GEOM 5903 Seminar: Dana Melamed

28 March 2018

GEOM 5903 Grad Seminar: Dana Melamed
Title: "Methods of Spatial Interpolation and Mapping of the Environment"
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Huggins Science Hall Room 324

Abstract:
Maps are important for understanding, communicating, and analyzing the environment. When mapping natural phenomena, limitations arise due to the complexity and constantly changing state of the environment. Being aware of the methods that attempt to most accurately map the environment, despite these limitations, is important for digesting and producing mapped data. Some environmental data (i.e. temperature, soil geochemistry), can only be collected at point-locations by sampling, and must be generalized over an area with a group of methods called spatial interpolation. Other environmental conditions are in the form of rasters, captured by sensors aboard planes or satellites, which are often simplified by a group of methods called classification. Polygon features of natural phenomena (i.e. bedrock, forest stand) are always derived from a more complex data set, and estimated over the polygon. Line features (i.e. coastlines and rivers) are always generalized, but by which method and by how much is up to the creators of the map. Understanding the different methods involved with mapping natural data allows us to think more critically about the maps we use to understand our environment.

 

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