Archived GIS Snippets
Published in 2013
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Web-Based Map Allows Users to See Intricate Patterns in U.S. Population
A new web-based mapping site allows users to see stark racial boundaries, subtle shifts in income, and intricate patterns of race, age, household size and income for any location in the United States.
The map, known as the synthetic population viewer and developed by researchers at RTI International, allows users to look at how the U.S. population organizes itself across the landscape and how age, income, race and household size vary within cities.
"This new era of complex, synthetic household data enables fine-scale, multidimensional demographic patterns and microcommunities to emerge from simple-to-use, web-based maps," said Bill Wheaton, director of RTI's Geospatial Science and Technology program.
The interactive map contains a representation of more than 112 million households and more than 280 million individuals in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The information is based on the 2005-2009 American Community Survey.
Unlike typical census maps by county or census tract, these synthetic microdata are a representation of individual households. "The data represent the reality of the U.S. household population very well. By representing each and every household as a point on the map, a wealth of complex patterns becomes apparent," Wheaton said. "In order to protect privacy, the interactive map doesn't show actual households in their exact locations like Google Earth. Nonetheless, the data represent real households in reasonably accurate detail, enabling the map to show complex population distributions."
"It's a rich tool for anyone interested in exploring the amazing diversity of human household populations in the U.S.," Wheaton said. continued…
first published week of: 10/21/2013
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Wendy's Deploys Esri Business Analyst for Site Selection and Predictive Modeling
Location Analytics Becomes Integral Business System at Third-Largest Quick-Service Hamburger Restaurant
Esri announced that Wendy's, the world's third-largest quick-service hamburger chain, is integrating Esri Business Analyst with the restaurant's corporate IT systems. The web-based business GIS solution will be part of the company's reporting system for new locations, assisting in site selection and market analysis.
“Demographic data and location analytics are critical components when making investment decisions to build new restaurants,” said Dennis Hill, vice president, real estate. "With Business Analyst, everything we need—including mapping, analytics, and modeling—can be done on one platform that is scalable across our organization.” The Wendy's chain includes more than 6,500 franchise and company-operated restaurants in the United States and 27 countries and US territories worldwide.
Business Analyst replaces a current system in use at Wendy’s. Implementation was completed by Esri business partner GIS, Inc. located in Birmingham, Alabama. The new solution includes server GIS applications, Esri demographics data and customized analytics developed specifically by GIS, Inc. to streamline and enhance Wendy’s site screening and market assessment process. Staff can easily view sales records, customized demographics and other business reports on existing restaurants through an intuitive mapping interface. The system also enables Wendy’s to perform predictive modeling and assess potential restaurant cannibalization for new and existing sites by simply clicking on the map.
first published week of: 01/28/2013
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When Water Is a Critical Resource, So Is GIS
www.americansentinel.edu/blog/
Water is the stuff of life, in every possible variation on the word. You can’t live without a regular supply. Civilizations developed on the banks of rivers. Many types of businesses need water for manufacturing processes. Rainfall can make or break agricultural concerns. Geopolitical tensions flare up over water rights. When it comes to understanding water — where it is, how much is falling, how to make it work for people — geographic information systems technology, or GIS, offers vital insight. And advanced expertise, as might come from a GIS masters program, can put you at the forefront of the industry. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey uses GIS to manage water resources. As Kitty Kolb, geographer with the USGS North Carolina Water Science Center wrote:
I could start my day by making a contour map of rainfall amounts from yesterday’s storm, then write a Python computer program to summarize the kinds of land use in basins for a water quality project, and finish with creating a map in Google Earth showing the location of drinking water wells for a groundwater study. GIS allows us to accomplish science more efficiently. Without GIS, gathering data would take much more time and our data would be less accurate.
The USGS uses GIS to analyze statistics on stream flows, providing not only basic information on water availability, but potentially predicting once-in-a-century floods, based on the amount of fluid moving through streams and rivers. Peak and average flows can provide important information to engineers that must design culverts and bridges. Ecologists can monitor the health of wetlands. Emergency management personnel can examine past evidence of storms to help predict current weather. continued…
first published week of: 05/20/2013
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Where are the jobs in the GIS field?
by ben thomas
Programmers and developers can find high-paying projects in many industries, but one field that’s drawing increasing attention is that of geologic information systems (GIS). As more manufacturers and marketers realize the advantages of building geographical data into their operations, GIS specialists - as well as managers and researchers with GIS insight - are becoming increasingly integral parts of their company teams. So here are three tips for turning your GIS expertise - or interest - into income.
Examine your industry
“If you’re looking to expand into GIS, you must first determine the role you want to play in your industry,” says Thomas Thomey, founder and president of MGP Inc., a GIS technology company. Even if you’re not directly involved in app development or hardware engineering, he adds, your industry is likely to make use of geographical data in some aspect of its operations.
Aside from the areas where GIS already plays an obvious and essential role - mobile app development, geological surveying and so on - a variety of other fields are increasingly making use of geographic databases for applications from customer tracking to resource management. Environmental scientists, forestry technicians, resource conservationists and agricultural managers are all using GIS technology to visualize and organize large swathes of surveying data. And of course, many advertisers are realizing the advantages of targeting ads for people in specific areas - making GIS a growing component of campaign planning.
All in all, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that thousands of new GIS-related jobs will open up by 2020, as more industries recognize the utility of geography-based data management. If you take some time to examine the technical needs of your industry, you’ll probably find that GIS is either already in use or badly needed in some aspect of its operations. continued…
first published week of: 07/08/2013
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Wikify Your City With Wikipedia’s Nearby App
by daniel rotsztain
he Pop-Up City is always interested in mobile apps that create new experiences of the city. So when Wikipedia, the most popular source for all things information announced its spatial-debut, we paid attention. Wikipedia recently introduced its GeoData extension. This streamlined, centralized source for geographic information means that ‘mapping Wikipedia’ is about to explode.
There have been past attempts to map Wikipedia, but they fell short in their reliance on a static source for data. As you can see with this map showing word counts of articles geo-tagged in Amsterdam, it is based on a fixed source, relying on the mere 5% of Wikipedia articles that had spatial coordinates then. The other maps of Europe are similarly static.
With Wikipedia’s new and easily accessible source for geographic data, articles and images can be quickly geo-tagged. The number of Wikipedia articles with spatial coordinates are bound to increase hugely. The new initiative will also enable developers to mine and map the data, and create new apps quickly and easily: the possibilities are endless!
first published week of: 02/11/2013
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Winners Selected for Esri's GIS Grants for 4-H Program
Grants Help 4-H Clubs Expand Science, Engineering, and Technology Activities
Esri has awarded grants to 4-H groups in 10 states in its 2013 GIS Grants for 4-H Program. For almost 10 years, 4-H youth clubs across the United States have participated in the program, using ArcGIS to explore and analyze problems in their local communities. The club's involvement with GIS has increased so much that the theme for the 2013 4-H National Youth Science Day Experiment focuses on geospatial and geographic technologies.
Grant winners include Bisbee High School 4-H Club (Bisbee, Arizona), Linn County 4-H Geospatial Club (Mound City, Kansas), Camden County 4-H Teen Council (Cherry Hill, New Jersey), Robo-Rocketeers (Kellyville, Oklahoma), 4-H GIS of Jackson County (Central Point, Oregon), Union County 4-H Club (Maynardville, Tennessee), Green Team 4-H Club (Phoenix, Arizona), Douglas County 4-H Clubs (Lawrence, Kansas), Cyber Explorers 4-H Club (Cape May, New Jersey), 4-H Beef Club (Ramona, Oklahoma), Washita County 4-H (Cordell, Oklahoma), Jefferson Middle School GIS 4-H Club (Oak Ridge, Tennessee), NAE4-HA Geospatial Task Force (Sterling, Colorado), LSU AgCenter—Orleans Parish (New Orleans, Louisiana), UMass/URI 4-H SET (Worcester, Massachusetts), and Cornell University (Ithaca, New York).
"This grant will open the world to the youth in our rural county, as well as open their eyes to community improvements in which they can make a positive difference," says Mary Peck, coordinator for the Washita County 4-H in Cordell.
first published week of: 04/01/2013