Welcome to the interactive web schedule for the 2019 Spring NEARC Conference! For tips on how to navigate this site, visit the "Helpful Info" section. To return to the NEARC website, go to: www.northeastarc.org/spring-nearc.html.
The schedule is subject to change (as of May 13, 2019). Please check back for updates.
ABSTRACT: This presentation will provide an overview of a visual impact assessment for a proposed wind farm and how GIS was utilized throughout the lifecycle of the project. ERM was involved in the planning and permitting of a wind farm and performed viewshed analysis on existing turbines and potential turbine locations to determine the visual impact of the new wind turbine installation. The viewshed tool is a powerful analytic tool that determines line-of-sight from a ground raster to one or more elevated points. In addition to the standard viewshed utilizing Bare-Earth Digital Elevation Models, ERM acquired additional GIS datasets in order to produce an adjusted model that accounted for the screening effect of forested areas. Field teams used this data on mobile devices in order to ground-truth potential impacts compared to sensitive resource areas.
ABSTRACT: Under the terms of the NPDES Stormwater Permit Program, most municipalities are responsible for the regular inspection and maintenance of their stormwater system. The Control Measures stipulated by the permit include regular monitoring of post-construction runoff and routine, ongoing pollution prevention and "good housekeeping." This burden is time-consuming and costly in terms of personnel and equipment, especially in light of the fact that in any given year, the majority of stormwater structures will not require any major repairs or maintenance. A program of systematic flyovers and inspection by a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS), or drone, dramatically reduces the cost and the time required to perform these inspections and allows the quick prioritization of structures for closer inspection or repair. The information collected can be managed and maintained in GIS. We will discuss the advantages offered by the use of sUAS technology for this purpose, along with some caveats regarding logistical, legal, and privacy considerations.
AUTHORS: Ethan Dickson, DGT Associates; John Lloyd, DGT Associates; Michael Twohig*, DGT Associates
ABSTRACT: DGT Associates has been integrating ArcGIS into it's Subsurface Utility Mapping (SUM) workflow in order to increase efficiency and quality of data collected. Accurately mapping underground facilities is most challenging due to the simple fact that they are typically not observable. The path to delivering the most accurate portrayal of the subsurface environment requires a combination of research and various field work investigation techniques. DGT's SUM team has found ArcGIS to be beneficial in all phases of the process. Georeferencing plans in ArcMap helps the team "set the stage" before commencing data collection work in the field. Often times, a wide variety of plans from multiple sources, of varying accuracies, are required on a single project. ArcMap helps keep the plans organized and identifies areas of concern. While in the field, Collector is used to survey the data and populate crucial attributes. After completion of the field collection, the resulting data can be analyzed, shared and viewed in various formats, helping us meet the needs of the end user.
