GIS DAY 2016
Location: Class of 1941 Lecture Room, Morris Library, University of Delaware
When: Wednesday November 16, 2016
Time: 9:45 am – 1:00 pm
Agenda
09:45 am – Networking and morning refreshments
10:00 am – Introduction
Tracy DeLiberty, Graduate GIS Certificate Director and Associate Professor [view presentation]
10:10 am – Who Put the “Gee” in GIS? Cultural Underpinnings of the Geospatial Revolution
Andrew Homesy, Water Resources Center, UD [view presentation]
From earliest human times, geospatial knowledge (in the form of maps) has represented power. Understanding the world and our place in it has always been a hallmark of humanity. In the current atmosphere of instantaneous digital geographic data, it is important to remember the basis on which such wonders are based.
The key element to this progress is and has been the establishment of strong, communally focused, mission-oriented institutions. Visionary entrepreneurs are often lauded as the vanguard of the digital/geospatial revolution, but without strong institutional (governmental, academic, and not-for-profit) underpinnings, none of the powerful tools we employ today would have been possible. Without such continued vision, they are at risk.
10:20 am – Sea Grant Story Maps
Leah Dodd, Sea Grant, UD [view presentation]
Delaware Sea Grant has recently used Story Maps to collaborate with 30+ Sea Grant Programs to share coastal resilience topics and to host a virtual Coast Day outreach event.
10:30 am – Summer Internship at Esri Headquarters
Sarmistha Chatterjee, PhD candidate, UD [view presentation]
Sarmistha completed her 12-weeks summer internship at Esri, working with the Spatial Analyst team in the Software Products Division. She tested new user interface for ArcGIS Pro 1.3 and did a summer project to automate a stream network connectivity index in ArcGIS using script tool and model builder. In her talk she would discuss her experience of working as an intern at Esri, and how it benefited her as a student. She would also talk about the application process for the internship and other job opportunities for fresh graduates who are interested working with GIS and mapping.
10:40 am – GIS at the Delaware Geological Survey
Lillian Wang, DGS, UD [view presentation]
The Delaware Geological Survey (DGS) conducts geologic and hydrologic research and collaborates with state/federal agencies and UD faculty/students on projects of value to Delaware. We utilize GIS in most of our research, from data analysis to presentations and publications. Published DGS digital data represent the results of original professional research and are used by professionals and the public, impacting public policy decisions as well as solutions for individuals, business, and industry.
10:50 am – Delaware LiDAR Data, Derivatives and Applications
Naomi Bates, DGS, UD [view presentation]
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is an active remote sensing technique using pulses of light to measure distance to a surface. In early 2014, topographic LiDAR was collected for the entire state of Delaware, and from these data, a seamless, statewide 1-meter bare earth digital elevation model (DEM) was produced. This presentation will include an introduction to LiDAR data, examples of point cloud data, DEM analysis, and discussion of LiDAR derived data products and applications.
11:00 am – GIS and Decision Making
Rusty Lee, Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering Dept, UD [view presentation]
GIS provides an ability to present complex data in ways it can be easily understood by decision makers. This presentation will provide examples of this in varied areas of traffic crash data analysis and municipal asset management. This work has been done by the Delaware Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Center with data from the Delaware Department of Transportation and Delaware municipalities.
11:10 am – Enlistments in Canada during the First World War: Mapping Quantity and Spread with Points and Lines
Steve Marti, Post Doctoral Researcher, Department of History
This project is an attempt to map enlistments in Canada during the First World War in a manner that show the rate of enlistments as well as their geographical spread of individual recruits, while also distinguishing enlistment patterns between different units. GIS software allows users to demonstrate quantitative data by changing the size of a vector by manipulating the diameter of a point or the thickness of a line to reflect a numeric value, but this method is usually limited to mapping a single variable. This project seeks to map different variables on the same map using only points and lines.
11:20 am – Assessing Urbanization and Plant Invasion Pressures on Forest Fragments
Eric Moore, PhD Student, Urban Forestry [view presentation]
Our research seeks to understand how urbanization and plant invasion alters urban forest function. We used several geospatial datasets from the USGS, US Census Bureau, and ESRI combined with field-collected plant data to establish gradients of urbanization and invasion intensity surrounding forest fragments in northern DE and southeastern PA.
11:30 am – Survey 123 for ArcGIS: Simple, Fast, and Effective GIS Data Collection
Matt Kennedy, Esri – Global Water Team, UD alumni
Survey 123 for ArcGIS is a simple and intuitive form-centric data gathering solution that makes creating, sharing, and analyzing surveys possible in just three easy steps. Quickly design powerful surveys and publish them into ArcGIS. Enable your workforce with the Survey 123 for ArcGIS mobile app to capture answers in the field. Analyze answers from the field in ArcGIS to support decision making. Survey 123 makes accurate field data collection easy, by replacing unreliable paper-based collection with a trustworthy digital solution that fits the needs of field personnel in diverse environments.
11:40 am – How to become a career problem-solver: choose GIS!
Julie Carter, Ardent MC, UD alumni
Choosing a career in GIS was both the biggest risk and the safest bet I could have made, but I didn’t know it at the time. Heading into my 16th year of a professional career, I’ve seen applications of GIS in so many forms, and I’ve learned how NOT to answer “I make maps” with an eye roll when people ask what I do. From teaching it, to selling it, to applying it, I’ve followed GIS through private industry, the DoD, and now DHS, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned along the way.
11:50 am – Closing Remarks
Olena Smith, Lead Geopatial Information Consultant [view presentation]
John Stevenson, Associate Librarian, Multimedia Collection & Services
12:00 pm – Poster session and light lunch
Refreshments (provided by IT-CSS, Library): morning – coffee, donuts, bagels and protein bars; light lunch – Jimmy John’s sandwich platters, chips, cookies, water