Maori GIS Conference

The focus of the conference is Maori GIS projects and GIS related projects relevant to Maori aspirations. It is being held in Christchurch from 13-15 May 2009.

EOI for presenters close 15 April.

http://www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz/Events/2009/GIS-Maori-Conference/

How to convert decimal time into 24 hour time in ArcGIS

Converting data between csv, Access, Excel and ArcGIS can be a hassle, especially when dates and times are involved.

One of today’s dilemmas was how to convert decimal time into 24 hour time in ArcGIS.

Decimal times converts as follows:

1 = 24:00, 0.75 = 18:00, 0.5 = 12:00, and 0.729167 = 17:30.

In Excel you just change the data format. But today I spent what seemed like hours trying to figure out the formula so I could do it in ArcGIS. This time I didn’t want to resort to importing the data back  into Excel and into stuffing around trying to get it to export how I wanted it and then importing back into ArcGIS etc…

Anyway. Here is how to calculate it in ArcGIS (or anything else really).

Given a field with the existing decimal time ([DecTime]). Create fields to store the [Hour] and [Minute].

Calculate as follows:

[Hour] = Int([DecTime]*24)

[Minute] = Int([DecTime*24) - [Hour])*60)

Now you can combine the hour and minute parts of the 24 hour time however you want. For example,

[Time24] = [Hour] * 100 + [Minute]

or

[Time24] = [Hour] & “:” & [Minute]

Guide to Publishing in Geography

The handy guide to Publishing in Geography by RGS-IBG and Wiley-Blackwell.

Via Very Spatial.

Vipers and Vampires: Measuring Oil Vulnerability

Had a very interesting visitor yesterday: Jago Dodson from the Urban Research Program at Griffith University in Australia. Jago has published research on measurement of Oil Vulnerability in Australian cities eg:

Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City: Assessing Socioeconomic Risks from Higher Urban Fuel Prices (Dodson and Sipe, 2007)
Shocking the Suburbs: Urban Location, Housing Debt and Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City (Dodson and Sipe, 2006)

Oil vulnerability is measured by combining various census variables (mode of transport to work, number of cars in a household) and socioeconomic data (SEIFA) to produce the VIPER (Vulnerability Index for Petrol Expense Rise).

The VAMPIRE (Vulnerability Assessment for Mortgage,Petrol and Inflation Risks and Expenditure) is a measure of oil and mortgage vulnerability and includes mortgage information.

I decided to try this for a NZ city. Here is a quick lo-res attempt at an Auckland VIPER:

VIPER index from 2006 census data. Dark = more vulnerable to oil price increases. Light = less vulnerable.

Now I just need to find some mortgage data, cause even though VIPER is a pretty cool name, I love the idea of creating a VAMPIRE index!

One conference down: three more to go

Went to NZ Geographical Society conference last week. Report to follow. But I will say it was freezing and that I bought ear muffs from Spacesuit.

Now I only have 3 more conferences to go to this year:

1. Walking 08
2. Geocart/SIRC 08
3. NZ ESRI User conference

One a month. And I have to present at all of them. Ick! I still hate presenting. The people who say “it gets easier” are wrong.

Health and The Built Environment Seminar

Yesterday Reid Ewing, a Research Professor at the National Center for Smart Growth, visited SHORE and gave a talk that touched on various aspects of the relationship between the Built Environment and Public Health.

He talked about the sprawl index they developed, which is comprised of: low density, highly segregated land use, lack of centering, and poor street connectivity. Low accessibility is also a characteristic of sprawl.

Sprawl has been linked to outcomes like: increased VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled), worse air quality, climate change, and traffic safety.

Climate change and traffic safety were new ideas things for me.

Reid also mentioned the 6 “D” variables that influence travel at the meso and micro scale: Density, Diversity, Design, Demographics, Distance to transit, and Destination accessibility.

Some of those D’s are relatively straightforward. Design is more complicated to measure but the key point is that “human scale” design is good.

A very interesting comment that Reid made was that Destination accessibility is the most important variable in terms of VMT. This relates to the CO2 project ie my model which measures change in accessibility under different transport scenarios.

things that get in the way of doing research: new computers

A new computer is a good thing. Mostly. However, it takes a large chunk of time to reinstall everything and copy stuff. I have installed the essentials: FF, zotero, ArcGIS, assorted ArcGIS extensions and backup software. But I still have a lot more to install: SAS, SPSS, Google Earth, Dreamweaver, random other GIS type apps.

The other thing about new computers is that they often start doing weird stuff. Like going blank temporarily.

I knew all this, so I ordered the new computer months ago so that it would arrive before the busy season. But it was slow to arrive and so it arrived right in the middle of the busy season.

lost things – I want to track articles

I keep losing articles. Usually the most important articles. And no matter how organised I am with my citation management (woohoo zotero!) it still doesn’t know where I last put the paper copy. Is it in the office? Is it at home? Did I leave it on the bus? I don’t know! And, yes, I could print out another copy, but I usually scrawl profound notes on the important articles.

I need tiny tracking devices. Pretty colour-coded stickers would be ideal. Linked to my online citation manager. Then when I lose an article I can go look at a map and see exactly where it is. That’d be cool. It’d be even cooler if I could zoom in to see a map of the piles of paper on my desk and I could see exactly where in the piles of paper the article is.

Auckland Harbour bridge walkway/cycleway

Petition for a walkway /cycleway across the Auckland Harbour bridge:

Get Across

when I am lonely the mountains call me

What a cool paper name! How could I resist tracking down and reading an article entitled “When I am Lonely the Mountains Call Me”: The Impact of Sacred Geography on Navajo Psychological Well Being?

I came across it while googling “wellbeing” and “geography.” And it took quite a long time to find an electronic version of the paper, which is very unusual. Most things are at the tips of my fingers and available within seconds. But this took around 45 minutes to track down. Of course I was also multitasking and doing other things at the same time.

Anyway. You can find the pdf here at the National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research.

As a result of the difficulty in tracking down this somewhat obscure article I have started a list of journal links. I think I will only add the obscure and less easy to find instantly journals though.

And no I haven’t read the article yet, but I think it’s about homesickness…