You are here:
Leveraging ArcGIS resources to support EPA research in the Great Lakes
Citation:
launspach, J., M. Wick, AND T. Hollenhorst. Leveraging ArcGIS resources to support EPA research in the Great Lakes. MN GIS/LIS Consortium, Duluth, MN, October 03 - 05, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Approximately ten percent of the United Statespopulation lives near and uses the Great Lakes for drinking water, recreation and visual enjoyment. Researching the Great Lakes is key to monitoring and understanding these large dynamic bodies of water. By utilizing recent updates in GIS technologies and citizen science applications,the ability to share and understand these resources has become more attainable.
Description:
The EPA has been conducting research in the Great Lakes for many years utilizing new data and instruments over time. ArcGIS has recently developed several platforms that the EPA has begun to utilize to extend our understanding of the Great Lakes. Here we describe three different EPA projects implementing these technologies. The first project uses the capabilities of the WebAppBuilder in ArcGIS online. A custom application was built to allow users to explore the locations of underwater videos collected in the Great Lakes from 2009-2016. Users can select each location and view the videos through a pop-up YouTube interface. The second project uses an open source crowdsourcing platform called Zooniverse. This Deep Lake Explorer application was developed to facilitate classification of benthic flora, fauna and substrate in each of the videos by citizen scientists. The intent is to collect more timely, cost effective and reliable data compared to expert analysis. The third project uses data collected as part of the Great Lakes Cooperative Science Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) via an autonomous underwater Slocum glider. The Glider is deployed for several days to several weeks and collects several different water quality metrics. To illustrate these dense and complex data, a 3D animation was produced using the new ArcPro interface for an upcoming story map that is currently being developed for the CSMI website. By combining these new technologies, we are getting a better spatio-temporal understanding of the Great Lakes and increasing our ability to share the results with EPA research partners and the public.