http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/uci_libs_ucgisweek_25/rss Recent eScholarship items from UC GIS Week 2025 Wed, 2 Sep 2026 18:57:57 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8t86b6vc <p>Scaling Up Drone-Based 3D Mapping for Campus Facility Management</p><p>This lightning talk continues our work on using drones to enhance campus facility management. Since last year’s presentation, the project has expanded from mapping a small neighborhood to developing a detailed 3D model of the entire UC San Diego La Jolla campus. Utilizing drone-based photogrammetry with Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning, we achieved high spatial accuracy across extensive areas. Ground Control Points (GCPs) collected with Bad Elf and FieldMaps ensured precision and consistency within a unified coordinate system. Drone imagery and GCP data were processed through ArcGIS SiteScan for geotagging and 3D mesh generation, with outputs integrated into the campus GIS database. The resulting 3D campus model supports virtual fieldwork, site analysis, and data-driven decision-making, offering new tools for planning, management, and research. The project remains under active development to further... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8t86b6vc Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Huang, Jingyi Leung, Chi Kiu Reiss, Malia Fisher, Azure Wasserman, Jacob L Grimaldi, Jordan Sánchez, Alicia https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8ht6m3dm <p>Status of California Native American Tribal GIS Knowledge Build</p><p>This past July 31st and August 1st, 2025 – the 1st California Native American Tribal GIS Summit was held in Sacramento in the Cal/EPA Building. There were 22 presentations that included CA Tribal perspectives of their uses of GIS based technology, federal and state agencies collaboration in working with Tribes, Tribal non-profits utilizing GIS – all using GIS to help manage Natural Resources, protection of cultural landscapes, and environmental justice support. This summit was first of its kind in California. Both UC Davis and UC Berkeley also participated and provided their efforts in working with CA Native American Tribes with the usage of GIS based solutions and potential new water governance model. The concepts of Tribal GIS data sovereignty, rematriation, ground-truthing, land back, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), decolonizing mapping, and cultural burning were discussed and explored. This summit... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8ht6m3dm Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Miranda-Begay, Donna Tomlinson, Char https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8002788s <p>Mapping the Tren Maya’s Mark on Mérida</p><p>Mapping the Tren Maya’s Mark on Mérida investigates whether the Tren Maya railway is ushering in new sustainable development which provides economic and social benefits for the residents of Mérida, Mexico. The Mexican government has spearheaded the megaproject’s construction in a mere four years with the goal of boosting economic growth in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. The following investigation highlights where this vision, articulated in technocratically-constructed public documents and amplified in reporting, has been fulfilled in Mérida. Through geospatial, physical, and journalistic investigations and analysis, it is revealed the Tren Maya has brought a host of impacts upon the Yucatecan capital through channeling public investments into the Centro Histórico and periphery lands surrounding the metropolitan area. Although these investments present numerous economic, social, and environmental benefits in line... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8002788s Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Tamayo, Diego Upadhyaya, Devanshi Shandal, Monica https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7sk6g8ft <p>Identifying Suitable Burrowing Owl Habitat at Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve</p><p>Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) are small raptors that nest in underground burrows abandoned by ground squirrels and badgers. In the last 100 years, the species has seen a sharp decline in population due to agricultural land conversion, large-scale wind and solar farm development, urbanization, the spread of non-native plants and trees, and overzealous ground squirrel control. Once common throughout California, it has been extirpated from nineteen counties and is close to extinction in ten more, including Santa Barbara, where breeding is fully extirpated and potentially only a few dozen birds visit to overwinter each year. One holdout of habitat is found at Cojo Terrace, part of the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In spring of 2025, UCSB’s Cheadle Center staff surveyed Cojo Terrace for suitable ground squirrel and badger burrows using ESRI Field... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7sk6g8ft Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Wilhelm-Safian, Claire Chapman, Wayne Ludwig-Barron, Natasha Chen, Zhipeng Janelle, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7q32t4m2 <p>ElephantTracker: Spatiotemporal Analytics for Human–Elephant Conflict Mitigation</p><p>https://elephanttracker.com/</p><p>The ElephantTracker website is a research and conservation platform designed to help analyze and visualize elephant movement and human-elephant conflict patterns.It provides interactive GIS maps to display historical GPS tracking data, showing elephant movement paths, coordinates, and timelines. Researchers and conservationists can upload and manage datasets, making it easier to centralize and analyze elephant tracking information.The site also links elephant movements with records of human-elephant conflict incidents, such as crop damage or property loss. By doing so, it helps identify patterns and geographic hotspots where conflict is more likely to occur. These insights can support risk assessment, allowing conservation teams and local authorities to develop targeted strategies to reduce conflict and protect both communities and elephants.In short, ElephantTracker’s... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7q32t4m2 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Sivarajah, Jay Thau, Avery Thorne, James McConnell, Clancy Boynton, Ryan Chen, Jiahua Zheng, Muyan Cai, Xiaofeng https://escholarship.org/uc/item/79v403d4 <p>Mapping Coastal Cliff Erosion along the California Coast Using Statewide LiDAR Datasets</p><p>Coastal cliffs are widespread along the California shoreline, providing habitats for coastal vegetation and wildlife while supporting critical socio-economic infrastructure such as housing, roads, and utilities. Although cliff erosion poses substantial geohazard risks to coastal communities, the eroded material also offers a sediment source to adjacent beaches and the nearshore zone. However, accurate statewide monitoring of cliff change has been limited by 1) the scarcity of repeated, high-resolution datasets, 2) the intensive processing requirements for large geospatial data volumes, and 3) challenges in estimating elevation beneath vegetated areas. To address these limitations, we analyzed statewide, high-resolution (30 pts/m²) airborne LiDAR data collected in 2023, together with the previous 2016 LiDAR survey (15 pts/m²) acquired by NOAA. We developed an automated workflow to delineate... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/79v403d4 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Xie, Danghan Crimmel, Thomas McConnell, Clancy Whitney, Jason Thorne, James Boynton, Ryan https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6x758046 <p>GeoConnect: Creating a research-informed UC-wide GIS resource</p><p>GeoConnect is a project to 1) assess what GIS users on our campuses seek with regards to geospatial resources and support, and 2) to collaboratively organize and maintain these resources into a centralized hub to support the UC community. The project arose out of conversations among members of the UC/Stanford Maps &amp; Geospatial Data Common Knowledge Group and the University of California GIS Committee or UC GIS (composed of GIS professionals and users from across the UC system). Noting that we have 10 campuses maintaining separate resource guides containing similar information, we then asked “How can we collaborate on a UC-wide resource guide and share the labor?” This effort is challenging due to the nature of GIS software, data, and availability of collaborative resource solutions. GIS is a broad and rapidly evolving field in regards to software applications and their features. Similarly, there is an ever-shifting... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6x758046 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Tarmey, Maggie Maldonado, Anna Huang, Jingyi Henderson, Diana Simeone, Mono Ren, Xiangyu Eldawy, Ahmed https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6fm089cj <p>Cross estimation of cancer incidence at census-tract level to assess risk near Superfund sites in Puerto Rico in 2020</p><p>Introduction/Background: Living near hazardous waste sites can pose an increased risk of exposure to carcinogenic chemicals. Puerto Rico (PR) has a high density of superfund-contaminated sites (27 sites across 8,900 km2). Public data is limited to municipality (county) level for privacy concerns. Hallisey et al (2017) provided cross-scale interpolation methods by accounting for census-tract population in municipality-level data. We measured the association between cancer risk and distance living from the nearest superfund site through cancer rate estimations at a census-tract level. Methods: Cancer counts (PRCCR, 2020) can be cross-estimated to a census-tract level by accounting for census-tract population size from the U.S. Census Decennial Survey (2020). Census-tract population weights were calculated by dividing the census-tract population by municipality... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6fm089cj Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Tang, Sailing Bruellman, Ryan https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66g2j4t9 <p>How to use the California tree species range map atlas</p><p>In GIS Week 2024, we presented the construction of updated range maps for all of California's tree species, including data sources, GIS methods, and biogeographical concepts. This is the first time in over 50 years that comprehensive tree species range maps have been made for California. In the last year, we have completed nearly every new range map and have established most of the technical and social infrastructure required to disseminate them. We have also begun using the maps to assess each species' place-based climate exposure, fire risk, and seed supply/demand. At this year's GIS Week, we will show attendees how to view, download, and use the range maps in a website, mobile apps (FieldMaps, Avenza), ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Pro. We will also share examples of how these maps are already being applied in various research and reforestation projects.</p> https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66g2j4t9 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 McConnell, Clancy Whitney, Jason Thorne, James https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6105c55j <p>Photosynthesis from Space: Solar-Induced Fluorescence Across Droughts and Tariffs</p><p>I present early exploratory results using monthly OCO-2 solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) over Iowa (2014–2025) to see whether broad shocks show up in crop activity. I compute statewide and county SIF means and standard deviations for morning (a) and evening (b), plot the long-term time series and seasonal cycle, and map the simple diurnal difference (a–b). I compare these patterns to (i) U.S. Drought Monitor intensity and (ii) key tariff periods, and summarize annual crop composition from the USDA Cropland Data Layer (corn/soy shares, indications of fallowing). The goal is descriptive: highlight years/months where SIF anomalies align with drought and note any coincident shifts in crop shares around tariff windows. I’ll close with a short roadmap for adding basic masks and simple correlations, with causal modeling left for future work.</p><p>UCSB Tree Restoration Data Collection... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6105c55j Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Coldiron, Jackson Chuc, Elijah Bender, Jeremiah Reny, Robert Epstein, Sarah S Nguyen, Mary https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5ft7q676 <p>The UCSB rAtlas</p><p>The UCSB rAtlas is an Open Source project to mimic Data Carpentry's Introduction to Raster and Vector Data. Solutions to each episode of the Carpentry lesson are recreated using data sources local to the Santa Barbara campus. Started as a team-building exercise, the Atlas has provided the UCSB Library DREAM Lab solid experience using R with geospatial data--an increasingly common alternative to ArcGIS and QGIS. It has also solidified our ability to teach the Carpentry Lesson as it is written as well as take a leadership role with the evolution of the lesson.</p><p>The atlas is downloadable to run at: https://github.com/UCSBCarpentry/ucsb-ratlas</p> https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5ft7q676 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Jablonski, Jon https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f3163bf <p>Housing the Ancient Maya of El Pilar</p><p>&nbsp; Questions about sustainability of ancient Maya subsistence focus on the expansion of maize milpa at the expense of the forest. Working with Master Forest Gardeners and leveraging their Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of Maya house construction, our model considers the number of trees needed to build Maya houses. Using LIDAR data and GIS, we assess the capacity of the 20 sq.km. landscape of the ancient city of El Pilar to provide trees required for posts, beams, and rafters for 1,925 domestic structures occupied in the Late Classic (600-900 CE). We model the 20-year Milpa Forest Garden Cycle across the El Pilar cropscape to determine the annual availability of construction materials. Our model results show there are enough trees to construct and maintain all of the structures at El Pilar. Benefitting from TEK, in collaboration with Master Forest Gardeners, we are piecing together a new ecological narrative that demonstrates... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f3163bf Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Chuc, Elijah Kharadjian, Rita Casteel, Sosie Geraty, Seamus Haithcoat, James Wartell, Julie Lee, Samantha Stanko, Kieran Chen, Katelyn https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x48z4mw <p>Cautions to GIS Professionals in Context of California Statutes Defining the Practice of Surveying</p><p>Navigating the boundaries between land surveyors, engineers, professional geologists, and geospatial professionals is crucial for maintaining the integrity of each field. Although land surveying and geospatial work complement each other, they differ significantly in scope and focus. In California, surveyors are licensed by the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists and the activities exclusively reserved for Professional Land Surveyors are defined by the Professional Land Surveyors’ Act as codified in Section 8700 - 8805 of the California Business and Professions Code, specifically Section 8726 (a). GIS practitioners are at risk of being fined if their mapping work strays into the Surveyors’ domain. The California Geographic Information Association (CGIA) and the California Chapter of the Geospatial Professional Network (CalGPN) have... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x48z4mw Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Schafer-Kramer, Jane Roth, Nathaniel Oh, Debby https://escholarship.org/uc/item/10q1835g <p>Evaluating Harmful Algal Blooms and Sediment Plumes on the South Florida Coast using Satellite-Based Remote Sensing to Inform Management and Conservation Efforts</p><p>Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are common occurrences on the South Florida coast and lead to environmental repercussions which harm the local ecosystem. HABs in Florida Bay, the shallow lagoonal estuary between Florida’s peninsula and the Florida Keys, are commonly caused by Synechococcus, a prominent unicellular cyanobacterium. To address local community concerns regarding the increasing occurrences of HABs, this study utilized satellite remote sensing data from the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), the Sentinel-3-derived Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN), as well as collections from Sentinel-2 and the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project. Using these datasets, we calculated common water quality indices (Normalized Difference Chlorophyll Index and Normalized... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/10q1835g Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Doroshow, Lemon Cheesman, Julia Emery, Kyle Sharp, Samuel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0t3047dg <p>Chasing the Sun: Mapping Solar Geometry and Radiation with Sun Compass app</p><p>Sun Compass is a web-based geospatial application that visualizes solar position, radiation, and atmospheric geometry across space and time using live and historical NOAA datasets. Designed to make complex solar-radiation modeling more intuitive and accessible, the tool enables users to explore how sunlight interacts with geographic features, weather conditions, and temporal factors such as time of year or day. By integrating meteorological, astronomical, and topographical data, Sun Compass creates interactive carpet plots and SVG-based solar diagrams that dynamically represent changes in azimuth, elevation, and irradiance throughout the day.</p><p> Being developed as part of an independent research study at the University of California, Santa Barbara under the mentorship of Professor Diba Mirza, this project brings together computer science, GIS, and data visualization to promote environmental... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0t3047dg Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Srikanth, Sanjay Ajith, Saathvika Raifman, Matthew Stahl, Amalia Norton, Fiona