Progress Report: Design and Creation of a Geodatabase on the Colorado River Refuge Owned by Pines and Prairies Land Trust

Arma-Geo Products

Geography 4427October 31, 2012

Texas State University

The Arma-Geo Team

Ryan Henderson: Project Manager

Dustin Sablatura: Assistant Project Manager

Veronica Suarez: GIS Analyst/Graphic Design

Marcos Montelongo: GIS Analyst/Webmaster

PurposeTo update Pines and Prairies Land Trust on……….

Work completed Work in progress Work to be completed

Problems encountered

Future schedule and changes

Assessment of how the project is going so far

Provides great opportunity for valuable feedback

BackgroundThe non-profit organization, Pines and Prairies Land Trust (PPLT) identified a lack of geospatial and attribute data on their properties, primarily the Colorado River Refuge in Bastrop, Tx.

We have reviewed the request for proposal

Conducted a literature review

Proposed our project

Project Description Design and construct a geodatabase for PPLT

Collect secondary and primary data on the Colorado River Refuge in Bastrop, Tx

Several trips required to collect GPS data on trails and property features within the Colorado River Refuge

Populate the geodatabase with appropriately edited data

Shapefiles Attribute tables Appropriate spatial reference Metadata

Create various maps requested by PPLT

Provide PPLT with final deliverables and instructions on how to use the completed geodatabase

Project Purpose To improve the capabilities of Pines and Prairies Land Trust

This geodatabase will serve as an inventory and management tool for PPLT

Assists in planning future projects

Access to this geodatabase gives PPLT the power to see WHAT is on the property and WHERE it is

PPLT will have the power to see attributes and descriptive data on each feature stored in the database

Data within this database will also be useful in creating customized maps for staff, board members, and visitors

This will serve as a valuable resource for PPLT that will improve their efforts in improving and preserving the natural resource that is the Colorado River Refuge

Work CompletedData Collected

Feature data has been gathered on benches, marked trees, trails, trail head signs, and focus areas, such as gardens.

Data was collected using handheld GPS equipment supplied by PPLT (I need make/model)

In addition, points for georeferencing were collected: road intersections and railroad tracks

Work CompletedData collected

Collected points were entered into an Excel spreadsheet which contained the following fields: 

Point no. Point name Trail Maintenance (general upkeep) Handicap Accessibility (accessible by wheelchair) Point type Difficulty level Altitude (ft) X Y

Work Completed Data Processed

Excel spreadsheet was imported into ArcMap 10

Map was created with UTM 14 as the projection and NAD 83 as the Datum

Extra data from waterways and roadways were clipped from the project area

Hand drawn map from PPLT brochure was rectified to a satellite image in ArcMap.

Work Completed

Work Completed

Work Completed

Work in Progress Data Collection

We are continuing to collect data throughout the rest of our study area (CRR) using both the (PPLT’s GPS) units as well as the (Department’s GPS) to contribute to our geodatabase. With our second trip to CRR the data collection will be plotted with better accuracy and more descriptions to populate the fields for the specific data collected (i.e. Walking Trails) in a data-input form below.

Work in Progress Design Geodatabase

Remaining feature classes are being created for the geodatabase over the course of the next few weeks. Once this is completed, we are going to populate the database with the data collected from the field.

Work in Progress Populate Geodatabase

We are continuing to populate the geodatabase manually; using the information stored on the data-input forms. Once the final geodatabase design is completed, we will use the collected data (geodatabase) to test its functionality with ArcGIS and ArcCatalog.

Future Work Collect remaining data

Data processing

Geodatabase completion

Functionality testing

Create maps for PPLT

Interactive map (if time allows)

Prepare final deliverables

1. Introduction to Project

Project Overview C

Client Introduction C

Learn clients expectations for final outcome of project C

Preparation of a Proposal C

2. GIS Design/ Development

Create a working geodatabase C

Ensure it is a user friendly and efficient system for managing our data C

3. Data Collection

Obtain any previous data from Pines and Prairies C

GPS data collection fieldwork IP

Final visit for data quality check FW

4. Data Processing

Quality check of GPS data IP

Prepare the data to be managed in the geodatabase IP

Ensure all projections and coordinate systems are the same

for all layers C

C= Complete IP= In Progress FW= Future Work

Schedule

5. Website Development

Create a professional informative website showcasing our project FW

Incorporate an interactive map for the use of Pines and Prairies and the general public FW

Provide a more in depth look at the Colorado River Refuge than Pines and Prairies previously had FW

6. Preparation of Final Deliverables

Creation of maps from data collected FW

Final report write-up FW

Incorporate maps into completed website FW

Poster size map print-out for Colorado River Refuge kiosk FW

C= Complete IP= In Progress

FW= Future Work

Schedule

Problems encountered Learning how to use GPS equipment

Scheduling conflicts within the Arma-Geo team

Distance to CRR

Time required for each field work trip

Lots of hiking in various types of terrain

Poison Ivy

Inclement weather (last Friday)

So far no major issues related to data processing

Conclusion Good progress so far!

All secondary data has been collected

Scheduling issues and inclement weather have delayed our GPS collection on site

Despite the delays the majority of our data has been collected in the field, but we do lack some features that will be collected soon in our final field work trip

Next we will import and process our remaining data, and populate the geodatabase

We will then produce various maps requested by PPLT and prepare our final deliverables for the December 10th deadline

Questions or Feedback?