Nathan Berger Portfolio: Geographic Information Systems

Hurricane Damage In New Jersey Check out my Story Map at... https://arcg.is/0bLuWn Today we are going to talk about how GIS can map hurricanes, plan for natural disasters, estimate damages from these storms using imagery collection and GIS analysis... THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT! Pretty cool right? Hurricane Sandy was tragic and the map below indicates the path that it took going North of Cuba into the Atlantic Ocean, and then veering northwest into New Jersey.  Using GIS we can map the actual timeline of a natural disaster or a hurricane for instance as we track the meteorological data of the storm. We can look at on what day and time, where the storm was at its strongest and when it was at its weakest,. This helps policy makers plan for future storms, as well as manage current ones navigating there way to out coastlines. In this example, we can see that the hurricane became a category 2 storm north of Cuba, and decreased as it transits the Atlantic Ocean before hitting landfall. We si...

  What is Coastal Flooding?  Why use GIS to determine damage to infrastructure? By using GIS and Remote sensing Applications, we can determine how much damage a specific area received in regards to natural disasters.  An example would be hurricanes, tornados, and even tsunamis. For this exercise, a coastal flooding analysis was calculated to show the before area and the aftermath of the Hurricane Sandy storm that plowed through New Jersey.  We were able to calculate using elevation data taken from LIDAR to determine changes in elevation. In the map below, the areas depicted in red are where massive elevation changes have occurred such as erosion or destruction after the storm. The areas in dark blue indicate sand accretion or building debris.  Insurance companies can use maps like these to determine how many claims they will be processing after a major hurricane. We can also determine the level of damage, and what areas were affected the most.  Lidar DEM - ...

  Crime Analysis in GIS Specifically using Esri software suite such as Arc GIS Pro to build crime heat maps to display significantly high areas of crime. This can be based on crime rates using population data or area data, or even using kernel density calculations to define local clusters of crime.   Different algorithms such as Moran's I can define grid like hot spot areas of significant crime at a 95% confidence interval, allowing you as a GIS analyst to inform your command staff at your local Police Department  the areas in which Patrol should focus their efforts.  Defining a Crime Rate This map below is an example of calculating crime rate of a specific type of crime (Burglaries) in a specific area (Washington D.C.) using a standardization of population. We are calculating the number of Burglaries per 1,000 Housing Units. We started out using SQL Expressions and Table joins to select Burglaries from our crime point data, then joining the census dat...

  Introduction to 3D Visualization in Arc GIS Pro Today I am going to show some screenshots of using 3D data visualization techniques to solve real world problems. Think of this blog post as more of an overview of viewing different ways to see data in 3D. We will be looking at some LIDAR and elevation data, however there will also be some cool visuals such as viewing buildings in 3D and doing Line of Sight analysis.  I enrolled in a few online training courses online at the Esri catalog website which is included with any Arc GIS Online subscription. From there you can register and take as many courses as you want to develop your GIS skill sets.  Introduction to 3D Data: In this course, you can view 3D data in multiple ways. This image shows how a GIS analyst can use LIDAR data to measure distances beneath a bridge, or even visualize a new bridge being built. We can measure the distance of the bridge, the height, etc… This image shows a TIN Scene View...

 LIDAR: Light Detection & Ranging So what does that mean exactly? Today we are going to talk about LIDAR. LIDAR stands for Light Detection & Ranging. It is a collection method in which we can send out beams of light, and then calculate or "detect" the distance of the beam point from the Earth.  As you may know, LIDAR is used for multiple purposes. Tesla cars use it to detect objects in motion in relation to the self driving cars, so that the vehicle knows when to brake or keep driving. The military uses LIDAR as a remote sensing collection platform to build 3D terrain models and construct analysis. LIDAR is use by construction companies, as well as building planners to measure bridges, buildings, tress, and anything that has a height above the ground elevation level.  Look at the examples below of LIDAR datasets... Car using LIDAR to detect people and objects LIDAR Example of study area Todays post is going to use LIDAR data taken on the Shenandoah National Park l...

 Coronado National Forest - Corridor Analysis What a beautiful place right? Today we are going to do some GIS analysis on Least Cost Path and mapping Corridors. What is Least Cost you might ask? It sort of sounds like paying to walk down a path... Least Cost -  The   Cost Path   tool determines the least-cost path from a destination point to a source. Aside from requiring that the destination be specified, the   Cost Path   tool uses two rasters derived from a cost distance tool: the least-cost distance raster and the back-link raster. These rasters are created from the   Cost Distance   or   Path Distance   tools. The backlink raster is used to retrace the least costly route from the destination to the source over the cost distance surface. - Esri For this task, we are going to take on the role of a Park Ranger in the Coronado National Forest. We want to see how the black bears are moving and migrating between two environmental protecte...

Suitability Analysis In Arc GIS Pro... As a GIS Analyst, we may be called to action in some pretty epic ways. For today's blog post, we are going to talk about how a GIS analyst can assist a property or land developer in visually and statically seeing how much land they can develop on before actually beginning construction .This is a crucial role as a GIS Analyst, simply due to the sheer cost of money and time that goes into land development.  More importantly, we are doing Suitability Analysis... We need to find what land is "Suitable" for development! "the quality of being right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose, or situation." -    Oxford Languages by Google Most developers want to see what suitable locations they can build on and estimate the total amount of land available to them. The benefits of seeing these results before actually starting the land clearing and construction phases is that the property developers can what room they have to bu...