I'm interested in learning GIS and especially ArcView for use in my upcoming internship at Lake Tahoe. I have taken an online course on GIS before in high school, but it wasn't very helpful and I would like to refresh my memory.
This is not related to my project, but is an interesting paper that is related to my general interest in environmental economics. I wrote a summary of it here.
I have a number of different options I am considering right now for my project. I will definitely be working on something in the Lake Tahoe area, and I have found a shapefile for that area that includes some codes for land and water use. What I am not sure about is exactly what kind of research I want to do with this map. I am asking Prof. Kauneckis, who I will be working with this summer, for some data that I could analyze for this class that might be helpful for my summer projects. These include an evaluation of private landowner programs, creating a green business certification program tailored to the Tahoe basin, and potentially a capacity study of Sand Harbor. Currently, my best idea is to use GIS to examine the relationship between different land use and water pollution in this area, adapting that finding to the evaluation of private landowner programs.
Further project information can be found here.
References
Li, J., Ren, Z., & Zhou, Z. (2006). Ecosystem services and their values: A case study in the qinba mountains of china Springer Science & Business Media B.V.
Martin, K. S., & Wing, J. (2007). The discourse and discipline of GIS. Cartographica, 42(3), 235-248.
Parisi, D., Taquino, M., Grice, S. M., & Gill, D. A. (2004). Civic responsibility and the environment: Linking local conditions to community environmental activeness. Society & Natural Resources, 17(2), 97-112.
Simmons, C. S. (2004). The political economy of land conflict in the eastern brazilian amazon. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 94(1), 183-206.