Application of Cloud-Based Geospatial Technologies to Flowering Phenology and Environmental Education

Cloud-based geospatial technologies are rapidly improving the flow of information from the environment to end-users. Cloud-based photo storage websites were used to create and manage species and spatial-temporal metadata in a digital photographic inventory of plant flowering observations collected at Lake Issaqueena, SC from January, 2012 to December, 2014. Statistical analysis of species and temporal metadata revealed significant (p \u3c 0.05) inter-annual shifts in flowering time among several species during and after extreme high monthly temperature in March, 2012 and extreme high monthly total precipitation in July and August, 2013. An interactive ArcGIS Online map with sampling locations of flowering plants was developed and published. The interactive ArcGIS Online map enables web-based knowledge discovery of flowering phenology by allowing users to filter map contents, view plant pictures, navigate to additional plant information in the USDA PLANTS Database, and render spatial-temporal flowering patterns using the heat map view and time settings. The conceptual workflow for managing, integrating, and mapping plant flowering observations has numerous potential applications in species monitoring, allowing for higher volume and quality data to be collected and shared openly. A Cloud-based ESRI Story Map was developed for teaching Soil Forming Factors: Topography in undergraduate soil science education. Student evaluation of the ESRI Story Map was positive, and responses indicate students broadly preferred the ESRI Story Map as a stand-alone teaching module or as supplemental to PowerPoint slides. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps is very different than GIS education, and is well suited for fostering critical and spatial thinking because students do not need to possess prior skills in GIS software, allowing them to spend more time learning the topic at hand in interactive teaching modules. Teaching with ESRI Story Maps has enormous potential in soil science and other environmental disciplines, but more research is needed to develop specific teaching objectives and exercises using ESRI Story Maps

Tactical ISR/C2 Integration with AI/ML Augmentation

NPS NRP Project PresentationNAVPLAN 2021 specifies Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) with a tactical grid to connect distributed nodes with processing at the tactical edge to include Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) in support of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE). Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) is the concept for sensor integration. However, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Command and Control (C2) hardware and software have yet to be fully defined, tools integrated, and configurations tested. This project evaluates options for ISR and C2 integration into a Common Operational Picture (COP) with AI/ML for decision support on tactical clouds in support of DMO, EABO, LOCE and JADC2 objectives.Commander, Naval Surface Forces (CNSF)U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF)This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). https://nps.edu/nrpChief of Naval Operations (CNO)Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

Enterprise GIS & Architecture

Enterprise GIS solutions are becoming more attractive to companies to implement because of the ability to leverage system of record portals. Information is largely regarded as a company’s competitive advantage enabling organizational capability to operate and build capital and equity within a business. And with good reason large amounts of data and information are difficult to collect and organize within a digital framework. Building a GIS enterprise is a solution for data organization and management. Workflows must be in place to collect, process, calculate, and store data with high regard to timeliness and accuracy. Business decisions are made based on information that a company has access to and thus reflects on the importance of database systems as a medium. How efficient a company organizes its information will easily set it apart from others in the competitive realm. Information is knowledge, and how a company can leverage it within an organization or across business assets, will impact how successful the company operates. Building a GIS enterprise on a central server infrastructure enables the expansion of GIS processes and services to both professional GIS users and non GIS users throughout an organization. This proposal is a framing document of why and how a GIS enterprise would be beneficial to implement within an organizations information technology framework environment

A GIS-based method for archival and visualization of microstructural data from drill core samples.

Core samples obtained from scientific drilling could provide large volumes of direct microstructural and compositional data, but generating results via the traditional treatment of such data is often time-consuming and inefficient. Unifying microstructural data within a spatially referenced Geographic Information System (GIS) environment provides an opportunity to readily locate, visualize, correlate, and explore the available microstructural data. Using 26 core billet samples from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), this study developed procedures for: 1. A GIS-based approach for spatially referenced visualization and storage of microstructural data from drill core billet samples; and 2. Producing 3D models of sample billets and thin section positions within each billet, which serve as a digital record after irreversible material loss and fragmentation of physical billets. This approach permits spatial registration of 2D thin section ‘base maps’ within the core sample billets, where each billet is represented by 3D solid surface (produced via SFM photogrammetry) and internal structure models (acquired with micro-CT scans) created prior to sectioning. The spatial positions of the base maps were established within locally defined coordinate systems in each core billet’s solid surface model. The GIS database structure provided interactive linkage to the results of various analyses performed throughout the map at a wide range of scales (e.g. SEM and CL images as well as text and numerical data) within each thin section. The viability of the proposed framework was demonstrated via display of integrated microstructural data, creation of vector point information associated with features of interest in CL imagery, and development of a model for extraction and unsupervised classification of a multi-generation calcite vein network from the CL imagery. The results indicate that a GIS can facilitate the spatial treatment of 2D and 3D data even at centimeter to nanometer scales, building upon existing work which is predominantly limited to the 2D space of single thin sections. Conversely, the research effort also revealed several challenges, particularly involving intensive 3D representations and complex matrix transformations required to create geographically translated forms of the within-billet coordinate systems, which are suggested for consideration in future studies

Spatial analysis and heritage conservation. Leveraging 3-D data and GIS for monitoring earthen architecture

This paper discusses new advances in heritage site monitoring using a geo-spatial method for assessing the state of preservation of earthen architecture overtime as a preventive conservation measure. The proposed method leverages a comprehensive (quantitative–qualitative) approach that gathers multi-temporal data including environmental information collected by means of environmental loggers, qualitative vulnerability assessment of mud-brick walls, and surface change detection information obtained by comparing terrestrial laser scanning point cloud capturing the decay of building's wall features over time. Producing a detailed spatial understanding of the conservation issues that affect mud-brick walls in large earthen sites, this method can be used by conservators to rapidly identify which buildings require immediate intervention and lay the basis for future evaluation of the conservation actions undertaken. To test the effectiveness of the proposed geospatial model in producing a comprehensive view of the environmental risk and pattern of decay that affect mudbrick structures, this paper presents analyses and results obtained in a six-year study at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Our results corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed method and prove that it can be successfully employed to create preventive conservation measures at other earthen sites inside and outside the Near East

Integrating a web-based GIS in the optimization of the customer connection process for utility company: A case of Kenya Power; Lighting Company, Ltd.

Great strides have been made world over in the use of GIS as a tool for the management of resources and decision making in the utilities. Utilities are now integrating GIS with other company systems in a bid to reduce operational costs, maximize revenue as well as improve efficiency and care to customers. However, this use has been confined to ensuring optimised service delivery to existing customers and overlooks new prospective customers. With privatization and deregulations, utility companies are now faced with a new challenge to strive for the market share in the most efficient and cost-effective ways. This research sought to develop a complementary web-based GIS application that can be integrated with existing utility company systems to improve efficiency in the new customer connection process. Waterfall System Development Methodology (SDM) was adopted in this research. Its simplicity and straightforwardness gave it a niche over other SDMs in-terms of implementation as one only moved to the next stage once the previous stage had been fully completed and tested. Digital online map, counties information data, enquiry for supply forms as well as the supply contract forms were used as the main datasets in the study. The objectives of this research were achieved by the development of a geodatabase to record, store and retrieve customer information; and a web-based GIS application to facilitate recording and upload of this information. It is possible to develop a web based GIS application that can be integrated with existing company's systems. Through integration, the system will automate and augment most of the manual processes in the new connection work-flow. This development would greatly improve new customer connection efficiency, maximize revenue collection for the utility and elevate the customers' socio-economic statuses. The system would also provide a platform for the monitoring and analysis of the infrastructure development geared towards the achievement of Kenya's Vision 2030

A Tutorial on Geographic Information Systems: A Ten-year Update

This tutorial provides a foundation on geographic information systems (GIS) as they relate to and are part of the IS body of knowledge. The tutorial serves as a ten-year update on an earlier CAIS tutorial (Pick, 2004). During the decade, GIS has expanded with wider and deeper range of applications in government and industry, widespread consumer use, and an emerging importance in business schools and for IS. In this paper, we provide background information on the key ideas and concepts of GIS, spatial analysis, and latest trends and on the status and opportunities for incorporating GIS, spatial analysis, and locational decision making into IS research and in teaching in business and IS curricula

A CyberGIS Integration and Computation Framework for High‐Resolution Continental‐Scale Flood Inundation Mapping

We present a Digital Elevation Model (DEM)-based hydrologic analysis methodology for continental flood inundation mapping (CFIM), implemented as a cyberGIS scientific workflow in which a 1/3rd arc-second (10m) Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) raster data for the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) was computed and employed for subsequent inundation mapping. A cyberGIS framework was developed to enable spatiotemporal integration and scalable computing of the entire inundation mapping process on a hybrid supercomputing architecture. The first 1/3rd arc-second CONUS HAND raster dataset was computed in 1.5 days on the CyberGIS ROGER supercomputer. The inundation mapping process developed in our exploratory study couples HAND with National Water Model (NWM) forecast data to enable near real-time inundation forecasts for CONUS. The computational performance of HAND and the inundation mapping process was profiled to gain insights into the computational characteristics in high-performance parallel computing scenarios. The establishment of the CFIM computational framework has broad and significant research implications that may lead to further development and improvement of flood inundation mapping methodologies