Fall NEARC 2024

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS) has surveyed over 260 waterbodies across Connecticut since 2004 to document native and invasive aquatic plant species. This extensive data collection aims to map species locations and abundances, track the spread of invasives, and monitor changes in aquatic plant communities over time. These data are crucial for lake associations, lake management consultants, and government officials in managing aquatic invasive species and preventing their spread.

The goals of this project were to enhance public access to the data and transform the way OAIS communicates information with the public using ArcGIS Experience Builder. Achieving these goals required a comprehensive overhaul of the data management system. In this session, you will learn about the necessity of the project, its implementation, and the challenges encountered along the way.

Climate change has impacted forest growing season length, streamflow quantity, and the intersections of complex forest hydrologic processes. This research explores the geospatial hydrology and forest phenology (e.g. growing season length) change points throughout the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States from 1982-2012. Gridded NDVI data were obtained from NOAA AVHRR satellite imagery and analyzed to determine the growing season length. Hydrology datasets and watershed boundaries were extracted from the USGS HCDN (Hydro Climatic Data Network) dataset, which consists of exclusively natural (non-anthropogenically impacted) watersheds. Hydrology and phenology variables in each watershed were analyzed to determine the year(s) that a change point occurred and to determine the temporal duration between a mean shift in growing season phenology and watershed hydrology.

Of all the resource areas protected by the Massachusetts Wetland Protection Act, coastal bank is particularly challenging to define. The authors propose a GIS-based approach using the Spatial Analyst extension, to be presented with a case study.

This presentation will discuss how we have leveraged the capabilities of SQL database views to create streamlined, dynamic reporting workflows for enterprise geodatabases.
Oftentimes, as the technical needs of a project evolves, the geodatabase schema created at the outset may not be suited to best report on and track the data via dashboards or other web applications. SQL database views offer a method through which GIS professionals can transform, join, or aggregate datasets dynamically to fit their needs without overhauling their geodatabase model or affecting the underlying datasets. In addition, SQL database views can offer an alternative to other automatic field calculation methodologies such as attribute rules or scripts.
In this presentation, we will dive into three different real-world project examples, ranging in complexity from beginner to more advanced, to showcase how database views allowed us create maps, apps, and dashboards best suited for our clients’ needs. The first use case will show how database views can be used symbolize stormwater assets based on their related inspection and maintenance data as well as create dynamic, calculated fields to track asset inspection statuses. The next will demonstrate how views can aggregate multiple different datasets to optimize stormwater illicit discharge inspection reporting efficiency and create more streamlined user interfaces for web applications. The third example will delve into the process of using database views to temporally manipulate stormwater best management practice inspection data, granting the end user the ability to examine overall inspection statistics from not only the current year, but also any previous year over the inspection program’s duration.
To wrap up the presentation, we will give a high-level overview of how to get started with database views, including which tools and software are required, to empower attendees to implement database views for their own project needs.

Chapter III, Section 4 (g) of the Niagara County Sanitary code (Sanitary Code of the Niagara County Health District, 2022) charges the Niagara County Health Department with informing property owners who utilize a septic system that there is a requirement to connect to a sanitary sewer if one is available at the time of a property sale (or transfer). If sanitary sewer is not available at the time of sale, then the county health department must perform a test (tracer dye testing) of the existing septic system to ensure that the system is in good working order. Also, at times when an aging septic system is replaced, county public health engineers may be called upon to inspect and approve a new septic construction. Historically, GIS has played no role in this process.



The Niagara County Department of Public health has embarked on an ambitious multi-year GIS project; the goals include:



--> To map existing sanitary sewer pipeline GIS data (covering the entirety of the county’s 12 towns and three cities).

--> Append to the GIS data the layout and components of newly installed septic systems (using a high-accuracy GNSS receiver with RTK augmentation)

--> Provide a document management tool via a web map application/interface that will easily link the user to the project file of each septic system inspection or new installation.


The purpose of this session is to share our experiences thus far in in this process. We hope that attendees of this session will share their own in-house processes to fulfil county health code requirements. We aim to use GIS to improve access to, as well as the accuracy of our project records. While the process will take time, our end deliverable of this project will be a modernized record management tool and high precision mapping of the county’s approximately 18,000+ septic systems.