested. With a decent model rating, hopefully this will aid land conservation managers and the like.  Nonetheless, more analyses should be done so that a new model can better predict and represent spring occurrence accuracy and precision.

12/14/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Modeling the Hillside Development Overlay Zone: Balancing Development and Mountainside Protection in the Urban Core of Pima County, Arizona


Author: Chloe Jackson, chloejackson@email.arizona.edu
Infill Development, Pima County, Zoning, Hillside Development

Sustainable urban growth can be achieved in part by increasing density through infill development. Done right, infill development encourages already developed areas to become more diverse and livable, while limiting urban sprawl and all the public health, environmental, and infrastructure problems that come with. In Pima County’s 2015 update to the Comprehensive Plan, infill development is identified as a goal for land use policy. This study utilizes a Python script to build a model of the Hillside Development Overlay Zone (HDZ). This a) improves the permitting process b) encourages purchase of parcels outside of hillside areas and c) encourages innovative design on hillside areas. The visualization is available on Pima County’s MapGuide website, allowing developers to make informed decisions about purchasing, permitting, and designing on HDZ parcels. In addition, this study uses a Kernel Density analysis to suggest areas where HDZ can be removed, without losing protection for mountainous areas. These suggestions are submitted to Pima County Development Services and will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

12/14/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm
December 12, 2016
Projectssort descending Date and time

Assessing the Accuracy of E911 in Tucson, Arizona


Author: Alexander L. Gerrish, gerrisha@email.arizona.edu
E911, Cellphones, Emergency Services, Spatial Accuracy, NG911

The existing 9-1-1 system (E911) relies on outdated technology to locate people calling from cellphones as it was initially designed to work with a network of static landlines. The only method of locating wireless callers involves triangulation using cell towers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not yet declared a nationwide spatial accuracy standard for E911 but the implementation of Next Generation 911 (NG911) may change that. Until that time, E911 is still in use for most of the country. This study sought to answer the question: how accurate is E911 with regard to locational services? To answer this question, 48 field test calls were conducted, twelve for each of the four local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). For each test call, an XY coordinate pair was obtained from a 9-1-1 operator and compared with a GPS control point. The findings for these test calls indicated a median error of ten meters, well below the target of 50 meters. Due to some outliers, the mean error was just above the target at 56 meters. Additionally, archived 9-1-1 call data was used to find areas with high confidence radius values (low spatial accuracy). A hot spot and cluster/outlier analysis indicated areas of lower spatial accuracy in several areas around the borders of the City of Tucson PSAP. While this research indicated only isolated occurrences of low spatial accuracy, those outlying areas should not be ignored as they represent a population at a higher risk when an emergency arises.

12/12/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Buffelgrass Probability Modeling in Saguaro National Park


Author: Kevin R. Curley, krcurley@email.arizona.com
buffelgrass, Saguaro National Park, Weed Free Trails, Invasive Species, probability modeling

The Sonoran Desert is well known for its diverse ecology, but most of all it is well known for housing the great saguaro cactus. The Saguaro National Park was created to harbor and protect the saguaro cactus from ever encroaching threats. Today, buffelgrass is threating the native Sonoran species by intruding the native species’ water supply and increasing fire hazards because of its dense growth. With the continuation of this threat, the Sonoran Desert is at high risk of brush fire and loss of native species. Volunteers of the Weed Free Trails program are helping with data collection processes and eradication of buffelgrass, and their efforts are improving with introduction of technological advancements in data collection with Collector for ArcGIS. This project uses data collected from volunteers to find a correlation between buffelgrass and favorable geographical features that promote its growth through the Chi-Squared method. These geographical features are then used to run a logistic regression to create a probability map that shows likely places for buffelgrass to arise in the Saguaro National Forest. The logistic regression provided a R2 of 0.294, which only explains ~30% of the standard deviation. The probability model created using the R2 of 0.294 proved to be efficient in predicting all the sites used as the dependent variable. This method is a useful tool for the prediction of buffelgrass, but more variables and further study is needed to improve the model.

12/12/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Canopy Change Assessment and Water Resources Utilization in Civano Community, Arizona


Author: Yajuan Pan, yjpan108@gmail.com
canopy change, Supervised Classification, rainwater harvesting, water resources, Civano community

The Civano community of Tucson, Arizona, is built for sustainability. Trees and plants are precious resource in the community and balancing human needs and natural resources. The design of rainwater harvesting systems and the usage of reclaimed water inside the community effectively irrigate plants and save drinking water. This project estimates canopy changes over time and explores the effect of water resources on plant growth for developed areas and natural areas, respectively. This project generates land cover classifications for 2007, 2010, and 2015 using supervised classification method and measures canopy cover change over time. Based on City of Tucson Water “harvesting rainwater guide to water-efficient landscaping”, this project discusses if water supply meets plant water demand in the developed areas of the community. Additionally, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data for developed area and natural area over ten years are compared and provide a correlation analysis with water sources. The results show that canopy cover across the entire community decreased from 2007 to 2010, then increased from 2010 to 2015. Water supply in the developed areas is sufficient for plant water demand. In natural areas plant growth changes dramatically as a result of precipitation fluctuation. In addition, it’s proved that 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) tree canopy underestimates canopy cover in the Civano community. The final products not only provide the fundamental canopy cover data for other studies, also serve as a reference of water efficient landscaping within a community.

12/12/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Quantifying Urban Development Using Remote Sensed Imagery and GIS for the Tucson Metropolitan Region


Author: Philippe Labadie, plabadie@email.arizona.edu
remote sensing, Land Cover Classification, Binary Regression, Urban Growth, Land Use

This project demonstrates the usefulness of using remotely sensed imagery in conjunction with GIS for urban studies. Utilizing 1-meter high-resolution imagery and GIS, this project provides land-cover change statistics and spatial variables describing new urban development.  Statistics of land-cover change were used to quantify the amount of new urban development in acreage. The project then employed a global logistic regression to determine the significant topographic variables influencing the new urban development. The project focused on urban growth from 1998 to 2010 for the Greater Tucson Metropolitan Region.  These methods provide accurate and useful information for quantifying urban growth.

12/12/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:55pm

Visualization and GIS Analysis of Recorded Bicycle and Pedestrian Collisions in Tucson, AZ


Author: Gregory Rothwell, grothwell@email.arizona.edu
collisions, kernel density, proximity analysis, average nearest neighbor, cyclist, pedestrian, Tucson Police Department, City of Tucson, open data

The Open Data Initiative, sponsored by the White House under President Barack Obama, has incentivized many law enforcement agencies across the country to open their GIS datasets to the public. The Tucson Police Department joined this collective by openly distributing its bicycle and pedestrian collisions data. Although the City of Tucson previously released general police data, the release of specific datasets is unprecedented and allows for greater in-depth analysis. This study, one component of the TPD version of the larger Open Data Initiative, provides maps, infrastructure attributes, and attribute summarizations of the collisions by visualizing and statistically analyzing the collision feature classes using ArcGIS for Desktop. The geospatial locations of the collisions were plotted via geocoder and Google Earth to determine clustering levels through ESRI’s Average Nearest Neighbor tool, visualize Point and Kernel Density, locate the most common intersections for collisions using Geographically Weighted Buffers, and utilize Proximity Analysis to join collisions to other layers for in-depth attribute characteristics of each collision. Results included statistically significant clustering, highly accurate density visualizations for the purpose of optimizing police resources, a realization that nearly half of collisions occurred near intersections, identification of the most collision-prone intersections, and bicycle collision frequency by bicycle path type. With this newly available analysis, TPD has geospatial statistics on bicycle and pedestrian collisions and a foundation for analysis of future collision datasets.

12/12/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm
December 13, 2016
Projectssort descending Date and time

Augmented Reality University of Arizona Campus Map iPhone Application


Author: Steven Steinmetz, steinmetz@email.arizona.edu
Smartphone App; Augmented Reality; Tucson; University of Arizona

Are you often lost and wondering which campus building is which? Run this app to locate yourself, name your surroundings, and help navigate the University of Arizona (UofA) campus.  This project demonstrates the stages of development, testing, and application of a smartphone augmented reality app for the UofA campus.  Augmentation superimposes names and distances onto campus buildings.

This smartphone application for Apple’s iPhone uses an augmented reality software development kit and Apple’s programing language, Swift to write, develop, test, and deploy.  One may use this application to view one’s surroundings and superimpose distances and names onto one’s environs.  The app can later be expanded to include wider geographic deployment and also be modified to use different data to orientate and augment the end users’ world. 

12/13/2016 - 7:55pm to 8:15pm

Evolving Shorelines: Using GIS to Analyze Beach Erosion near Neskowin, Oregon between 1927 and 2014


Author: Jacob Marker, jacobmarker@email.arizona.edu
Erosion, Shoreline Change Analysis, remote sensing, Beaches, Pacific Northwest Coast

Sandy beaches act as buffers to often densely-packed and expensive residential and commercial structures along shorelines, generate substantial economic activity through recreation and tourism, and provide habitat to many flora and fauna. Thus, beach erosion poses a potential threat to the many benefits they provide and to large populations that live near sea level. In order to assess risk and create mitigation plans, it is important to understand how beaches change over time. This project uses historical maps and aerial imagery to assess the change between a 1927 and 2014 shoreline near Neskowin, Oregon. Using the two shorelines, rates of change were calculated along thirty meter transects of the beach. The patterns of change along Neskowin Beach were analyzed and possible hot spots of erosion or danger zones to Neskowin properties were identified. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Digital Elevation Models were also used to evaluate the topography of the area and assess risk. Of 246 transects, forty-nine had statistically significantly erosional rates and twenty-four had significant progadational rates. The maximum erosional rate was -0.67 meters/year (+/- 0.28 meters/year). Severe El Niño events and increased wave heights are likely the primary cause of the erosion, followed by lack of sediment supply and finally, sea level rise. With sea level and storm severity projected to rise in the coming century, beach erosion is destined to become a larger problem. Historical maps, high-resolution imagery, and LiDAR offer an effective way to access and plan for the world’s changing shorelines.

12/13/2016 - 6:40pm to 7:00pm

Navajo Dendroarchaeology Database: A Web Map Application


Author: Jennifer A. Geiger, jag16@email.arizona.edu
Archaeology, Dendroarchaeology, Tree-Rings, Navajo, Colorado Plateau, WebApp Builder

Large amounts of Navajo dendroarchaeology data, tree-ring samples, have been collected and reside with the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Navajo dendroarchaeological data has been and continues to aid in answering research questions including Navajo migration, land-use patterns, adaptation and social organization. Tree-ring sample data have typically been stored in formats including paper files, outdated electronic formats, and Microsoft Excel files. Due to current data storage methods retrieval of this rich data set can be difficult and display of accompanied spatial data nearly impossible. This project describes a web-based application capable of filtering and displaying selected archaeological site attribute and tree-ring data. Using ArcOnline AppBuilder a user friendly, searchable, and accessible format was developed. The resulting Navajo Dendroarchaeology Database web application allows researchers and academics to access and filter this large data set that can be used in current and future research projects.

12/13/2016 - 6:00pm to 6:20pm

Parks and Recreation Analysis


Author: Chris Quintanar, cdq@email.arizona.edu
City of Tucson, Parks and Recreation, leisure class, spider diagram, Business Analyst

The City of Tucson has many departments that are dedicated to serving the people of the Tucson. The Parks and Recreation Department is one such department that provides services for the people to enjoy. Among their services are leisure classes that the people of Tucson can participate in for fun and recreation. The department is always attempting to learn new ways to better serve the Tucson community. This project focused on locating individuals who may be traveling farther than necessary to attend a particular class. Through the use of GIS, it was possible to create maps that contain spider diagrams with an extension called Business Analyst that link individuals with the locations they attend their classes. By linking these individuals, analysis showed where people are going, for what purpose, and most importantly, how far they are traveling for their intended class. Although the results of the analysis do not show any class where people are traveling greater distances; the final product of this analysis can be used to assist the Parks and Recreation Department in better tailoring the classes offered by the department to these individuals’ needs.

12/13/2016 - 7:35pm to 7:50pm

Silica Deposits and Mars: Using Curiosity Rover Data to Create a Hydrology Model in the Gale Crater


Author: Kathleen A. Markham, markhamkathleen@gmail.com
HiRISE, astrogeology, digital terrain model, Mars Science Laboratory, Silica

Since launching in November of 2011, NASA’s Mars Space Laboratory, commonly known as the Curiosity Rover, has been reporting data collected from the Martian surface to provide scientists with better understanding of the planet’s geological past. In 2015 Curiosity identified rock samples containing unexpectedly high concentrations of silica deposits, potentially indicating the one-time presence of water within the region. By applying Hydrology Spatial Analysis tools to Digital Terrain Models created from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery along with the spatial location and metadata recorded by Curiosity at the high silica sites, this study provides a hydrologic model to demonstrate possible waterflow which considers the silica deposits. This model provides a precise hypothesis into Mars’ aqueous history which considers both the terrain and geology within the Gale Crater and discusses the implications of a silica-based watershed. This model could serve as a potential decision support for NASA scientists who may choose to further investigate these deposits as evidence of past waterflow in order to advance our understanding of the forces that shaped Mars into the planet we see today.

12/13/2016 - 7:15pm to 7:35pm

Traces of Existence: Evidence of Prehistoric Populations in the Cibola National Forest of New Mexico


Author: Teresa L. Gregory, tgregory@email.arizona.edu
Archaeological Survey, Zuni Culture, New Mexico Archaeology, Southwest Prehistoric Pottery and Architecture Analysis, Puebloan Sites Lion Mountain Community

Is there more we can learn about the movement of prehistoric Puebloan people during the A.D. 900–1400 time period?  In those moments of time when small groups of people dispersed across the landscape and formed aggregated communities.  Some of the answers lie in the generally understudied landscape of the federally protected Cibola National Forest in west-central New Mexico.  This area is on the eastern periphery of a well-documented Zuni region, and preliminary archaeological site data revealed the potential to further that knowledge.  During a 10-day pedestrian survey, 42 archaeological sites containing a variety of traditional Zuni and local Lion Mountain pottery types were recorded.  The presence of these Puebloan peoples was confirmed through analysis of the ceramics using the accepted Stanley South Mean Ceramic Dating techniques.  Patterns of site locations dating from the Pueblo II to Pueblo IV time period were evaluated using ESRI ArcGIS mapping software.  Specific data analysis including nearest neighbor, euclidean distance, and least cost analysis were used to relate the archaeological sites to each other and to the Pueblo communities in the southwest.  This recently discovered settlement area near Lion Mountain revealed remnants of past Zuni populations and is further evidence of the expansion of these prehistoric peoples. The pottery shreds discovered at those sites, along with the architecture and specific kiva types, links the distinctive aggregated Zuni and Lion Mountain Communities together and allows for further investigations to explore settlement organization, exchange networks, and a facet of other archaeological questions.

12/13/2016 - 6:20pm to 6:40pm