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August 28th, 2019
Every year, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies hosts the Purdue GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day Conference. During it, Purdue students demonstrate how they have applied GIS in their individual areas of study and research. Nicole Kong, PULSIS associate professor and GIS specialist at Purdue, heads up the conference, along with a team of collaborators from across Purdue, all who are involved in GIS work in some way. This year, the Purdue GIS Day Conference is set for Thursday, Nov. 7 in Stewart Center. (More information about research and project submission deadlines is available at lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday/gisday_2019_college_program.)
In addition to planning the Purdue GIS Day Conference and her teaching duties, Kong serves as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI for various GIS and data-science research projects at Purdue. Recently, she was awarded funding in Purdue’s Integrative Data Science Initiative (IDSI) for the project, “Integrating Geospatial Information Across Disciplines.” In addition, she is co-PI for two more GIS-related projects, both which were recently funded through U.S. government agencies. The projects include:
Kong’s important work on the two government-funded research projects has implications for soil research, conservation efforts, and the training of soil scientists, as well as remotely sensed data collections that contribute to the AmericaView project. Data from this project can help inform national and international economic, environmental, social, health, and geopolitical decisions.
“The AmericaView Consortium is charged with helping each state overcome these difficulties and helps the university, secondary-education, and public sectors in each state identify, develop, and distribute the kinds of applications each state needs most. In light of our nation’s current focus on achieving a secure and stable digital infrastructure, never has this task been more relevant,” Kong explained.
Below, Kong provides more background about both projects and how the research in both contributes to soil mapping across the globe, as well as the mapping, monitoring, and management of natural and environmental resources.
Q. How did the “Leveraging Soil Explorer for Soils and Ecological Training” project come about and how will you and your team use the grant funds?
Kong: This project was developed based upon the success of our previous award of “Integrating Spatial Education Experience (Isee)” funded by NRCS. In the previous award, we successfully collaborated with several other states to develop soil property maps for education purposes.
In this project, we will further develop the soil maps for the conterminous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories, as well as provide training materials about how to use the new maps to improve soil and ecology training. Part of the funds will be used for Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies to assist in creating and sharing the maps, as well as for GIS server improvement.
Q. Who else is involved with “Leveraging Soil Explorer for Soils and Ecological Training” project?
Kong: This project is led by Dr. Darrell Schulze in the agronomy department. Dr. Jason Ackerson and I are co-PIs on the project.
Q. How will the data you gather be used in the future?
Kong: Detailed soil surveys across U.S. have been conducted and well documented by the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). This database contains very rich information about soil properties, but often requires extensive knowledge in related fields to understand. On the other hand, maps are models of our world that allow us to make sense of a space that is too large and too complex for us to comprehend in any other way. Digital maps are inherently scalable and can show both the details and the overview seamlessly. Soil maps can help researchers to understand how soils and soil properties are distributed across landscapes at various scales. They can be critical resources for training scientists in the disciplines of soil science, ecology, agronomy, geology, and other natural sciences. The results of the maps will be delivered via SoilExplorer webpage, as well as the Soil Explorer apps for iOS and Android devices. Learning materials, workshops and webinars will also be delivered to the trainers.
Q. Any other information important to include about this project?
Kong: Managing, sharing, and leveraging geospatial information generated by Purdue researchers is an essential part of the GIS team’s mission. With the similar research methods, we have also collaborated in soil mapping projects in Kenya and Peru. Using spatial information as a way to teach soil properties has been a success in many classrooms through our studies.
Q. What is the purpose of the “IndianaView Program Development and Operations for the State of Indiana” project and who is involved?
Kong: The purpose of IndianaView is to promote sharing and use of public domain remotely sensed image data for education, research, and outreach across universities, colleges, K-12 educators, and state and local governments in Indiana. It is part of the larger grant, AmericaView, funded by the U.S. Geological Survey. This project is a collaboration among Mr. Larry Biehl (ITaP), Dr. Jie Shan (civil engineering), and me.
Q. What are you hoping to accomplish with the project? How will the data you gather be used in the future?
Kong: Within this project, we will continue to develop the IndianaView Consortium, which currently includes 15 institutions. We will select and support undergraduate and graduate student scholarships, as well as mini-grant opportunities for the consortiums members for research, education, or outreach. In addition, we have also planned activities for K-12 outreach, presenting at local or regional conferences, and teaching in undergraduate and graduate classrooms. (More information is available at www.indianaview.org.)
Q. What is AmericaView and why is it important?
Kong: AmericaView is a nationwide partnership of remote sensing scientists who support the use of Landsat and other public domain remotely sensed data through applied research, K-12, and higher education. The need for AmericaView has been building for more than 30 years. Since the early 1970s, the federal government and private sector have spent billions of dollars on satellite-based earth observing systems and have worked with the research community to identify, develop, and distribute real-world applications for mapping, monitoring, and managing natural and environmental resources. Unfortunately, while the potential uses of the technology have been widely recognized, development and distribution of real-world applications have persistently been tough issues for both the federal government and the academic research community. The AmericaView Consortium is charged with helping each state overcome these difficulties and helps the university, secondary-education, and public sectors in each state identify, develop, and distribute the kinds of applications each state needs most.
More information about GIS resources via the Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies is available at www.lib.purdue.edu/gis.
Filed under: Faculty E-Newsletter, faculty_staff, general, GIS, PSET, servicesOctober 24th, 2018
Editor’s Note: Dr. Nicolas Picard’s presentation is the keynote address for Purdue Libraries’ GIS Day Conference 2018 and is part of the Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of Purdue’s Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign. Learn more about the GIS Day Conference 2018 at www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday/gisday_2018_college_program.
Wildlife experts estimate the Earth loses 18.7 million acres of forests per year — the equivalent of 27 soccer fields every minute — through rampant deforestation. Tropical forestry expert and researcher Nicolas Picard, an official with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), believes the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can lead to a more sustainable future by improving forest management through the mapping, analysis, and oversight of global forest environments.
Dr. Picard’s keynote address will start at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, in Stewart Center 206 and is open free to the public.
The GIS Day Conference 2018 is co-sponsored by the Purdue College of Agriculture and the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Graduate School at Purdue University, Purdue Honors College, Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and the Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine.
Picard is currently Ingénieur for the French Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forest, and in charge of the Secretariat of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions-Silva Mediterranea within the Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
October 10th, 2018
Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, are technologies that enable researchers and investigators to examine and discover “why something happens where” it does. According to Matt Ball, a writer at Esri (the company that develops the ArcGIS mapping and spatial analytics software), GIS technologies give researchers the tools to take a “data-driven, problem-solving approach” in research projects.
“These technologies unlock geographic information from the prior static 2D map,” he notes on the Esri blog. “This way of looking at our world strengthens the understanding of how people, animals, the environment, and the built environment interact.”
On Thursday Nov. 1, Purdue University Libraries will host the annual GIS Day Conference at Purdue University, a daylong gathering that offers undergraduate and graduate students a forum in which to present their GIS-related research projects and ideas. Students are invited to submit presentation proposal abstracts in any one (or multiple) event categories listed below.
The deadline to submit abstract(s) is 11:59 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22, at http://go.lib.purdue.edu/events/GIS2018. (Abstracts should be 250 words or less.) Purdue GIS Day Conference 2018 categories include:
Last year, Purdue University was designated an Esri Development Center (EDC Program) by Esri. The Purdue GIS Day Conference 2018 will be held (Nov. 1) from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in Stewart Center, rooms 206 and 214.
For more information about the GIS Day Conference 2018, see www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday.
Filed under: general, GISOctober 9th, 2017
The 2017 Purdue GIS Day Conference is set from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 in Stewart Center, rooms 206 and 214. The daylong event is open free to Purdue students, faculty, staff, and to the public.
The Purdue GIS Day Conference 2017 includes a variety of events and activities, including the 10 a.m. keynote presentation, “Spatiotemporal Computing for Enabling Scientific Research and Engineering Development” by Chaowei (Phil) Yang, Professor of Geography and Geoinformation Science, George Mason University, and Purdue University Honor College’s Visiting Scholar.
The conference also includes career discussions, a GIS Career Luncheon, student lightning talk presentations, a poster competition, and, new this year, the Esri Development Center (EDC) Student of the Year Award at Purdue, which will recognize one Purdue University student who demonstrates advanced GIS knowledge and innovation with an emphasis on development and programming (see below or www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/edc for more information).
The full 2017 Purdue GIS Day Conference schedule is below, with links to: the Career Luncheon registration (required) and the instructions and entry form for lightning talk and poster presentations, which are due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3.
More information about the EDC Student of the Year at Purdue Award competition is available at www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/edc.
Entries are due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3 and should be entered via the online form at https://purdue.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mtqdiq7mvDG6tT.
The winner of the EDC Student of the Year at Purdue contest will be awarded limited travel reimbursement (from Purdue Libraries) to attend the Esri International Developer Summit in Palm Springs, CA, during the spring of 2018.
Across the globe, GIS Day is a celebration of geospatial research and geographic information systems technology. At Purdue University, Purdue Libraries faculty and staff work with the GIS Day planning committee, which is comprised of faculty, staff, and graduate students from various departments across the University, to organize this multidisciplinary, campus-wide event.
For more information, contact Nicole Kong, GIS specialist at Purdue Libraries, at geohelp@purdue.edu.
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9
Stewart Center, rooms 206 and 214