So… who is this guy? And
why is he teaching GIS?
Dr. G’s personal Bio for DL students…
Since we will only ‘see’ each other over the internet, and since I am
going to ask you to to tell me about yourselves, your goals and WHY
you are interested in learning GIS…. Its only fair that I tell you a
little about me…
(feel free to skip these pages!) ;-)
I am really a geographer, its part of who I am. I love to travel, to
explore (to get ‘lost’). I have been to Europe, Africa and Asia.
Although I enjoy Western North America most of all.
I have done GIS and Remote sensing professionally since leaving the
ranks of high school science teachers (I only lasted 4 years). As you
can see from my publication record, I feel like I can say “been there,
done that”… and in most cases I have the T-shirt to show for it.
Along with being a real ‘honest to gosh’ physical geographer who
actually studies landscapes for fun! am a photographer, fisherman,
occasional computer geek, mechanic (when I have to be) and
carpenter.
I am very fortunate to be in the position of Associate Professor at
UNA…. It a good school, with really good students and outstanding
colleagues.
Although, to be here, I had to leave Oregon State and Corvallis OR
where we spent the last 15 years! Most of the time it’s a good trade,
but I really miss the cliffs soaring above the pounding surf, the
silence of the desert at night and the smell of a wind with nothing
behind it but 3000 miles of ocean and 70 miles of fir clad
mountains!
But this is where I could play ‘professor’ and I am loving it!
GIS Experience
•1987 beta test of PC Arc/Info… first ‘hands on’ class
at OSU
•1996-1997 GIS coordinator CRRL, Cook WA.
Evaluating and modeling effect of physical factors
on fish behavior. Arcview
•1989 MS Research Project Developing a cartographic
•1999-2000 Director of OSU’s NASA Commercial
and GIS data base for Lawrence Memorial Grassland
Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) Affiliated
Preserve, Central Oregon PC Arc/Info/Autocad
Research Center (ARC)
•1989-2001Aerial Photographer/Videographer
•1999-2000 GIS Access Learning team leader. Led
workshops in Houston TX, Sacramento CA. and
•1990 Modeling potential crop lands in the US UNIX
Bend OR Arcview
Arc/Info
•1990-1993 Developed and used RS and GIS tools to
produce a vegetation/landcover map of the former
Soviet Union (FSU). UNIX Arc/Info and GRASS
•1994-1996 Modeling land cover change and biomass
in forests of tropical Africa GRID
•1994-2001 Geoscience Information Specialist (sys
admin/GIS instructor) Oregon State University PC
Arc/Info-Arcview
•2000-2001 Spatial and Temporal patterns of
emergency response to the 1999 earthquakes in
Turkey. Arcview/ERDAS
•2001-2002 Agro-Climatic regions of China: using
spatial modeling to expand marketing opportunities
for Oregon grown grass seed. Arcview
• 2002-2004 Associate Professor; Geography
Department University of North Alabama
As of this year, I can say that I have 17 years experience in ‘doing’ GIS
and 12 years teaching GIS
Using GIS to
Model
Biomass in
tropical
Forests
One of the maps produced using a GIS model that used climatic and soils
information to predict areas suitable for commercial production of various
crops.
Using GIS in biological modeling. I set the up a GIS for the Columbia River Research Lab in
Cook WA. I started using the arcview based system to model the relationships between
predator fish (Squaw Fish.. A BIG minnow) and Prey (juvenile Salmon).
Major Publications
Heyman O, Gaston GG, Kimerling AJ, Campbell JT; “A Per-Segment Approach
to Improving Aspen Mapping from High-Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery”
June 2003 Journal of Forestry
Jackson, P.L. and G.G. Gaston; "Potential Croplands: A GIS Approach to
Modeling Potential Crop Growing Lands in the United States", 1998,
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (submitted and accepted)
Gaston G.G., S. Brown, M. Lorenzini and K.D. Singh; "State and Change in
Carbon Pools in the Forests of Tropical Africa", Global Change Biology 1998,
4, 97-114.
Gaston, G.G., P.M. Bradley, T.S. Vinson and T.P. Kolchugina; "GVI
Classification of Vegetation and Landcover Regions in the Former Soviet Union
as Inputs for Forest Ecosystem Modeling", Photogrammetric Engineering and
Remote Sensing 1996, 63 - 1, 51-58.
"Simulating Carbon Storage in Forests of Eastern Russia" (P. M. Bradley, G.G.
Gaston, T. S. Vinson and T.P. Kolchugina), J. of Water, Air and Soil Pollution,
82, 1-2, 1995.
Publications contd.
Brown S. and G. Gaston, "Use of Forest Inventories and Geographic Information
Systems to Estimate Biomass Density of Tropical Forests: Application to Tropical
Africa", Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 1995, 38 - 2-3, 157-168.
Gaston, G.G. and T.P. Kolchugina; "Estimates of Phytomass and Net Primary
Productivity in Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Former Soviet Union Identified by
Classified Global Vegetation Index", World Resource Review 1995, 7 - 4, 525540.
Gaston G.G., P.L. Jackson, T.S.Vinson, and T.P. Kolchugina; "Identification of
Carbon Quantifiable Regions in the Former Soviet Union Using Unsupervised
Classification of AVHRR Global Vegetation Index Images", International Journal
of Remote Sensing 1994, 15 - 16, 3199-3222
Jackson, P.L. and G.G. Gaston; "Digital Enhancement as an Aid to Detecting
Patterns of Vegetation Stress Using Medium-Scale Aerial Photography",
International Journal of Remote Sensing 1994, 15 - 5, 1009-1018
Gaston G.G., T.P. Kolchugina and T.S.Vinson; "Potential Effect of No-Till
Management on Carbon in the Agricultural Soils of the Former Soviet Union",
Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 1993, 45, 295-309
COURSE GOALS: For a student to understand and use spatial analysis tools;
and apply these tools and techniques to real data and realistic problems.
•Task/Skill:
•Think Geographically, look at a problem in terms of spatial analysis
Understand the components of GIS and how it is used in a variety of environments
Learn to ASK good questions!
Learn to locate, process and evaluate data necessary to answer geographic questions.
Write reports that incorporate GIS mapping and analysis
Manage files, data and programs
Apply basic file management skills to the GIS
Managing Arcview ‘projects’… ‘PROJECTS’ are NOT DATA!!!!
Set working directories
Recognize the vast number of additional tools available and have experience in loading and activating extensions
•Acquiring spatial data
Successfully search for spatial data
Recognize and understand types of files available
Use compression and import utilities
Understand the importance of meta-data and how to evaluate spatial data
Use CAD and Image files, Shape files, Coverages, DEM’s, etc in Arcview
•Creating Data
Use on screen digitizing to create new shape files
Create ‘event themes’ from point data in a spreadsheet (e.g. GPS points)
Copy/paste tabular data: Import spreadsheet data, join tables
Geocoding
Use ‘queries’ to identify subsets of data and create new data files (e.g. Oregon counties from a map of US counties)
COURSE GOALS: contd
•Deal with projections
Know how to use ‘Projector!’ and/or ‘Projection Utility Wizard’
Understand the concepts of projection/datum and spheroid etc.
•Spatial Analysis Tools
Exploring data using the legend editor
Build spatial/data queries
Join tables
Theme on theme selections
Edit tables/create new attribute data in a table/create summary tables
Clip
Buffer
(Xtools and geo-processing wizard extensions)
Erase
•Graphic Communications
Creating ‘layouts’ maps/charts/tables
So What is a “GIS”?
• “GISs are simultaneously the telescope,
the microscope, the computer, and the
Xerox machine of regional analysis and
synthesis of spatial data.”
-- Ron Abler, executive director of the
Association of American Geographers, 1988
• “A geographic information system is a special
case of information systems where the database
consists of observations on spatially distributed
features, activities or events, which are definable
in space as points, lines, or areas. A geographic
information system manipulates data about these
points, lines, and areas to retrieve data for ad hoc
queries and analyses” (Duecker, 1979, p 106)
A GIS is a toolbox
“a powerful set of tools for storing and
retrieving at will, transforming and
displaying spatial data from the real world
for a particular set of purposes” (Burrough,
1986, p. 6).
The Sandwich
Model of the
world…..
WHAT IS “HERE”?
WHERE ARE “THESE”?
WHERE DO “THIS” AND
“THAT” OCCUR TOGETHER?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
CHANGES OCCUR?
A GIS is an ANLYSIS tool
• For every piece of data it specifies
What it is
Where it is
How it relates to other pieces of data
• What things are in common
• See spatial relationships or create NEW
relationships.
All GIS definitions recognize that
spatial data are unique because they
are linked to maps.
Geographically-referenced data
Latitude and longitude
Street address
x and y coordinates (UTM for example)
Township and Range
Major Questions for a GIS?
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WHAT exists at a certain location?
WHERE are certain conditions satisfied?
WHAT has changed in a place over time?
WHAT spatial patterns exist?
WHAT IF this condition occurred at this
place? (modeling/hypothesis testing)
MAJOR QUESTIONS FOR
YOU…
• WHAT ARE MY QUESTIONS?*
• What data do I need?
• What data can I get? What
substitutes/compromises am I going to make?
• How can I combine my data to answer my
questions?
*(#1 most critical question that you MUST know the
answer to, EVERY time, on EVERY project!)
GISci
Geographic information science
??
• A New Discipline?
GIScience is to GIS as:
Statistics are to the statistical packages?
Computer Science or Computer Engineering
are to “Windows XP” (etc)?
The science behind the systems (?)
What makes a ‘science’? Does it really
matter?
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Major GIS Journals
International Journal of Geographical Information Science
Cartography and Geographic Information Science
Geographical Systems
Transactions in GIS
Geo Info Systems
GEOWorld (formerly GISWorld)
Professional Organizations
AAG: The Association of American Geographers.
GITA: Geospatial Information & Technology Assoc. (formerly AM/FM)
URISA: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association.
ACSM: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.
ASPRS: American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.
NACIS: North American Cartographic Information Society.
Conference Proceedings
ESRI User Conference. Every year in San Diego.
GIS is a multi-million dollar
business.
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ESRI’s 1996 sales were over $200 million, in a
GIS software market of ~$591 million (2/3+ of
that Arcview)
Ranks 34th among world’s top 50 software
companies
“The growth of GIS has been a marketing
phenomenon of amazing breadth and depth and
will remain so for many years to come. Clearly,
GIS will integrate its way into our everyday life
to such an extent that it will soon be impossible
to imagine how we functioned before”
The GIS Process in a nutshell….
“The parking lot”
Goals:
• To see the relationships between field
observations and GIS data sets
• To create map and GIS data sets from field
data
• To perform simple spatial analysis and
present the results graphic form
• To really get in and ‘play with’ the GIS
Methods:
• Teams of 2 people
• Choose a parking lot around one of the buildings
on campus
Select a block of parking spaces (8-10)
Record data about the vehicles parked in these
spaces. (record both spatial and attribute data)
Collect data sufficient to ’query’ these data and
analyze some spatial patterns
Methods contd.:
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Create a map and data set in Arcview
Populate the data table with your attribute data
Perform at least 2 spatial queries
Create a layout of your results… make sure the
text of your query and your names are part of the
layout.
• “hokey-pokey is okey-dokey”