Transcript What is GIS?

An introduction to data
sources and possible
projects.
Marc Albrecht
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Department of Biology
GIS Projects: An Overview

Large companies and institutions are
undertaking huge, complex GIS projects
all the time. You have run across some
examples. The purpose here is to show
you some of data sources available to
you, and some project ideas that might
be feasible in the classroom.
OK, Ready to get started?
 Part
III: Data sources:
– I use many Nebraska sources in this presentation
because it is the state where I currently live. Therefore
I am most familiar with it resources. Most states now
have similar resources, as you find them, please share
with us!
– Keep in mind the good part: most data from state and
Federal sources are FREE (maybe cost of duplication).

Its not really free of course, but it does make you feel like your
tax dollars are working for you!
To Start a Project
you need:
1.
GIS software:

2.
Basemaps:

3.
Examples coming up!
Your data:

4.
ArcExplorer or other free
GIS viewer
If you have some, and
can input it – that’s great!
Training:

If you can find attend a
class - or do it online, it
helps!
Data Sources

Some base maps that
are available (many for
free!).
– 1. Topographic maps for
Nebraska have been
digitized by the Nebraska
Conservation and Survey
Division Service
– Other maps are available
from state agencies or
through the USGS map
download area
2. Aerial Photos

National Aerial Photography
Program (NAPP)
– Cycle 1 ended 1991
– Cycle 2 started in 1999.
– Resolution is about 2 meters!
– One file like this is about 25 Mb
in size
– But also available as JPEGs at
about 2.5 Mb each
– note: the next slide may take a
moment to load!

Publicly available through the
USGS site and, for Nebraska,
through the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR)



These images are
georeferenced and
corrected for the
Earth’s curvature.
Make great
basemaps
Can be used
imported into
ArcExplorer (the
free viewer that
you have)!
This type of corrected aerial photo is more
properly called a Digital Orthographic Image

These images can be
overlaid with other
data layers.
– On-screen digitizing can
be done – you trace
areas on the basemap
you want to demarcate.
– Area and perimeter are
given by the GIS
software as you draw
lines or polygons. This
feature can help explore
habitat fragments for
example.
3. TIGER Files: Topologically Integrated
Encoding and Referencing System


TIGER files are created by
the Census Bureau
– Very detailed
– Lots of information
– Can use specific layers (road
types, railroads, hydrography,
street and highway names,
lengths and types).
Downloadable from Nebraska
NRC (next slide), ESRI, and the
Census Bureau.
4. Other Base Maps

The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources has
many base maps to download!
–
–
–
–
Soil type (2 acre resolution), Land use (8 acre resolution)
Erosion maps, Section lines/points, contours (30 m res)
NRD, hydrologic, and political boundaries and more!
How to get there? Go to their site - select ‘Subjects A-Z’,
then ‘D’ (for Data Bank), then ‘Spatial/GIS databases’


Look for ‘GIS databases request site’
You just request a map type and location and give your email,
they email you a ftp address when the job is processed!
Part IV: Ongoing Projects and
other Software

USGS GAP Analysis
– 33 States and 200
agencies involved
– Digital mapping of
vegetation and
vertebrate animal
distributions in the
USA
– invertebrates too
maybe!
A Geographic Approach
to Planning for Biological Diversity
Software
Examples

Example: Animal
Movement Tools
– a set of tools published by
the Alaska USGS office to
work with ESRI’s ArcView
application
– These tools aid in
determining home ranges,
population sizes, and paths
of movement. This moves
GIS from being mapping to
doing analysis!
– FREE
Example outputs
This tool lets you select points on a digital
photo and it gives back the exact location!
Water Resources Example

Hydrology Tools
– Some tools are
included with ArcView
application
– Other tools are
available through third
party vendors
– Operations such as
determining watershed
boundaries, flows,
flood-prone areas can
be done
What Other Software is out there?

EPA “BASINS” (this is a hyperlink)
– 500 Mb database per state
– Free
– hooks into ArcView (required)
– 3.0 is current and very useful version
– useful for researchers to citizens groups!

Spatially Distributed Data in BASINS
– Land use/land cover
 Urbanized areas
 Populated place locations
 Reach File, version 1 (RF1) and RF3 Alpha Streams
 Soils (STATSGO)
 Elevation (Digital Elevation Models)
 Major roads
 USGS hydrologic unit boundaries (accounting unit,
cataloging unit)
 Drinking water supply sites
 Dam sites
 EPA regional, state, and county boundaries
 Federal and Indian Lands
 Ecoregions

Environmental Monitoring Data in BASINS

Water quality monitoring station summaries

Water quality observation data

Bacteria monitoring station summaries

Weather station sites (and years of data!)

USGS gauging stations

Fish and wildlife advisories

National sediment inventory (NSI)

Shellfish classified areas

Clean Water Needs Survey

BASIN Point Source Data

Permit Compliance System (PCS) sites and
computed loadings

Industrial Facilities Discharge (IFD) sites

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites

Superfund National Priority List (NPL) sites

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) sites

Mineral Industry Locations
Examples of BASINS Output
BASINS Nonpoint Pollution Model
Part V: Example Projects

Project Steps
– 1. Specify Goals
– 2. Obtain best base
maps possible
– 3. Acquire remote
sensing imagery
(e.g. aerial photos)
– 4. Add your data
– 5. Analyze the
data, manipulate
the themes, add to
or change the data.
Site Characterization


A. If a site needs
to be ‘shown off’,
GIS is a great way
to do it.
B. Aerial photos
and line overlays
are an effective
way of
familiarizing
people with an
area (e.g. part of
Buffalo County, NE
to the right)
Same Image – closer and different color
scheme (click to see it on the web!)
Example: Fort Robinson, NE

Fort Robinson, NE is a
historical site with over
100 years of active
service. We are:
– Trail mapping
– Verifying boundaries
– Possible future projects
include
 Vegetation mapping
 Game animal
management
 Range quality use
and management
planning
Aerial photo with roads and points
(copy and zoom in on this image – lots of detail!)
Contours Overlaying Aerial Photo
Aerial photo
and
interpolated
surface from
contours
Possible GIS Projects

1. Endangered Species Conservation
– A. field research and literature search to
quantify the environmental requirements
of a species
– B. Use GIS database to identify areas
that fulfill all requirements (layers,
queries, buffers) for the species
– C. Overlay known distributions of the
species to identify areas under threat
and to locate any uninhabited but
Dusky seaside
candidate locations possible introduction sparrow (1987)
of new populations

2. Site Selection
– A. Determine the requirements of the building, the
conservation reserve, or housing development as specifically
as possible
 Land parcel of a certain size
 Within certain distance of features, such as railroad,
power lines, highway
– B. Assemble base maps containing data on the criteria
parameters
– C. Query map layers to identify areas that fit the criteria
from step A
– D. Framing the criteria and assembling the correct data is
the challenge here. This process can be automated and this
speeds up government and business action.
Thanks for viewing this presentation. If you want to
learn more about doing your own GIS projects, and
more capabilities of GIS please email me.
Images in this presentation are from the ESRI website, the Nebraska
DNR, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Geological
Service. Please visit their sites to learn more! Thanks. 11/99.