PROJECTS
Vegetation Map for NEIU
I oversee the vegetation GIS project on campus, which consists of a geospatial
database of all woody trees,
shrubs, grassy, and planted areas. The project originated in 1997, at
which time a team of students under the direction of a colleague inventoried
campus
vegetation, and I set up the original GIS project. Since that time I
have monitored the progress of students who are hired by Facilities Management
to update and
maintain the database. Cameron Rex, Neil Best, and now Nick Ames have taken on the task under my guidance.
Student Maps
Since 2005 I have been working on a database of 40,000 students who attended NEIU sometime between 2000 and 2005. With the assistance of my student Marcin Dabrowski the students were mapped along with a variety of layers such as local demographics relevant to NEIU (children 12-18, percent over 25 with a college degree, etc.) and data for other institutions of higher learning. Many of these maps are available from the department's web page.3D Model of Campus
I've built a model of the Science Building using Sketchup, and have inserted it (as an option) into Google Earth. Currently I'm working with three students to finish the campus. This model will be available to anyone to use or improve. Some work in progress can be seen at http://www.neiu.edu/~deptges/maps/google.Green Technology Fee committee
I'm a member of the Green Technology Fee committee, which will help direct the expenditure of nearly $90,000 annually on campus technologies for conservation and alternative energies. The money comes from a $3 per semester fee that was approved by the student body in 2007. The referendum was promoted by Green Cycle, a cross-disciplinary environmental group that had been sponsored by a G&ES faculty member.Prentice Hall's Web Site
I've recently completed the revisions of questions for Prentice Hall's Introduction to Geography (Bergman and Renwick, 4th Edition). These multiple choice, matching, true false, short answer, critical thinking, and graphic identification questions, as well as chapter summary and internet links, are available to student using this text. I also wrote a bank of in-class chapter quizzes intended to use with the "clickers."Bughouse
The 2004 version of Bughouse, NEIU's discussion board with debuted in 2001, is simmering on the back burner. Although it is greatly improved from its earlier version, with the technical expertise of G&ES major (now graduate) Cameron Rex, the board is waiting to be incorporated into the major NEIUWorks project that will revolutionize computing at NEIU over the next few years. Bughouse is functional but has gotten little usage while attention is diverted elsewhere, but we've offered it to NEIUWorks as a forum for candid discussion (aliases are allowed); with a single login id and password by way of the portal NEIUport. I served on the planning committee for NEIUport but, mercifully, I was invited after the work had almost been completed.
GIS Center
Part of my larger plan is to promote the use of GIS throughout NEIU, I hope by way of a center which would house equipment and software for all GIS needs, and to which all departments would have access. By handeling geocoded information of any kind -- that is, information for which a location is known -- disciplines such as anthropology, Earth Science, History, Political Science, Economics, Linguistics, Biology, and others will benefit from this resource. The lab would also be able to produce large maps suitable for classroom instruction. Geography would provide the introductory class or classes, with advanced courses offered by any department to provide deeper and more discipline-specific information and skills.
