Geographic Systems Lab
Over 70 percent of all data has some geographic component that allows it to be related to a physical location. For this reason, geographic information systems (GIS) are becoming a common means of integrating data sets for the purpose of spatial analysis.Purpose
Noblis established the GIS and Spatial Analysis Laboratory to examine the performance and feasibility of emerging GIS technologies and products, and to develop applications that merge physical system models with GIS. Initially, this lab supported our environmental work, including integrated systems engineering and acquisition support for Department of Defense base clean-up efforts. The lab was later extended to other areas, including emergency management and transportation planning. Specifically, the purposes of the GIS and Spatial Analysis Laboratory are to:
- Evaluate the functionality and maturity of emerging GIS, spatial analysis, and imagery analysis products and technologies
- Develop applications that merge physical system models with GIS as a visualization tool
The GIS and Spatial Analysis Laboratory provides scientists and engineers with the capabilities to prepare map displays and conduct spatial analysis, visualization, and imagery analysis activities through industry standard software.
Research Conducted
- Applying GIS and data visualization technology for analysis of critical phenomena in a distributed, networked environment
- Developing Web-enabled bio-surveillance capabilities to identify possible disease outbreaks
- Evaluating software to enhance current bio-surveillance capabilities at hospitals
- Supporting research to assess weather-related delay on regional transportation networks
- Presented briefings at major technology conferences:
- Medical Surveillance, Council of Security and Technology Organizations (COSTO), Arlington, VA, October 2002.
- An Automated Tool for Water System Vulnerability Assessment, Conference on the Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS for Disaster Management, Washington, DC, 1999.
The lab is able to demonstrate GIS over the Internet and wireless field data collection, as well as integration of imagery with both raster and vector data sets.
Current List of Equipment
The lab is comprised of commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software including ESRI’s ArcInfo 8, ArcView3.3, ArcView Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, and 3D Analyst, ArcView Image Analysis, ERDAS’s Imagine, and Imagine VirtualGIS.
