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25 Cards in this Set
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A web-based mapping and analysis program (which requires membership) where users are able to publish datasets and maps, create visualizations and analyses, and develop decision-support and specific tools.
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Databasin
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National Land Cover Database maintained by the USGS Land Cover Institute (LCI) comprised of landsat data from the 1990s through 2006 with a 5-year time lag between time of capture and product release. Data are provided on a state-by-state basis, although the classification scheme (21 land-cover classes) is applied consistently throughout the contiguous United States (landcover.usgs.gov).
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NLCD
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NASA missions for observing Earth via satellite using remote sensing techniques. Methods include digital photography, multispectral images, and thermal samples.
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Landsat Program
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National climatic data center; maintains the wold’s larges climate data archive for use by U.S. and worldwide users. Information stored includes local climate data, storm data, weather maps and more. Contemporary data acquisition comes from a variety of sources including ships, weather balloons, satellites, and buoys (ncc.noaa.gov).
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NCDC (NOAA)
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World database on protected areas; A database of marine and terrestrial protected areas of many countries of the world (incorporating the UN list of protected areas) to be used for ecological gap analysis, environmental impact analysis and planning decision making for conservation (wdpa.org).
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WDPA
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Protected areas database of the United States; a spatially explicit inventory of protected lands (terrestrial and marine protected areas) in the United States created by the USGS and designed for public access. This is a complimentary service that introduces the public to GAP analysis as it allows the user to specify their view by owner or GAP Status (gapanalysis.usgs.gov).
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PADUS
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A menu-system interface program designed to link GIS information with metapopulation models in order to assess the viability of a population to perform extinction risk assessments. The program incorporates spatial data, patch recognition, habitat dynamics, metapopulation models, and ecological risk assessments. This is a program that requires purchase. (ramas.com)
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RAMAS GIS
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A model for maximum entropy (with a logistic output), way of minimizing model error based on uncertainties associated with missing data (i.e. presence-only data) for species distribution models (SDM). The purpose is to find the model with the most even distributed entropy. Models are built with existing data on the presence of a species in particular locations, and predictor variables (often environmental) are included into the model as well as sampled background data. The final model is then used to assess other potential and realized locations for the organisms in question. Maxent has ways of removing (or diminishing) problems associated with biased sampling (through background data input and subsampling techniques) (Phillips et al. 2006, Elith et al. 2011, cran.r-project.org).
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Maxent
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A web-based mapping utility that allows users to create and view maps based on geological, social, and historical datasets. It was prepared by the USGS. It utilizes the altas of maps, “a bound collection of maps and charts that characterize Americans and their land” (nationaltalas.gov). The bound book of maps now has an interactive web interface and can be manipulated to display various socio-economic features of the U.S. in addition to geographic and land use (cities, monument, park locations etc.) information. Games and puzzles of maps are also available.
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NationalAtlans.gov
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An ArcGIS toolbox created by using python (.pyt). These tools function the same as tools available in the pull-down user interface and can be saved for later use like other tools, but they can also incorporate specific parameters in ways that the standard tools do not. In this way, python tools can be more useful for complicated or sensitive analyses when existing tools are not equipped for the task These tools can also include messages to help the user to better understand the analysis or the results (ArcGIS Help).
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Python Toolbox
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An open-source program (Quantum GIS Project) for GIS that runs on many platforms (including Andriod) and supports the same database formats as ArcGIS. It has desktop, browser (viewer), server, and client-based applications like ArcGIS but the software is free (qgis.org). It is much newer than the ESRI products.
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QGIS
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A California-based corporation with roots in geographic information discrimination to land planners and resources managers for land-use planning efforts. Today the company is a leader in GIS software (ArcGIS), and development technology including cloud-based mapping systems through ArcServers (esri.com).
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ESRI
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A tool in ArcGIS where a diagrammatic plan for analysis is constructed of input features, tools and analyses, and output features. Models can be saved, run with altered data in feature classes, altered in terms of properties or parameters, for simplified model administration. This is useful because it allows the user to tweak datasets or model parameter without having to enter all model parameters in subsequent runs.
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Model Builder
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Stands for the Federal Geographic Data Committee, which is an interagency committee (U.S.) that promotes accessibility of geospatial data. It aims to reduce redundancies in data collection and input by different agencies within the same geographic area. FGDC is also to increase availability of data to the public and sharing/use of data across agencies and disciplines (fgcd.gov).
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FGDC
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A tool that inspects the features and settings of layers that have been incorporated into a model in Model Builder. This will check to ensure the model will run without major errors or lengthy repairs that would prolong the completion of the model as it runs. Using this can prevent a model from failing to run properly, bogging down ArcGIS or the memory of a PC, and allow the user to fix problems before a complicated model is run. ArcGIS also has a Spatial Analyst tool for model validation by using a subset of a dataset to build a model and a separate subset of data to validate the model, which assesses variance within the model.
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Model Validation
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The correlation of attributes associated with features or cells that are closer in proximity to one another than those spaced far apart. Morans’s I identifies how points are distributed spatially based on their values and location, ultimately indicating whether the feature is distributed in an overdispersed manner (points are spread farther apart than would be predicted at random), a Poisson distribution (random), or an aggregated manner (spaced more closely than would be predicted by random) (J. Lembo Jr., ArcGIS Help).
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Spatial autocorrelation (Moran’s I)
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A determination of the degree of confidence in a model based on small changes in model parameters (and subsequent changes in model output). When the output of a model varies greatly with slight alteration of the design, the confidence in that model is poor; whereas a model that performs equally well when small changes in the parameters are applied indicates higher confidence. This is a useful tool for determining the strength of a model. (Lilburn and Tarantola 2009, ArcGIS Help).
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Spatial Sensitivity analysis
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An analytical method for developing a raster layer that incorporates predicted values for unmeasured cells by weighing the value, abundance, and distance from measured cells (nearest neighbors) within the matrix. There are many methods for interpolation of data, each using a slightly different mathematical framework for its assessment.
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Interpolation
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This utility allows for users to run ArcGIS from a machine (PC, tablet, cell phone etc.) that does not necessarily have the computing power to complete sophisticated analyses by remotely accessing an ArcGIS Server through web services. Typically, an entity such as a corporation, university, or agency will run an ArcGIS Server (a powerful computing machine with the capability of high-volume throughput of analysis), and individuals associated with that entity can remotely access that server to accomplish their application goals.
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ArcGIS Server Connection
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A type of file that stores datasets of spatial and non-spatial data (tables) and has the ability to manage and query those datasets. I most commonly use File Geodatabases as these are easy to navigate and allow me to store large features and raster datasets. File GDB are also useful in their ability to be accessed simultaneously (although individual feature classes cannot be accessed) by multiple users at the same time (ArcGIS Help).
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Geodatabase
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The coordinate system and geological reference that a layer is defined by as it is transformed from a convex surface (of a spherical earth) to a flat surface (map) in order to preserve some of the features as they appear on the convex surface. When the projection of a map does not correct for certain features, distortion in shape and size of those features can result. For example, Antarctica is disproportionately large on many World maps because the equatorial regions are a more common area for detail preservation through projection.
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Map Projection
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A method used to select objects within a vector layer based on the information contained within its attribute table. If one was interested in identifying the locations of trees on campus that were over 50’ within a point layer whose attribute table contains height information, that person could select by attributes using the calculator-like tool to choose the type of object, identify the parameter that is being sought (height), include a qualitative measure (e.g. =, <, ≥), and select from unique values contained in the field for that parameter (45’, 50’, 50.5’ etc.).
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Query Builder (Select by Attributes)
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A table linked to objects or cells within a data layer that describes its features. This is not necessary for all vector layers and sometimes an attribute table will only store the geographic information associated with a feature. Examples of descriptive information and data could be the number of people within a county that are old enough to vote, the mean discharge from reach of a stream or river, and morphology of an individual tree over multiple years.
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Attribute table
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Data presented as points, lines or polygons (objects) that will be linked with a specific geographic coordinate. Each object in a vector data layer can be linked with specific attributes, which are stored in a table. Vector data are useful for representing both general (voting districts or waterbody delineations), and specific data (location of a well, landmarks, sampling locations), as well as linear information (roads, transect lines, bathymetry contours); however, these data do not need to be straight lines (MathWorks).
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Vector Data
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Data presented continuously within a set extent where each pixel represents a constant unit of area in addition to other information that is unique to that cell. For example, a digital elevation map is comprised of raster cells (pixels) that represent both the geographic area (square feet, meters, km etc.) in space, and the difference in elevation from sea level (a positive value typically denotes a location above sea level). Specifically, this matrix of cells is arranged into rows and columns (ArcGIS Help).
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Raster Data
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