UM-Dearborn holds 5th annual GIS Day
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GIS Day is a worldwide event that was held November 14, 2018. At UM-Dearborn, GIS professionals from a variety of backgrounds shared their expertise through presentations and in an exhibit setting. After a welcome by Dr. Georgina Hickey, Chair of the Dept. of Natural Sciences, John Nelson (ESRI) captured the audience’s attention in his keynote address with very creative and innovative uses of cartographic techniques, from using Excel Pivot Tables for mapping the global pattern of wildfires to mimicking in a computer setting the manual hillshading techniques for mountain ranges that had been developed by some of the great 20th century cartographers.
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Eleven more presentations followed, in which speakers from local and state government, academia, and business provided examples of GIS applications, data, and new technologies. The talks ranged from applications in archeology through public health and transportation, to ecology and glacial monitoring. New technologies that are increasingly finding their way into geospatial applications were also included, e.g., LiDAR, 360 imagery, and laser imaging. UM-Dearborn faculty members John Chenoweth (Anthropology) showcased his use of high-resolution satellite imagery to investigate the relationship of the Quaker community to the social and physical landscape in 17th century Barbados, while Ulrich Kamp (Geology) demonstrated the use of satellite imagery to monitor the spatial extent of glaciers in the Himalayas.
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In a lunchtime panel, six GIS professionals shared their insights on trends in the field, as well as recommendations on what some of them are looking for as GIS Managers when hiring. The attending students, faculty, staff, high school students, and members of the community also had ample opportunity to learn from GIS professionals one-on-one in the exhibit with 14 participating organizations. They also experienced some of the tools first hand, such as Augmented Reality with a Hololens.
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Michigan Political Almanac
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The Michigan Political Almanac is a one-stop shop for information about elected officials, candidates, political funding, voting patterns, and more. The Almanac is the brainchild of Tim Kiska, Associate Professor of Communication, who has been professionally involved with election news coverage since 1974. It provides information on all Michigan State House Districts, Michigan State Senate Districts, and U.S. Congressional Districts in Michigan. Jacob Yesh-Brochstein, a Senior in Environmental Studies, created the web interface. Claudia Walters, GIS Advocate for CASL, developed the interactive maps, and Journalism and Screen Studies Senior Sarah Martin assisted as editor.
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Fatima Al-Rasool, a Junior in Anthropology, designed a StoryMap as part of the Unsettled Lives project that documents the experiences of Iraqi Refugees in Metro Detroit. The Unsettled Lives project is a larger exhibit that was developed at the Center for Arab American Studies under the direction of Prof. Sally Howell.
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Ulrich Kamp, Ph.D., joined the Geological Science discipline within the Department of Natural Sciences in winter of 2018. Professor Kamp’s research interests are in geomorphology, glaciology, and environmental change in our mountains worldwide. He uses geospatial technologies to monitor glaciers in the Mongolian Altai Mountains for the international initiative Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS). He teaches courses in the Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, and Earth Science programs.
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Tom Bianchette’s most recent paper investigates land loss on the Louisiana coast through an analysis of 34 Landsat images spanning from 1983-2018, with an emphasis on how hurricane landfalls have accelerated shoreline retreat rates.
Dietz, M.E.; Liu, K.-B.; Bianchette, T.A. Hurricanes as a Major Driver of Coastal Erosion in the Mississippi River Delta: A Multi-Decadal Analysis of Shoreline Retreat Rates at Bay Champagne, Louisiana (USA). Water 2018, 10, 1480.
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Courses in Geospatial Technologies, Winter Semester 2019
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| Resources for Faculty and Students
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Geospatial Analysis and Mapping (GAM) Lab in 1170 SSB
This is the university's computer lab equipped with geospatial analysis software (GIS, Remote Sensing). Students with advanced GIS skills provide assistance during open lab hours. See GAM Lab calendar for open lab hours. Introduce your students to spatial analysis tools
Claudia Walters would be happy to visit your classroom to give a talk on GIS applications in your field. If you would like to incorporate some hands-on practice into your curriculum, she would be available to help develop custom tutorials for your class in spatial data collection apps (e.g., Collector for ArcGIS or Survey123), spatial analysis (e.g., hot spot analysis), map apps, StoryMaps, etc. Do you need custom maps for your research or teaching?
Contact Claudia Walters for more information.
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