Begin forwarded message:

From: uaf -distribution <uaf-distribution>
Date: June 2, 2014 at 14:32:01 AKDT
To: “UAFnews-l” <UAFnews-l>
Subject: [UAFNews-L] Map specialists help snow researcher in the Arctic Refuge
Reply-To: newsroom

Map specialists help snow researcher in the Arctic Refuge

CONTACT: Yuri Bult-Ito, 907-474-2462, ybult-ito

University of Alaska Fairbanks snow researcher Matthew Sturm recently
completed a 750-mile arctic trip with special help from mapping specialists.

Sturm, a UAF geophysics professor, and his team completed a challenging leg
of their snowmachine traverse of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with
relative ease, thanks to assistance from the Geographic Information Network
of Alaska at the UAF International Arctic Research Center.

Sturm needed more information than was available from regular topographical
maps. GINA employees helped him select a safe and passable route over the
crest of the Brooks Range north of Arctic Village. They gave Sturm a
program called Quantum Geographic Information Systems. QGIS, a desktop
application, is open source and therefore free to anyone. It enables a user
to create layered maps, among other things.

GINA’s Mitch Slife helped Sturm use QGIS to create his own route layer over
available satellite imagery, also provided by GINA. The imagery had such
fine detail that it allowed Sturm to avoid moraine boulders and areas
subject to river overflow, and to find a route where vegetation was
passable.

“The maps could tell us where it would be too steep for our heavily loaded
snowmobiles and sleds,” Sturm said.

Established in 2001, GINA is the leading provider of geospatial data in the
Arctic. The satellite imagery Sturm used is one such example. GINA is part
of the Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative ortho program, the first
concerted effort to collect a statewide high-resolution, high-accuracy
digital imagery mosaic for Alaska. So far, the program has achieved 99
percent coverage of the state.

GINA shares its data with communities across Alaska, the Arctic and the
world, from individuals and researchers to agencies and organizations. It
also offers technological assistance to all, including GIS classes.

Sturm recounted how efficient his research trip turned out to be.

“Sitting in a tent, I opened QGIS on my laptop computer,” he said. “I
picked a couple of waypoints and plugged them into a GPS. The next day we
broke a trail up the route, getting through in half a day, rather than the
several days we thought it might take.”

ON THE WEB: http://www.gina.alaska.edu/ and http://alaskamapped.org/

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mitch Slife, 907-474-5883, mitch,
Dayne Broderson, GINA technical services manager, 907-474-6182,
dayne