University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  
GIS Council  
 
 
GIS Research and Related Activities

 

GIS is being used as a methodology application in a variety of research projects at UWM, several that are interdisciplinary in nature.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are pursuing a wide range of basic and applied research studies and projects using a myriad of GIS applications. Here are some examples of GIS research applications at UWM organized by department or center.


University Departments and Programs:

Anthropology:

Cheryl Ajirotutu, faculty

Main Bullet

Dakar Urban Indicators Project funded by HUD via UCGIS, link to final report

 
Jean Hudson, faculty
Main Bullet is applying GIS and GPS technologies to the mapping of archaeological sites locations along the north coast of Peru and to the study of habitat use by modern reedboat fishermen in the same region. She is also working with ArcGIS on the study of ethnoarchaeological materials from modern hunter-gatherer sites in Africa.
 

Brian Nicholls, staff

Main Bullet organized a symposium and presented on GIS applications in archaeology at the Society for American Archaeology national meeting in April 2003.
Main Bullet is involved in many GIS and remote sensing related projects including:
  sub bullet

Management of the cultural resources along STH 57 in the Door Peninsula, Wisconsin

  sub bullet

Inter and intra site analysis of cultural properties for the STH 57 project

  sub bullet

Project management of project resources for the Historic Resource Management Services program, Department of Anthropology, UW-Milwaukee

  sub bullet

Distribution analysis of Archaic mortuary sites in the Upper Midwest

  sub bullet

Employing remote sensing to aid in the identification of prehistoric and historic sites along STH 57

  sub bullet

Using remote sensing and infrared photos to identify site structure at Trimborn Farm, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

 

Kira Kaufmann, a Ph.D. student

Main Bullet

is applying remote sensing and GIS to develop non-intrusive techniques for the study of prehistoric mounds in Wisconsin.

Main Bullet

presented on the use of GIS and remote sensing in studying Native America sacred landscapes at the Society for American Archaeology national meeting in April 2003.

Main Bullet

organized a one-day regional workshop and conference on GIS applications in anthropology in spring of 2002.

 

Linda Naunapper, a Ph.D candidate

Main Bullet organized a symposium and presented on GIS applications in archaeology at the Society for American Archaeology national meeting in April 2003.
Main Bullet organized a one-day regional workshop and conference on GIS applications in anthropology in spring of 2002.
 

Rose Pennington, a PhD. student

Main Bullet

is planning to apply GIS to compare late prehistoric settlement patterns between Lake Koshkonong and Horicon Marsh settings

 

Sam Snell, a Masters student

Main Bullet

will be applying GIS to developing a predictive model along linear study corridors for aiding in conducting CRM(Cultural Resource Management) related projects.

 

Seth Schneider, a Masters student

Main Bullet 

is applying GIS to evaluate the spatial distribution of ceramic assemblages from Early Iron Age burial mounds in southwest Germany.

 

Vanesa Zietz, a recent MA graduate

Main Bullet  presented on the use of wombling to identify social relationships archaeologically at the Society for American Archaeology national meeting in April 2003.

Biological Sciences:

Tim Ehlinger, faculty
Main Bullet 

currently utilizing GIS to expand the scale on which environmental conditions may be modeled from local to regional levels


Civil Engineering:

Ed Beimborn, faculty

Main Bullet 

Director, Center for Urban Transportation Systems

Main Bullet  Internet GIS and its Applications in Transportation

Alan Horowitz, faculty

Main Bullet  Associate Director, Center for Urban Transportation Systems
Main Bullet 

Waukesha Trip Planner

 

Jin Li, faculty

Main Bullet 

Waukesha Trip Planner


Conservation and Environmental Sciences:

Christina Buffington, staff

Criminal Justice:

COMPASS Project (Community Mapping, Planning and Analysis For Safety Strategies)

The mission of Milwaukee COMPASS project is to help make public safety problem-solving more strategic, collaborative and data-driven.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research arm of the US Department of Justice, administers the COMPASS grant. For an overview of the federal program please visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/compass/welcome.html.

Milwaukee’s COMPASS project is funded by a two-year grant from the NIJ (1/1/2001 to 12/31/2002).


Economics:

—Housing and real property value studies.


Electrical Engineering and Computer Science:

Eok Kim, Ph.D. student

Main Bullet 

2004 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner: “GIS as a Tool for Facial recognition.”

 

Jun Zhang, faculty

Main Bullet 

web-based aerial navigation systems for unmanned aircraft using three-dimensional GIS

 

Tian Zhao, faculty

Main Bullet 

specializes on programming languages and real-time JAVA applications

Main Bullet 

object-oriented software development


Geography:

Rina Ghose, faculty

Main Bullet 

Research Interests:

  sub bullet

Geographic Information Science

  sub bullet

GIS and Society, Public Participation GIS, Qualitative Research Methods in GIS, Societal Implications of Digital Technology

  sub bullet

Urban Geography

  sub bullet

Gentrification, Growth Management, Smart Growth Movement, New Urbanism

  sub bullet

India and South Asia, North America

Main Bullet 

Presented: "Complexities of Spatial Knowledge Production in Public Participation GIS" at the 2004 UCGIS summer meeting

 

James Handley, a PhD student

Main Bullet 

Research Interests:

  sub bullet

Local food systems - GIS applications for assessing the robustness of local food systems and the accessibility of nutritious, local, and sustainably grown food within communities

  sub bullet

Peace and Conflict - Issues of land tenure and resource accessibility relative to conflict and the development of ways to predict, avoid, and mitigate violent conflict

  sub bullet

Wetland functionality - GIS applications for studying services wetlands provide, including habitat, flood water retention, recreation, and improving water quality

  sub bullet

GIS as an educational tool - Development of materials, methods, and curriculum to support the process of teachers and students using GIS together to study their world

 

Jill Hapner Hewitt, a PhD. student

Main Bullet 

Research Interests:

  sub bullet

Wetland Ecology

  sub bullet

Restoration Ecology

  sub bullet

Landscape Ecology

  sub bullet

Conservation GIS

  sub bullet

Environmental Remote Sensing

Main Bullet 

2003 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner: "Development of Methods to Inventory And Assess Small Constructed Wetlands in Ozaukee County."

Main Bullet 

Dissertation topic: Factors influencing how small wetland restorations self-design and function as components of the Southeastern Wisconsin landscape (Ozaukee County Wetland Restorations)

 

Terrance G. Johnson, a PhD. student

 

Wen Lin, a PhD student

Main Bullet 

Research Interests:

  sub bullet

Geographic Information Science

  sub bullet

GIS and Society

  sub bullet

Urban Geography

  sub bullet

China

Main Bullet 

2005 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner: "A Prototype Orthoviewer for the American Geographical Society Library — An ArcIMS Site."

Main Bullet

Dissertation Topic: Social Construction of GIS in China

 

Liang Liang, a PhD student

Main Bullet 

Research Interests:

  sub bullet

Using Remote Sensing as a tool to study phenology, which is related to global change

  sub bullet

Using GIS as a tool to analyze field phenology data

 

Jun Luo, a 2006 PhD. graduate

Main Bullet 

2004 Student GIS Project Competition, First Place Winner: “Modeling Urban Land Values in a GIS Environment.”

Main Bullet 

2003 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner: "Milwaukee Property Sale Information: An Internet GIS Site for the Local Real Estate Market."

 

Linda McCarthy, faculty

Main Bullet 

Brownfields Research Consortium: Milwaukee's Brownfields: Redevelopment and Environmental Equity?

 
Rama Prasada Mohapatra, a PhD student
Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

Remote Sensing

  sub bullet

Geographical Information Science

  sub bullet

Artificial Intelligence (Neural Networks & Cellular Automata)

  sub bullet

Evaluation of urban growth pattern through physical and cultural drivers of growth

  sub bullet

Modeling urban growth with artificial intelligence based tools

Main Bullet 

2007 Student GIS Project Competition, First Place Co-Winner: "Landscape Ecology and Cellular Automation: Investigating Patch Transition in Exurbia."

Main Bullet 

2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner (Co-author): "Evaluating Neighborhood Health Through Empirical Analysis and GIS."

 

Kyuwon Park, a PhD student

Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

urban growth theory and model

  sub bullet

GIS modeling

  sub bullet

human geography

Main Bullet 

Dissertation topic: Air Mass Classification Comparison project and urban growth modeling

 

Greg Rybarczyk, a PhD student

Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

Sustainable transportation modelling using GIS.
Specifically I am interested in modelling the on-street and off-street environments and how they affect bicycle/pedestrian transport. GIS and optimization techniques using GIS may provide a comprehensive approach to bike/ped planning and analysis.

  sub bullet

Remote sensing techniques to facilitate refined and timely urban data.
Remote sensing may provide timely data to support intelligent transporation systems, and thus, efficient transportation modelling and planning.

Main Bullet 

2005 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner: “A Combined Spatial and Spectral Methodology for Road Extraction Using High Resolution Imagery."

Main Bullet 

2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner (Co-author): "Evaluating Neighborhood Health Through Empirical Analysis and GIS."

Main Bullet 

2006 awarded Student Assistantship to the ESRI International Users Conference

 

Mark Schwartz, faculty

Main Bullet 

Research interests:

  sub bullet

Plant-climate interactions during the onset of Spring in mid-latitudes, especially relating to phenology

  sub bullet

Synoptic climatology of North America, especially applications of air mass analysis

  sub bullet

Detecting climatic change

  sub bullet

Assessing vegetation condition with remote sensing imagery

 
Richard Shaker, a 2007 Masters Graduate, GIS Certificate recipient, PhD student
Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet Biogeography, Ecosystem Dynamics, GIS, Landscape Design, Landscape Ecology, New Urbanism, Urban Design
  sub bullet

I have been involved in EPA Star grant research looking at landcover/landuse and their temporal effects on the Great Lake's watershed basins ecosystem dynamics

Main Bullet 

2007 Student GIS Project Competition, First Place Co-Winner: "Landscape Ecology and Cellular Automation: Investigating Patch Transition in Exurbia."

Main Bullet  2007 WLIA "President's Choice Award": "Surface Geometry and GIS: Methodology for Predicting Sky-View Factor and Urban Heat Islands."
Main Bullet  2006 WLIA "Best in Category/Best Student Poster", First Place Winner (Co-author): "Using GIS to Identify Key Locations for Best Management Practices in Milwaukee."
Main Bullet  2006 Student GIS Project Competition, First Place Winner: "Surface Geometry and GIS: Methodology for Predicting Sky-View Factor and Urban Heat Islands."
Main Bullet  2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner (Co-author): "Using GIS to Identify Key Locations for Best Management Practices in Milwaukee."
Main Bullet  Thesis Topic: landscape/urban design factors using landscape ecology
techniques temporally for a specific watershed. Through my thesis work I will be able to link the changing landscape to an ecosystem integrity metric to see how different landscape/urban designs affect ecosystems
differently through time.
 

Peter Strand, 2006 Masters graduate

 

Brian Thayer, a Masters student

Main Bullet 

2007 Student GIS Project Competition, First Place Co-Winner: "Developing A Community Information System To Assist Neighborhood Revitalization Efforts."

 

Yehua Dennis Wei, faculty

Main Bullet 

Research interests:

  sub bullet

GIS-Spatial Analysis

  sub bullet

Urban and Regional Modeling

  sub bullet

Economic/Urban Geography

  sub bullet

China

 

Changshan Wu, faculty

Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

Geographical Information Science

  sub bullet

Remote Sensing

  sub bullet

Spatial Analysis and Quantitative methods

  sub bullet

Urban Geography

  sub bullet

Transportation

 

Danlin Yu, a 2005 PhD. graduate

Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

Urban geography and Regional development (regional focus: China, North America), globalization, global city-regions

  sub bullet

Geographical Information Science (theory and application in human geography and urban studies) and spatial statistics and quantitative methods

  sub bullet

Sustainability modeling, simulation and quantification

Main Bullet

Dissertation Topic: Regional Development in the "Greater Beijing" Area: A GIS and Spatial Perspective

Main Bullet 

2004 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner: “GIS and Spatial Modeling in Regional Development Studies: Case Study on the Greater Beijing Area.”


Geosciences:

Douglas Cherkauer, Faculty

Main Bullet  Projects:
  sub bullet

Calculating ground-water recharge rates using topographic, hydrologic and geologic GIS information

  sub bullet

Providing values of ground-water recharge as input to the SEWRPC/USGS/WGNHS ground-water flow model for southeastern Wisconsin

  sub bullet

Incorporating ground-water resource information into the comprehensive planning process for Richfield, Wisconsin

  sub bullet

Using GIS data sources to link ground water and surface water flow in watershed modeling

 

Kyle Noll, a Masters student

Main Bullet  Research interests:
  sub bullet

Seismology and GIS


GIS Certificate Program

Adam Wirtz, GIS Certificate Student
Main Bullet  2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner (Co-author): "Using GIS to Identify Key Locations for Best Management Practices in Milwaukee."

Mathematical Sciences:

Dexuan Xie, faculty
Main Bullet  Research interests: parallel computing for data mining and spatial modeling
Main Bullet  Current Project: model and visualize complex molecular structures

School of Information Studies:

Wooseob Jeong, faculty

Main Bullet 

multimodal GIS modeling

 
Jin Zhang, faculty
Main Bullet 

visualization of abstract information, information retrieval and internet search engine optimization


Social Work and Allied Health:

—Initiating the use of GIS in research and analysis of data


Urban Planning:

—The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Urban Planning has been awarded the ESRI 2005 Special Achievement in GIS Award.
 
Michael Greenwald, faculty  

Main Bullet

My main interest is in testing the effectiveness of New Urbanist strategies, particularly with respect to land use impacts on transportation and activity patterns (for a description of what New Urbanism is, follow the link on this page). I do a great deal of work with activity surveys and travel diaries, using geographic information systems (GIS), relational databases, and discrete choice statistics. Other areas I investigate include the cooperative application of GIS (particularly in the context of partnerships between government organizations with different jurisdictions), and the application of new GIS data collection methods to environmental issues.

 

William Huxhold, faculty

Main Bullet

Dakar Urban Indicators Project funded by: US Department of Housing and Urban Development via UCGIS, link to final report

Main Bullet

“PUPs for PUPs” (Pre-Urban Planners Preparing for Urban Problems)
funded by: New Directions Grant, Community Outreach Partnership Centers Program, US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Link to UWM Report article.

Main Bullet

COMPASS Project (Community Mapping, Planning and Analysis For Safety Strategies)

The mission of Milwaukee COMPASS project is to help make public safety problem-solving more strategic, collaborative and data-driven.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research arm of the US Department of Justice, administers the COMPASS grant. For an overview of the federal program please visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/compass/welcome.html.

Milwaukee’s COMPASS project is funded by a two-year grant from the NIJ (1/1/2001 to 12/31/2002).

 
Ken Jenkins, a 2004 Masters graduate
Main Bullet 

2004 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner: “A Remote Sensing & GIS Study of the Menomonee River Valley.”

 
Mike Kumbera , a Masters student, a GIS Certificate student
Main Bullet 

2007 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner: "Using GIS for Brownfield Remediation Management.

Main Bullet 

Article in the Winter 2006/2007 issue of ARCNEWS, " The City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Manages a Remedial Excavation with GIS
Maintaining Accurate Data During Brownfield Site Redevelopment Excavation"

Link to Online Article---
http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/winter0607articles/maintaining-accurate.html

 

Vikas Lachhwani, Coordinate Master student of Urban Planning and Civil Engineering

Main Bullet 

2004 Student GIS Project Competition, Third Place Winner: “GIS as a Tool for Facial recognition.”

 
Brad Lenz, a Master Student
Main Bullet  2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner (Co-author): "Using GIS to Identify Key Locations for Best Management Practices in Milwaukee."
 
Zhong-Ren Peng, faculty  
Main Bullet

Transportation planning, land use, quantitative analysis, and geographic information systems. Dr. Peng's research focuses on travel demand modeling, land-use/transportation interaction, and the application of GIS for transportation planning and analysis. He is interested in research on Internet GIS to present GIS data and functionality over the World Wide Web. He is also interested in research on intelligent transportation systems, especially on multi-modal advanced traveler information systems.

 
Andy Turner, a Master Student
Main Bullet  2006 Student GIS Project Competition, Second Place Winner (Co-author): "Using GIS to Identify Key Locations for Best Management Practices in Milwaukee."
 

Student Projects In Urban GIS

Main Bullet Recently completed GIS Student Projects can be accessed via this hotlink
Main Bullet

794 Advanced Techniques in Urban Geographic Information Systems, Spring 2004

  sub bullet

Milwaukee County Facilities, Kevin Bruhn

  sub bullet

Lakes of the Fox / Wolf River Watershed, Kim Weckerly

  sub bullet

Lost Pet Locator, Diana Hu

  sub bullet

Town of Richfield's Recharge Viewer, Jacob Dye

  sub bullet

Renewing Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley, Ken Jenkins

  sub bullet

Milwaukee County Bicycle Help and Information Page, Greg Rybarczyk

Main Bullet

793 Applied Projects in Urban GIS, Fall 2004

  sub bullet

GIS Database Development for Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center, Client: Mr. Tim Vargo, Urban Ecology Center

  sub bullet

Safe Routes to School Bicycle Crash Mapping and Routing, Client: Mr. Dave Schlabowske, The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin

  sub bullet

Groundwork Milwaukee's Potential Green Space Opportunities for Neighborhoods, Client: Mr. Mark Weaver, National Park Service, River and Trails Program

  sub bullet City of Milwaukee Inventory of Developable, Contiguous Land Parcels, Client: Mr. Benjamin Timm and Mr. Ken Jenkins, City of Milwaukee, Department of City Development
Main Bullet  

Other recently completed GIS Student Projects can be accessed via this hotlink


Urban Studies:

—Neighborhood analysis


   


Interdisciplinary University Centers:

American Geographical Society Library - Golda Meir Library

 

 


Cartography and Geographic Information Science Center

 

 


Center for Advanced Spatial Information Research

Main Bullet

see: Beimborn

Main Bullet

see: Ghose

Main Bullet see: Greenwald
Main Bullet

see: Horowitz

Main Bullet

see: Huxhold

Main Bullet

see: Jeong

Main Bullet

see: Johnson, Center for Urban Initiatives and Research

Main Bullet

see: Li

Main Bullet

see: Schwartz

Main Bullet

see: Peng

Main Bullet

see: Wei

Main Bullet

see: Wu

Main Bullet see: Xie
Main Bullet see: Zhang
Main Bullet see: Zhang
Main Bullet

see: Zhao


Center for Architecture and Urban Planning Research

 

 


Center for Urban Initiatives and Research

Main Bullet

Community/Neighborhood Analysis & Mapping

Main Bullet

Comprehensive University-Community Partnerships


Center for Urban Transportation Studies Main Bullet

see: Beimborn

Main Bullet

see: Horowitz

Main Bullet

see: Huang


Great Lakes WATER Institute Main Bullet

see: Cherkauer

Main Bullet

see: Ehlinger

   
Main Bullet

WATERbase: an environmental database providing water quality data, primarily Lake Michigan and tributary rivers in the Milwaukee region.

 

 

 



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Page last updated
Wednesday, 05-Dec-2007 11:14:09 CST
URL:http://www.uwm.edu /Dept/GIS/research.html