Advanced Methods in GIS

Term:  Spring 2025

Focus: Spatial Modeling, Network Analysis, Terrain Analysis, Vulnerability Assessment

Tools: ArcPro (Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst), raster modeling, Python (time series analysis), census integration, spatial join

Overview

My work increasingly centers on advanced spatial analysis that integrates terrain modeling, network accessibility, and demographic exposure. Rather than treating GIS as a mapping tool, I use it as a systems modeling framework to evaluate infrastructure resilience and environmental risk.

These methods allow me to quantify spatial inequity, hazard exposure, and service accessibility in measurable terms.

What I worked on

• Built network datasets and generated 5 and 10 minute drive time service areas

• Performed hydrologic terrain modeling using DEM based workflows

• Created cost distance and flow accumulation surfaces

• Converted classified rasters into polygons for spatial overlay

• Intersected hazard layers with service coverage and census data

• Estimated population exposure in high risk and underserved zones

• Developed reproducible geoprocessing pipelines

The problem

Urban systems are spatially complex. Infrastructure access, environmental hazards, and population distribution rarely align cleanly. Simple maps can show patterns, but they do not explain compounded vulnerability.

Advanced GIS methods are required to:

• Model travel time instead of straight line distance

• Simulate water movement rather than assume flood zones

• Quantify overlapping risk instead of viewing layers independently

• Without analytical integration, risk assessments remain incomplete.

My approach

I approach advanced GIS work methodically and analytically.

• Built validated network datasets before generating service areas

• Preprocessed DEMs through sink filling and hydrologic tools

• Used slope based cost surfaces to simulate water movement

• Reclassified continuous surfaces into interpretable hazard categories

• Performed intersect and spatial join operations to identify compounded exposure

• Estimated affected populations using clipped ACS data

• Documented assumptions and limitations throughout the workflow

I focus on structure first, analysis second, interpretation third.

Key contributions

• Integrated terrain modeling with network accessibility

• Identified neighborhoods experiencing both high flood risk and limited emergency access

• Quantified population exposure within high risk zones

• Produced multi layer vulnerability maps that support planning discussions

• Applied both raster and vector workflows in a single analytical framework

Outcome

• Strengthened my ability to connect physical geography with infrastructure systems

• Developed confidence in combining multiple advanced GIS toolsets

• Built reproducible workflows that move beyond visualization into decision support

• Established a foundation for future work in hydroinformatics, flood modeling, and infrastructure resilience

• Advanced GIS, to me, means building models that reveal how environmental processes and human systems intersect spatially.