GIS Analysis for Washtenaw County Conservation District
From December 2021 through June 2022 I worked as one of two graduate students hired as GIS analyst contractors for the Washtenaw County Conservation District. I was tasked with creating a series of maps of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Charter Township, MI that could be used as decision support tools for conservation efforts such as tree planting, tree preservation, water quality improvement, and addressing inequities in greenspace access.
Skills and software:
ArcGIS Pro
ISO Clustering
Supervised classification
Travel time analysis
Cartography and layout design
R
LiDAR processing with the lidR package
Calculating viewshed greenness with the VGI package
Example Maps
Canopy and Impervious Surface Analysis
Using clustering algorithms on LiDAR and NAIP aerial imagery, I created several maps of tree canopy coverage and impervious surface. These were aggregated by parcel in order to investigate the effects of land use and zoning on the urban environment.
Canopy_city.pdfImpervious_parcels_twp_opaque.pdfPlanting and Preservation Priority
The data resulting from the canopy and impervious surface analyses was used to create a series of additional maps aimed at supporting conservation efforts.
The "Viewshed Greenness Index" map uses an in-development R plugin that can be found here.
UHI_City.pdfPriority preservation_twp.pdfPriority Equity_city.pdfPriority Ecology_plantable_twp.pdfVGI_twp.pdf