GIS & Geospatial Technology

Why GIS?

While completing my associate in geology at Santiago Canyon College, I was enrolled in purely physics and calculus courses. Longing to have a connection to geology and technology while waiting to transfer to a university, I enrolled in the UCLA Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Technology certificate program.

As a child, I had always loved maps and geography, spending countless hours pouring over an oversized Atlas and worn-out globe. My most coveted toy was the GeoSafari Electronic Learning System, which has geography cards to learn about geologic landmasses and geography. Studying GIS and geology as an adult was a natural fit.

GIS Education

UCLA's GIS and Spatial Technology certificate, a comprehensive 5-course online program geared towards complementing STEM degrees, taught me how to use datasets of all sizes to visualize complicated relationships between places and data through hands-on experience. As a scientist and STEM educator, this skillset has been invaluable in how I communicate advanced scientific concepts.

Coursework

Map of Holocene volcanos in California  I created for my UCLA GIS capstone project in ArcGIS. This map highlights clusters of historically large earthquakes near volcanoes that have been active during the Holocene epoch.

GIS Software

GIS Case Studies

GIS Climate Report

ArcGIS maps I created for to analyze different methodology of interpolation to compare and understand best practices in a climate consumer report.

This report was created to inform potential homebuyers of California’s climate for January and August. The warmest and coolest cities in California during winter and summer are estimated using interpolated values of normal monthly high temperatures. All temperatures given are in Fahrenheit. Data collected by NOAA in 2010.

Technical Addendum

The estimates in the report use Inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation with 8 sectors and optimized power with the mean prediction error of 0.3605 for January and -0.1307 for August.

Using the other method of  Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) interpolation on the data with log empirical transformation and K-Bassel semivariogram type, the mean prediction error is 0.1141 for January and 0.1317 for August.

When the same data is derived by using zonal statistics on EBK prediction maps there is only slight variances in temperature when compared to the results for IDW. In most cases the top ten listed cities are shifted by a few places within the list.

An IDW interpolated map of average high temperatures throughout California for the month of January, generally California’s coldest month.
An IDW interpolated map of average high temperatures throughout California for the month of August, generally California’s warmest month.
A visual side-by-side comparison of IDW and EBK interpolations methology with January on the top row and August on the second row.

GIS Market Analysis

ArcGIS maps I created in a market analysis, prepared to offer recommendations for store closures based on service areas of stores in Riverside, California, through GIS-based market analysis using population, demographic characteristics, and estimated geographic areas served by each existing Starbucks location. Data collected by OpenStreetMap in 2020.

Technical Addendum

Store #6616 was recommended for closure because of a 2.6% of the population coverage area and 27,796 residents within a three-mile drive. Four nearby stores were between four to eight minutes from store #6616, allowing plenty of other store options within a short drive away to service customers who would have frequented store #6616.

The three-minute radius mapindicates areas of Riverside that are within a three-minute drive to a Starbucks location.
The origin-destination cost matrix map showing travel time between the store-recommended for closure and all of the other Starbucks locations in the Riverside area.
The map indicates the Starbucks location with the lowest coverage area populations.

QGIS Maps for PAPERS

When I am short on time, do not have a current ESRI license activated, or need to make a simple map from small provided data, I often turn to the open-source software QGIS.

As part of a colleague's project, I created multiple QGIS maps featuring data provided from an NSF funded NOAA cruise with data derived from cored geosample data.
As part of a California Badlands seamount research project, I created multiple QGIS maps featuring data from submarine volcanism and bathymetry. 

I collected data and created this ArcGIS StoryMap of my favorite local hiking spot as part of a project in my UCLA GIS and Geospatial Technology certificate program.

Photograph of hike while I collected GPS data points in-person.
I created an ArcGIS map to highlight the path created from the data points.