gislinks gis seminar extension projects courses resume

 

Mônica A. Haddad
Assistant Professor and GIS Specialist
Department of Community and Regional Planning
146, College of Design Ames, IA, 50011-3095

students

Lan Wei
Master of Community and Regional Planning & Landscape Architecture, Departments of Community and Regional Planning & Landscape Architecture
Completion: Fall 2007

GIS modeling of urbanization impacts on natural resources, Dakota County, Minnesota
Abstract: This research focused on the impacts of urbanization in natural resources and land-cover changes due to urban development in Dakota County, Minnesota. An existing planning guide, the 2030 Regional Development Framework (2030 RDF) for the Twin Cities Metro Area, was analyzed and employed as a reference in this research. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology was used to help determine characteristics of urban land-cover changes, such as population change, land cover changes, and the environmental impacts on natural resources. Furthermore, land suitability modeling was utilized to analyze possible future development, from the perspectives of urban expansion and agricultural land protection. FRAGSTATS, a tool for ecological landscape analysis based on GIS, was also used to investigate patterns of urbanization. The results of the research show that the 2030 RDF is a feasible guide for Dakota County to direct their future development. From an environmental view point, the 2030 RDF limits unnecessary urban sprawl, while maximizing agricultural land protection.

 

David Inbody
Master of Community and Regional Planning, Department of Community and Regional Planning
Completion: Summer 2007

Exploring micropolitan areas as a source of population growth in Iowa
Abstract: As sluggish growth persists in the state of Iowa, micropolitan areas may provide a viable source for expanding development. This thesis has two primary objectives: to better understand those factors driving population growth among micropolitan areas and to explore micropolitan areas in the state of Iowa as compared to micropolitan areas in other parts of the country. The analyses show a relationship between four of the five growth factors (agglomeration, recreation, immigration, education and diversification) and effective growth rate, the difference between micropolitan population growth and statewide population growth. As the number of qualifying categories increase for a micropolitan area, effective growth rates also increase. Recreation-related factors had the strongest relationship to growth both in Iowa and nationwide. Agglomeration factors performed better in Iowa than nationally, but education factors performed worse. Many Iowa micropolitan areas can capitalize on existing resources in an effort to stimulate population growth.

 

Daniel Nack
Master of Science, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Completion: Spring 2007

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications in electric power engineering
Abstract: A Geographic Information System (GIS) is much more than a piece of software that can be used to produce maps. A large portion of its power comes in the form of the spatial analyses that it can perform. Utilizing raster-based modeling a methodology is described that uses least-cost distance analysis to plan the routing of an underground electric distribution system. GIS can also be used to explore the characteristics of an area and here is used to explore the current wind generation installations in Iowa. From this a methodology is developed that provides for the locating and ranking of new possible wind generation sites to be used in further power flow studies in an effort to determine the maximum wind generation penetration in Iowa subject to the existing electrical transmission system.

 

Isha Kaphle
Master of Community and Regional Planning, Department of Community and Regional Planning
Completion: Fall 2006

Evaluating people’s accessibility to public parks using Geographic Information Systems: A case study in Ames, Iowa
Abstract: Research on urban facilities has proliferated during past few decades. This study presents an approach for drawing conclusions about spatial equity in distribution of park services using Geographic Information System. A case study of the neighborhood and community parks in Ames, Iowa is presented. Traditional methods are used to determine park service areas. Measure of distance to the nearest park is used as indicators of accessibility. Need is derived from various demographic variables. Local indicators of spatial association and raster analysis are used to study the spatial distribution of need and accessibility. The results depict some neighborhoods in South and Northwest Ames with high need for parks and low levels of accessibility. These areas are emphasized as critical areas that public decision makers need to focus on.

 

Adam Craig Holven
Master of Arts, Department of Anthropology
Completion: Spring 2006

A GIS Analysis of Paleoindian site structure at the Clary Ranch site
Abstract: GIS analysis of spatial patterning at the late Paleoindian Ranch site has provided new insights into the spatial organization at a secondary processing location for bison carcasses adjacent to a mass kill-butchery site. The patterning suggests at least two processing areas at the Clary Ranch site, identified by dense concentrations of debitage and logbone flakes. Associated with these concentrations are chipped stone tools and percussion artifacts. Adjacent to processing locations are discard areas, consisting primarily of longbone articular ends and very few chipped stone items. At this time, it is unknown if the Clary Ranch site functioned as a short-term camp in addition to a secondaru bison processing location. The presence of areas between processing locations, more or less void of archaeological patterning, suggests that Paleoindians anticipated the amoint of time needed to accomplish processing tasks and planned accordingly by designating areas for short-term habitation.

 

Erik Otarola Castillo
Master of Arts, Department of Anthropology
Completion: Spring 2006

Late Prehistoric (Oneota) exploitation of deer at the Clarkson Site, Warren County, Central Iowa
Abstract: This thesis is taphonomically-oriented reanalysis of the deer assemblage from the Clarkson site, an Oneota village from central Iowa. The deer sample reflects intensive exploitation of nine animals procured within a relatively short period of time, mainly discarded into a single pit feature. Skeletal elements represent the remains of a spatially segregated activity area where mostly forelimbs were indiscriminately and intensively processed for marrow and grease while articulated. Cutmarked and carnivore modified specimens of the ankle joint are significantly higher, indicating that high meat-yield elemets such as the femora and tibia, were selectively removed and processed elsewhere at the site, probably explaining their low frequency. The systematic nature of the processing activities at the Clarkson site suggests that intensive carcass exploitation is probably an inherent part of the Moingona phase susbsitence system. However, data needed to evaluate the ecological conditions causing the observed exploitation behavior are currently unavailable.

 

Kanlaya Jintanakul
Master of Science, Department of Economics
Completion: Summer 2005

Factors Affecting Hospital Choice For Rural Iowa Residents
Abstract: The issue of patient outmigration has become a detriment to the financial viability of rural hospital facilities and reduced access to hospital services in rural areas due to closures, mergers and consolidation of facilities. Despite the importance of this issue to current rural health policy, little research using both inpatient and outpatient data exists. This paper presents a multinomial logit analysis of hospital patronage choices by Iowa inpatients and outpatients hospitalized. The results indicate that factors including race, age, distance, income, type of procedures, type of admission, type of diagnosis, and source of payment are related to outmigration behaviors. Additionally, outmigration is a more serious problem for inpatient visits than it is compared to outpatient visits.

 

Karen Louise Johnson
Master of Community and Regional Planning, Department of Community and Regional Planning
Completion: Fall 2005

Imperviousness in Planning for Water Quality: A BASINS Study
Abstract: While embracing current growth, an understanding of land use and the impact on water quality is needed. One way for planners to better evaluate the land use-water quality connection is the use of GIS. BASINS, an extension to GIS distributed by the EPA, allows for the evaluation of imperviousness, runoff and nutrient loadings for watershed areas. To illustrate these methods, North Raccoon River Watershed land use scenarios are used to study the role impervious surfaces have on water quality. The outcome of this research is an evaluation of impervious surfaces in water resource management, and an examination of BASINS as an analytical tool for land use planning.

 

Vladimir Bassis
Master of Public Administration
Completion: Fall 2005

Current State of E-transparency in Ukrainian City Governments
Abstract: This purpose of this research is to explore spatial distribution and spatial autocorrelation of ethnic composition, level of e-governance development, and voting trends of the 25 Ukrainian provinces utilizing the November 2005 presidential elections. The results of this research can help to understand the role of ethnicity in political processes, political activeness of ethnically grouped populations, and facilitate an interpretation of relationships between existing levels of e-government and voting trends. The findings of this research reveal predominantly low level of e-governance in the 25 capitols of Ukrainian provinces and demonstrate no significant spatial autocorrelation between the level of e-governance and predominant ethnicity, or predominant voting trends, with strong spatial autocorrelation between ethnicity and voting preferences. Additional in-depth analysis of level of e-transparency in local governments of Ukraine is conducted under a lens of leading theories in the area of e-transparency.

 

Zhen Zhan
Masters of Landscape Architecture
Completion: Fall 2004

The Influence of Scale on the Landscape Analysis for Resources Management in the Milwaukee Road Rail Yard, Perry, Iowa