GIS and Atmospheric Science:Why, What, How?

Workshop on Satellite Data ApplicationsAugust 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 – 12-

14 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/statewide.php

– ArcIMShttp://foliage.geo.msu.edu/wege/viewer.htm

• MODIS ImageServer

Thoughts on Integration

• What if Severe Weather warnings included an in-path 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/Navigator2. Open ArcCatalog

Start/All Programs/ArcGIS/ArcCatalog

3. Browse to CD-ROM

4. Expand Catalog

5. Pick a State

6. Preview a *blkgrp.shp file, zoom/pan

7. Preview the Table

8. Click Metadata, try different style sheets

Build a Data Stack

1. Open ArcMapStart/All Programs/ArcGIS/ArcMap

2. Add Data

3. Connect to Folder

4. Pick a State

5. Select the .shp files

6. 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/mapproj/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