
Events for November 4, 2014 - September 24, 2015
November 2014
The Geospatial Approach: Bridging Science and Community Development
This seminar will showcase case studies from a fisherman village to the Texas border community, from climate change scholars to the agriculture community, from science to inform communities from crime.
Read MoreStatistical Methods for Image Data to Facilitate Geographical Applications
Dr. Jun will discuss parametric covariance functions that can be used to model the spatial and spatio-temporal dependence structure in images and statistical estimation methods for their parameters.
Read MoreFebruary 2015
CyberGIS‐Enabled Geospatial Revolution in the Big Data Era
CyberGIS represents an interdisciplinary field synergizing advanced cyberinfrastructure, geographic information science and systems (GIS), spatial analysis and modeling, and a number of geospatial domains to improve research productivity and enable scientific breakthroughs.
Read MoreLiDAR Remote Sensing: Focusing on the Z Coordinate from Ground, Airborne, and Satellite Platforms
Lasers have been one of the greatest scientific developments of the twentieth century. After more than five decades of laser achievements, lasers are still a symbol of high technology and they push the remote sensing field to new “heights.”
Read MoreMarch 2015
In Harm’s Way: Measuring and Mapping Social Vulnerability
Communities are only as strong as their weakest link. They cannot be resilient unless all members are able to withstand and bounce back from an economic, social or physical disaster. Yet, a community’s social vulnerabilities are often neglected. When disaster strikes, its impact is not just a function of its magnitude and where it strikes.
Read MoreUsing Spatial Analysis to Assess Flood Risk and Reduction in Coastal Areas
Never before have the repercussions from both surge and rainfall‐based storm events been so damaging to the economic vitality of local communities. This presentation will demonstrate how spatial analytical techniques can be used to understand the nature of flood risk to coastal residents and identify measures that can reduce flood impacts.
Read MoreApril 2015
Geospatial Applications in Production Agriculture
Old McDonald may have had a farm, but young McDonald is using technologies that his forebear could only dream about. Many of these technologies focus on variability in the geospatial sense. Whereas site-specific techniques were formerly employed rather artistically, they are now applied in a scientifically rigorous fashion with automated computer-based machines.
Read MoreThe Changing Landscape of GIS – A Texas Perspective
Coordination between federal, state, regional, and local governments can make the mapping efforts for Texas extremely challenging. Consistent with the independent characteristics of people important in Texas history, the last 60 years of mapping in Texas state government evolved through the efforts of dedicated individuals who met the challenges head-on, experienced triumphs and understood the value of lessons learned.
Read MoreSeptember 2015
Airborne and Space LiDAR for Forest Inventory
Airborne LiDARs have been used to measure forest canopy characteristics e.g., height, canopy density -‐ for over 30 years. A satellite LiDAR system, ICESat/GLAS, acquired near-global measurements of canopy heights from 2003-2007. These systems provide accurate height and density measurements, but their utility for predicting b/c is more limited because the primary driver for predicting biomass is the diameter of a tree, not its height, and not stand density.
Read MoreSoil Hydrology Across Space and Time – Scale Up and Scale Down
The “Critical Zone” extending from the top of the vegetative canopy through the depth of weathered bedrock plays a central role in Earth’s climate system and provides essential ecosystem services, thereby affecting virtually every aspect of society and the environment. Thus, water stores and fluxes across the critical zone from process scale to management scale are necessary to better account, model, and manage the available water resources.
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