University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries GIS Day: Map Gallery 2024

Welcome to the GIS Day map competition gallery 2024. The maps were displayed in the order of submission. 

The University Libraries is thrilled to announce the winners of our GIS Day Map Competition! This is the second year the competition was held it attracted more entries than 2023, making the selection of winners even more challenging and exciting. The winners represent both the College of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences.

Congratulations to our winners: 

1. First Place: Wind Direction Map of Tornado by Mitra Nasimi and Richard L. Wood, Civil and Environmental Engineering 

2. Second Place: Geospatial Investigation of Fault Proximity and Landslide Occurrence in the Indo-Burman Range by Anika Nawar Mayeesha, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences 

3. Third Place: Tempo-Spatial Analysis of the Platte River Riparian Area Between Kearney and Grand Island: Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation Using NDVI by Cesar Augusto Gomez Pena, Civil Engineering  

Additionally, selected maps are printed and displayed in Love Library for public viewing, providing inspiration to all who come to explore. Maps are found along the first floor hallway.

1. Map title: State-Level Change in Median Contract Rent from 2022 to 2023

    Author: Colby L. Woodson

    Department: Master of Community and Regional Planning

    Description: Accompanying Brief Description on Purpose, Data Sources, and Key Insights: This map and data aim to highlight recent factors impacting rental costs in the United States and demonstrate the value of American Community Survey (ACS) data in providing spatial insights for economic and sociological analysis. Specifically, the map showcases the trends in rental costs across various states between 2022 and 2023, using data from the ACS's one-year estimates for both years. The ACS, conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, gathers detailed demographic, economic, and housing information from over three million addresses each year. This continuous data collection process began in 2000 to meet the growing demand for consistent, up-to-date data. Key insights from the map include the observation that the most significant increases in rent are concentrated on the edges of the continental U.S., particularly in states like Florida, which saw the highest median contract rent increase. Another notable finding is the correlation between rental price changes and the population of newly retired males. As this demographic fluctuates, there is a corresponding rise or fall in rental contract prices. Additionally, changes in various vacancy types, such as units "For Rent" or "Rented, Not Occupied," show a strong correlation with increasing rental costs, suggesting that supply and demand dynamics in different vacancy categories are influencing rental affordability across the country. This analysis underscores the importance of the ACS in offering a comprehensive and reliable data source that aids in understanding the complexities of the U.S. housing market and supports public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders in tracking economic trends and making informed decisions.

2. Map Title: Western Middle-earth: Map of Eriador

    Author: Cameron Barker

    Department: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

    Description: Middle-earth is the fictional continent that occupies J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world, featured in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. This map illustrates this fictional world. The domain of focus specifically is on Eriador, a region of western Middle-earth. This map captures the varying geographic features across the area. While the map is entirely fictional, it strives to portray realism and still quantifies many of the key mapping components, such as geographic north and an "approximate" scale bar of miles. Data was primarily collected from a GitHub file package (https://github.com/jvangeld/ME-GIS), which contains various shapefiles for a specific map projection of the fictional Middle-earth. This submission was made as part of an extra credit opportunity in within the class GEOL 453/853.

3. Map Title: Omaha's Expansion

    Author: Thomas Brison

    Department: Biology

    Description: I wanted to create a map of Omaha's expansion over the years. I found a topo map from 1898 (NY public library database) and georeferenced it into ArcGIS Pro using a state plane datum. I added my own topology from a custom DEM file which allowed me to have hill shading, shadows, depressions, and a few other small details. Before the original map was inserted into ArcGIS Pro, I used procreate on my ipad to remove a large portion of the original text and boundary lines to allow my own data to pop more (this took the longest out of anything). I collected current city streets shapefiles from Douglas and Sarpy county GIS portals and combined them to form Omaha. The key insight from this is mainly Omaha has expanded rapidly and far outside even this maps boundaries during the last 125 years. (that and its incredible people were able to create that high of precision maps 125 years ago without the aid of computers). link to original: https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/nebraska/txu-pclmaps-topo-ne-omaha_and_vicinity-1898.jpg

4. Map Title: Wind Turbine Site Suitability in Nebraska

    Author: Tochukwu Emmanuel Onyebum

    Department: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

    Description: This map illustrates the suitability of different areas in Nebraska for siting wind turbines, using a scale of 1 (most preferred) to 5 (least preferred). An ArcGIS Pro model was developed to evaluate various environmental factors influencing wind turbine placement, including population, elevation, wind speed, and land use. The inputs were combined using the raster calculator, with land use/land cover (LULC) data weighted at 60%, wind speed at 30%, and elevation at 10%. The land use/land cover (LULC) data, sourced from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), was reclassified to designate shrub and herb vegetation, desert and semi-arid areas, and open rock vegetation as suitable for wind turbines. In contrast, open waters and developed urban areas were deemed unsuitable. Other land use types were assigned suitability values falling between these two extremes. Localized highlands within lower-elevation regions were identified as suitable sites for wind turbines due to higher energy demand in these areas. Nebraska’s most populated counties are concentrated in these low-elevation zones. Elevation data was obtained from USGS Digital Elevation Models (DEM), while the 2020 population data for Nebraska counties was sourced from the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). The final component of the model is wind speed, estimated using the 2012 average annual wind speed data (in m/s) provided by ESRI, sourced initially from the NREL Wind Integration National Dataset v1.1. Additionally, shapefiles for Nebraska’s state boundary and county subdivisions from the U.S. Census Bureau enhanced the map’s accuracy. The map indicates that the most suitable areas for wind turbine siting are concentrated in eastern Nebraska, where over 90% of the state’s turbines are currently located, reinforcing the accuracy of the suitability model. This alignment supports the hypothesis that the selected model inputs—such as population density, elevation, and wind speed—strongly influence wind turbine placement. The distribution is consistent with expectations, as the most populated counties are also located in eastern Nebraska. The cartographer is currently undergoing training in ArcGIS Pro as part of the GEOL/METR 453/853 course offered by the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

5. Map Title: Wind Direction Map of Tornado

    Author: Mitra Nasimi and Richard L. Wood

    Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Description: This map was generated using a new open-source software platform called TreEAID (Treefall Evaluation, Analysis, and Identification through Deep Learning) that evaluates treefall damage caused by windstorms. PhD candidate Mitra Nasimi and Professor Richard L. Wood from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering developed this application at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The platform is empowered by a deep learning model and feature-based evaluations, increasing its transferability to other datasets. The model estimates the direction of the treefall for each tree instance and provides geolocated treefall vectors. This map here highlights the treefall pattern and wind direction associated with the tornado in the Land Between the Lake (LBL), Kentucky, during the 2021 tornado outbreak. Each arrow signifies the median of all tree directions established for the grid spacing of 75m x 75m and located in the center of the grid. It is important to note that the empty cells are the regions with less than ten fallen trees. At the same time, this map shows the consistency between the predictions on the broader of damaged regions and the convergence line of tornado. Since generating these maps is more efficient in time and human resources than the manually georeferencing in the treefall method, it can help significantly to cover the knowledge gap in understanding the tornado-terrain interaction assessment, evaluating tornadoes on a larger scale, and provide more accurate tornado rating in the less populated regions.

6. Map Title: Tempo-Spatial Analysis of the Platte River Riparian Area Between Kearney and Grand Island: Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Vegetation Using NDVI

    Author: CESAR AUGUSTO GOMEZ PENA

    Department: CIVIL ENGINEERING

    Description: Description of the NDVI Maps. SOFTWARE USED: ArcGIS Pro V.3.3 1. Purpose of the Maps: Assess the impacts of climate change on vegetation health in the Platte River's riparian area between Kearney and Grand Island. Monitor changes in vegetation density and health over time using NDVI. 2. Data Sources: Satellite Imagery: Landsat images utilized for NDVI calculations. Nebraska Government Resources: Data sourced from Nebraska government agencies focused on river areas, including the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission and other relevant state departments. 3. Key Insights: Vegetation health generally improved until 2017, with a maximum NDVI value of approximately 0.58 indicating moderately healthy vegetation. Recent trends suggest a potential decline in vegetation health, likely influenced by climate change. The observed decrease in high NDVI values indicates declining ecosystem resilience, emphasizing the need for ongoing monitoring and effective management strategies.

7. Map Title: A seismic risk assessment for Bangladesh

    Author: Md Abdullah Salman

    Department: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

    Description: A unique, consistent, and uniform earthquake catalog and active faults geometry are crucial for assessing seismic hazards in any locality. The Indo-Burman Mountain ranges mark the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, north of the Sumatra–Andaman subduction zone. This map aims at compiling and processing a better uniform earthquake catalog, GPS velocity, and faults geometry using this analysis to identify the probable subduction zone and assessing seismicity for Bangladesh. The study area is bounded by the geographical limits 20–28°N and 84–96°E. It includes a sum of 48,342 events which are compiled as 3.2 to 8.5 magnitudes and time from 1548 to 2024 (Oct.) yrs. The findings show that seismic zone 1 (Sylhet city) is more active than moderate active seismic zone 2 (Dhaka-capital city & Chattogram). The results indicate that the study area is a seismically highly active zone in the context of seismicity parameters. Finally, the compiled catalog, seismicity of the area and a probable deformation front (locked zone) are presented, and the presence of a locked megathrust plate boundary represents an underappreciated hazard in one of the most densely populated regions of the world like Bangladesh.

8. Map Title: 'Divine' Maya Lords During the Late to Terminal Classic Periods

    Author: Amy Peterson

    Department: Anthropology

    Description: During the Late to Terminal Classic Periods (900-1100 CE), the local Maya leaders sought to have more power to rule their communities. One part of this process was to take on the title of 'k'uhul ___ ajaw' or divine _____ lord, with the space being the name of their community; i.e., 'k'uhul Oxpemul ajaw'. The number of these lords are reported in hieroglyphic works are shown here to be focused in the middle of Mesoamerica, where many of the strongholds were. Suchh titles began in the 700s and 800s, but truly blossomed in the 900s, when their worlds - economic, workforce, natural spiritual, and others - all made drastic changes. I utilized the Maya Hieroglyphic Database (www.mhd.com) as the source of names and locations.

9. Map Title: Trophy Rivalry Games

    Author: Andrew Dourjalian

    Department: MSBA

    Description: College football doesn't get better than in the Big Ten Conference! The trophy games between rival universities highlight the rich history and storied traditions that have been developed over the decades and even centuries. This data was drawn by me in ArcGIS Pro but the source came from an article written in USA Today by Scott Horner. The weight of the lines between schools show the historical significance of each rivalry: the thicker the line the more games have been played. The visual representation of these rivalries show the regional ties between universities and the interconnection of the Big Ten Conference.