"You Said It" Survey Results
Thanks to so many of you for participating in our reader survey on GIS and its application to ecological restoration, conservation planning and regenerative design.
A whopping 93% of you say you have applied GIS to your work in ecological restoration, conservation planning and/or regenerative design. But how frequently do you use it? Most of you (71%) say that you incorporate GIS in 60-100% of your projects.
We were curious to know what software you use. Most of you (83%) use ESRI. 44% of you use Google Earth. Only 4% of you use IDRISI and Open Source. Other software you mentioned using included:
According to your responses, you use GIS in everything from county and watershed-wide analysis and planning to site-specific projects like natural resource inventories, wetland restoration and prescribed burns. Here’s how some of you described the scale of your projects that have involved GIS:
Expressing and communicating population distributions, analyzing spatial patterns of demographic rates.
land preservation, easement mapping, preserve management plans
Watershed Projects and stormwater management and floodplain protection projects
City-wide green infrastructure, watershed analysis, greenway design, and park design
prioritizing and targeting areas for protection and restoration; modeling vulnerability (present and future); visualization and communication; scenario generation.
I used GIS for a dam breach analysis study for NRCS using HEC-GEORAS, GIS DEM'S, GIS aerials, to complete analysis and prepare floodplain maps.
Working for the Army Corps of Engineers, projects can range from several hundred acres to 30,000 + or entire watersheds such as the Mississippi River Basin Area
conservation and reclamation abandonment and reclamation groundwater surface water biomonitoring vegetation air
We design landscape restoration plans for private land owners and, often for cities (parks primarily). The size of these properties ranges from 50 acres to 5000 acres. We use GIS to map important features of the property (karst recharge, rare plants, invasive spp., structures etc.) and relate these features to each other and to more regional features such as soils & precipitation data. The GIS helps us design recommendations specific to different areas of the property. Additionally, it helps us communicate those recommendations more effectively with the landowner.
Water quality sampling and data analysis, recycling routing, public information.
The beauty of GIS data is that you are able to increase or reduce according to a fixed scale or proportion(Scalable sp?). Example: I work with data that is as small as a weed population less than an acre(eradication plan), to the extent of a certain species across 2 million+ acres, For a public lands action plan.
Invasive vegetation and native vegetation community inventory. Modeling and Viewing Desired Future Condition scenarios. Generating maps for client/stakeholder communication between large city bureaus for the purpose of prioritizing natural area acquisition.
Utilize GIS to assess the potential impacts on wetlands, streams and lakes from development construction and post construction stormwater. Also utilize color infrared, and LIDAR for a new national wetland inventory in Ohio.
It really is a full range from small site-specific restoration sites to currently using it on a very large watershed scale. It is nice tool to have for the smaller projects but it is very powerful for assessing information at waterhshed-level scale
Layout of farms and location of conservation practices, roads, streams, soils, utilities, etc.
Small (1-30 acre) scale riparian corridor restorations, soil and water resource analysis, viewshed analysis, stakeholder communication.
NEPA document preparation and public involvement.
Water resources, floodplain mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, wetland mitigation, dam break analysis, at statewide, countywide, regional, and local scale.
Small acreage wetland delineation mapping, threatened and endangered species habitat mapping up to tens of square miles, stormwater management mapping and monitoring up to thousands of acres, wildlife habitat mapping over tens of square miles, GPS data mapping in all of these.
73% of you say you or others you know have been able to use GIS to facilitate decision making. Here’s what you had to share:
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Many examples exist of integrating various disciplines and "media" to look comprehensively at the environment and human health issues. One application that EPA is developing - EJSEATS - is looking at environmental justice and human health issues related to environmental quality. More focused on ecological function, the many "Green Infrastructure" applications are integrating all aspects of landscapes/watersheds to identify places to protect and restore. Both Maryland DNR and Virginia DCR (via the VA Conservation Lands Needs Assessment) are innovative.
I used GIS to derive geographic estimates. I'm unaware of anyone had previously done this to explore spatial autocorrelation of survival rates (Bryant 2000) or patterns of DNA diversity (Bryant in press). But I'm sure that I was unlikely to be the first.
What sticks in my mind is a use of GIS on some upriver locks to show before and after effects of a proposed project that also incorporated ecosystem restoration.
I believe the Lockport Prairie Project did 3D GIS modeling of groundwater and other things.
IOR [Imperial Oil Resources] is sharing conservation and reclamation data base with AENV [Alberta Environment]
Long term management plan for all industry participants in the Cold Lake area
Anderson Township, OH is using GIS modeling to search out potential greenspace parcels using proximity to existing sites, vacant property, old growth (forest cover since 1938)forest
I work for a federal agency where many broad based planning decisions are made based on GIS data. Our forest is in the process of a land management land for over 3 million acres. GIS is used in almost every area of the process.
Used for county-wide watershed plan; maybe not innovative, but useful.
Too early in the watershed study right now to share info as we are just kicking off the project, but our goal with the project is to develop a series of GIS data layers that can be used by local government to make wise decisions regarding future development considering impacts on the natural resources.
...determining watershed stressor variables
Community [visibility] for conservation planning.
Yes, we have developed software applications to incorporated GIS into real-time wetland delineations/determinations using USCOE methodology.
We are mapping T&E species and wildlife habitat for telecommunications corridor planning.
Yes, the PA Bureau of Forestry is implementing a Recreation Opportunity Spectrum analysis to classify areas across the state according to the need for recreation, and existing recreation.
54% of you say that you consistently find there to be certain data types that seem to be lacking. Here are some of the types you identified, along with your comments:
satellite imagery
Recent high-quality satellite imagery tends to be very expensive an unaffordable by independent researchers such as myself. NASA wins high marks in this regard...bravo on you in the United States for supporting this agency.
freely available high resolution (less than 5 meter) satellite imagery
topographic
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data covering wide areas
Detailed terrain data, e.g. 2-foot contours and/or cleaned up LIDAR
DOQQ's are 10years old before we have public access to them; we can't afford the "freight" on current data.
I think the quality of DEM's (Digital Elevation Models) could be improved.
land use/land cover
up to date land cover data covering large areas (at least whole states, if not multi-state)
High resolution land use/land cover data (better than 30m resolution).
Regional land use
Keeping up with yearly land use changes is difficult
soil characteristics
specifically, recharge and permeability
more detailed biological and chemical data
habitat
field-truthed critical wildlife habitat
Natural Heritage (RT and E) data
human impact
growth/development modeling
water and sewer plans
wetland data inevitably is incomplete or dated; same with flooding data
hydrology
elevation and hydrologic layers
consistent stream files, stream orders
high resolution hydrography data
biological stream data covering large areas
Accurate streams flow lines that are continuous especially the smallest streams.
wetland data inevitably is incomplete or dated; same with flooding data
Some areas, but not all, have ADID (Advanced Identification of Wetlands) maps
vegetation/vegetative cover
There is a lack of plant community data at scales smaller than statewide. Detailed GIS data of plant alliances and/or associations would help in our conservation and restoration planning efforts.
more detailed vegetation data
forest community data in Ohio
photographs
Georeferenced historical aerial photographs are not as readily available in our area as our other data.
wish there were more up to date, high resolution photos
Here are some additional comments on this subject:
Most data sets have been created in order to support a particular mission. e.g. they may have been created in order to produce high quality maps but are not useful for GIS analysis without completing reworking to change lines to polygons. These data sets are sometimes close to what I want and sometimes are not.
It would be valuable to have a statewide coverage of land that is protected by conservation easements, environmental deed restrictions, environmental covenants, and drainage easements
It seems there is never enough data - especially in my area of the country ( Alaska). Better or more accurate topographic information is probably towards the top of data needs list.
On a related note…in addition to the items mentioned above, here’s what you say you wish existed (in terms of GIS software/tools) that could help your in ecological restoration, conservation planning and regenerative design work:
Clean, inexpensive, user-interface that would allow someone who does not own or have experience with the full GIS suite offerred up by ESRI, so that they can easily view data layers and self-query.
correction-free high resolution GPS data collection. .
Specific locations of endangered/threatened species (surveyed areas, documented presence locations)
More detailed natural feature data
I would like to see more effort in the realm of secondary and cumulative impact analysis and projects from proposed projects.
One of the issues with Current GIS software is that you have to work with the extents of Data that you have. Clipping data to site specific use is cumbersome and time consuming. I think making that easier would go a long way in facilitating more GIS use.
More frequent and higher resolution aerial photographs. Heck, a live feed would be great.
Open source map-making software
I'd like to see watershed visualization tools, though Spatial Analyst is pretty close; with increased flooding, communities need to see how the problems are compounded within the watershed and mapping can facilitate that process, especially when it is a bird's eye view
An easy way to calculate an area using slope as a parameter to take into account a z-value
easier ways to link pictures to map-points
A specialized GIS application that could analyze multiple forms of plant survey data spatially and incorporate statistical analyses of plant community types.
More 3D visual software at an affordable price.
The current GIS software does it's work well. I would like better interfaces with other analysis and design software.
Thanks to this Leaf Litter reader for reminding us how far we have come:
I wish I could have had GIS software in 1987! Then again I wish I could have owned my own personal computer then... Very frankly, GIS software has dramatically improved my ability to work and indeed to conceptualize geographic data.
With the exception of one reader, you were split right down the middle when we asked if you often find that data is too broad-based to be useful on a site- specific project. Here are some of your comments:
The scale needs to be useful. A 30-m digital elevation model is not very useful in identifying real water runoff patterns.
you have to take some of the site specific information with a grain of salt because it has not necessarily been field verified
Available soils data is often much too broad...on site evaluation a must.
Canned data usually is. We do alot of site specific data collection using GPS.
Existing GIS data often provides a solid starting point for projects. We do perform field work and assessments to get the level of detail required for most projects.
The answer here is really, sometimes. The data layers we use most often are soils, hydrology, elevation and aerials, and in general they are specific enough for our projects. We sometimes run into trouble when we need to use streets or city parcel layers. They are often not quite recent enough for our needs.
Of those of you who work with datasets, 95 % say that you consider metadata useful when you use datasets created by an outside source other than U.S. government. Here are some comments:
Yes we need metadata for accurate transfer and checking of inputs and outputs.
Metadata is vital to understanding how a dataset was created and its intended purposes
I think metadata is essential.
Metatdata is crucial in being able to use any data in GIS, whether it is government or other.
Metadata is almost always helpful. It is also almost universally absent from the datasets I receive and work with from many different sources.
However, metadata can have its drawbacks, as some of you point out:
Sometimes it is difficult to interpret
[Its usefulness] depends on the accuracy of the information at the time it was generated. We have often had to make corrections to datasets after field verification indicates differently than what was provided.
I prefer very brief descriptions of what the data actually is; not long lists of virtually useless information.
The metadata can be helpful if key parts such as projections are filled out. Otherwise, it's useless overall
Of those of you who work with datasets, 65% say that when you create your own datasets, you provide metadata that you believe is detailed enough to be used by others.
I provide detailed metadata for the datasets that I maintain.
We do provide metadata, but there needs to be standardization of metadata across agencies/users.
Yes, especially for FEMA DFIRM databases.
developing metadata standards has been a challenge for us
However, several of you said that you do not routinely share data:
We seldom create data that can be openly shared so, at this point, metadata creation has not been a priority. I do realize that the metadata could be nearly as useful in-house. I just need to make it a priority to create it.
It is useful for others within my organization, but probably not for others. However, in general, we do not intend for our datasets to be used by people outside of our organization.
I should and don't because of "time constraints" and usually regret it. I end up spending more time re-documenting what I did.
We asked what you consider to be the greatest barrier to incorporating GIS into ecological restoration, conservation planning and/or regenerative design. Here’s how your responses broke down:
- 30% Lack of accessible and/or available quality data
- 22% Lack of technical expertise
- 19% Lack of funding (for infrastructure, software, licenses, etc.)
- 11% Perception of the complexity of GIS (resistance to/fear of technology)
- 9% Inability to maintain georeferenced data
- 9% General lack of knowledge about the benefits of using GIS
When we asked what you’d like to learn about the application of GIS to ecological restoration, conservation planning and regenerative design, many of you said you wanted to learn more about how people in our fields are using GIS effectively and efficiently. We hope that we have provided effective examples in this and other sections of Leaf Litter. Many of you also requested the need for information on ensuring data accuracy and standardization. Several of you say you are looking for educational resources and new sources for data. Please check out the Resources section of Leaf Litter, where you’ll find links on all of these topics. As always, we thank you for participating in our reader survey and helping us shed some light and share information on this complex topic.
