Special Topics, Week 13: Forestry - Report Week

This week finalized our analysis of clear cutting.  This topic was interesting and definitely had me divided about whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.  My final opinion and side was that I feel that it's not great but it's necessary.  If it's done correctly and follows the regulations that are set in place, then it can be a sustainable and profitable practice.  We had to create a poster, claiming our position and backing it up with analysis and additional scholarly articles.  

This poster was created to share my opinion of clear cutting practices via 

GIS analysis and research from scholarly articles.  I think it's an 

unfortunate necessity.  Regulations are in place for a reason

and as long as they're followed to point then it'll

be a profitable and sustainable practice.

Special Topics, Week 12: Forestry - Analyze Week

Clear-Cutting: A Necessary Scar

Ecological Summary:

Clear-cutting is and has been a very controversial topic.  The ecological effects it has on the forests vary greatly on the individual site.  Studies have shown that most of the detrimental damage that is done is not due to the actual cutting of the trees, but more of the processes that coincide with the practice.  The quality and quantity of the roads that are used to get the trucks and equipment in and out of the area will have a tremendous impact on the area ecology.  The area preparation techniques and amount of damage control that is done to prevent injury to non-targeted plants and trees will also limit the ecological determent.  If clear cutting is approached in an area specific manner with ecological conservation in mind, it can be done right. 

Sources:

Ecological

Rodney J. Keenan, J. P. (Hamish) Kimmins. 1993. The Ecological Effects of Clearcutting. Environmental Reviews, 1(2): 121-144, 10.1139/a93-010. [November]:http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/a93-010#.UoJP4pR4Yk8

Economic

Andreassen, K., Oyen, B.H., 2002. Economic consequences of three silvicultural methods in uneven-aged mature coastal spruce forests of central Norway. Forestry, 75 (4): 483-488.doi: 10.1093/forestry/75.4.483. [November]: http://forestry.oxfordjournals.org/content/75/4/483.full.pdf+html

Aesthetic

Brent C. Chamberlain, Michael J. Meitner. 2012. Quantifying the Effects of Harvest Block Design on Aesthetic Preferences. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42(12): 2106-2117, 10.1139/cjfr-2012-0210.  [November]:http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfr-2012-0210

Special Topics, Week 11: Forestry - Prepare Week

Clear cutting is a very controversial topic yet a necessity in order to produce many of the every day products we use.  There are, however, different ways to approach this practice. This week we used our analyzing techniques to establish the amount of clear cuts that are visible to the main roads in an area in New Brunswick, Canada.  We determined which areas were clear cut, determined the age of the clear cuts and also took into consideration, the elevation and terrain.  This will factor into the ability to see from the roads.  We used a variety of search queries and the viewshed tool for this.

Basemap of Fredricton, New Brunswick and study area

Map of clearcut which are visible and non-visible from the main roads

Remote Sensing & Photo Interpretation, Mod10: Supervised Classification

We had to create a map of Germantown, MD using supervised classification.  We established the land use type by creating specific signatures for each classification and AOI features using ERDAS.  By utilizing a satellite image, I was able to determine and differentiate between different types of land use.  The hardest part I found was making the roads and the agricultural lands separate.  There was some spectral confusion between the two because the bands were very similar.  Below is my resulting map.

Supervised Classifications of Germantown, MD land use.

Special Topics, Week 10: Web Applications - Report Week - Final Story Map

This week we had to add one more customization to our story map and fine tune the map as a whole.  For my customization, I decided to add a zoom level to each point feature.  Initially, you're zoomed out, able to see from Chicago all the way to Hawaii.  As you go through the slide show, you're zoomed into that city.  Most of the time you're able to see all points located in the city at once.  I felt like this zoom level was optimal because it gives viewers some choice about the zoom level.  I also decided to change my map summary and edit a few of the site descriptions.  Here is the final link to my story map featuring my move to Hawaii!

Remote Sensing & Photo Interpretation, Mod9: Unsupervised Classification

This week we used both ArcMap and ERDAS to perform an unsupervised reclassification of a provided image.  The image we used for our final map, was of the UWF campus.  The ultimate outcome of this map was to determine what percent of surfaces is permeable and what percent is impermeable.  We originally reclassified to 50 different classes and then worked with a specific area in the image to break it down to 5 categories: Trees, Grass, Buildings/Roads, Shadows and Mixed.  After the classification was complete, the final map product was produced in ArcMap.

Unsupervised Classification of the UWF campus.  Area shown in acres with the estimate that about 58% is
permeable while the remaining 42% is impermeable.

Special Topics, Week 9: Web Applications - Analyze Week - Online Story Map

This week we put our story board plan into action.  Initially, we needed to find images for each of our locations (a full size image and thumbnail for each).  We then needed to edit the CSV template to contain our information, lat and long coordinates, URL links to images and thumbnails, a title and description.

From here, we uploaded the CSV into arcgis.com into a web map.  This automatically placed pin points at each of our locations.  We chose a base map that was appropriate and added an additional layer that pertained to the theme and feel of our story board.

Finally, we needed to edit scripts in the index html and the map configuration.  We needed to make sure the code knew which map we wanted to work with and where it could be found.  The last item was to add the UWF logo to the top right of the map.

I ran into a few issues that were pretty frustrating, but the major roadblock turned out to be an extra "s" in the hyperlink.  With endless troubleshooting and help from the professor, TA and classmates I finally have a rough draft to present.  Here it is.