This study examined whether the current generation of consumer-grade digital mobile computing technology, so called smartphone technology, is usable to perform and improve field data collection in the context of sustainable forest management. An electronic data acquisition system, based on a handheld smartphone device and desktop geographic information system (GIS), was developed. A proprietary timber cruise application and commercial mapping software were used with the smartphone/desktop GIS to record and process forest stand and geospatial data. Usability testing was carried out to measure workflow efficiency and system performance of the smartphone GIS compared to traditional paper-based methods. The smartphone GIS successfully met performance objectives and significantly increased workflow efficiencies by improving data transfer and processing times over conventional paper methods; however, use of the mobile device resulted in greater data entry errors, increased data collection times, and led to more equipment malfunctions than use of paper recording methods together with a GPS and digital camera. Overall, the prototype electronic data acquisition system was not reliable as a stand-alone solution solely responsible for collecting cruise data, but was found to be well suited for ad-hoc mapping of forest features.

The seaways appear to have been a prevalent means of travel in the past as observed in the evidence of contact and trade between regions. The Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland was part of a maritime network traditionally termed the Atlantic Seaways that linked these islands and the Continent. Communication across the North Channel between Western Scotland and northern part of Ireland may have been demonstrably easier during the later prehistoric period than movement looking eastwards across the Central Highlands of Scotland. Thus, these areas possibly developed into a ‘North Channel’ region as opposed to the sea creating a cultural divide. This idea is explored through a series of comparisons between sites either side of the North Channel. Three specific areas are targeted for the overall research, Argyll, the coastline of Northern Ireland and Co. Donegal. Both the individual architectural features and site distributions in relation to their locations within the landscape are investigated through an integrated approach. Firstly, a fine scale examination of the morphology of settlement sites using a common classification scheme explores the degree of structural comparability between these areas. The second approach is at a broader scale that statistically tests the distribution of site types with regards to specific landscape variables, including elevation, slope and aspect to identify spatial patterns. The third approach statistically tests the location of sites with regards to visibility to determine whether or not the locations of sites have particular visibility features and the comparability between the three study areas. This technique uses the Viewshed tool available in GIS software. It is argued that broad comparisons exist between Scotland and Ireland in site classifications, their distributions and vistas, which illustrate the degree of communication occurring between the study areas. Sites dating to the 1st millennium BC in Argyll and Co. Donegal exemplify similar distributions with regards to vistas and to a lesser extent the environmental variables. A few general structural features are similar between sites in Northern Ireland and Co. Donegal during this period; however, interpretations on the former also indicate that possible influences are also coming from outside the study region. Around the turn of the millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, communication links between Co. Donegal and Argyll appear to dwindle and the number of sites in Northern Ireland begins to increase. Around mid 1st millennium AD, sites in Co. Donegal illustrate features and distributions comparable to both Argyll and Northern Ireland, suggesting communication links are re‐established during this period.

This paper presents OpenStreetMap and closely related software as a resource for spatial economic research. The paper demonstrates how information can be extracted from OpenStreetMap, how it can be used as a geographical interface in web-based communication, and illustrates the value of the tools by use of a specific application, the WU campus GIS. (author's abstract)

Environmental controls are becoming more and more expensive to implement, so environmental management is becoming more technologically advanced and efficient through the adoption of new techniques and models. This paper reviews the potential for storm water runoff for the city of Denton, Texas and with the main objective to perform storm water runoff analyses for three different land use datasets; each landuse dataset created with a different methodology. Also analyzed was the difference between two North Central Texas Council of Governments land use datasets and my own land use dataset as a part of evaluating new and emerging remote sensing techniques. The results showed that new remote sensing techniques can help to continually monitor changes within watersheds by providing more accurate data.

Terroir combines the physical landscape of the vineyard with the grapevines and the methods and techniques used to produce wine from the grapes. This study used a GIS to identify the characteristics of the physical landscape in Pottawattamie, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, and Page counties in southwestern Iowa. The components were combined in the GIS using a weighted linear index to identify areas suitable for vineyard development and to identify the general characteristics of the area. Vineyard owners were interviewed to help determine the weighting system to use in the GIS and to determine their perceptions of how the physical landscape impacts their vineyards, as well as to determine what grape varieties they plant in their vineyards and their decisions on making wine from these grapes. This information was collected to identify whether the vineyard owners had developed a sense of place for their vineyards and how this sense might aid them in the development of a terroir for their wines. The resulting perceptions about the individual wineries were then considered in conjunction with the results from the GIS modeling to understand how the physical landscape influences the concepts of sense of place and terroir in southwest Iowa. The physical landscape of southwest Iowa was fairly uniform, as were the grape varietals planted in the vineyards. This created a measure of similarity among the wineries, while individuality between wineries was then created by the wine-makers as they used different techniques to produce wine from the grapes. This allows each winery to develop a sense of place, yet be part of a larger sense of place that encompasses multiple wineries within the area.

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Geographical Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in environmental management solutions, and they are being used with increasing frequency in environmental studies. The use of GIS technology in environmental studies provides a better way to manage, analyze, display and share the information. In this thesis, I automated a process for constructing GIS maps of odor complaints and inspections that have been used to study odor complaints in the vicinity of three landfills in Jefferson Parish. I provided an application that integrates daily environmental observation and monitoring data into a GIS and publishes the resulting maps through the Internet. The user's interaction with the web-based maps does not require any GIS expertise. A Webapplication was also implemented for managing the list of the constructed maps. The maps are deleted or updated through the manager application, a friendly interface application that does not require users to have any GIS technology knowledge.

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