© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming by Phil Hurvitz GIS Specialist, UW-College of Forest Resources Principal, Northwest Geospatial, LLP presented at 55th Annual Conference Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association with the National Shellfisheries Association - Pacific Coast Section West Coast Silverdale Hotel Silverdale, Washington September 20-22, 2001

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Overview Introduction to GIS technology Example of GIS analysis for geoduck biomass estimation on a commercial farm

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Introduction to GIS technology What is GIS What can GIS do What are the essential parts of a GIS GIS data & data models

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What is GIS GIS is an integrated system for capture storage management analysis display of spatially referenced data

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What is GIS Spatially referencing and integrated spatial database for storage of spatial data Relational database management system for storage of tabular information about spatial features Spatial analysis engine

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What is GIS

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What is GIS Q: Why should this be important to shellfish growers? A: All shellfish growing activities are ultimately tied to a location. GIS links information to specific locations.

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What can GIS do Capture, store and manage spatial features Shellfish bed locations Biological sampling locations Transects Plots Bathymetry Aquatic vegetation patches Any other mapped or mapable features

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What can GIS do Store and manage spatially referenced data Shellfish bed types (species, year of planting, etc.) Biological sampling measurements Biomass, shell length, density, etc. Aquatic vegetation type (species, etc.) Any other measurable data tied to location

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What can GIS do Analyze spatially referenced data Determine areas of treatment Calculate overlap of areas of mixed treatment Predict spatial/environmental processes Integrate and model vast amounts of information from different sources

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS data models Vector data Point (discrete point features) Line (linear features or events) Polygon (bounded areas) Raster data Digital orthophoto; satellite imagery Digital elevation model

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Raster: scanned & georeferenced image

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Raster: scanned & georeferenced image

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Vector: polygon (geoduck bed boundaries) bed boundaries

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Vector: polygon (bed boundaries) information (planting year) tied to location

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Vector: line (sampling transects)

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Vector: point (GPS locations)

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Vector: point (biological sampling locations)

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Spatial data tied to location this point has these data

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming ArcView GIS demonstration

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming A working GIS integrates five key components: methods people, and data, software, hardware,

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Example of GIS analysis for geoduck biomass estimation on a commercial farm Compare “traditional” method of biomass against spatially explicit method Interpolation/prediction of measurements across space 3-dimensional visualization of measurements

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Traditional line transect method Transects laid out 1 m 2 plots established at regular interval Expansion factor calculated to estimate biomass of entire bed

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Problems with line transect method Transects may not capture enough spatial heterogeneity of bed Plot arrangement may not be conducive to spatial extrapolation Result: underestimation or overestimation of biomass

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Typical transect layout

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS-generated scattered grid layout

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Geoduck counts for 1 m 2 plots Forged* (scattered plots) Samples: 30 points Mean: 23 Maximum: 47 Minimum: 3 Range: 44 Variance: 178 Standard Deviation: 13 * random counts {0, 47} Actual (line transect) Samples: 30 points Mean: 25 Maximum: 47 Minimum: 0 Range: 47 Variance: 225 Standard Deviation: 15

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Expanded counts from 1 m 2 plots Area of polygon: 7118 m 2 Line transect Mean count: 25 clams/m m 2 * 25 clams/m 2 = clams on bed Grid Mean count: 23 clams/m m 2 * 23 clams/m 2 = clams on bed

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS surface generation technique Values are taken from point samples Interpolates a surface between points Surface indicates trends between and beyond actual samples Predicts values where measurements have not been taken

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS surface generation technique Values of count of clams per plot

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS surface generation technique “Spline” analysis Creates a continuous surface based on field measurements 1 m 2 cell size Models variation between measurements Assigns interpolated count per cell

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming GIS surface generation technique Estimated value per cell is summed Estimated count based on surface analysis: clams in entire bed

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Comparison of calculated counts Estimated Count Surface Scattered Transect Method

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming What is the benefit of GIS in this example? Interpolated surface can tell much more about spatial heterogeneity Possible to estimate biomass at location that was not sampled Possible to gain integrated understanding of site

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming 3D Modeling of Site Visualization of biomass across site Where are values high and where are values low? Why does the variation exist?

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming 3D Modeling of Site Other contributing environmental effects?

© Phil Hurvitz, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and their Potential Uses as Management Tools in Commercial Shellfish Farming Questions? Contact Phil Hurvitz