Voting Precincts, Santa Cruz County

Each election the Santa Cruz County Elections Department must consolidate regular precincts into a smaller number of voting precincts. Each person who registers to vote is assigned a regular precinct based on the address they enter on the voter registration form. Each election has several different ballot types based on the different jurisdictions that are up for an election. In order to reduce the number of different ballot types, if two or more adjacent regular precincts share all the same items on the ballot, then they are consolidated into a single voting precinct. These voting precincts are used for tabulation and reporting. A layer with 720 regular precincts was provided together with a cross-reference table listing the 138 voting precincts that need to be consolidated with a list of their constituent regular precincts. Using Python and the arcpy api, this data was wrangled into a format where it can easily be joined to the regular precincts layer and the features were dissolved to create 297 voting precincts.

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Regular Precincts, Santa Cruz County

This map shows the original 720 regular precincts before they were consolidated into the voting precincts by the process described above. Click on the first button below to access a larger pdf version of this map. Click on the second button below to view the Python code which calls the ArcGIS geoprocessing tools to accomplish this task.

Public Works Department Assets, City of Santa Cruz

The City of Santa Cruz Public Works Department requested to have road names transferred to the assets in the existing Street Signs, Street Sign Poles, and Street Lights layers in a file geodatabase. This is accomplished with a Python script.

Sanitation Drawing Index Map, Santa Cruz County

A Sanitation Drawing Index feature class has an attribute which holds the name of a pdf file containing the as-built construction drawings for the corresponding sewer line. However, over the years, this folder has not been maintained or updated. A Python script iterates through each record in the feature class and checks whether the corresponding pdf file exists in the folder. If it does then the file is copied to a new folder and deleted from the original folder. The end result is two folders. The original folder that contains all the old maps which have no corresponding feature in the feature class; a new folder that only contains those maps that do have a corresponding feature in the feature class.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Map Series

A series of maps for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, California. This analysis examines the relationship between median household income and the distance to closest open space. This series includes the following maps. A raster imagery basemap showing MROSD boundary. A raster elevation basemap showing classified digital elevation data. A vector basemap show location of MROSD preserves and district boundary. A proportional symbol map showing population by census tract. A graduated symbol map showing median household income by census block group. A thematic map showing both population by census tract and median household income by census tract block group. A map and Chart of median household income by census block group vs distance to closest MROSD preserve.

Santa Clara Valley Open Space Map Series

As Santa Clara County's population increases the need for publicly accessible open space is growing. This series of maps presents an analysis of the accessibility of open space in Santa Clara County, California. Individual maps examine the current extent of urban, agricultural, and open space areas, the potentail risk of development, population distribution and density, and the spatial distribution of various measures of accessibility. Measures of accessibility include park and open space half-mile service areas, distance to closest open space, open space coverage, density, and area per person. Click on each map to access a larger pdf version of the map.

Model Builder

A geoprocessing model to identify the optimal routes to connect the core habitat for cougars near Los Angeles, California. The model also suggests routes for potential wildlife corridors. The images below show ArcGIS ModelBuilder model and the maps generated from the model. Click on each map to view a larger image.

Suitability Analysis, San Bernadino National Forest, California

An analysis to identify suitable potential locations for a new mining operation within an environmetally sensitive area of the San Bernadino National Forest near Big Bear, California. The area has high-grade calcium carbonate depoits. However, it also provides habitat for endangered plants that only grow on soils containing calcium carbonate. Four rare plants live only in this carbonate habitat: the Cushenbury buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum), the Cushenbury milk-vetch (Astragalus albens), the Cushenbury oxytheca (Acanthoscyphus (Oxytheca) parishii var. goodmaniana), and Parish’s daisy (Erigeron parishii). An ArcGIS ModelBuilder model was created to incorporate various factors into the suitability analysis. Factors sutudied include accessibility, plant habitat sensitivity, and watershed sensitivity. The images below show parts of the ArcGIS ModelBuilder model and some of the maps generated from this model. Click on each diagram or map to view a larger image.

Lyell Glacier, Yosemite National Park

A study was conducted using remote sensing imagery to quantify the change in area over time of the Lyell glacier in Yosemite National Park, California. This analysis was performed using Landsat 7 imagery captured in late summer when it is easiest to distinguish permanent snow fields from other snow deposits. Mount Lyell is well known as the location of one of the few remaining glaciers in Yosemite. The glacier on Mount Lyell has been shrinking due to the impacts of global climate change. Today, the Lyell Glacier is considered a permanent snow field rather than a living glacier because it has ceased to flow. The extent and change in the area of permanent snow was assessed using the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), and both supervised and unspervised land cover classification techniques. The analysis was performed using QGIS software. Click on the buttons below to access the full report and a presentation of the analysis results.

Analysis of the Urban Heat Island Effect, Santa Clara County, California

An analysis of land surface temperature by landcover class for Santa Clara County derived from Landsat 8 imagery and a supervised image classification. Presents results in maps, charts, and tables. Draws conclusions, identifies limitation of this study, and suggests areas for further study. Includes a map showing temperature increase due to the urban heat island effect and relationship to land cover classification for Santa Clara County, California.

The Impact of Tree Cover on the Urban Heat Islands Effect, San Jose, California

An analysis of the relationship between land surface temperature and tree cover for the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County, USA. Land surface temperatures are derived from Landsat 8 imagery. Tree cover is obtained from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. Presents results in maps, charts, and tables. Draws conclusions, identifies limitation of this study, and suggests areas for further study. Click on the buttons below to access the full report and a presentation of the analysis results.

Geodatabase Design, Calero County Park, Santa Clara County, California

Project report for geodatabase design project for Calero County Park. Includes recommended definitions of fetaure classes, fields, subtypes, and domains.

Marin County Smoke Detector Adoption

A regional analysis of the adoption rate for smoke detectors in the forested areas of Marin County, California. This map shows the percentage of homes in forested areas that have smoke detectors using data from the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service.

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Marin County Forested Areas

Forested areas in Marin County, California derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) layer from the ArcGIS Living Atlas. A raster function was applied to display only forest land cover and a polygon layer representing Marin County's forests was extracted.

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Puget Sound Traffic Violations

Map showing hotspots for traffic violations in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Hotspot analysis was created in Python using an ArcGIS Notebook. Adapted from the Esri course Data Science Workflows using ArcGIS Notebooks.

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Portland Economic Vulnerability

Map of economic vulnerability in Portland, Oregon. Choropleth symbology was created in Python using an ArcGIS Notebook. Adapted from the Esri course Data Science Workflows using ArcGIS Notebooks.

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California Proposition 37

Proposition 37 was a California ballot measure rejected in California at the statewide election on November 6, 2012. This initiative statute would have required labeling of genetically engineered food, with some exceptions. Choropleth map showing classified approval percentage for California Proposition 37 by county.

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California Average Ozone

Map of average ozone concentration for 2010-2011 by county in California. The inset includes an interpolated concentration surface which is derived from the monitoring station data. Additional charts show the relationship between ozone concentration, elevation, and household income.

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Portland Schools

Map showing schools and light rail stops in Portland, Oregon.

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Massachusetts Museums, Parks, and Forests

Map showing museums, parks, and forests in Massachusetts. This is the result of an exercise from Esri's Cartography MOOC.

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Spilhaus World Oceans

This map illustrates the connectivity between all of the world's oceans. It is based on the Spilhaus projection. Athelstan Spilhaus designed his world ocean map in 1942. This is the result of an excercise from Esri's Cartogrphy MOOC which involves the explicit manipulation of spatial references and coordinate systems.

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App: Land use change in Samut Songkhram, Thailand

This application shows the patterns of land-use change in Samut Songkhram, Thailand, over the last 40 years. Uncontrolled growth of shrimp farms in the 1980s resulted in the decimation of valuable mangrove ecosystems.

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App: Hiking trails Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

This application shows the trails located in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The goal of the app is to help hikers appropriately plan their day according to abilities.

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App: Volcanic hazards, Island of Hawaii

This application shows Lava flow hazard zones for the island of Hawaii as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey. Volcanoes, emergency shelters, and major highways are also shown.

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StoryMap: Homelessness in Silicon Valley

Analysis of Homelessness in Santa Clara County, California

StoryMap

StoryMap: California Ecology

Record of field trips to local open space preserves and parks to observer nature for California ecology class at Foothill College, Los Altos, California. Presents observations, maps, and photographs.

StoryMap

StoryMap: Farmers Market Site Selection

Analysis of suitable potential sites for a new farmers market within the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

StoryMap

StoryMap: Target Market Analysis

Hot spot analysis conducted for the fictious Zap! Video Games Corporation and BigBucks Malls Inc. to identify target markets within the San Francisco Bay Area for new product releases.