Finding An Ideal Ski Resort Location GIS Group Project: Meredith Faust Dana French Kalyna Malm

First things first: In order to find an ideal ski resort location, we need elevation data

Digital Elevation Models With GIS, the appropriate data is incorporated into a layer called a DEM, or digital elevation model. While searching for DEMs on the web, several options are available.

Types of DEMs

National Elevation Data (NED) Developed by USGS Merges highest resolution & best quality elevation data from across the US into a seamless raster format. 1:24,000 scale DEM data for continental US & 1:63,000 scale for Alaska Result of maturation of USGS effort

National Land Cover Data (NLCD) Used by Geostat Center at UVA Accquired by Landsat ’ s Thematic Mapper sensor, as well as a number of other data sources 30-meter format, shading scheme

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) A joint effort from NASA, NIMA (National Imagery & Mapping Agency), DLR (German Space Agency), ASI (Italian Space Agency) Flight of shuttles occurred February , Terabytes of raw data, being processed into DEMs

Outer S P A C E

Step 1: Finding Elevation Data We found elevation data in NED form near the southern Virginia/North Carolina border at the following web site: The following slide shows the specific area we selected for our ski resort

Geographic Context

Step 2: Looking for Common Ski Resort Features In order to see the way that ski resorts are typically set up, we searched the internet for pictures of existing ski resorts. The following pictures show a large ski resort in Vail, Colorado, and Wintergreen right here in VA

Vail, Colorado

Wintergreen

Ski Run Design The best ski resorts have maximum slopes converging to a few ski lifts. Based on actual resorts, slopes run parallel down small valleys within the mountain side

Properties of Area Ski Resorts WINTERGREEN mountain has an elevation of 3,515 ft, with a vertical drop of 1,003 ft. The longest run is 1.4 miles

RESORT Whitetail, PA Liberty Blue Knob Snowshoe VERTICAL DROP & LONGEST RUN 935 ft 600 ft, 1 mi 1,072 ft, 1.75 mi 1,500 ft, 1.5 mi

Close to Blacksburg Winterplace, WV Beech Mtn, NC Sugar Mtn, NC 603 ft, 1.25 mi 830 ft, 1 mi 1,200 ft, 1.5 mi

Step 3. Using GIS There are 2 options that can be used to determine the best possible ski slopes for our selected area –Option 1: 3D Analyst in Arc Scene –Option 2: Neighborhood Analysis

Option 1 Using the 3D Analyst in ArcScene to make the Data three dimensional

3D Analyst Use the 3D analyst extension on ArcScene to view the DEM in three dimensions Once this is done, it will be easier to find a specific location for a ski resort: from the picture of Vail, we concluded that a good ski resort contains a large valley, surrounded by two or more mountains containing a variety of different slopes for possible ski trails.

Our DEM in its Original Form:

Turning the DEM from 2D to 3D Right click on the layer name Go to properties Click on the base heights tab Use the same settings as the picture to the left

Option 2 Using Neighborhood Analysis to determine the highest elevations

Neighborhood Analysis Another way of finding the best ski resort would be using Neighborhood Analysis in the Spatial Analyst extension.

Neighborhood Analysis You will need the following for this type of Neighborhood Analysis: –A DEM of the target location –The Spatial Analyst extension and toolbar activated

Our DEM in its Original Form: (with the Spatial Analyst activated)

Neighborhood Analysis Cont. Now highlight the Neighborhood Statistic function under the Spatial Analyst arrow Select your criteria for analysis. In our example, we used Maximum

Neighborhood Analysis Because we are using a DEM, the maximum function will find the highest (maximum) areas compared to each cell around it in the grid. When the program is done computing, The areas with the largest slope in the grid in relation to its neighborhood will be shown

Neighborhood Analysis The following map output has the maximum slope of our DEM shown in RED. The most exciting potential ski areas are shown inside the blue circles.

Neighborhood Analysis

Discussion This is the best possible geographic location for a Ski Resort within our selected area because: –3–3 mountains surrounding a large valley that is prime for ski slopes –T–The Neighborhood Analyst found steep slopes within this region …. and

BECAUSE JONNY SAID SO!

Further Discussion This area is optimal for other reasons: –Interstate Access –Nearby Colleges provide many potential customers –High annual precipitation compared to other locations in Virginia

And, of course, the best reason: Because it would be …

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