Through the Human Geography Lens
By WWHGD Support
Through the Human Geography LensOct 19, 2022
Data for Global Food Security Insights with Dr. Michael Humber, University of Maryland
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Dr. Michael Humber, Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences, about his role as data lead within NASA’s Harvest Portal.
00:55 What is NASA’s HARVEST Portal?
- https://harvestportal.org/
02:20 What is GEOGLAM? Is it related to the NASA HARVEST Portal?
- G20 https://www.g20.org/en/about-g20/#members
- Group on Earth Observations https://www.earthobservations.org/index.php
- GEOGLAM https://earthobservations.org/geoglam.php
- Food price spike in 2008 https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/high-food-price-crisis
- And in 2011 https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/september/commodity-price-spike/
- Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) https://www.amis-outlook.org//
- AMIS Market Monitor http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-monitoring#.Y93Rl-zMJfE
- Crop Monitor https://cropmonitor.org/
- FEWSNet https://fews.net/
06:50 Any recent insights, especially around Ukraine?
- Potash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potash
- Potash market spike after the start of the Ukraine war https://ycharts.com/indicators/potassium_chloride_muriate_of_potash_spot_price
11:00 Any surprises in the agricultural patterns you’re following?
- Current material sanctions list https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/ukraine-russia-related-sanctions
13:00 Assessing downstream aspects of the war in Ukraine, coupled with climate change and COVID
- Macroeconomics https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/macroeconomics
16:45 What are the biggest data gaps you’re seeing now?
(1) Field data measurements
- Global map and indicators of food system sustainability https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-019-0301-5
(2) Data from the grain trade – the transport and storage of grain https://cee.illinois.edu/news/first-map-americas-food-supply-chain-mind-boggling and https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/transportation-analysis/gtr-datasets 1
9:45 New data resources you’re excited about?
- MODIS https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/
- LANDSAT https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
- Wildfire imagery https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@0.0,0.0,3z
- LIDAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuTm1jJy2XY
- Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (global biomass) https://gedi.umd.edu/
- Google Earth Engine https://earthengine.google.com/
- Natural Language Processing Workflow in Geospatial Sciences https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356010869_Natural_Language_Processing_in_GIScience_Applications
- Crop Explorers USDA/FAS https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/
- Hunger Map Live (WFP) https://hungermap.wfp.org/
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Environmental migration in Bangladesh and agent-based modeling developed by Dr. Kelsea Best
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Dr. Kelsea Best, a post-doctoral researcher in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland.
01:10 An overview of her research on environmental migration in Bangladesh.
02:30 A description of her agent-based modeling tool and its utility in her research.
An overview of agent-based modeling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent-based_model
04:50 What was the academic path that led to this focus? (from chemical engineering to addressing climate justice through data analysis)
07:20 Out of 2,000 variables in your dataset, how did Machine Learning help you gain insight?
An overview of machine learning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning
09:50 Did anything surprise you in your analysis?
12:05 Is the enormous dataset you're describing publicly available? (Not yet. But the Adams dataset, similarly valuable and also about Bangladesh, is available.)
The Adams dataset from Bangladesh - https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/852356/
13:30 Discussing why people do or do not want to migrate, and the many pressures around either choice.
16:00 Developing a board game to explore migration decisions, and the scientific creativity appearing as we try to understand these complex issues.
16:30 Discovering the importance of migration narratives, and deciding to collect and incorporate migration stories to enrich the meaning of survey data.
StoryMap with Bangladeshi migrant stories- https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fd168c7804ae489b99c7311a4c805b31
21:15 Where can our listeners take a close look at your agent-based modeling code?
Dr. Best's agent-based model code- https://zenodo.org/record/4526330#.Y7cNMXbMKUc
22:35 The WWHGD Human Geography Library resources on environmental migration.
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Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
WWHGD Event: Climate, Migration, and Human Security Symposium
Join us next week for our in person event:
Climate, Migration, and Human Security Symposium
15 November 2022
National Museum of American Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
If you can't join us in person we will be broadcasting the event via webinar, we look forward to seeing many of you there!
Register Here: https://www.wwhgd.org/events-1/climate-migration-and-human-security-2/form
Nexus between human migration, climate change, and conflict with Dr. Chelsea Cervantes De Blois
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Dr. Chelsea Cervantes De Blois, lead climate security expert at the US Department of State.
00:55 Defining Human-Environmental Systems
Coupled Human-Environment Systems
Modelling Climate and Conflict
Tracking climate migration patterns at ClimateMigration.org
Report on internal displacement in a changing climate here.
02:20 Migration drivers: Social, political, economic, cultural, demographic, ecological, and sometimes infrastructure.
02:45 Research on ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan and the associated "system" relationships
The 2021 PhD dissertation on Kyrgyzstan by our guest, Dr. Cervantes De Blois, is here.
05:05 Understanding the data you have, and whether it's the data you need.
06:15 A major problem in assessing climate migration data: a lack of standardization for describing a climate refugee.
A discussion of the definition of "climate refugee"
08:15 A lack of comprehensive datasets requires creative thinking.
09:50 People may not realize that they're in the middle of a climate-driven migration
Award-winning July 2020 New York Times Magazine long-form interactive article on Climate Migration
10:35 Counting the "invisibles"
Risks of missing the invisibles in environmental migration research (2021 Nature article, open-access)
11:55 Recognizing a "mental migration" in reporting, and standardizing tools and terms for climate migration across shared disciplines.
A seminal discussion of Migration Psychology
13:30 Why is this topic, climate migration, important across so many disciplines?
14:35 Why not just devise better tools and methods? Why is standardization difficult?
COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 06-18 November 2022
What, really, is a PhD Dissertation? Useful description from Purdue University.
"The more you learn, the less you actually know"
17:20 "Mixed Methodist" as a human geographer. Extracting definitions
18:40 Climate-Migration nexus framework
Exploring the Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict Nexus
21:25 Hopes for the Climate and Migration event at State on 15 November.
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Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
YouthMappers for global good with Dr. Patricia Solis
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Eric Rasmussen talk with Dr. Patricia Solis, Associate Research Professor at the School for Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University, and the Director and Co-Founder of YouthMappers.
00:50 The mission of Youth Mappers
01:50 Where did this idea come from?
GeoCenter at USAID
Humanitarian Open Street Map Team
05:20 Can a student start a chapter of YouthMappers at their school?
06:55 What kind of projects can they work on, and do you help?
American Red Cross training center
10:30 Efforts at regional capacity building, and encouraging international meetings
11:45 Leadership programs, Fellowship programs
Fellowship programs (closed for 2023)
2023 Leadership workshop in Jamaica (66 students selected, 27 countries) for climate mapping and more (closed for 2023)
14:00 Can students reach out and up to local governments? Yes!!!
16:30 Inspiring for young people, and all data is freely available on OSM
17:45 Youth Mappers have mapped at least 16 million buildings and 500,000 km of roads, and labeled more than 80,000 building tags.
18:20 Stories of the Mappers: Open source book by Springer-Verlag, voices of the students, Sustainable Development Goals series. (Spring 2023)
Open Mapping toward Sustainable Development Goals (Springer, ISBN: 978-3-031-05184-5) - not yet released as of 11 October 2022
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
19: 20 Documentary on YouTube: Sierra Leone open mapping data Arizona State University and the Ministry of Energy in Sierra Leone.
Youth Mappers documentary on YouTube
Arizona State University YouthMappers home
"Be a good ancestor"
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Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Frameworks for Community Resilience with Dr. John Hummel, Argonne National Laboratory
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Gwyneth Holt and Eric Rasmussen talk with Dr. John Hummel, the program lead for Integrated Resilience Analysis in the Decision and Infrastructure Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory.
01:15 Dr. Hummel's role at Argonne.
02:05 Integrated Resiliency Analysis
02:30 Defining "resilience"
United Nations definition of resilience
03:25 The ARISE Framework for assessing resilience - genesis and driving factors
ARISE Framework described on Dr. Hummel's bio. ARISE is free, and distributed through an email to him.
05:30 The ARISE Framework's design process and current implementation
08:15 Use of the Framework in Nepal - earthquake validation
09:55 Assessing data sources - three tiers of trust
11:20 Level of Effort remotely and on the ground
12:35 Recent development in refining the ARISE Framework, and its availability
14:25 Reflecting nuance: Addressing gaps between written policy or law, and what's actually found on the ground.
Domestic abuse, in 2020, was the primary cause of injury to women in Nepal.
17:10 Discussing the purpose of National Laboratories
19:50 Argonne efforts during the pandemic: Forming a National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory
National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory
21:15 Agent-based modeling for the spread of COVID infections across the entire Chicago area. Two million agents, every 50 minutes, over 90 days.
23:15 Assessing COVID workforce impact by county. Defining essential workers and their associated risk by US location.
24:35 Distribution of COVID analyses internationally. Data risks.
Data collection in Fragile States - Innovations in Africa
26:00 National Laboratories as "cookie stores" - Argonne Fellowship selection choices are superb.
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Protecting and Preserving Cultural Property with Dr. Laurie Rush
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Dr. Laurie Rush, the Cultural Resources Manager and Army Archaeologist at Fort Drum, New York.
00:35 Upcoming WWHGD Webinar on Cultural Heritage and Human Geography scheduled for October 19th, 2022.
Register here.
00:50 Defining "cultural heritage" and "cultural property".
01:05 Unique, powerful, and sensible definition from Dr. Rush.
01:30 The Hague definition.
The Hague Convention on protecting cultural property in armed conflict
02:00 Describing her role as a cultural resources manager.
03:35 Expanding her role to teach cross-cultural landscapes to deploying soldiers.
04:35 Drawing parallels between international sensitivity and our internal domestic perspectives on cultural property.
05:40 Example: "Tooth of the Dragon", a pointed rock, in the Bamian valley of central Afghanistan.
A discussion of the Bamian Valley
The Nara Principles for Cultural Restoration
06:35 Is there a database of important sites like "Tooth of the Dragon"?
07:35 Local community partnership development. Ideally, with the keepers of the heritage before any disruptive events.
10:15 A GIS layer with important cultural artifacts localized seems highly desirable. Are there any risks in that accumulation or exposure?
War and Heritage from the Getty Conservation Institute
12:35 How do you train soldiers to support this cultural task when deployed?
Cultural preservation Training Aids from the Smithsonian
13:30 Example: Remote Afghan water systems with surface holes easy to spot.
A discussion of the Qanat water systems of the Middle East (Dr. Rush uses the regionally correct term "kareez").
14:50 Other examples: Smithsonian's Dr. Katherine Hanson helping strategic planning to save Raqqa from ISIS.
The Battle for Raqqa (2017)
Article about Raqqa preservation by Dr. Hanson.
16:05 The staying power of ancient places to the people who live there. Ex: The Temple of Artemis at Sardis in Turkey.
The Temple of Artemis at Sardis
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Human Geography and why it matters with Elizabeth Lyon
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Elizabeth Lyon, Deputy Director for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Support Team at U.S. AFRICOM. Liz is a passionate Geographer who talks to the importance of place and human geography and why human geography can be so hard to map.
01:00 What's your role now as a Deputy Director with NGA at AFRICOM?
02:20 Looking at places that aren't yet well-mapped.
03:30 How to be effective with a geographic separation between a physical workspace and an area of responsibility (AOR)
04:00 "Volksmarsch" as a German tradition
05:00 Defining Human Geography for non-specialists
07:00 Why is it so hard to map the earth?
08:30 What does the WWHGD mean to you? Is it of benefit to the field of human geography?
10:10 "We need to create a taxonomy."
10:35 Building off a information-sharing model developed in the disaster response/humanitarian assistance community
14:00 Do you have a favorite WWHGD event? ("Maybe Boundaries at Columbia University in New York")
18:40 When did your passion for geography start?
International School, Kampala, Uganda
22:40 Staying true to building community by making connections to folks with geography, data, and tech. Being an advocate and active learner.
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Conservation criminology with Dr. Meredith Gore
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Meredith Gore, an Associate Professor within the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Gore is a convergence researcher and social scientist who shares her work in conservation criminology, restorative justice and participatory mapping techniques in Madagascar.
00:45 What is a convergence researcher? - a discussion of system science and sorting wicked problems
https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/learn/research-types/learn-about-convergence-research
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem
01:50 How did you select this complex set of social science topics?
04:00 What do you mean by "conservation crime"?
05:45 How did you select your focus from a bottomless well of related issues, and who's helping you?
06:30 Working example of the many problems: illegal sea cucumber harvesting
07:00 Madagascar, the trade in critically-endangered ploughshare tortoises, and the associated deforestation.
https://www.turtleconservancy.org/programs/ploughshare-tortoise
07:45 Combating wildlife trafficking and, in particular, the state of elephant conservation, supported by data and mapping.
09:00 Southern Africa: Vultures ("ecosystem engineers") are also killed because they reveal the location of the dead elephant as they circle, potentially exposing poachers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/world/africa/vultures-poisoned-botswana-poachers-elephants.html
10:00 Approaching wicked problems with data.
11:00 Restorative justice through collaboration with former turtle traffickers.
12:15 Affecting the market in illegal animal parts through education.
13:00 Distinguishing between legal and illegal wildlife trade in purchasing.
14:00 Reasons for poaching unrelated to profit, and the use of participatory mapping in Madagascar.
https://www.lemurconservationnetwork.org/on-the-ground-meredith-gore/
15:00 Including women in non-accusatory participatory mapping through projective questioning.
17:30 Have you witnessed much change in Madagascar over the past 15 years?
19:00 The visible impact of the Madagascar drought on land-use changes and the human condition.
20:30 If you could solve one global challenge, what would it be?
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Why accurate statistical data matters for Human Geography with Tom Fitzwater
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Tom Fitzwater, Chief of the Demographic and Economic Studies Branch within the International Program Center at the US Census Bureau.
01:10 Tom's role at the Census Bureau, his training for the position, and the history of the International Program Center.
https://www.census.gov/en.html
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs.html
03:10 His current work on the US decadal census, describing the value and complexity of this (and every) census.
https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/2020-census-center-of-population.html
05:05 Looking for communities that are hard to count. (See the term "net coverage error" on the website below)
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/coverage-measurement/da.html
06:20 Why does the US Census Bureau have an International Program?
https://www.census.gov/data/software/tasc.html
08:10 How do you estimate the world's population? What's the process?
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/global-mapping.html
10:10 Defining a Cohort Component Population Projection
11:30 Are there countries outside of the US that rely on the US Census Bureau for their internal population survey data?
13:50 Delivering consultation, training, and technical assistance to teach population survey methods to other national statistics agencies.
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/training-tech-asst.html
15:30 Defining the International Database (IDB) that contains population estimates and projections for 227 countries, territories, and areas out to 2100.
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/idb.html
17:40 Soon Census will start estimating and projecting one level down, sub-nationally, with data to be available around November 2022.
https://www.census.gov/data.html
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
The What3Words Addressing System
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Gwyneth Holt and Eric Rasmussen talk with Clare Jones, Chief Commercial Officer at What3Words. What3Words is an alternative geospatial coordinate system based on a remarkable bit of computational wizardry. Using a supercomputer and a clever algorithm, W3W has divided the entire surface of the planet into 3 meter x 3 meter squares and named each square using 3 common words. For example, atomic.chairs.talent identifies the walk-in door into the Emergency Department at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The app is free for personal use. More information is available at https://what3words.com/
00:50 What is What3Words and why is a new coordinate system important?
03:00 How can ordinary people use W3W?
04:15 The appearance of physical signs displaying W3W addresses on walls.
04:30 How does W3W handle languages?
06:05 How is W3W used by emergency services?
Hotel Ebeye on Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands: http://w3w.co/echo.concerts.golden
El Manantial village in the Yucatan rainforest: https://w3w.co/trotters.befitting.attic
1. https://w3w.co/trotters.befitting.attic
08:45 Many words sound similar (e.g. copy and coffee), and a plural "s" is easy to miss. How does W3W handle that potential confusion?
09:35 Mongolia, with a nomadic population, chose to use W3W as their national addressing system. How has that gone?
11:15 Discussing the human security aspect of W3W coordinate simplification, including saving lives in Afghanistan during the evacuation.
14:15 The use of W3W in slums, in rural medical care, in refugee camps, and in disaster response.
15:25 The use of W3W on a small island within Kwajalein Atoll in the remote Pacific.
17:15 What are the objections to W3W?
19:30 What do you see for the future of W3W?
20:05 W3W wants to solve describing coordinates in the vertical dimension: How can W3W describe height?
22:00 W3W business model: Free for individuals and NGOs, and fee-for-service or a subscription model for businesses.
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
American Geographical Society, geography in education, and the Earth’s population featuring Dr. Chris Tucker
On this episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt talk with Dr. Chris Tucker, Chair of the American Geographical Society (AGS).
01:55 What is the American Geographical Society?
https://americangeo.org/
03:00 The upcoming annual meeting of "Geography 2050" on The Future of Food.
https://www.geography2050.org/
04:50 What is your role in the AGS, and how does AGS as an organization bring benefit and insight to those who need geography?
07:35. How did you discover your passion for geography?
10:15 What skills will be needed by the coming generation of geographers?
12:20 What has geography become as an integrated body of knowledge? How has it developed? Where is it now?
15:05 "A Planet of Three Billion" - Dr. Tucker's new book about how many people the Earth can support. Not just the needed food. Everything.
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Billion-Humanitys-Ecological-Destruction/dp/0578491427
17:45 Thinking about the statement: "Humans are the ultimate invasive species"
18:20 What are the most practical ways we can get started on improving the things you write about in the book?
18:35 What does the data show is our single most effective carbon reduction technique?
19:30 The trends in human fertility rates
22:05 What do you think will be the economic cost of the coming change?
24:00 Arguments about consistent GDP growth and consideration of other models.
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Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
HBCU students with Dr. Sumanth Reddy on their tour of National Parks supported by the American Association of Geographers (AAG)
On this week’s episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, Dr. Sumanth Reddy, Assistant Professor of Geography within the Department of History and Government at Bowie State University, an HBCU in Maryland, shares his experience leading students on a cross-country trip to explore our national parks.
In May of this year, Dr. Reddy and nine of his students embarked on a 10-day, 1800-mile exploration through five national parks after receiving a grant from the American Association of Geographers. Dr. Reddy is also joined in the studio by two of the students from the trip, Ayen Kuol, a computer science graduate student, and Rodah Ngorem, a sophomore majoring in nursing, who share their experiences and what they learned on the trip.
NBC News clip:
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/prince-georges-county/bowie-state-students-touring-national-parks-in-southwest/3061934/
Baltimore Times:
https://baltimoretimes-online.com/featured/2022/05/23/bsu-students-embark-on-10-day-exploration-of-national-parks/
Dr. Reddy is offering advice and support to anyone considering a similar trip:
https://bowiestate.edu/directories/faculty-and-staff-directory/sreddy.php
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00:50 Why was this trip with your students to five National Parks important?
05:25 Did you have any learning goals for your students before the trip?
06:20 Was this trip associated with a formal class?
08:10 Walk us through the ten-day trip (answered by Rhodah)
1. Arches National Park
a. https://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm
2. Grand Canyon National Park
a. https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm
3. Great Sand Dunes National Park
a. https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm
4. Mesa Verde National Park
a. https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
5. Rocky Mountain National Park
a. https://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm
• Four Corners Monument
o https://navajonationparks.org/tribal-parks/four-corners-monument/
• Black American West Museum, Denver
o https://www.bawmhc.org/
• Five Points Neighborhood, Denver
o https://www.denver.org/neighborhoods/five-points/
• Buffalo Soldier Exhibit, Fort Garland, CO
o https://www.historycolorado.org/exhibit/buffalo-soldiers-west
09:50 How were the National Parks selected?
13:00 Do you have any advice for other educators that might wish to lead similar trips?
15:15 Beyond your experience on the trip did you learn anything about yourself?
15:20 Rhodah answers (significant apprehension)
16:05 Ayen answers (not everyone in her family was in favor of the trip)
18:35 Dr. Reddy on cultural distinctions and the black experience while traveling
21:00 To the students: Would you go again?
The HBCU Outdoor Ambassador Program
https://www.hbcusoutside.com/getinvolved
The National Park Trust
https://parktrust.org/
DC Arboretum Summer Camp for Kids
http://www.washingtonyouthgarden.org/green-ambassadors-program/
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Coastal Communities, Sea Level Rise, and Human Security featuring Dr. Curt Storlazzi, U.S. Geological Survey
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Gwyneth Holt and Eric Rasmussen sit down with Curt Storlazzi, a research geologist and oceanographer with the US Geological Survey’s Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, who’s also a researcher with the UC-Santa Cruz Institute for Marine Sciences.
01:20 Focus of past and current research on coral reefs and the impact of wave circulation.
https://www.chasingcoral.com/
02:15 Island infrastructure vulnerability to sea level rise.
03:10 The threat of more frequent “overwash events” from sea level rise.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aap9741
05:10 Geographic specificity for island research – especially within US Pacific territories.
06:35 “Boundaries” research with the Pacific Community (Suva, Fiji)
Pacific Community: https://spc.int/
Vulnerable Basepoints Project, now https://gem.spc.int/projects/resilient-boundaries
Geoscience Australia: https://www.ga.gov.au/
07:15 Every sandy bump a meter above the waves can define an Exclusive Economic Zones – 200 miles of fishing, mining.
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/useez.html
09:25 How is data being collected in these remote locations? Discussion of tiered trust in source datasets, and triaging islands of concern.
12:20 LIDAR on land and bathymetry in water – accurate and rigorous gold standards, but expensive. Now looking at SfM and satellite colorimetric pseudo-bathymetry.
Visual SfM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ceiOd8Yx3g
Storlazzi Pseudo-bathymetry paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303697607_Benthic_Habitat_Map_of_US_Coral_Reef_Task_Force_Faga%27alu_Bay_Priority_Study_Area_Tutuila_American_Samoa
Pseudo-bathymetry for the enthusiast: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/6/859/htm
14:50 Calibration / Validation efforts with Office of Naval Research
15:50 NASA’s Structure from Motion Mars Rover research adapted for earth observation.
EROS Earth Observing Group: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros
17:05 ICESAT 2 satellite laser altimeter. Global calibration/validation support.
https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/
https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/space-lasers
17:55 Is any data available to the public? Are the models available?
American Samoa Bathymetry above
LIDAR downloads: https://gisgeography.com/top-6-free-lidar-data-sources/
20:45 Human security concerns becoming visible from his research
21:30 Island limitations – stranded populations, climate refugees, and all adaptation is expensive. Diasporas require thought.
22:30 Floating Cities being tested in Busan, Korea and the Maldives.
https://oceanixcity.com/busan/
https://maldivesfloatingcity.com/
22:55 Low-lying atoll coral reefs losing the capacity to buffer vulnerable islands.
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Acute Food Insecurity and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network featuring Dr. Kiersten Johnson
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sit down with Kiersten Johnson, the Team Leader for the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net), Risk Analysis Division, within USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
00:45 What is the Famine Early Warning System Network?
04:55 What kinds of data are collected and by whom?
07:35 Access to the raw food security data within the FEWS Net Data Center
07:55 Food Security Integrated Phase Classification definitions
08:55 FEWS Net Administrative Boundaries and Livelihood Zones
https://fews.net/fews-data/335
11:45 Remote Sensing Imagery Tiles and partner data portals on the FEWS Net data site
https://fews.net/fews-data/336
12:50 UC-Santa Barbara Climate Hazards Center hybrid satellite and ground reference datasets
https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/monitoring
13:30 Acute Food Insecurity forecasting and establishing Famine criteria
15:20 Challenges: Collecting the data needed to make a famine determination
16:35 The impact of current conflicts (and other variables) on global food security
18:35 Fertilizer availability and the implications for future harvests
20:30 FAO Global Food Price Index
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en/
20:55 Assessing the short-term food security impact of the war in Ukraine
21:50 Multi-factorial food insecurity over the coming years
22:55 What’s giving you hope?
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Eric Frost - Director of the Visualization Center at San Diego State University
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Eric Rasmussen sit down with Eric Frost, Director of the Visualization Center at San Diego State University.
01:30 Current topics in geospatial visualization (focused on Ukraine).
05:10 What does the SDSU Visualization Laboratory do?
- https://vizcenter.sdsu.edu/vizcenter/about/
07:30 Supporting General Honore’s requests for data on maps.
08:15 Young people thinking spatially and the impact of smartphones on expectations
09:50 Making geospatial data useful, usable, and used.
10:50 Establishing Trust and recognizing Trusted Agents for data dissemination
12:35 Commercial imagery in Ukraine as an example of trust.
13:05 Democratized capabilities and expectations in low-resource settings.
14:15 CALTRANS free GIS tools synthesizing data at the US-Mexico border crossing.
- CALTRANS QuickMap: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP One) app is here.
17:25 WhatsApp in use on the border.
17:50 Assessing SnapChat for human trafficking mitigation
- https://www.snapchat.com/download
19:00 The risk, and the opportunity, of open data. How do we determine what to share?
19:50 SDSU mapping fentanyl smuggling
21:20 Global Supply Chain tracking on the blockchain.
21:45 Keeping up with transnational criminal organizations using GIS tools.
22:40 Data sources our listeners might care about:
- Johns Hopkins COVID dashboard.
o https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
- Drone images from Ukraine (Javelin impacts, river crossings)
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A33ZVOdxxwI
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkwnJC08THI
- DHS S&T MappedIn.com – schools and civic building maps in response to Uvalde (not openly available, but the link below is helpful)
- Zillow for home visualization
- Traffic speed limits
o https://www.adci.com/blog/4-speed-limit-databases-you-need-know-about
- Border wait times
28:45 The perspective of WWHGD’s value to Dr. Frost.
29:50 The upcoming WWHGD Panel at ESRI – San Diego
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement,
Ryan Engstrom - Director of the Data Science Program, Department of Geography, George Washington University
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Eric Rasmussen sit down with Ryan Engstrom, Director of the Data Science Program within the Department of Geography at George Washington University.
00:50 Professor Engstrom’s research interests
01:35 Defining “deprived areas”
Kuffer, Thomson, D. R., Boo, G., Mahabir, R., Grippa, T., Vanhuysse, S., Engstrom, R., Ndugwa, R., Makau, J., Darin, E., de Albuquerque, J. P., & Kabaria, C. (2020). The Role of Earth Observation in an Integrated Deprived Area Mapping “System” for Low-to-Middle Income Countries. Remote Sensing (Basel, Switzerland), 12(6), 982–. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12060982
02:32 Insights from work in Accra, Ghana
03:40 “Do the most vulnerable people live in the worst slums?”
05:30 Using geospatial data to assess the population/environment balance
06:45 Working with census takers.
08:00 Working in the Arctic, particularly in Russia, and the value of open Census data
09:05 Validating data: survey and satellite integration
10:12 Assessing spatial distribution by economic class: surveys often miss the wealthy
12:00 Youth Mappers (open sourced at OpenStreetMap, 300+ chapters, funded by USAID)
15:10 Geography 2050 for elementary and high school support.
https://www.geography2050.org/
15:45 Geospatial tools in use at the university level
17:02 Open-source data models, not just the data: GitHub availability (and it’s working well)
https://github.com/topics/geospatial-analytics
18:35 Major data sources and managers that have appeared over the past few years
https://github.com/sacridini/Awesome-Geospatial
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=4/38.01/-95.84
https://earthengine.google.com/
https://aws.amazon.com/?nc2=h_lg
19:25 Example: OSM mapping enhancements in Accra
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/27565080#map=9/5.3070/0.4971
20:04 Using machine learning for co-variate income analysis in Belize
Hersh, Engstrom, R., & Mann, M. (2021). Open data for algorithms: mapping poverty in Belize using open satellite derived features and machine learning. Information Technology for Development, 27(2), 263–292.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2020.1811945
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views of the WWHGD sponsors and should not be construed as an endorsement.
Jessica Block - Wildfire Data from the University of California - San Diego
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Eric Rasmussen sit down with Jessica Block, senior wildfire data scientist from the University of California - San Diego.
01:45 The 2009 Australian Black Saturday wildfire analysis
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/black-saturday-bushfires
#wildfire
03:10 Immersive human-sized VR cave for environmental wildfire risk assessment
#VR, #immersion, #cave
04:30 WiFire imagery analysis from San Diego County mountaintops
05:45 HPWren system expanding throughout California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada
#HPWren
06:50 Firemap wildfire behavior data model used for predictive analytics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5BqGFfelvs (Firemap tutorial narrated by Jessica Block)
08:40 Global low-resource data acquisition across sectors and specialties
09:50 International Big Pixel Initiative w NASA Worldview for urban entity identity
#NASA, #BigPixel, #Worldview
11:10 Place-specific machine learning against imagery for urban forms must include social dynamics
#machinelearning, #socialdynamics
13:10 California Gubernatorial appointment to the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/about-cpuc/divisions/wildfire-safety-division/wildfire-safety-advisory-board
#wildfiresafetyadvisoryboard
14:40 Culture clash between environmental scientists, data scientists, and firefighters.
16:05 Data sources for our listeners:
https://wifire.ucsd.edu/for all things wildfire related
https://sdgeweather.com/ San Diego Gas and Electric weather awareness models
18:25 US-Mexico border air quality assessment mapping using drones tracking smoke plumes
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16499147/ San Diego wildfire air quality assessment
#wildfiresmoke, #airquality
Marie Urban - Group Lead for Human Geography at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sit down with Marie Urban of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
02:20 Role at Oak Ridge (Group Lead for Human Geography)
04:30 LANDSCAN to understand populations and population movements.
05:50 Population assessment methodologies, proxies, and gap-fillers.
08:50 Prior technical methods and the iterative changes from 10-meter resolution to now.
11:10 Three types of LANDSCAN data sets.
13:20 Specific data fusion requirements for seamless integration
15:02 Trends in population movement during the COVID lockdown.
Sparks, Kevin, et al. “Shifting Temporal Dynamics of Human Mobility in the United States” Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 99, 2022, p. 1.
https://www-sciencedirect-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/science/article/pii/S0966692322000187
16:50 Open Access to LANDSCAN Global, LANDSCAN USA, and LANDSCAN HD data (through the efforts of Amy Rose at ORNL)
20:15 Earlier WWHGD “Boundaries” event at Columbia University
Dan Opstal and Jordan Beauregard from US Geological Survey’s Civil Applications Committee
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sit down with Dan Opstal and Jordan Beauregard from US Geological Survey’s Civil Applications Committee.
0:48 Defining the Civil Applications Committee
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2022/3002/fs20223002.pdf
2:07 Defining the Triple Junction positioning of the CAC
2:40 The CAC and its Human Security tasks
4:00 Open-source data availability
4:20 International Charter for Space and Major Disasters
https://disasterscharter.org/web/guest/home;jsessionid=87F1DB8EF0A2ECA8F5728124A8760CB0.APP1
5:30 CAC makes datasets available from all partners
7:15 Monthly overview of all Space Charter activations (esp wildfire management)
9:32 Proactive Working Groups (getting to the left of an event)
10:30 Pre and Post Collection analysis
11:20 Environmental Security Working Group (ESWG) explanation
12:18 Events hosted for professional development within the Intelligence Community
13:20 ESWG participation in the first National Intelligence Estimate on Climate Change
14:15 Professional resource for the intelligence community, extending to academia like the Naval Postgraduate School
15:20 5th Environmental Security Summit (open to the public) 21-22 September 2022
16:25 National Intelligence University website for the previous Environmental Security Summit Proceedings: https://ni-u.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/21C-102_Environmental_Security_Summit_2020_Conference_Paperv2.pdf
17:45 “The environment cannot be classified.” – a discussion of new partners
19:10 The CAC used COVID as a forcing function to open up resources to a larger audience.
20:45 How to participate in CAC or ESWG events: ESWG_Leadership@NGA.mil
21:25 Request participation and an open facing CAC Fact Sheet from CAC@USGS.gov
Laura Cline from the Department of State (Dos) Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU).
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sat down with Laura Cline from the Department of State (Dos) Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU).
00:59 Laura describes her role at DoS HIU specifically with the Secondary Cities and the Cities COVID Mitigation Mapping (C2M2) program.
1:55 Outreach and mapping initiatives – MapGive. Find mapping opportunities atHIU.state.gov and https://mapgive.state.gov
9:16 The value of partnerships and the Participatory Mapping Partnerships Network
11:51 Join a mapathon!
13:54 Laura shares her perspective on the value of open data.
18:19 Valuable partnerships – World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group, National Science Foundation Spatial Temporal Consortium and the Harvard Geospatial Center for Geospatial Approaches
19:58 Data Sources discussed
Secondary Cities https://secondarycities.state.gov/
C2M2 https://mapgive.state.gov/c2m2/
Open Street Map https://www.openstreetmap.org
Humanitarian Data Exchange https://data.humdata.org/
Dr. Robert Chen and Dr. Alex de Sherbinin from the Center for International Earth Science and Information Network (CIESEN) at Columbia University
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sit down with Dr. Robert Chen and Dr. Alex de Sherbinin from the Center for International Earth Science and Information Network (CIESEN) at Columbia University.
1:00 Dr. Chen talks about his career path to CIESIN.
1:42 Early research on the impact of sea-level rise.
3:35 CIESIN is born as an independent consortium.
4:30 Dr. Chen describes his current role at CIESEN.
6:10 CIESIN datasets that are openly available to the community http://www.ciesin.org/ and Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/
8:00 Partnership’s key to discovering, understanding and trusting interdisciplinary data.
9:45 Value of partnering with the WWHGD https://wwhgd.org
12:05 Dr. de Sherbinin describes climate induced migration and the challenges with measuring it.
16:00 The World Bank’s Groundswell Report(s) https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29461
19:40 Datasets used to produce climate-induced migration projections – coming soon through SEDAC https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/
Dr. Melinda Laituri from Colorado State University
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt sat down with Dr. Melinda Laituri from Colorado State University who spoke about her research on Secondary Cities, participatory mapping, and water security.
1:00 Dr. Laituri describes the Secondary Cities project.
2:26 Secondary Cities data https://secondarycities.state.gov/
3:45 Establishing partnerships across the Secondary Cities.
5:35 Where are the Secondary Cities?
7:10 On the ground with Secondary Cities.
8:25 Data resources https://secondarycities.state.gov/ https://hiu.state.gov/
9:05 Secondary Cities methodology used during COVID pandemic for the Cities’ COVID Mitigation Mapping (C2M2) project. https://mapgive.state.gov/c2m2/
11:15 Understanding second and third order impacts of COVID through the C2M2 research and mapping.
11:55 Water Security – what are the services needed and at what scale to understand water needs?
13:45 Using participatory mapping to better understand water and its availability?
14:45 Where in the world will be next find Dr. Laituri?
15:25 Key things needed to better inform our future.
16:20 Dr. Laituri is no stranger to the WWHGD. Visit our event archives at wwhgd.orgto hear her presentations during “Secondary Cities and Participatory Mapping” webinar in 2016; “Mapping Water Availability and its Impact on Humans in 2020” and the 50th WWHGD Anniversary Event – focused on Planetary Health in 2020.
Jim Courson from the International Mission Board
In this episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt speak with Jim Courson from the International Mission Board. Mr. Courson speaks about his work at IMB and discovering, mapping and sharing data on people groups around the world.
00:50 Mission of IMB
2:40 Why Ethnolinguistic Groups Research
3:50 How do you gather data on people groups? Ethnologue: Languages of the World
5:50 How do you map data on people groups?
7:00 Discover people groups data here - People Groups Official Web Site
9:30 What makes the “Dog’s Head” region in Northwest Brazil special?
13:18 The challenge of mapping 8,500 unique people groups found across the world.
15:09 Humanitarian relief to Ukraine.
16:05 Modeling to describe the people groups.
18:15 Use of external datasets People of India | Anthropological Survey of India (ansi.gov.in)
WorldPop :: Mapping Populations
20:30 Download IMB data here: imb Open Data (arcgis.com)
Dr. Budhu Bhaduri from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
In this second episode of “Through the Human Geography Lens”, hosts Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt speak with Dr. Budhu Bhaduri from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Bhaduri speaks about his journey to become the Director of the Geospatial Science and Human Security Division, the rich history of ORNL, and the value of partnering with the World-Wide Human Geography Data (WWHGD) Working Group.
5:05 Mission of ORNL and its historical investment in science (https://www.ORNL.gov)
9:10 ORNL’s impact on the Human Geography community
10:50 Value of partnership with the WWHGD Working Group
11:45 Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data Working Group (https://hifld-geoplatform.open data.arcgis.com)
14:00 WWHGD.org artifacts (https://WWHGD.org)
14:40 Partnership with ORNL Urban Dynamics Institute for the 2018 Human Geography Dimensions of Energy Access and Use Symposium (https://wwhgd.org)
Dr. Debbie Fugate and Dr. Lee Schwartz, World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group Cochairs
In this first episode of Through the Human Geography Lens, the hosts, Terri Ryan and Gwyneth Holt, speak with the cochairs of the World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group, Dr. Debbie Fugate and Dr. Lee Schwartz, about their journeys as cochairs of the Working Group, as well as the origins and history of the Working Group. The hosts, Dr. Fugate, and Dr. Schwartz discuss how the Working Group approaches the study of human geography and why it is such a critical unifying function.
WWHGD website: https://WWHGD.org