Meeting Announcement
NMGIC Fall Meeting: "GIS on a Shoestring"
PROGRAM
8:00 - 8:45 Check-in, Coffee
8:45 - 9:00 Welcome, Announcements, Election Results
9:00 - 9:30 Overview of Data Sources for GIS Projects,
Sarah Masek (City of
9:30 - 10:00 The Acequia Junta y
Ciénaga Mapping Project, Denise Bleakly
(EDAC)
Download Presentation as PDF
10:00 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 10:45 EDAC's Integrated Web-based Geospatial
Applications and the Open Source Technologies Behind Them, Karl Benedict
(EDAC)Download Presentation as PDFDownload Handout as PDF
10:45 - 11:15 Using Low-cost and Free GIS Software at City
of
11:15 - 11: 45 OpenMap and Agent
Based Modeling, Paolo Patelli (LANL)
11:45 - 1:00 Lunch (box lunches will be provided)
1:00 - 1:30 Using GDAL, POSTGIS, and Parallel Computing, John Nipper
& Zack Stauber (Bohannan-Huston, Inc.)Download Powerpoint Presentation
1:30 - 2:00 The RAVEN Project: A GIS for Wildlife Rescue, Inc. of New Mexico, Anne Russell (TVI Student)Download Powerpoint Presentation
Overview of Data Sources for GIS Projects, Sarah Masek (City of
This presentation will provide a brief
summary of websites that provide low-cost or free data that are useful for
GIS-related projects. These sources
include local, regional, national, and international data. Both raster and vector data are addressed.
The Acequia Junta y Ciénaga Mapping Project, Denise Bleakly
The Acequia Junta y Ciénaga Mapping Project is community-based volunteer project to capture
the physical and cultural characteristics of the Acequia Junta y Ciénaga. The
physical characteristics include the location of the acequia, the diversion dam
and gates, the plant and animal species along the acequia, natural features
such as arroyos and springs that interact with the acequia, and the man-made
features such as laterals, gates, flumes and culverts The
cultural characteristics include the geographic place names, pictures of the
agricultural fields and orchards, homes, shrines and eventually, stories of the
acequia its self.
At the core of this project are several pieces of technology: a personal computer, a digital
camera, and a global positioning systems (GPS) unit, and software. One of
the unique features of this project is the deliberate use of low-cost or free software
to do this mapping work. One of the barriers for communities
wanting to map features of their community was the high cost and complexity of
the software and equipment. This project is attempting to use software
and equipment that is readily available, easy to use, and "relatively" low
cost, and wherever possible free.
EDAC's Web-based Geospatial Applications and the Open
Source Technologies Behind Them, Karl Benedict, Kurt
Menke, Bill Hudspeth, and Jeff Cavner (EDAC).
For three years the Earth Data Analysis Center has been using
several robust Open Source application and server technologies in the
development of web-enabled geospatial applications and standards-based web and
data services. These technologies include GNU/Linux, the Apache web server,
Minnesota Map Server (an internet mapping application server), PostGIS (an
implementation of the OGC Simple Features Specification within the PostgreSQL
object-relational database), GRASS (a GIS application and suite of geospatial
processing functions), R (for statistical/geostatistical analysis and
visualization), PHP and Python (server scripting languages with direct support
for integrating the above applications). These software tools have been proven
to be flexible, stable, and highly interoperable in our varied development
efforts. This presentation will highlight the ways in which we have integrated
the capabilities of these technologies to meet the specific project
requirements for several projects.
Using Low-cost and Free GIS Software at City of Farmington, Rich Friedman (City of Farmington).
This presentation will highlight how the
City of
OpenMap and Agent Based Modeling, Paolo Patelli (LANL).
OpenMap is a java based open source programming toolkit for building
applications that access, visualize, and manipulete geographical data.
OpenMap can be easily integrated with open source databases like MySQL
and it can exploit the huge open source java code base. I will show how
OpenMap can be integrated with an agent based simulation model. Autonomous artificial agents live in OpenMap and they
access and interact with the geographical components of OpenMap.
Using GDAL, POSTGIS, and Parallel Computing , John Nipper &
Zack Stauber (Bohannan-Huston, Inc.). The RAVEN Project: A GIS for Wildlife Rescue, Inc. of New Mexico, Anne Russel (student - TVI). Wildlife Rescue, Inc. of New Mexico (WRI) is a non-profit organization which rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife so that they can be released back to the wild. They operate a clinic located at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they admit close to 2000 birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year. WRI collects and maintains data describing the circumstances, care, and outcome for each animal received, and because WRI has been operating since 1980, they have amassed a dataset of tens of thousands of records. As the data manager for WRI, I have come to realize the potential knowledge that could be gleamed from this dataset and thus the importance of developing a comprehensive data management and analysis system for WRI.
In the spring of 2004, for the Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) GIS203 course (Larry Rose, Instructor), I developed a prototype geographic information system (GIS) using a subset of the WRI dataset. The purpose of the project was to explore and demonstrate the possibilities of using GIS technology to store, organize, manipulate, analyze, and present WRI's data. The GIS I created in this project is named "RAVEN", which stands for Research, Analysis, Verification, Education, and Networking.
Because the project was well received both by TVI and the wildlife rehabilitation community, I wanted to continue with it. However, as both a student and a volunteer, I knew I would have to be creative in finding the resources to expand on my initial project. Thus, I designed a class to be taught in the TVI GIS Technology program, in which students working in a team will develop an integrated GIS and database to provide a sophisticated data management system for WRI, and then use it to perform analysis and research on the WRI dataset. This course will be offered for the first time in the Fall 2005 semester.
The project course is designed to maximize the benefits for all parties involved. TVI GIS students will have the opportunity to work on a real-world project for an actual customer while applying and integrating their skills sets learned in the GIS Program. The course will also further develop TVI's GIS program curriculum and serve as a showcase for the Institute’s ability to serve both the needs of its students and the community. The results of the project will advance and improve WRI's activities and mission, as well as establish WRI as an innovator in wildlife rehabilitation. Also, because the course is designed to use TVI's existing resources, the cost of continuing and expanding the project is limited to that incurred by students enrolled in the course (i.e., tuition), and TVI's normal cost of offering a GIS course.
Speaker Bios Denise
Bleakly, - Denise Bleakly has
both a BA and MA in geography from the University of New Karl
Benedict, Rich Friedman, In 2001, Rich
received a national GIS Community Service Award from the National Park Service,
and has been an active member of a cooperating partnership between the City of Paolo Patelli,
(LANL) - Paolo Patelli is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Complex System Group and
Center for Non Linear Studies, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National
Laboratory. His research interests are agent based modeling, game
theory, organizational learning, and finance . He is currently involved
in the study of social organizations with attention to the mechanism of
coalition formation, in organizational learning, and in financial
markets modeling. He was graduate fellow at the Santa Fe Institute where
he worked with Prof. Doyne Farmer on agent based financial market
models. He investigated the effects of agents learning dynamics on market efficiency and price predictability. He
received his PhD in Economics and Management from the S. Anna School for
Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
Zack Stauber, Bohannan-Huston,
Inc. - John Nipper,
Bohannan-Huston, Inc. - Mr. Nipper is a Senior Software
Developer at Bohannan Huston responsible for developing software solutions for
spatial data processes. He has strong problem-solving skills and vast knowledge
of algorithms, data structures, computational geometry, remote sensing, and
image processing. He specializes in building spatial data software solutions by
developing custom standalone and/or GIS customized software. His project
management experience includes supervising staff, assigning tasks, and setting
schedules for many development projects ranging in size and scope. Mr. Nipper is currently creating a feature collection
application for collecting feature data directly into GIS from photogrammetric
stereo pairs. He is also creating a standalone 3D ground based LIDAR
visualization package as well as customized GIS and CAD spatial data automation
tools. Anne Russel,
(student- TVI) - Anne Russell has a Bachelor of Science degree from Juniata College in biology, an Associate of Applied Science degree from Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) in Environmental Safety and Health Technology, and is finishing an Associate of Applied Science degree in Geographic Information System Technology from the same school. She has volunteered as a clinic staff member, manager, rehabber, and data manager for Wildlife Rescue Inc. of New Mexico - a non-profit organization which rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife - since the spring of 2003. Anne has just finished a summer internship with the 2005 NASA New Mexico DEVELOP team, a group of students using GIS and related technology to help local, state, and regional governments and community leaders understand and solve environmental and earth science problems. In addition to GIS technology applications, Anne is also interested in the fields of population biology, systems ecology, and natural resources management.
Sarah Masek, City of Albuquerque - Sarah
Masek has been a GIS professional for 15 years. Currently, she is
completing her Masters in Economics at the