CGA Services and Harvard Map Collection Resources

February 16, 2007

Center for Geographic Analysis

• CGA was established in May 2006.• CGA has 3 full time staff and a few part

time members (www.gis.harvard.edu).• CGA is a member organization of the

Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS www.iq.harvard.edu).

• CGA services are available to all schools, departments and other organizations across Harvard.

CGA Goals

• CGA focuses on research and education in the field of spatial analysis and geographic information.

• The Center’s goal is to work with entities across the university to– strengthen university-wide GIS infrastructure and

services;– provide a common platform for the integration of data

from diverse sources and knowledge from multiple disciplines;

– enable scholarly research that would use, improve or study geospatial analysis techniques; and

– improve the ability to teach GIS and spatial analysis at all levels across the university.

CGA Services• GIS help desk - flyers available outside

• University-wide GIS software site licenses - ESRI, Leica, FME. More in evaluation

• Research Support - projects consultation and partnership

• Courses and training - flyers available outside

• Academic events - conference, workshop, colloquium, award, etc.

• Monthly Newsletter - to subscribe, email contact@cga.harvard.edu

• CGA website - http://www.gis.harvard.edu

CGA GovernanceThe Center has a faculty steering committee of• Peter Bol, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and

Civilizations, Director of the Center for Geographic Analysis

• Gary King, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, David Florence Professor of Government, Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science

• Niall Kirkwood, Graduate School of Design, Professor of Landscape Architecture, Chair of Department of Landscape Architecture

• Isaac Kohane, Harvard Medical School, Lawerence J. Henderson Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Health Sciences and Technology

• Peter Rogers, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering and Professor of City and Regional Planning

• Louise Ryan, School of Public Health, Professor of Biostatistics

• Robert Sampson, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences

• Daniel Schrag, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Director of the Center for the Environment

• Carl Steinitz, Graduate School of Design, Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning

There is also a technical committee composed of professionals from across the university.

Center for Geographic Analysis

Oldest map collection in North America, founded in 1818

400,000 maps, 6,000 atlases, 1,000 reference books

~400 CD/DVD resources for in-house use

Available Image Data in the Map Collection

• Film-Based Aerial Photography• Digital Aerial Photography• Satellite Imagery, Visible Wavelengths• MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer)

• SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission)

• AirSAR (Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar) • AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer)

Film-Based Aerial Photography New York City, 1976

Film-Based Aerial Photography New York City, 1994

Film-Based Aerial Photography Boston, 1952,1:20,000

Digital Imagery Chicago, 2002

.3 meters per pixel

Other Digital Aerial Photography

• Los Angeles., 2003, pixel size: .65 meters

• Providence, RI, 2002, pixel size: .3 meters

• Boston, 2003, 2004, pixel size: 1 ft.

• Cambridge, multiple years, pixel size: 1ft.

• NYC, multiple years

Providence, 2002

Satellite Imagery, Visible Wavelengths

• Paris 2003– Space Imaging– 1 meter resolution

• Boston, 1997– SpotImage

Paris

MODIS Classified Land Cover

MODIS (2000-2001)• Moderate Resolution

Imaging Spectroradiometer

• 30 Arc-second resolution

• 17 land cover classes by IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere

Programme) Classification

Remotely Sensed Elevation Data

SRTM 30• Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission• 30 Arc-seconds• Elevation, derived

slope & aspect

SRTM Elevation

AirSAR

• AirSAR, 2004– Airborne Synthetic Aperture

Radar – Imagery at three separate

frequency bands – Partial coverage of Central

America• Includes maximum normalized

difference vegetation index (NVDI) data value for each pixel in each biweekly period

• Measured radar backscatter is a function of surface roughness, surface structure, and electrical properties of the surface including soil moisture and salinity.

AVHRR

• AVHRR (1981-1994)– Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer – 1 km resolution– 14 land cover classes (UMD Classification)

• AVHRR Biweekly Composites, 1995– Conterminous U.S. only– Five channels– Includes NVDI (Normalized Difference

Vegetation Index) for each pixel

Finding Remote Sensing Data at Harvard

• HOLLIS:

http://holliscatalog.harvard.edu– Use expanded search– Limit format to “digital” for only digital data sets– Limit location to Map Coll. (Pusey)

• Harvard Geospatial Library: http://hgl.harvard.edu– More RS publications on line soon– Downloadable data– Clip large data sets to your area of interest

Finding Remote Sensing Data at Harvard

• Harvard Map Collection: http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/#hmc– Assistance in finding data of all kinds– GIS and RS software & support by appointment– Email maps@harvard.edu or– Go to http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/ask/index.html

and choose Cartography/GIS from the subject index.

Acknowledgement

• Workshop Advisory Committee– John Brownstein (Medical School) – Bonnie Burns (College Library Map Collection) – Marcia Castro (School of Public Health) – Paul Cote (Graduate School of Design) – Stephen Ervin (Graduate School of Design) – Joseph Greene (Semitic Museum) – Wendy Guan (Center for Geographic Analysis) – Katherine Jones (Divinity School and Sigma Xi) – Steve Melly (School of Public Health) – Christopher Paciorek (School of Public Health) – Jason Ur (Dept of Anthropology)

• Organizers for this event– Jenny MacGregor, Events and Publications Coordinator, Harvard University

Center for the Environment – Kathy Johns, Assistant Dean, Office of Information Technology and Media

Services, Harvard Divinity School, and President of the Sigma Xi Harvard Chapter

– Kim Kriz, Assistant Director, Institute for Quantitative Social Science– All CGA staff

The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE)

• The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society. 

• The Center draws its strength from faculty members and students across the University like yourselves who make up a remarkable intellectual community of scholars and researchers.

• In this spirit, the Center for the Environment is delighted to be supporting this innovative, interdisciplinary workshop that will foster even stronger research, new academic collaborations and forward progress on some of the most challenging environmental issues facing society today.

• HUCE home page is http://environment.harvard.edu/