GIS4930 - Module 2: MTR (Report Week) | Broken Landscape & Feelings

During the last three weeks, I've been reminded of a childhood pollution commercial of a crying Indian (Iron Eyes Cody) that was used as an emotional symbol for a Keep America Beautiful (KAB) organization.   The goal of this original project was to reduce highway litter through a public service announcement (PSA) campaign.  For me, the emotional equivalent for Mountaintop Removal (MTR) has been many documentaries and movies portraying West Virginia natives who at an early age left home, moved on to find life, jobs, themselves, and just do the best they can.  There were other stories of native West Virginians that knew where their home was and stuck it out living with a brokenness inside them as they resisted big business (Coal Industry) and politics from breaking their health, memories, and landscape.  I usually wait to the end to share a song of the week.  This week I’m going to first share a song that has struck a chord with me over the course of this project.   The song is by Miranda Lambert, “The House That Built Me”.   


As I've listened to this song over the past weeks, I made the connection of broken feelings and broken landscape.  I can’t help wonder if a few Appalachian natives feel they can’t ever go home to the same place they remember growing up.  Fortunately, they have their memories, but at the same time have broken feelings inside.  

MTR, Broken Landscape & Feelings ...

Goal (Why):
Here we are at the final milestone (Report Week) of the MTR Project.  Looking at the list of objectives below, I'm reminded of a Project Managment process called Project Closeout that strives to assess the project, ensure completion, and derive any lessons learned to be applied to future projects.    
Because Project Planning has been an important part of working through the MTR project, I've chosen Project Management as the theme for this week.  Earlier I briefly mentioned, "Lessons Learned".  I personally have discomfort for this term.   I find these two words at odds with each other.   For me, the word "lessons" suggest something that is known (somehow) which can be taught/conveyed to other people.  Constructing meaning from so-called project lessons is a challenge for me.  I feel we all construct meaning differently.  We can socially assemble stuff (documents, software, internet searching) to construct meaning or we might attain meaning through facts and information alone.  I'm attempting to make connections of constructing meaning from observations derived from the MTR project.  Actually, I want to suggest a "turn blind eye" concept.  Something should be done to prevent more harm and destruction inflicted by the industrial age, coal dependency, and MTR mining.   

Objectives (What):
  •  Convert reclassified MTR raster to polygon 
  •  Perform an analysis accuracy test using random points 
  •  Conduct a comparative analysis of 2010 MTR data with the 2005 dataset 
  •  Create and share layer packages 
  •  Compile group data into single layer package for group study area (group leaders only). 
  •  Using ArcGIS Online UWF Organization account 
         - Publish MTR Analysis results as a feature service and web map using
  •  Closeout: including 5 deliverables
      - 1. Final MTR Layer
      - 2. Create Package from final MTR Layer map document
      - 3. Complete Process Summary
      - 4. ArcGIS Online Group MTR Analysis Map
      - 5. Link Final Journal Story Map to this Blog 
  •  Convey Project lessons

So what are we going to do with last week's accomplishments this week?

This week is a continuation of last week’s analysis week.  More processes that flow together via inputs and outs.  The input is last week's reclassified image.  To the left is a basic black box diagram. The details of the Process box were explored in this week's three-part lab.  
     Part 1: Edit and Package Reclassified Raster Data (5 Steps)
     Part 2: Publish Group MTR Analysis map on ArcGIS Online UWF Org (5 Steps)
     Part 3: Finish Final MTR Story Map Journal and Blog Post (3 Steps)

So what actually happened during this weeks analysis phase?
Below are some of the GIS tools we used to transform and produce this week's deliverables.

-  Part1, Step 1: Conversion Tools > From Raster > Raster to Polygon. 

-  Part1, Step 2: Analysis Tools > Proximity > Buffer 

-  Part1, Step 2: Analysis Tools > Overlay > Erase

-  Part1, Step 2: Data Management > Features > Multipart To Singlepart

-  Part1, Step 3: Data Management > Sampling > Create Random Point
And below are the two last parts of this busy week
-  Part 2, Publish Group MTR Analysis map on ArcGIS Online UWF Org
    • Make a hosted Feature Service, which I consumed in a web map

-  Part 3, Finish your Final MTR Story Map Journal and Blog Post.

What was learned/remembered this week?

• Coal, a present from the Mesozoic to the Industrial Age, does harm where it is burned, and where it is dug.
• Coal use also has some consequences: fossil fuel dependency, environmental costs, human costs, government responses, protection of a coal-miner way of life.
• MTR inflicts a wound that goes deep and lasts a long time and the scars are very visible.

What was fun and or challenging this week?
Exploring modern cartography design and the era of collaborative GIS was fun and challenging in a creative way.  The mindset associated with these web maps feels different than the static maps I'm used to creating.   Having access to professionally produced basemaps creates a digital canvas that makes storytelling fun.  And learning about Hosted Features and publishing hosted feature layers was a fun section of the lab.  

To the right is a screenshot of an On-Line Esri map that I created using am MTR Hosted Service I created previously.  I planned this map during week one (Data Prep) when I created 4 individual shapefiles for each Group 1 Team member, making sure each layer intersected corresponding Landsat image. I planned to be able to zoom in/out and see the team member that performed the analysis.  Creating labels and adjusting when they are visible was pretty easy.  The whole experience of using ArcGIS OnLine by Esri was fun to explore.  I'm glad we had the extra time to complete this part of the project. Visit the Final MTR Layer map here  (http://arcg.is/1jKPve0) to explore the Group 1 study area.  Be sure to zoom in to see the label popup.

I tried making unsupervised classification a fun experience, but right now that is still a challenge for me.  So I revisited the task of unsupervised classification this week to get some more experience and try to make my MTR Layer larger by marking more of the suspect classes as "MTR".   I still struggle with this task.  
I wish there was a learning video provided to show us how to properly do this task.   I did find some helpful ERDAS Geo-Spatial Tutorials on the youtube channel.  Here is one of those helpful links from a Geospatial Enthusiast that has an embedded video.  

This online resource had a Notes and Tip section that I found helpful.  Clicking the brown Notes and Tips image to the right will take you directly to the resource.

Any Weekly Positives?

We can't undo the past, but we can do something about tomorrow.  And here are a few places that have taken a pledge toward carbon neutrality:  British Columbia (Canadian province),  Costa Rica, Iceland, Maldives,  Norway,  Tuvalu
Sweden, New Zealand, Vatican City.
For a list of more countries striving NOT to follow in the footsteps of fossil fuel dependency, see this link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_neutrality

Costa Rica has just ran on 100 percent renewable energy for 300 days!! Awesome 😊
http://vt.co/sci-tech/innovation/costa-rica-just-run-100-percent-renewable-energy-300-days/

In Summary, this week we utilized several GIS tools to transform a raster file into vector files and used them in a cloud-based GIS mapping platform hosted by Esri to explore modern cartography.  While technology may make it easy to help convey a damaging process like MTR.  We see time and time again that political power can over-turn the right thing to do for our current and future generations.
Putting the technology to the side, I feel it is pretty obvious that MTR mining is wrong for so many reasons and has been wrong for a long time.  And the images and analysis have been presented time and again.  It's time to hold the coal industry accountable for their past and future actions on mother earth.

Please visit my Journal Story Map that attempts to capture the highlights of this MTR project.  And here is my GIS Blog link that I plan to update into the future.


I depart with a few thoughts to ponder.  

• How would the world be different today if the reliance on fossil fuels were not so deep?  
• What if knowledge and technology existed around 1860 to exploit a cleaner energy source rather than harnessing the power of ancient suns (peat, the forgotten fossil fuel)?  
• Could Pollution events like the Great Smog of London in 1952 have been avoided if we learned from the past?  
• Why did it take so long to understand and take action on past lessons from exploiting and burning coal?

Yes, it's sad that the ignorance of the industrial age inflicted soo much harm and destruction.  But it would be far worse if there where no lessons conveyed.  Some countries can see past the politics and make the right decisions with future generations in mind.  There needs to be a mindset change before the US can start to remove fossil fuels from its traditional way of life.  We can't undo the past, but we the people can do something about tomorrow.  

Project Management (PM) Song of the Week

As a project manager, some time things tend to get out of your control. Even with lots of planning, track budgets, and assign tasks, all you can do is sit back and hope to hear some good news.   And with that in mind, I chose "Tell me something good" by Rufus & Chaka Khan for this weeks PM song of the week.  https://youtu.be/cm_cFzVAoo8

Interesting Tidbits

Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 - January 4, 1999) was an Italian-American actor.

Beverage and bottling companies (Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, etc.) sponsored the KAB, Iron Eyes Cody Ad Campaign mentioned above aired on Earth Day in 1971.   Hmmm, maybe their bottles were part of the litter problem??  

For more info on KAB, see https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Keep_America_Beautiful

References:
•  http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/tools/cartography-toolbox/simplify-polygon.htm

•  Tell me something good - https://youtu.be/cm_cFzVAoo8

•  Focus Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LXhPbmoHmU

•  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=DQYNM6SjD_o