UC GIS Week

Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Developing Neighborhood Environmental Measures to Promote Public Health

The emerging literature on green space and blue space indicates that these factors are likely to mitigate stress and promote public health. This talk outlines an approach to the application of computer vision and machine learning methods to quantify green ( grass, trees, shrubbery, etc.) and blue (ponds, lakes, rivers, bays, and oceans, etc) spaces for Census block groups. We are planning to use these results to find their association with health outcomes among breast cancer survivors.

GIS and Public Health: Carving an Undergraduate Path with Passion and Enthusiasm

“What do you plan to do with Geography?” Being the “different” one as a Geography major and GIS minor among my “pre-med” and life science peers has not been easy. But the rocky start opened me up to a new path of career and skill interests that combines the best of both GIS and Public Health. Join me in this live discussion about how I am beginning my undergraduate journey in GIS and how I plan to inspire others with my burning curiosity and passion for this versatile and promising discipline.

Teaching GIS: StoryMaps & Sustainable Development Goals

In summer 2020, with all learning moved to virtual, I taught Introduction to GIS, an upper division course required for many majors, at UC Davis.  Given the difficulties in giving tests and promoting group work, I chose to emphasize project work.  Student learned theory through lectures and practical skills using ArcGIS Pro.  I also taught ArcGIS Online and StoryMaps, with final projects worth 45% of the grade and presented using StoryMaps and focused on the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Fieldwork from Afar: Using Storymaps for Site Visits

As COVID-19 limits our ability to move freely, how can architects, planners, and others produce accessible, comprehensive site analysis documents? Using a storymap developed for a recent student pedestrian safety study, cityLAB researchers will share how storymaps made it possible to conduct informative “site walks” from afar with stakeholders and board members.

Gay migration versus person-environment attitudinal fit: A regional analysis

Gay migration is the anecdotal idea that lesbian and gay (LG) people migrate from places that are not gay-friendly to gay-friendly places to find acceptance. We used archival data to examine migration patterns based on regional gay-friendliness, personal sexuality attitudes and sexual orientation. We observed gay migration in LG people migrating based on regional gay-friendliness, while the fit or misfit of personal attitudes and regional gay-friendliness predicted migration in straight people.

Mapping Hate Crime in the United States

Hate crime is a national human rights problem. Incidents are rising, but statistics are unreliable. The need for a publicly available resource documenting hate crimes is great, yet accurate data are not available. The Hate Crime Map addresses this need by providing a crowd-sourced platform where victims can report incidents. The map offers data and sophisticated visualizations by state & county of the types & cause (race, gender, religion) of the attacks. This panel will introduce the map.

Metamap: Building a More Accessible Campus Map

Metamap is a student-initiated collaborative project to improve the UCLA campus map for people with disabilities. We aim to log accessible assets, routes, and maintenance issues that pose a threat to accessibility. Our project is an example of the synergies between various different campus entities, including student government, to use GIS for the benefit of the entire campus community.

Visualizing Preterm Birth in the Bay Area

Preterm birth is the leading cause of death under the age of 5, and can lead to lifelong health issues. Its complex causes are associated with genetic, biological, environmental, and sociodemographic factors. We present a geographic data visualization platform to explore rates of PTB and related risk factors in understanding PTB in the Bay Area. This is an essential step for pattern exploration, hypothesis generation, and presents opportunities to increase public and stakeholder involvement.

Integrated Risk Assessment and Geospatial Analysis for SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater for Vulnerable Populations

Wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been shown cost effective to predict outbreaks of COVID-19 by 2-10 days. The virus recovered in wastewater can sample whole city populations with results in 1-2 days. Monitoring efforts are also being deployed in at least 27 countries and 88 universities but there is lack of a global repository of these efforts. Thus, we created a global dashboard of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater testing so the public can easily see where testing is happening in their area.

Mapping Health Inequities: UCSF Health Atlas and California Health Maps

Where we live, including the physical and social structures that surround us, influences health in both positive and negative ways. Combining neighborhood-level data with individual-level health data can give researchers a fuller picture of what causes health inequities, and what can be done to address them. Health Atlas aims to provide researchers with an online platform with visual tools to help researchers apply population health principles to achieve health equity.

Monitoring Special Status Species on the Merced Vernal Pools Grasslands Reserve

The Spatial Analysis and Research Center (SpARC) has worked closely with the campus planning department in maintaining GIS layers and have developed an Esri ArcGIS Collector App which is used to survey and monitor special status species. The Merced Vernal Pool Grasslands Reserve lands are also environmental mitigation lands and are subject to federal and state permit conditions and regulations. A GIS database is maintained to help track research activities and for environmental compliance.

Daily imaging for Earth science with the Planet CubeSat constellation

Through our Education and Research program, Planet has more than 5,000 users studying a wide variety of disciplines, including climate change in the cryosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and vegetation dynamics, wildlife biology, threats to coral reefs and other marine habitats, agricultural productivity, and disaster response and humanitarian assistance. We will discuss the scientific and educational value of Planet’s persistent monitoring capability.

Spatial and temporal changes of soil-crop-environment relationship

Agricultural soils are notoriously spatially heterogeneous and many soil properties (e.g., water content) are temporally variable, making soil a complex media. This talk will feature research on the use of field measurements, near ground and remote sensing, and spatiotemporal data analysis for understanding soil-crop-water interactions and managing agricultural input site-specifically.

Using the Neighborhood Risk Index for Healthier Children Families and Communities

Using the Neighborhood Risk Index (NRI), an index comprised of 10 indicators or risk factors, we measure how prevalent social and environmental risk factors are for children in a given city by presenting one dimensional maps of neighborhood risk levels classified by zero, low, medium, and high risk. We also display spatial patterns for each risk factor within city boundaries. These maps identify areas of opportunity in neighborhoods to positively influence child development.

Spatial Heterogeneity in Telehealth Utilization among Patients with MS in the VHA

The purpose of this study is to examine spatial disparities in COVID-19 testing and test positivity among Veterans enrolled in Veterans Affairs Healthcare (VA). We calculate and map age-adjusted and race-stratified age-adjusted testing rates for each county in the contagious US separately for White Veterans and Black Veterans after adjusting for community-level social determinants of health. Rates were standardized to the nationwide population of Veterans in active care at VA.

MetaMap

MetaMap is a collaboration between UCLA USAC Facilities Commission, UCLA Committee on Disability, UCLA Disabilities and Computing Programming Office, UCLA IDRE, and the UCLA Facilities Maintenance Department. It will be an interactive map that can guide people to accessible routes, bathrooms, elevators, power entrances, and blue lights, which will be integrated with the UCLA 311 app. Reporting updates, problems, or obstructions to accessibility will be easy to do via the UCLA 311 app.

GIS-Based Geologic Mapping and Analysis of the Kaipo Mélange, New Zealand

I use a combination of 1m resolution LiDAR data, aerial photography and in-person digital field mapping to generate a new GIS-based large-scale geologic map of a fault-related tectonic mélange exposed within the southernmost Kaipo Slip in north Southland, New Zealand. Using new mapping and LiDAR data, I construct a geologic cross-section and conduct topographic analysis to investigate the relationship between tectonic deformation of basement rocks and quaternary landscape response.

Old Train Maps: The Many Routes of California's Central Pacific Railroad

The Central Pacific Railroad was an audacious Sacramento start-up in the 1860s. An early challenge for the company was figuring out a feasible route across the Sierra Nevadas. How did the route of the Central Pacific Railroad evolve from a mere concept to the busy, as-built track it is today? We describe our QGIS workflow and the technical challenges in georeferencing 21 historical maps of varying size, scale, and accuracy, across three time periods.

Space, Place, and Linked Open Data: Digital Gazetteers and Digital Humanities

This talk outlines methods and theories surrounding digital gazetteers, and highlights the increasing use and importance of Linked Open Data (LOD) in the practice of digital spatial humanities. It explores how a variety of research projects and pedagogical approached can use LOD resources to answer basic research questions, create maps, and view spatial networks. This talk will also discuss how projects can make significant contributions to the growing spatial humanities digital ecosystem.

Variability of scale on 19th century British Admiralty Maps

An extensive study of the base year for British Admiralty charts of West Africa shows how a map purportedly on a single scale introduced measurable variations in scale. ArcGis Pro, 10.7 , & Autocad.