Problem set #1 responses:
Here are the interesting data sets that people found available:
Mark F: transportation data for San Diego
Andrea M: Canadian environmental data in Arc/Info export .e00 format
Karl H: Summary report on area of Hanford, WA. There are many data types discussed, as this is a major environmental cleanup site because of the plutonium processing done here.
David O’B: Weather radar maps and raw data from ocean buoys from NOAA
Ruigang Y: Map of Shanghai from Expedia
Charles P: Satellite images from terraserver.
Stephen E: crime data from the UVA’s repository of GIS data
Yuqian J: Maps of North Carolina from the National Atlas of the United States
Ajith M: Mapquest and weather maps of Mangalore, India
Jack S: North Carolina data sources
- Mark F: transportation data for San Diego
Well, I'm originally from here, but I'm going to use San Diego, where
I went to grad school before. I present
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/d11tmc/sdmap/mapmain.html
which gives a freeway map of San Diego, permitting you to click on the
names of freeways and major roads and view a list of current traffic
speeds at different locations along those roads.
Since a lot of the data is computer generated, a computer can answer
most of the same straightforward questions you could. But questions
requiring you to use the map would stump it.
Here are some example questions:
* What's the fastest way to get from La Mesa (east of downtown on 8)
to the 5/805 merge right now? (Requires geographic knowledge.)
* How fast is traffic flowing on Southbound 5 at Carmel Valley Rd?
They used to have aerial (satellite?) views of the major freeway
interchanges, but I couldn't find them.
--
Mark Foskey (919) 962-1827 Department of Computer Science, CB 3175
foskey@cs.unc.edu UNC-Chapel Hill
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~foskey Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3175
Andrea M: Canadian environmental data in Arc/Info export .e00 format
Here are some canadian links (I got the first two at the conference in
Vancouver).
CEONet:
http://ceonet.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/
GeoGratis:
http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/
- "distributes free geospatial data"
- tons of links on their link page
CCRS Earth Observation Catalogue (CEOCat):
http://ceocat.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/
- search satellite photos, etc.
GeoConnections:
http://cgdi.gc.ca/
- looks like it will eventually have data, but nothing yet. There are
some links.
Most of the data I found was visual. A person could use this data to
determine geographic features (ie lakes) and weather patterns (cloud
formations), or get information on things such as forest fires on a
certain date. Although there is information there to be found, the way
the web pages are organized makes manual search tedious.
Computers would also have difficulty processing this information. They
would need to use image analysis techniques and some form of artificial
intelligence.
On the GeoGratis web page there is also data in Arc Export format, but I
have not used ARC/INFO, and so could not say what a computer could extract
from the data.
I am fed up with the speed of the browser/computer, so I might give you a
better answer tomorrow after I have another chance to surf the web. ;)
Andrea Mantler
My second attempt at finding data on the web led me to the ERSI web page:
http://www.esri.com/
They have an "ArcData Online" section that has data that you can download:
http://www.esri.com/data/online/
as well as an online "Quick Map" page:
http://www.esri.com/data/online/quickmap.html
You can view maps at different levels of detail for the US, Europe, and
the world. The Canadian data doesn't get very detailed, but I was able to
locate my street here in Chapel Hill using the US data.
Unlike the other sources of data I found, this data is in a format that is
easier to process and answer questions using a computer.
With the necessary data, here are questions computers could answer:
1. Given topology, watershed, and rainfall, etc., data, which areas of
Chapel Hill are likely to flood? (Given the signs I have seen posted on
streets, someone should have done this a while ago. ;) )
2. City planning/graph theory question: given a current network of
streets, what is the most efficient (def?) way to increase connectivity of
streets...increase the amount of traffic that can flow from one point to
another, etc.? (Things to consider include buildings in the way,
creeks/rivers that would need expensive bridges, etc.)
Karl H: Summary report on area of Hanford, WA. There are many data types discussed, as this is a major environmental cleanup site because of the plutonium processing done here.
Hope this isn't too far off base ...
The site is
http://www.hanford.gov/eis/twrseis/volume-1/sect4/sect4a.htm
and continues on
http://www.hanford.gov/eis/twrseis/volume-1/sect4/sect4b.htm
I grew up in Pasco, WA, which is right next to a government site called
Hanford, where plutonium for the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan
during World War II was developed. Afterwords, Hanford was responsible
for producing plutonium for the nations nuclear arsenal during the cold
war. Now that the cold war is over, there is a considerable mess to
clean up, that resulted from plutonium production activities. One large
environmental concern is what to do with the large, buried tanks of
nuclear waste, some of which have been found to be leaking into the
soil, potentially entering the aquafer and the rivers of the area.
Therefore, extensive study has been done to evaluate this risk and
potential consequences. The site I found, is a section from an
envronmental impact statement for deciding how to proceed with the clean
up effort. Information included in "picture" form: maps for general
orientation, geological information, groundwater elevations, water
sampling locations, distribution of contaminants in the aquafir, census
tracts, future and existing land use, recreation and wildlife areas,
potential viewing areas, and road and railway systems. There are also
text and tables of populations (human and wildlife), occupations, and a
lot more. This information was used to determine how to manage and
dispose of tank waste and its derivatives (cesium and strontium
capsules).
The information is presented in a form for analysis by a person, rather
than a computer. Although data usable by computers exists (e.g. I was
in a group that did groundwater modelling using geographical and
geological information, and assessment of radation dose due to
dispersion of radioactive particles into the air using site geographical
and meterological information), this information is not provided here.
Also, this version of the data has only a rough scale of distances and
sketches of landmark locations as information for orientation.
Karl Hillesland
David O’B: Weather radar maps and raw data from ocean buoys from NOAA
I found a large amount of varied data all under the umbrella organization
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Of the
dozens of database links on their main page (
http://www.noaa.gov/) I
looked at two:
1. Weather radar maps. The latest national map is updated at
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/radar/NWS_RCM.gif while more comprehensive area
maps are found at http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/radar.html
These are digitized maps of radar reflection strengths. A guess of the
resolution of the area maps is several hundred meters per pixel. Assuming
the geographic location of each pixel is fixed, a computer would be more
able to answer specific questions such as what is the cloud cover over a
specific location or to interpolate between points. However, the data on
the maps is reported only in ranges of 5 DBZ. If a corresponding database
were available showing urban development, a computer should be able to do
a decent job filtering out 'ground-clutter' In fact, I beleive these maps
already do such filtering.
However, a computer is going to have a hard time looking at a national
radar image and make weather predictions for the next day in NYC. It
would be difficult to program the knowledge of an experienced
Meterologist. (On the other hand, we all know the inaccuries of
traditional weather forecasts.)
National Data Buoy Center
http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/dataindex.shtml
They deplore several types of buoys in large arrays in both inland and
ocean waters taking data on both atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Some
very good data. However, the format is scattered over hundreds of text
files and in its present form needs reworking before either human or
computer can make much sense out of it. Assuming it's cleaned up, we have
a similar situation to the weather. For example, a computer could note
subtle change in the pattern of water level that might signal, maybe, a
tidal wave long before traditional methods of prediction from siezographic
data. (I think such a system is under construction.) However, for long
range prediction say of rain fall in a certain area, an experienced human
might more readily make predictions based on a shift in ocean currents.
-DOB-
Ruigang Y: Map of Shanghai from Expedia
http://www.expediamaps.com/map.asp?T=P&5=20&6=31.235196868133204&7=121.48372576541608&9=0&10=0&11=T&12=20&Title=Shanghai%2C+Shanghai%2C+China&8=P7714&MapSize=Large
I tried to find the map of Shanghai, China, the place where I was born.
mapquest only has a city level map of China,
MSN's map contains more detail, but still less than I expected. There
are some scanned maps, but most of them are quite fuzzy. Finally, I
decided to send the map from expediamap, which is a compromise between
contents and clearness.
From that map, I can know where Shanghai is in China (by zooming out). I
can know the distances to Shanghai's neighboring cities (the scale is
given), I can find where I live in SH.
Computer can understand little directly from this pure image map.
However, if we digitize the map, including the
vectorization of major roads and the recognition of different lengends,
the above questions can be answered by a computer too.
Ruigang
Charles P: Satellite images from terraserver.
Try:
http://www.terraserver.com
Even if your an anti-MS person like myself, it is kind of fun to browse
around. The data on the server comes from satelite images created
by the United State Geological Survey. Since the data is simply a set of
images, human users can answer more questions than a computer could.
There are no extra data points associated with each image for a computer
algorithm to use. For instance, the computer has no knowledge of where
the roads are, and for that matter which roads are which. An intelligent
human user however can use his or her knowledge of the data to navigate
and find information. A user that is familiar with wisconsin, like
myself, could locate Lambeau Field (see below).
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/GetTilesByXY.asp?XId=8423&YId=4107&TileX=1&TileY=5&SrcId=1&ImgDate=05/06/1992&DSize=0
Chuck
- Stephen E: crime data from the UVA’s repository of GIS data
Hi,
I found some crime data at:
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/crime/
But more generally I found UVA's repository of GIS data:
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/
The crime data is only a subset of all the social data they have online.
This is in the interactive data part of their archive so I don't really know
the format. But it is viewable (supposedly) online.
From viewing the graphical output, I would most likely be able to tell where
most of the crime is happening and where the most severe crimes were happening.
I could give recommendations on changing various aspects of life in the high
crime areas to reduce crime in those areas. Recommendations for sizes of
police forces and allocated money could also be made.
The computer could be used to extrapolate into the future to predict the
number of crimes of each type that would take place next year in each place.
--
Stephen A. Ehmann Office: Sitterson Hall 332
Graduate Student Phone: 919-962-1797
Department of Computer Science E-mail: ehmann@cs.unc.edu
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Web: www.cs.unc.edu/~ehmann
(( A man's life is but a breath. -- SPOKEN ))
- Yuqian J: Maps of North Carolina from the National Atlas of the United States
I use the maps of North Carolina here since I did not find some
satisfatory maps or GIS systems for the place I come from - Beijing.
Some maps are too simple and one good GIS site is closed .
The site is
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/scripts/start.html
=> from that site, choose North Carolina to zoom in
There are a lot of data there reflecting different aspects of information
about this area, such as Biology, Environment, Geology, Transportation,
People and Water etc. And they represented using different layers which
you can open or close depending on you objective to study the map.
Since there are many aspect of information presented there, I just take
the people and geology informatio as examples.
Geology:
For me:
From the Geology information I can see that there are a few earchquakes
in the west part of the state and almost no in the east. And by zooming
out to the whole country, I can compare this figure with other part of
the country and realized that we are very fortunate to have a really small
number of earthquakes comparing with some other parts of the country such
as some part on the west coast. And there is no volcanoes here .
For the computer
I can not be sure what kind of internal representation they use to provide
this map. But I guess the information about earth and volcanoes is
recorded in the computer by tags and its related corrdinates, so I think
the computer can answer the same question as I do, but it will do it in
a different way by using a lot of calculation.
People:
From the map I know about the median income of families. And I can see the
distribution and realize that the income in much higher in big cities such
as Raleigh that other parts of the state. But this information is only
ordinal, and I only know the range not the exact digit.
But I think the computer can do better than me if it stores the numbers,
and can be more precise on the comparation.
well, I think the above is some scalar information. There are also some
vector information on the map such as the road map
layer, but I am also not sure about its internal representation. If
vector, then the computer can know almost as much as I do only through
more complicated computation. But if in raster, it will be difficult for
it to answer some question such as "how can I get from A to B ".
Yuquan Jiang
08/30
- Ajith M: Mapquest and weather maps of Mangalore, India
I'm from a town called Mangalore in India. Mapquest has a map of Mangalore
with some areas around it. I was surprised to find some places in the map
about which I've never heard of. I guess they could be misspelt names.
The link is:
http://www.mapquest.com/cgi-bin/ia_find?screen=ia-map-result&link=ia-map-result&uid=ubv9s9g280bet5gi%3A20hr8ggy2&SNVData=7%253d%252a%2526%3A%253d%252a%2526%255e%255e%255e%255e%255e0%255eOlek7%3A%253d1z%2540254y2u%2526y2%2521a25u6b%253dn7m-1z7gdr%2Ccw8%257cgua25u.njij9-lz7%253bvdduvj%257clga%2Ccjtsc%2528z%2Cf7c3m%25280%2CQXO2jrbl-1.WIKudyx1de%25280%2CQXO2c2j%257cl06ys5.WIKu3rs%253by2lur2%2524Ggm4HQJ%2528%25297%257c%2524nle%2528uas1u%3A%253d%252a%2526%3A%253d&address=&city=Mangalore&state=&zip=&country=India&Search=New+Map
The map shows surrounding areas and one can get a rough idea of the
relative distance between places. There's the standard distance measure in
the right top corner. The map has facilities for increasing
the size of the region and this provides a larger map with more places.
This looks cluttered and ofcourse adds to the confusion because of the
spellings. A Seperate options called 'map level' has a + and - sign. On
clicking the + sign several of the place labels disappear perhaps in an
attempt to provide a more clearer picture.
The map shows the main highway running through Mangalore.
For a computer to answer questions about the map using the data as is
would be difficult. Perhaps with a representation of the roads connecting
the different cities as a graph a computer would be able to find out the
shortest paths, distances involved etc.
Another map I came across was at the site
http://www.weather.com
I searched for a satellite image of Asia after failing to find anything on
Mangalore. The following link
http://www.weather.com/weather/sat/asiasat_720x486.html
gave me a color coded weather image taken by a Geo Stationary Operational
Environment Satellite. The color went from Red for hottest to
a light shade of blur for coldest. Cloud cover was also visible as white
and grey areas. A seperate link shows a table that provides a mapping
between the colors and the temperature ranges associated.
For a human, this maps provides a coarse grained idea of the climatic
conditions at a particular region. The areas are not labelled, hence it is
difficult to be accurate. A computer can provide a more accurate idea of
the temperature using the color to temperature table and possibly some
interpolation for color values not in the table. The map could do with
some location information over and above the boundary lines superimposed
on the map.
Ajith
Jack S: North Carolina data sources
USGS NC District GIS resources page:
http://sgi1dncrlg.er.usgs.gov/gis/gis_ncgis.html
NC Center for GIS:
http://cgia.cgia.state.nc.us/cgia/
NC Corporate Geographic Layer Listing:
http://cgia.cgia.state.nc.us/cgdb/datalist.html#geol250
Water Resources of North Carolina:
http://ser1dncrlg.er.usgs.gov/
NC Environmental Links from EPA:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/water/surfnote.nsf/state?OpenView&Start=30&Count=30&Expand=38#38
EPA Surf your Watershed:
http://www.epa.gov/surf2/
Enviromapper Java applet:
http://maps.epa.gov:10000/iwimap/