An introduction to data sources and possible projects.

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GIS Resources and Projects

• An introduction to data sources and possible
  projects.
• Marc Albrecht
• University of Nebraska at Kearney
• Department of Biology

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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.

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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!

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To Start a Project you need

• GIS software
• ArcExplorer or other free GIS viewer
• Basemaps
• Examples coming up!
• Your data
• If you have some, and can input it thats
  great!
• Training
• If you can find attend a class - or do it online,
  it helps!

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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

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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)

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• These images are georeferenced and corrected for
  the Earths curvature.
• Make great basemaps
• Can be used imported into ArcExplorer (the free
  viewer that you have)!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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Software Examples

• Example Animal Movement Tools
• a set of tools published by the Alaska USGS
  office to work with ESRIs 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

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Example outputs
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This tool lets you select points on a digital
photo and it gives back the exact location!
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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

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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!

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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Examples of BASINS Output
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BASINS Nonpoint Pollution Model
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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.

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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)

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Same Image closer and different color scheme
(click to see it on the web!)
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(No Transcript)
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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

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Aerial photo with roads and points(copy and zoom
in on this image lots of detail!)
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Contours Overlaying Aerial Photo
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Aerial photo and interpolated surface from
contours
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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 candidate locations possible
  introduction of new populations

Dusky seaside sparrow (1987)
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• 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.

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The End!

• 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.