Author Archives: iowaview

Introducing Iowa Landforms Revealed

By Imagery, IowaLandformsRevealed, Outreach, , , ,

This spring, Gregg Hadish of USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and staff member of ISU GIS Facility put together a series of images called Iowa Landforms Revealed. The project looks at Iowa geological features using LiDAR. Gregg also used interesting color ramps to give these images an artistic component, inspired by the USGS Earth as Art project. The initial project includes a series of 4 images which debuted at the Iowa Technology And Geospatial (ITAG) Conference in West Des Moines, Iowa, this summer. We will be highlighting each image over the next several weeks as a special series feature on the IowaView blog. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestion for future landforms for us to explore.

Save the Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2019 – Earth Observation Day

By Uncategorized

The ISU Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Facility and IowaView will be hosting an Earth Observation Day celebration on Tuesday, October 15 (10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 248 Durham). We will have a speaker discussing remote sensing research. Then we will host a mapathon with pizza from 11:00 to 12:30, we will be working to add additional data to the Iowa OpenStreetMap basemap and then working on a humanitarian mapping project in an area hit by a recent natural disaster. 

Join the fun! Additional details coming soon! For more information, contact amylogan at iastate.edu. 

AmericaView’s YouTube videos rock!

By Article, Education, Outreach, ,

Are you new to remote sensing? Are you moving from using ArcGIS Desktop to ArcGIS Pro? Would you like to learn how to better use E-Cognition?

Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne, a professor at University of Vermont and the Director of Spatial Analysis Laboratory has produced an amazing collection of videos which range in scope for those just beginning in remote sensing and GIS to advanced topics and demonstrations.

Here’s the link to Jarlath’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZb1tQu3rctbyuUQLa1vWnQ. He writes a blog called Letter from the SAL (Spatial Analysis Laboratory.)

Happy Earth Observation Day!

By Earth Observation Day, Education, Event, Imagery, Landsat, Outreach, Uncategorized

Gregg Hadish gave a great presentation about the Iowa Geographic Map Server to celebrate Earth Observation Day.  It was a hands-on demonstration of the Iowa Geographic Map Server ArcGIS App which meant participants could follow along as he explained the various features and functions of the map server. Gregg also showed participants how to leverage map server layers within their own ArcGIS Online organizational accounts and basics for creating their own apps. 

Thank you, Gregg for a great demo! 

Here are some pictures from our Earth Observation Day event.

Checking out the new statewide 1 ft color infrared imagery in the web app.

Gregg giving an introduction to the Iowa Geographic Map Server.

Showing a historical layer – 1880s Andreas Atlas.

Earth Observation Day – October 16, 2018

By Earth Observation Day, Event, Outreach, ,

IowaView, in collaboration with ISU GIS Facility and AmericaView, will be hosting the annual Earth Observation Day celebration, Tuesday, October 16, 2018, in Durham 248 from 12:15 to 1pm as part of Earth Science Week.  This year, Gregg Hadish, a staff member of ISU GIS Facility and Iowa NRCS will be our featured speaker; he will give a hands-on demo of the Iowa Geographic Map Server (http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/.) Iowa Geographic Map Server is browser-based website for statewide Iowa imagery. Gregg has been involved with the development of the Iowa Geographic Map Server for nearly twenty years.  The presentation will highlight recent innovations to the map server including an updated interface as well as many new features and image services. 

Iowa Geographic Map Server hosts statewide Iowa imagery dating back to the 1930s through spring 2018 as well as layers of elevation data (Lidar hillshade, contours), high-resolution land cover data, and historical data including the 1880s General Land Office maps and Andreas Atlas.  Many of the layers are available as web services within GIS software.  This is one of the most robust, publicly available, spatial imagery datasets in the country. This treasure trove of Iowa imagery that is waiting to be incorporated into your research.  This workshop is for all levels. There will also be time for questions.  If you plan to come, please RSVP with amylogan@iastate.edu as computer space is limited.  

GIS – Your Passport to Adventure

By Education, Outreach, Uncategorized,
Students using ArcGIS Online

On June 27, 2018, IowaView hosted another workshop as part of the state 4-H conference. This workshop provided 4-Hers with an introduction to world of GIS. Students experienced using ArcGIS Online (an online mapping tool) to explore European migration. Next they used ArcGIS Pro to work in groups to design a neighborhood park. Finally, the 4-Hers looked at several examples of Story Maps (seen below).

•Basic Story Map – Olympic Games – http://www.arcgis.com/apps/StoryMapBasic/index.html?appid=efc82690d8f649019caa8e2fe1b49382
•One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages – http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2013/endangered-languages/
•The World in 1812 and 2013 (Spyglass) – http://story.maps.arcgis.com/apps/StorytellingSwipe/index.html?appid=b8ece5952db443858442f122984602ba&webmap=8ea34ba9a4f843e08a468595d8d91188#

Open Street Map – Your Passport to Adventure

By Education, Humanitarian Mapping, Uncategorized,

IowaView hosted a workshop on June 26, 2018 as part of the annual State 4-H Conference. The workshop provided 4-Hers with an introduction to OpenStreetMap and online mapping for community service and humanitarian aid purposes.

The workshop began with an introductory lecture and then students completed two projects. The first project was mapping in Glidden, Iowa. IowaView partnered with ISU Geospatial Extension to help them improve the OSM basemap by creating more complete data for streets, sidewalks, alleys, parks, and crosswalks as part of a community planning project. The 4-Hers were encouraged to use Google street view in addition to the OSM imagery to get better views of the sidewalks and crosswalks which can often be obstructed by trees.

  • The original view (no sidewalks)
Notice the sidewalks (some are still hard to see, obstructed by trees)
Here’s a view of the sidewalks from the street
Now the basemap is complete

The group also had a short time to work on a project with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team helping map buildings in Osaka, Japan as part of their earthquake recovery efforts.

ESRI International Users Conference 2018 :: JULY 9-13, 2018 :: SAN DIEGO, CA

By Uncategorized

The ESRI International Users Conference is a sneak peek at all that is new in the world of ArcGIS.  This is the largest GIS conference with over 18,000 in attendance. There are thousands of sessions and hundreds of vendors. This is a great opportunity to expand your GIS knowledge in the beautiful city of San Diego, California. Check out some of last year’s plenary sessions, here.  Cool stuff!

Registration is $1,595 until May 25.  To register, click here.  For an overview of the agenda, click here.

ITAG 2018 :: June 12-15, 2018 :: West Des Moines, IA

By Conference, Education, Event, Outreach, Uncategorized, , , ,

This week we are highlighting a number of upcoming geospatial conferences and the organizations that they representing.  Conferences are a moment to learn something new, hear about great work that our colleagues are doing, find opportunities for collaboration, share knowledge, and have fun.

ITAG is the Iowa Technology And Geospatial Conference.  The ITAG conference is a joint effort between the Iowa Geographic Information Council (IGIC) and the Iowa Counties Information Technology (ICIT) organizations.  This conference is unique, in that it offers two GIS tracks and two information technology (IT) tracks. This is helpful as many GIS professionals are also involved with IT as part of their job.  This is the second year of the joint conference.

ITAG is June 13-15, 2018 at the West Des Moines Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa.  There are pre-conference workshops on June 12.  For registration information, click here.  For a detailed agenda, click here.