Embedded Files
What's going on with computer mapping technologies!
July 15, 2025
Catching up!
Environmental Science alumni Seth Wilmore ’06 (left) and Kyle Grigsby ’16 (right), both GIS wizards, dropped by campus this summer while working on projects in northwest Pennsylvania. Today, they’re helping shape the clean‑energy landscape at Pittsburgh‑based Exus Renewables, where Seth is Vice President of Permitting & Development and Kyle is a Renewable Energy Project Developer. Not pictured is fellow ES/GIS grad Sam Lowry ’18, who completes the Exus trio as the company’s GIS Manager. Class of ’26: keep an eye on Exus for entry‑level roles, and undergrads should watch for the firm’s paid summer internships, which often lead to full‑time opportunities.
July 10, 2025
First Flight!
Taryn Laplatney ’26, Geospatial Intern for the Watershed Conservation Research Center (WCRC), and Chris Shaffer, GIS Manager and Instructor of Environmental Science and Sustainability (ESS), successfully completed the first flight missions using the new AgEagle eBee X fixed-wing drone. Flights were conducted over the football field at the Robertson Field Complex and along a narrow corridor above nearby wooded areas. The second mission served as a test run for an upcoming project aimed at capturing high-resolution imagery of the stream channel and riparian zone of a Woodcock Creek tributary. The imagery will provide foundational data for a proposed “chop-and-drop” restoration initiative. Check out the video to see the first launch, landing, and aerial imagery in action.
April 16, 2025
Illustrating landuse changes over time
Check out this video illustrating land conversion in Cranberry Township, PA (North of Pittsburgh where I-79 and the turnpike converge) between 1984-2022 based on Landsat satellite imagery. Animation like this are fairly simple to generate and can be made for any location in the world using the Esri Living Atlas - Landsat Explorer. A quick Google search revealed some animations of the usual suspects such as deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and the shrinking of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, NV.
April 2, 2025
Add Multiple Maps to One Layout
Informative video about adding inset maps like those of Alaska and Hawaii to a map of the contiguous U.S.
March 31, 2025
AI-dirondack Dreams
You've probably seen those yellow and blue Adirondack chairs around campus. Have you ever wondered how many there are? In a recent survey, students and faculty were asked to guess how many chairs were scattered around campus. The responses ranged from 30 to 120 with the mean being about 64.6. An experiment was then conducted to see if it was possible to leverage Drone imagery and Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) together to quickly and accuracy determine how many there actually are. To learn more about this experiment and view the results, click here.
March 14, 2025
New aerial imagery of the entire campus!
With the temperatures hitting the low 70°s, it was the perfect time to test the WCRC's new DJI Mavic 3T drone. At 10:00 AM on Friday, March 14, 2025, the entire campus was imaged at a resolution of 4.5 cm/pixel. The fully-autonomous flight took a little over 30 minutes to complete and post-processing of the captured imagery (460 photographs) lasted another 3 hours. Click this link to view the imagery. The imagery can be overlaid in GIS to support a wide-range of applications including making measurements and detecting, extracting, and classifying ground surface objects and materials.
March 3, 2025
Draw Detailed Polygons in ArcGIS Pro, Fast and Easy
As much as I enjoyed the tips and tricks for editing, I found the part about symbolizing rivers and river banks most intriguing!
Feburary 28, 2025
DJI Eliminates Geo Zones in the U.S.
As of January 13, 2025, DJI has eliminated geofencing in the U.S., parts of Europe, and elsewhere. Previous to this change, drone pilots were required to download Geo Zone unlock codes in order to fly in sensitive areas such as those around airports, stadiums, military installations, etc. Although the intention was to ensure safety for everyone, many found this process to be annoying and cumbersome. Here at the college, we no longer need to acquire unlock codes when flying around campus and Robertson Field Complex, which are in the approach path of the Port Meadville airport. For more information regarding this change, click here.
February 17, 2025
2025 Summer - Geospatial Intern Position - WCRC
Click here for the announcement. This 8-week internship, starting June 2nd and ending July 25th, will leverage geospatial technologies including GIS, GPS, remote sensing, and drones to support the work of the WCRC, including academic researchers and stakeholders within the local community. The student will work under the direction of the GIS Manager to utilize specialized hardware and software tools to perform digital geographic data entry, editing, conversion, manipulation, visualization, analysis, modeling, and output tasks. The student will collaborate with researchers from the academic and local community to determine project goals and requirements, identify relevant data sources and appropriate methods, conduct and document analyzes, troubleshoot problems as they arise, and interpret and communicate results. While most work will be performed in a computer lab setting, students will have an opportunity for field work. Applicants should have a strong work ethic and successful completion of ENVSC 305: Environmental GIS I. A strong interest and desire to learn about geospatial technologies will be considered in the absence of this qualification.
January 30, 2025
New and improved website!
This website has been redesigned and includes updated content! Click the Courses link for opportunities to learn about geospatial technologies and see examples of student projects. The Student Resources page contains information about self-paced learning opportunities and "how-to" tutorials for using this technology. Click on WCRC for examples of how the Watershed Conservation Research Center leverages mapping technologies. The Map Gallery page is the place for map products such as base maps for the French Creek basin and interactive, Web-based maps for hiking trails across the college's properties.
Report abuse