Geospatial Technology, Urban Environment and Human Health: Two Case Studies on Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Jeong C. Seong Professor of Geospatial Technology University of West Georgia

Contents Introduction Atlanta, Georgia Research projects – Urban heat islands – Road traffic noise Summary

INTRODUCTION

Timeline 1988 SNU 1994 SNU SDI 1999 UGA, Athens, GA 1999 ERDAS Now Geography GIS, Maps, Surveying GIS Implementation GIS/RS, Land cover, Asia S/W engineer NMU, Projection UWG, Env. GIS, Urban

Team Work GA Department of Transportation Atlanta Regional Commission Centers for Disease Control and Prevention University of Seoul NED University, Karachi, Pakistan Cartography and GISc AmericaView (GeorgiaView) Korean-American Association for Geospatial and Environmental Scientists (KAGES) Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA)

Recent Projects (2010-) Wetland LiDAR survey (Okefenokee, GA) Road traffic noise Urban heat islands Radar (SAR)

Goal Metro Energy Climate Health Space Water … Urban Environmental GIS Geospatial Technology GIS Remote Sensing LiDAR Surveying … Geospatial Technology GIS Remote Sensing LiDAR Surveying …

Issues Urban heat islands Water resources Storm water management Green energy farms Quality of life including traffic noise

RESEARCH PROJECT, CASE #1

Urban Heat Islands and the Importance of Green Spaces in Metro Atlanta, Georgia Jeong C. Seong, Jared Ogle, Chris Tripp, and Zach Gubran University of West Georgia Maple St., Carrollton, GA, 30118, USA

Go green!

Objectives Spatial variations of temperature Relationship between temperature and vegetation Seasonal variations of urban heat islands

Methodologies Landsat 5 TM datasets (Oct , 15:42; Oct , 15:31; Oct , 15:50; Jan , 16:02; Apr , 16:04; Jul , 16:05; Oct , 16:06)

Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as the indicator of vegetation. NDVI = (Band 4 - Band 3) / (Band 4 + Band 3)

Temperature

Results

Temperature = ∙ NDVI R 2 = 0.48 p in F and t tests = NDVI range: 0 ~ 0.61 NDVI average: 0.21 Average green effect: 3.8 o F cooling expected Maximum green effect: 10.8 o F cooling expected

a: constant b: slope

Discussion Snapshot  Comprehensive Cloud and water effects Time of imaging Daily temperature difference Elevation effect

Summary Significant urban heat islands in Metro Atlanta Urban-rural difference in the fall: 4~7 o F A suburb development showed about 1.9 o F increase. In the downtown area, the cooling effect by vegetation in summer was estimated to be 10.8 o F in maximum and 3.8 o F in average. The seasonal temperature patterns show the strongest tie with vegetation in summer. The summer temperature is most sensitive to vegetation.

RESEARCH PROJECT, CASE #2

Road Traffic Noise and Human Health University of West Georgia University of Seoul Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Atlanta Regional Commission Georgia Department of Transportation NED University, Karachi

Background 2009, changing atmosphere around UWG

First: publication, Inv. Int. Dr. Mehdi’s Karachi City research Measurement, interpolation, social survey, mapping, estimation of people exposed.

Second: Pilot Study Fulton County, GA Multiple papers (Env. Int.; Am. J. of Prev. Med.)

Third: NSF, Proposed Equipment Crowd sourcing: noise level, annoyance, etc. Continuing research collaboration

Nature of Noise Annoyance, sleep disturbance Cardiovascular problems Interest groups – Engineering – Health – Policy – GIS, indispensable for implementation

World Health Organization suggests … outdoor environmental noise should not exceed 55 dB(A) and 40 dB(A) for daytime and nighttime, respectively, to prevent potential psychosocial effects

EU Directive, 2002/49/EC mandates assessment and management of environmental noise exposure by creating strategic noise maps of major transportation features such as roads, railways, and airports

USA Noise Control Act of 1972 – The Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coordinated all noise abatement and control programs in the nation. The Quiet Communities Act of 1978, which established noise sources that are subject to regulation and noise emission standards. After federal funding for ONAC was discontinued in 1981, noise abatement programs were shifted to state and local governments.

Various Research Goals Making noise maps – Testing various simulations – Maps: 2D, 3D façade, daytime, night time, etc. Estimating population exposed to noise Analyzing socioeconomic variables associated with susceptible population Performing social survey using crowd sourcing Considering dynamic population sizes

Data Roads Traffic amount Terrain – Ex. contour lines Building footprints & heights Land cover Household location Orthophotos Census data Traffic analysis zone (TAZ) … For noise modeling For impact analysis

Road & Traffic Geometry – centerlines Attributes Type Speed limits Actual travel speeds Traffic volumes (hourly or daily) Capacity Vehicle mix (% cars and trucks) Etc.

3D Modeling with LiDAR Original LAS files (about 25GB) Converted to shapefiles (about 90GB) Select first returns & save as new shapefiles Create raster grids (20ft pixels) with the Natural Neighbor interpolation algorithm Merge grids into one file Interpolate the height of each building using its centroid. The maximum among four nearest pixels was used. (2.5' + 1.5') x 637 files = hours Plus data distribution, etc. Worked with 8 computers

Noise Simulation Software: SoundPLAN Algorithm – TNM by US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) – O(N 5 ) Processing: – Distributed/parallel computing