GIS Environmental Applications
Dr. Meierdiercks
Justin
Rappold
GIS
Environmental Applications
Dr.
Meierdiercks
Introduction
The
Pilgrim Pipeline is a proposed two way parallel pipeline that is supposed to
run from Albany, New York to Linden, New Jersey. Its purpose is to
transport Bakken shale oil south to the refineries located in NJ, and refined
products north to Albany. If completed, the need to use oil barges on the
Hudson River will be eliminated. There has been support and opposition to the
pipeline. Those who oppose the pipeline cite that it will have negative impacts
on environmental and public health (https://stoppilgrimpipeline.com).
On the other hand, those who support the pipeline believe that it will be
economically safer than using barges, as barges are at risk of damage during
sever weather events (http://pilgrimpipeline.com/project-description/). It is
important to map the watersheds, waterbodies, and locations of rare species and communities that the pipeline runs through/near to fully understand the effects it
can have. Currently there is a GIS map of similar layers for New Jersey, but
one does not exist for New York.
Objectives
-Create a map of the different counties in New York that the pipeline runs through
-Display which watersheds and bodies of water it runs through/near
-Display which areas it runs through where rare species and ecological communities are present
-Create a map of the different counties in New York that the pipeline runs through
-Display which watersheds and bodies of water it runs through/near
-Display which areas it runs through where rare species and ecological communities are present
Methodology
I will
first georeference the pipeline on ArcGIS, since the pipeline is only in the
proposal stage. Then, I will add in a watershed layer from the Class A and AA watershed shapefile found on the NYS GIS Clearinghouse website (gis.ny.gov). A and AA classes are reserved for the most pristine and protected watersheds, so knowledge of whether the pipeline runs through such watersheds is important. The same will be done for streams in NYS. I will download and add a shapefile of New York's lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds, and create a layer of all the A and AA classified bodies of water (gis.ny.gov). I will also add three layers to show rare animal, plant, and ecological community locations. The shapefile containing all three layers will be downloaded from the NYS GIS Clearinghouse website (gis.ny.gov). In addition, I will conduct a spatial analysis and report how many bodies of water the pipeline will cross.
Deliverables
This
project will provide the residents of NYS a comprehensive map that shows the
projected route of the pipeline in relation to their water supplies and important, rare areas. This map may be able to help answer any
questions New Yorkers have about the potential environmental impacts of the
pipeline.
Data
Sources
-ArcGis
-Gis.ny.gov (Water Quality Classifications - NYS, A and AAs Classified Watersheds in New York State, Natural Heritage Important Areas - NYNHP)
-ArcGis
-Gis.ny.gov (Water Quality Classifications - NYS, A and AAs Classified Watersheds in New York State, Natural Heritage Important Areas - NYNHP)
Work Plan
10/11 Revise the GIS project proposal, collect data to use for the map.
10/18 Begin working on map (add georeferenced pictures), find any other data that may be
missing.
10/25 Add stream and rivers layers.
11/1 Make sure all data is represented, start cleaning up the map and making it presentable.
11/8 Begin introduction for poster, adjust labels and colors accordingly.
11/15 Work on works-in-progress presentation.
11/22 Start writing methodology, objectives, conclusion, etc.
11/29 Rearrange the poster.
12/6 Finalize the project poster.
12/12 Present the poster.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent start, Justin. I have a few comments/suggestions to address for the final version:
ReplyDelete*In addition to mapping, will you include some spatial analyses? For example, you could compute the total miles of protected land the pipeline will run through or the total number of stream channels it will cross.
*For methodology, you shouldn’t have to georeferenced the watersheds. They are available as a shapefile. Rather than mapping each watershed, there is a layer of Class A and Class AA watersheds (the most pristine and protected watershed) available on the NYS GIS Clearinghouse website.
*You should do a little more work to track down the data layers you will use. In many cases, the kind of GIS data available can dictate the project. List these layers in the “Data Sources” section.
Great start and very neat idea. you may want to look into the potential environmental justice areas in NY. I am using them in my project and they may provide another variable to look at if the pipeline goes through any of these areas.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic. Adding potential environmental justice areas will certainly make your project shine. I don't know what type of map you are planning to make, but I imagine a graduated colors map could be a great way to depict populations affected by the pipeline and its environmental justice.
ReplyDeleteHi Justin! This is a very cool project. It sounds like you are making a lot of progress already. I like how you are taking a wide variety of environmental factors into account when mapping the potential impacts the pipeline could have and adding potential environmental justice areas was definitely a nice bonus. Keep up the awesome work!
ReplyDelete