GIS and Atmospheric Science:
Why, What, How?
Workshop on Satellite Data Applications
August 20-21, 2003
Sam Batzli, Environmental Remote Sensing Center, The Nelson Institute for
Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Directives and Directions (why)
• NOAA – 2008 “Cross-Cutting Priorities”
Integrated Environmental Observation and Data Management System
• NCAR – 10 Year Plan “NCAR as an Integrator”
A Geographic Information Systems Initiative
• Recent Activities:
– NCAR – GIS in Weather, Climate and Impacts Workshop – 1214 August 2002 – Boulder, Colorado.
– GIS Session at EGS-AGU-EUG Meeting – 6-11 April 2003 –
Nice, France.
– NESDIS Data Users’ Workshop – 11-12 June 2003 Boulder,
Colorado.
– Unidata Workshop – Expanding Horizons – 22-27 June 2003 –
Boulder, Colorado.
GIS Overview (what)
• What is GIS?
– Computer system capable of
assembling, storing,
manipulating, and displaying
geographically referenced
information
• How it works
– Point, polygon, line, and raster
layers
– Spatial relationships
– Visualization
• Applications of GIS
– Mapping, site selection,
visualization, resource inventory
and management, and more
• The future of GIS
– Enterprise networks
– Distributed & relational
– Advanced modeling
– Web integration
Some GIS Companies
• ESRI (Environmental Systems
Research Institute Inc.)
makers of ArcINFO, ArcView,
ArcGIS, etc.
http://www.esri.com
• Intergraph, makers of
GeoMedia
http://imgs.intergraph.com
• GRASS (Geographic
Resources Analysis Support
System) Open Source,
http://grass.baylor.edu
• PCI Geomatics, makers of
Geomatica.
http://www.pcigeomatics.com
Total GIS core-business revenue will grow
8% to $1.75 billion in 2003, by Daratech's
forecast. This compares to a 2.4% growth
(to $1.6 billion in core-business revenues) in
2002 over the prior year.
Basic Info & Data Sources
• GIS Overviews
– http://www.usgs.gov/research/gis/title.html
– http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/basicgis.html
– http://www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/
programs/ComRegEcon/gis/gisintro.htm
– http://www.gis.com
• Data Sources
– http://www.geographynetwork.com (live global web data)
– http://data.geocomm.com/ (join and download)
– http://nsdi.usgs.gov/ or http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/ (US data)
– http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/glcf/esdi?command=home
(free Landsat imagery)
• GIS Standards
– http://www.opengis.org (Open GIS Consortium – “OGC”)
Integrative Applications
• Examples of ongoing NOAA work:
– Exposing the U.S. Coastal Zone. (NGDC) Presented by David Divins, Dan
Metzger, John Campagnoli, and Matt Kuhn (NESDIS Workshop 2003)
– Enterprise GIS (NGDC) Presented by Ted Haberman, Geospatial Data
Services Group (NESDIS Workshop 2003)
– Coral Reef Information System. (NODC) Presented by Anthony Picciolo
(NESDIS Workshop 2003)
– Coastal Risk Atlas. (NCDDC) Presented by Russ Beard (NESDIS
Workshop 2003)
• Workshop Summary Needs:
– Increasing communication among researchers and practitioners using GIS
in meteorology and climatology (consortia, workshops, collaborations)
– Developing organization-wide GIS infrastructure (NetCDF API to OGC,
XML standard for the meteorological community)
– Training atmospheric science researchers and practitioners in use of GIS
Environmental Remote Sensing
Center (http://www.ersc.wisc.edu)
•
Lake Clarity
– Integration of Landsat
imagery and DNR hydro
layer with volunteer
ground truth data
(http://www.lakesat.org)
•
Land cover change
– Tornado damage
measurement using
before/after change
detection
•
Spatial Databases
– ArcSDE/Oracle
•
Web Mapping
– MapServer
http://www.lakesat.org/stat
ewide.php
– ArcIMS
http://foliage.geo.msu.edu
/wege/viewer.htm
•
MODIS ImageServer
Thoughts on Integration
• What if Severe Weather warnings included an inpath risk index for population, landmarks, land
cover, and utility infrastructure?
• What if urban heat sinks could be factored into
regional or micro-climate weather forecasts or
climate change?
• What if GIS-based agricultural productivity forecasts
could link soil models with real-time meteorological
inputs?
• How can long-term climate change modeling
improve land use planning at a statewide scale?
Suggested Next Steps (how)
• Nuts and Bolts Issues:
– GIS practitioners need to learn about things
like McIDAS, NetCDF, real-time data
streaming, loop structures, data archiving.
– GIS and Weather/Climate folks need to trade
data sets and begin to forge crosswalks and
linkages.
– GIS and Weather/Climate folks need to
identify common area of interest and focused
projects and develop grant proposals.
Discussion
Questions?
Browse the Sample Data
1. Pick Pilot/Navigator
2. Open ArcCatalog
Start/All Programs/ArcGIS/ArcCatalog
3.
4.
5.
6.
Browse to CD-ROM
Expand Catalog
Pick a State
Preview a *blkgrp.shp
file, zoom/pan
7. Preview the Table
8. Click Metadata, try
different style sheets
Build a Data Stack
1. Open ArcMap
Start/All Programs/ArcGIS/ArcMap
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Add Data
Connect to Folder
Pick a State
Select the .shp files
Add
Explore the Data
•
•
•
•
Turn the Layers On/Off
Arrange Layers
View Tables
View Properties
– Symbology
– Definition Query
– Labels
Add Additional Data
• Tabular Data
– x-y? (.dbf)
– Or Common field?
– Example
[USHCN stations & history]
• Raster Data
– Example, DEM
http://edc.usgs.gov/geodata/
[FTP via State]
• From the Web
– Example
[File/Add Data from Internet]
• Advanced stuff?
– SQL, clip, merge
Quick Review
• Ok, what did we just do?
– Became acquainted with GIS
– Explored data
– Built a data “stack” with point, line, polygon,
and raster data
– Mapped x-y and non-spatial data
• What’s next?
– Building thematic maps suitable for framing
– But first…
15 Minute Break…
Making Thematic Maps in GIS
• Switch Pilot/Navigator roles (if you’re sharing a
computer)
• Open your ArcMap document or start a new one
• Choose a theme to map… examples:
– State and National parks of the West
– Population density of Colorado
– Ethnicity of California by Census Block Group
– Be creative
• Add *.lyr files to your map
• Switch to Map Layout view
• Choose an “appropriate” projection (i.e. state
standard, equal area, equidistant, for more info see
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/map
proj/mapproj_f.html )
Making it Pretty and Adding the
Trimmings
• Use Layer Properties (symbology, and labels) to
adjust the look of your layers
• Use the “Insert” menu to add title, text, neatline,
legend, north arrow, scale bar, etc.
• Insert a new “data frame” to show map context
• Proof read
• Print your creation
TIPS
• Simplify!
• Limit number and sizes and
styles of fonts
• Choose colors carefully
– Nifty tool at:
www.colorbrewer.com