Creating Local and Global Impact through Geographic Information Systems: Celebrating GIS Day

Nov. 25, 2024 

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences 

Anna Morris, a junior geography, urban studies, and civil engineering student, is using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Jefferson County to have a direct impact on social change and planning— specifically as a tool to advance policy and infrastructure change that ultimately empowers marginalized communities. 

“Good policy needs to be both data and people informed. These are not just maps—they are representations of people and their experiences, which is really important to creating the social change we need to thrive,” Morris said. “GIS helps us to see and understand spatial relationships.” 

Morris presented on Nov. 19 at UofL's Center for Geographic Information Sciences annual GIS Day event held on campus and co-presented with the Louisville/Jefferson County Information Consortium (LOJIC) and the National Geotech Center. GIS is a powerful tool that combines mapping, data analysis, and technology to understand and solve problems related to geography, the environment, and society. It can be used to analyze the spread of diseases, to plan urban infrastructure, or track climate change and its impacts. 

Morris shared insights from her work and analysis of street infrastructure and urban tree planting coverage, and how GIS can better inform resource distribution and sustainable infrastructure solutions. 

“This data works to identify communities that need investment the most,” Morris said. “It highlights the communities and the issues they are experiencing, and is used to inform how the investments are being made; it requires meaningful community engagement to create real changes.” 

The maps she displayed showed a correlation between disadvantaged communities in Louisville that also showed a lack of tree coverage. Tree canopy can be used as a case study to understand socioeconomic patterns, Morris explained. 

“The relationship between tree canopy coverage and the social contexts highlights the ways that people are allocated resources based on locations of communities, which is a really important thing to understand when looking at social justice,” Morris said. 

Tree canopies provide shade, reduce the reflection of the sun, and thus reduce energy bills. When there is a lack of tree coverage, these costs increase, and it also negatively impacts air quality, which then increases the risks of asthma and other health issues. The burden is not evenly distributed, and this motivates Morris to pursue this work to have an impact in the community and on policy change. 

“This is not just about trees—it is about larger systems of oppression and how it creates maps like this, where communities are put at a disadvantage because of their lack of resources,” Morris said. 

UofL’s Department of Geographic and Environmental Sciences integrates GIS into its programs, preparing students to address pressing environmental and societal challenges in their future careers both locally and globally. Director of the Center for Geographic Information Sciences DJ Biddle is passionate about the transformative power of maps, and shared how he is helping communities leverage GIS for informed decision making and positive change. Biddle recently traveled to Peru for three weeks with a group of 11 students from the Speed School of Engineering, and announced that this study abroad experience is now open to applied geography students interested in traveling during the upcoming spring semester. Alongside several partners, the group mapped a reforestation project in the Andes mountains of Peru, as local communities are seeking to implement solutions to environmental change that threatens their way of life. Peruvians and indigenous communities in the Andes Mountains are responding to climate change as it affects their communities in different ways. The changes include precipitation variability, including prolonged drought, and intense periods of rainfall. 

“These all lead to pressures on local water resources, soil loss, and land use patterns, and so the landscape in the high Andes is changing in a way that threatens livelihoods,” Biddle said. 

The remote town of Qqencco, Peru is an indigenous community 13.5 thousand feet above sea level with 400 residents who are dependent on subsistence agriculture. The community has a vision for growing an export economy with greenhouses popping up to grow strawberries, and the landscapes include potato fields.  

“Folks grow their crops, they raise their livestock on the banks of the Qoricocha (a lake in the area), and tend to the potato fields, and so over the past several decades, the water level of the Qoricocha has started to recede significantly, and that has raised concerns within the community about the sustainability of what they are doing there and how they are living,” Biddle said. 

He then compared images of the lake from 2016, 2020, and 2024 showing the drastic decline in water levels. The community and its partners are taking action to stop the decline in water and have decided that large scale reforestation can help mitigate climate variability impacts and slow down the loss of life in this landscape. They now have a goal to plant one million trees in the area to secure and stabilize the soils, pull more water into the landscape, and provide more habitat for wildlife. The community also has a vision of economic development through ecotourism, including water sports, hiking, and more, which will be made possible by the reforestation project. 

"Our role is to provide geospatial technology tools to map and track the tree plantings and other environmental changes going on in that area to help provide a system of record on how the area is changing over time,” Biddle said. 

Students collected drone imagery for over 150 acres of rugged terrain, geotagged 125 tree locations with important data, and established erosion monitoring sites that will be used for years to come.  

“On the final day in Qqencco, students presented their results to the community,” Biddle said. “Community members expressed deep gratitude to the students for their efforts, emphasizing the value and importance of environmental monitoring to their long-term vision of sustainability for the Qoricocha area.” 

Other presenters on November 19 included members of Waggener High School’s Black Student Union, Angela Scott (a certified GIS professional from Trideum Corporation), and Ben Shinabery, a professional land surveyor with QK4 Engineering, and Dean Dayna Touron, who thanked the department and center for their contributions. For more information on this work, click here.