center for geospatial research (cgr) marguerite madden, ph.d., … uga second... · 2015-04-25 ·...

Center for Geospatial Research (CGR) Marguerite Madden, Ph.D., Director Thomas R. Jordan, Ph.D., Associate Director

Department of Geography Athens, Georgia 30602-2503 (706) 542-2372 Fax: 706-542-2388 www.crms.uga.edu

Evaluating Physical, Chemical, and Biological Impacts from

the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Cooperative Agreement Number W912HZ‐13‐2‐0013

Second Quarterly Report – March 31, 2014

Submitted by Thomas Jordan, Marguerite Madden, and Sergio Bernardes

Center for Geospatial Research (CGR)

Department of Geography ‐ University of Georgia

Athens, Georgia 30602

Dear Ms McIntosh –

The following paragraphs summarize the progress on the project for the period January 1, 2014

through March 31, 2014, according to the five objectives outlined in the Statement of Work and

summarized below.

Tommy Jordan visited USACE, Savannah, on January 22, 2014 to meet with Mackie Macintosh,

Bill Bailey and Ned Durden for a discussion on the web site and other data requirements.

Progress by Objective

1. Research and develop data analysis tools and standardized maps; Analyze and

integrate multiple, complex datasets to provide detailed map

a. Bathymetric Data ‐ Ned Durden (USACE) has sent CGR the data for the most

recent bathymetric surveys of the Harbor. These have been converted to shape

files and are included in our local Geodatabase. These data are not included in

the on‐line map at this time.

b. Sturgeon Data: We have received the first batch of data for the Sturgeon

monitoring study in the Savannah River, including the receiver locations and RFID

transmitter data for the period November 21, 2013 through January 10, 2014.

We are now working on concepts for the display and analysis of these data and

will discuss the most appropriate methods for analysis and display with Bill. We

have included the receiver locations in the on‐line map.

c. Vegetation/Marsh Monitoring Data – We have incorporated the marsh

monitoring site locations, as reported in Jamie Duberstein’s documents, into the

Geodatabase and have plotted them on the on‐line map.



2. Research, identify, and catalogue existing study documents for the major resource

areas

a. We revised the existing bibliography and included the USACE supplemental study

reports in the categorized list, as requested.

b. We created a local instance of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project site,

including associated documents, originally maintained by CH2M HILL.

3. GIS Data and Web Portal

a. Determine appropriate attributes for the GIS

i. This is an on‐going effort and depends on the data we receive from other

researchers as described above in Objective 1. All mapping coordinates

are being standardized on the Georgia State Plane Coordinate System,

East Zone, NAD83. Vertical coordinates are referenced to NAVD88,

except for raw bathymetric data, which are referenced to local MLLW.

Data sets with coordinates in other systems will be converted to State

Plane for compatibility. The original coordinates will be preserved in the

data sets as attributes. (no change from the previous reports)

b. Develop a web portal to facilitate public access to the pertinent data

i. During this quarter, CGR worked closely with our point of contact at the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Ms Margarett McIntosh) to implement,

update and customize the website that will serve as data and information

portal for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Monitoring Program.

The web portal is being hosted by CGR and during the period covered by

this report included multiple modifications, as follows:

Definition of a domain name (http://shep.uga.edu) to be used by

the website.

Interface customization to match colors and general look and feel

of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ main website

(http://www.usace.army.mil/).

Implementation of a rotating slide feature on the website’s Home

Page, including five slides showing pictures and text associated

with activities developed during the monitoring program.



Multiple customizations of the Mapping page, including the

implementation of clickable water gage icons, links to USGS data

associated with each gage (water quality, dissolved oxygen and

specific conductance), as well as the redefinition of the default

zoom level. Marsh and sturgeon monitoring site locations are

included in the map but not exposed on the initial (default) view.

They may be turned on by clicking on the “View Larger Map” link

and opening the Content Tab and clicking on the ‘Monitoring

Locations” data layer.

Implementation of popup windows with details regarding

individual elements for the Monitoring Components.

Addition of multiple reports to the Reports page.

Reorganization of the Bibliography page, including the

classification of documents into multiple categories, as well as

addition of multiple documents.

Creation of a form‐based contact page where users will be able to

send emails to CGR and to the USACE.

Customization of the website to guarantee its compatibility with

Internet Explorer version 9, currently being used by the Army

Corps.

Multiple minor layout modifications, feature additions and

improvements, including a clickable area on the website banner, a

house icon on the main menu, a “Building Strong®” logo and a

redesigned footer, among others.

Website implementation and customization involved multiple

interactions with Ms. McIntosh and other USACE personnel in order to

better attend the needs of the SHEP Monitoring Program and end users.

The series of figures attached to this report show snapshots of the

Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Monitoring Program website as of

03/31/2014.

ii. CGR has received all the hardware components to be used with the data

portal in support of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Monitoring

Program. During this quarter, the server that will host the Monitoring

Program website, plus additional hardware components, were integrated

into CGR’s cyberinfrastructure. The server (SHEP server) and components

were mounted on a rack system inside CGR’s climate controlled server



room and the SHEP server was connected to UGA’s fast network.

Following hardware installation, software necessary to host the

Monitoring Program website and to serve geospatial data, including

Windows Server 2012 and ArcGIS server, were installed on the SHEP

server. In addition, three computer workstations were configured with

web development tools and the ArcGIS software. These workstations

were used for website development and geospatial data manipulation

and preparation.

c. Develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

i. These have not been established yet – we are waiting on information

from the other researchers before we can set up the SOPs. Now that we

have begun to receive some data, we expect to be able to begin

developing SOPs for the sturgeon and bathymetric data.

4. Update and maintain the GIS

a. These efforts are on‐going. We continue to collect available GIS data for

Chatham and Effingham counties (Georgia) and Jasper County (South Carolina),

including LiDAR, base GIS data layers (roads, hydrology, boundaries, etc.), multi‐

date aerial photography and satellite images in order to build a comprehensive

geodatabase for the region. We are collecting data from the Georgia GIS Data

Clearinghouse, the USGS National Map, NOAA Coastal Services Center, and

Savannah SAGIS.

b. Additional data will be incorporated into the base GIS as they become available.

5. Prepare quarterly progress reports and annual reports

a. This document represents the Second Quarterly Report for this project.

Please feel free to contact either Marguerite Madden or Tommy Jordan if you have questions

or concerns regarding this report.



Respectfully submitted,

Thomas R. Jordan, Ph.D.

Associate Director, CGR

Marguerite Madden, Ph.D.

Director, CGR

The following figures show snapshots of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project Monitoring

Program website as of 03/31/2014.



Figure 1: Home Page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website.



Figure 2: Mapping page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. A popup window with links

to water related variables for gage #21989784 is presented.



Figure 3: Monitoring page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. Names of elements (in

green) are clickable links to popup windows containing descriptions of each element.



Figure 4: Reports page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. Bullets are clickable links to

reports in PDF format.



Figure 5: Bibliography page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. Users have access to the

listed documents by clicking on links to PDF files, which are being hosted by CGR. Links to web

resources (external links) are also provided.



Figure 6: Links page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. Multiple external links are

provided, including links to the USACE SHEP website and others.



Figure 7: Contact page of the SHEP Monitoring Program website. By using this page, users will

be able to request information about the data portal from CGR and to request information

about the SHEP Monitoring Program from the Army Corps.

center for geospatial research (cgr) marguerite madden, ph.d., … uga second... · 2015-04-25 ·...

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