The Spatial Historian: Creating a Spatially Aware Historical Research System

The intent of this study is to design a geospatial information system capable of facilitating the extraction and analysis of the fragmentary snapshots of history contained in hand-written historical documents. This customized system necessarily bypasses off-the-shelf GIS in order to support these unstructured primary historical research materials and bring long dormant spatial stories previously hidden in archives, libraries, and other documentary storage locations to life. The software platform discussed here integrates the tasks of information extraction, data management, and analysis while simultaneously giving primary emphasis to supporting the spatial and humanistic analysis and interpretation of the data contents. The premise of this research study is that by integrating the collection of data, the extraction of content, and the analysis of information from what has traditionally been post-data collection analysis and research process, more efficient processing and more effective historical research can be achieved

Montessori Green School Initiative Mapping Project

The Montessori Green School Initiative Mapping Project, carried out for the Montessori School in Redlands, is one part of the Green School Initiative, which integrates efforts to reduce the school’s ecological footprint, helps create a healthier school environment, and gets the community thinking about solutions to sustainability problems. This mapping project is important because it helps the students in visualizing concepts via maps, which is a good way to involve children early in map reading skills and environmental awareness. This helps perpetuate the ecological movement of saving the planet. The Montessori School’s primary problem was the inability for the faculty, students, and parents to visualize the school’s twenty-six acres of data geographically. The school needed help implementing the initiative strategically, so analysis was an important part of their conservation objective and in determining and implementing some of the key areas of the Montessori’s Green School Initiative (GSI). The client required a system that combined environmental education with mapping and analysis techniques, while utilizing geographic information system (GIS) over the web. The categorized trees, campus, and usage data, as well as the carpool and “Safe Bike Bus” maps, supply their website with the information they need to help the environment. The resultant is the ability to edit the tree characteristics (category, type, size, health, diameter, and mineral deficiency), and the ability to update and analyze their utility and usage data over a web-based GIS system

The Incorporation of GIS Technologies in Emergency Preparedness and Response

Public health agencies make decisions that have far reaching consequences, and geography impacts these decisions on a daily basis. Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful computer software programs which can enable agency staff to visualize spatial information in new ways, so that they can become better planners and problem solvers, particularly in the areas of disaster preparedness and response (Chang, 2002). Yet, although GIS is becoming more well-known, it is still a technology in its infancy, with the majority of public health staff not gaining all of the competencies required to utilize it effectively in the workplace. Although several departments within an agency, such as epidemiology and city planners, are often leveraging this technology, there are many other staff involved in disaster preparedness and response who are not using it, but who may need to in the upcoming months (Blanco & Mathur, 2005)

Memos and Mega Projects: Applying Planners’ Perceptions of Their Software to a Framework for the Future of Planning

Software powers the modern urban planning department. However, the majority of academic attention on software in the planning profession has focused on highly specialized land use models, ignoring the importance of common applications that most planners rely upon throughout their workdays. For example, email’s impact on planning has gone largely undiscussed in the literature despite its role as one of the most commonly used software by planners. This report has a twofold purpose: 1) create a protocol for interviewing planners about the software they use routinely; 2) synthesize needs and expectations of planners gathered during interviews with relevant literature on planning technologies into a framework for the future of planning software. The framework presented in this report unifies, for the first time, disparate fields of research on software related to urban planning into a single set of guidelines for developing the future of software for public agencies. This framework provides a research agenda for urban planning software systems that mutually strengthen one another, and a valuable conceptual overview of the diverse information systems involved in the planning profession. Eleven interviews were conducted with mid- and senior-level planners in local governments across Santa Clara County, better known around the world as Silicon Valley. Santa Clara County was selected as the study area for two reasons: well-resourced governments in the area can invest in modern planning software, and to question if the stereotype of the area’s technological leadership extends to its local governments. Senior-level planners were interviewed in a semi-structured format with the interview adjusted based on a short survey about the software most used in the individual’s professional role. Key findings from the interviews informing the framework include: Planners in local governments in Silicon Valley are transitioning into modern software tools, like electronic plan review and permit management systems. There is no special technological advantage in Silicon Valley among public agencies. Planners were eager to fully implement and adopt software features available to them, particularly features that would improve communication about project status with applicants; Planners were unafraid of software automation. Limited automation features available in electronic plan review systems were yet to be fully implemented, and planners embraced the time-saving potential; The volume of email burdened interviewees. This draws attention to the significance of generalized productivity software in the practice of planning; Planners had no immediate need for “big data,” despite the recognized importance of big data in the urban planning technology literature. Perceptions from planners about the software that they use informed key problems and set goals for the framework developed here. Extensive research into emerging software targeting the construction and engineering trades with relevance to planners, as well as software designed to assist creative knowledge workers, informed the development of the future framework for planning software. Features of the framework include: A planning data model that underpins land use codes, development guidelines, and planning department procedures, providing machine-readable logic that underpins rulebased systems in email, project tracking, permit management, electronic plan review, and staff reports; Template-based and data type-aware word processing that encodes standardized practices for writing documents and requires numeric data be stored and represented as such. Electronic plan review systems that assist in checking both objective zoning codes and subjective design guidelines using generalized adaptable rule language; Integrated BIM-GIS supporting both the plan review and permit management process by organizing and visualizing spatial and physical data about the built environment; and Predictable, structured times to respond to email from applicants and the public and process-integrated calendars that recover time for focusing on long-term planning efforts; The generalized productivity software that planners have been using for over thirty years is inadequate for the predicted era of big data generated by networked urban environments. Excel is not designed to support real-time analytics, Word is not designed to assist in describing or associating analytics with textual information, and no application has yet been designed to visualize or organize such data for engaging the public. This framework gives planners and researchers of planning technology insight into the range of software used by planners and develop an innovative class of software fit for stewarding the cities of the coming century

The Incorporation of GIS Technologies in Emergency Preparedness and Response

Public health agencies make decisions that have far reaching consequences, and geography impacts these decisions on a daily basis. Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful computer software programs which can enable agency staff to visualize spatial information in new ways, so that they can become better planners and problem solvers, particularly in the areas of disaster preparedness and response (Chang, 2002). Yet, although GIS is becoming more well-known, it is still a technology in its infancy, with the majority of public health staff not gaining all of the competencies required to utilize it effectively in the workplace. Although several departments within an agency, such as epidemiology and city planners, are often leveraging this technology, there are many other staff involved in disaster preparedness and response who are not using it, but who may need to in the upcoming months (Blanco & Mathur, 2005)

Web-based mapping: an evaluation of free mapping applications and Web GIS for library reference services

This study examines the functional elements and usability of a select group of web-based mapping applications and online mapping services. The goal of the study was to determine the appropriateness of these tools for use in library reference services, their usability by librarians and patrons who have little related experience, and the applicability of these tools as options to complex desktop geographic information systems (GIS). Previous studies have found that desktop GIS software is difficult to learn, includes functionalities that many beginner-level users do not need, and can discourage the use of GIS. This study found that many web-based tools are more user-friendly than desktop programs, require little time to learn, and possess the mapping functions that many beginner users need. However, this study also found that there remain issues with web-based mapping and online services. Examples include limitations in the types of spatial data analyses available and application errors

Geovisualization Using HTML5 : a case study to improve animations of historical geographic data

Popular science Visualize geographic data Using HTML5 The Scanian Economic-Demographic Database (SEDD) has been assembled by the Centre for Economic Demography (CED), Lund University. It contains demographic and economic information of Scania from the 17th century until the present. The SEDD database has been integrated with geographic data, which are digitized from four independent historical maps. To help the users well understand these data, a web mapping application called SEDD Map has been developed and tested. The previous version of SEDD Map is constructed using Silverlight plugin. It cannot run on most popular portable devices. As Hypertext Markup Languages (HTML) continue to develop, a recent version, HTML5, was published in 2012. It aims to support the latest multimedia formats and reduce the need for plugins. So, to improve the compatibility of SEDD Map, this work using HTML5 to developed a new version of SEDD Map. Before we constructed the new version of SEDD Map, a set of web mapping applications and programs were evaluated. From this evaluation and comparison, we found that SEDD Map could be improved in many area, such as improving the animation of historical geographic data. Animation is a useful tool when presenting historical data. The geographic data in SEDD Map are taken from four independent historical maps. To visualize geographic data as an animation, we need to create a time sense sequential dataset. In this study, we used linear interpolation and the four historical maps as start years and end years to simulate 159 maps to visualize the geographic data as animations. From this study, we found that: The commonly used web mapping applications for investigating demographic data contain functions, such as interactive visualization, statistical graphics, basic map tools, animations, etc; HTML5 can replace (and improve) the used of Silverlight for web mapping; Animations can be generated (filling in what is missing is to improve the data sets).The Scanian Economic-Demographic Database (SEDD) has been assembled by the Centre for Economic Demography (CED), Lund University. It contains information about the demographic and economic conditions of people that have lived in 5 parishes in Scania from the 17th century until the present. The SEDD database has been integrated with geographic data, which are digitized from four independent historical maps. To visualize and analyze these data, a GIS based web mapping application called SEDD Map has been developed and tested. The previous version of SEDD Map is constructed using Silverlight. As a result, it only can be used on computers which have installed the Silverlight plugin. As Hypertext Markup Languages (HTML) continue to develop, a recent version, HTML5, was published in 2012. It aims to support the latest multimedia formats and reduce the need for plugins. In this study, we use HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3), JavaScript and the ArcGIS API for JavaScript to create a new version of SEDD Map to visualize data stored in the SEDD database. Before we constructed the new version of SEDD Map, a set of web mapping applications and programs were evaluated by the requirements which were needed to create the new version of SEDD Map. From this evaluation and comparison, we found that SEDD Map could be improved in many area, such as improving the animation of historical geographic data. Animation is a useful tool when presenting historical data. The geographic data in SEDD Map are taken from four independent historical maps. To visualize geographic data as an animation, we need to create a time sense sequential dataset, which is done in a parallel project. In this study, we evaluate techniques for data animation. We used linear interpolation and the four historical maps as start years and end years to simulate 159 maps to visualize the geographic data as animations. The conclusions are as follows: 1) The commonly used web mapping applications for investigating demographic data contain functions, such as interactive visualization, statistical graphics, basic map tools, animations, etc. 2) HTML5 can replace (and improve) the used of Silverlight for web mapping. 3) Animations can be generated (filling in what is missing is to improve the data sets)

Compiling a land audit in large rural areas: Results from the methodology applied in the non-urban areas of the Matzikama municipal area

To compile a comprehensive land audit in large, mainly rural-based municipalities such as the Matzikama Municipality in the Western Cape warrants an alternative methodology than that conventionally done through exhaustive property visits. This study attempts to showcase such an alternative methodology to compile the land audit for the municipality. The end result of the audit was a geographical information system (GIS) database that contains a wide variety of information required for spatial planning and land use management purposes. Each of these elements required a unique data-collection methodology that included spatial data collection; aerial photography and satellite image pre-processing; mapping of property boundaries; defining area of interest; determining land ownership through property valuation rolls; establishing the status of access roads and routes; mapping current land uses, and overlaying land use control measures in order to infer land uses and deriving potential land use zoning. The methodology applied succeeded in successfully linking land parcels as follows: valuation data: 3 731 out of 4 176 (89.3%) were linked; state land audit: 378 out of 4 176 (9.1%) were linked, and deeds data: 1 680 out of 4 176 (40.2%) were linked. The study found that creating and updating land audits require advanced skills in GIS and it is recommended that municipalities employ suitably qualified officials in this regard. Working with outdated planning scheme legislation/policy can become a time-consuming and costly exercise for municipalities

Comparing Different Levels of Interactivity in the Visualization of Spatio-Temporal Data

The Internet and other advances in technology have dramatically affected cartography in recent decades and yet these new capabilities have not been adequately evaluated for effectiveness. Are dynamic maps more effective than traditional static paper maps in allowing users to visualize spatio-temporal patterns? How important is a higher level of interactivity in visualizing data? Which format is preferred? To examine these questions, human subject tests were conducted to evaluate different levels of interactivity as represented by 1) a static paper map series; 2) an animated map with \u27VCR\u27-type controls; and 3) a toggle map featuring an interactive temporal legend. Results indicate that while the level of interactivity did not affect accuracy of answers to questions regarding spatio-temporal patterns, the total amount of time in which these questions were answered lessened as the level of interactivity increased. Overall, test subjects were more enthusiastic towards the tools featuring greater interactivity

A workflow for geocoding South African addresses

There are many industries that have long been utilizing Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for spatial analysis. In many parts of the world, it has gained less popularity because of inaccurate geocoding methods and a lack of data standardization. Commercial services can also be expensive and as such, smaller businesses have been reluctant to make a financial commitment to spatial analytics. This thesis discusses the challenges specific to South Africa as well as the challenges inherent in bad address data. The main goal of this research is to highlight the potential error rates of geocoded user-captured address data and to provide a workflow that can be followed to reduce the error rate without intensive manual data cleansing. We developed a six step workflow and software package to prepare address data for spatial analysis and determine the potential error rate. We used three methods of geocoding: a gazetteer postal code file, a free web API and an international commercial product. To protect the privacy of the clients and the businesses, addresses were aggregated with precision to a postcode or suburb centroid. Geocoding results were analysed before and after each step. Two businesses were analysed, a mid-large scale business with a large structured client address database and a small private business with a 20 year old unstructured client address database. The companies are from two completely different industries, the larger being in the financial industry and the smaller company an independent magazine in publishing