Geography

 

Intensive Level Survey of and National Register Nomination for College Gardens Residential District

This project consists of an Intensive Level Architectural and Historic Survey and Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for the College Gardens Residential District in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. This study area, as defined by the 1998 reconnaissance level survey, consists of both sides of Redwood Drive north of Admiral Avenue, both sides of sides of Arrowhead Place west to King Street, then south to Arrowhead Drive, then west along arrowhead Drive to King Street, then south to Sunset Drive, then east to King Street, then south to West University Avenue, and the east to Redwood Drive.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Historical Society

PI: Brad Bays

 

Reconnaissance Level Survey of Ada, Oklahoma

Four objectives direct this project: (1) to locate and identify all buildings, objects, structures, sites and districts within the Ada, Okla., area that warrant further study to determine their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, (2) to record and photograph those individual properties and potential districts in the Ada area that warrant further study, (3) to identify and characterize those portions of the Ada area that warrant no further study to exclude them from consideration for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, and (4) to identify and annotate all reference materials necessary for completing National Register Nominations of properties and districts located in the Ada area.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Historical Society and National Parks Service

PI: Brad Bays

 

Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory (OLI) Database Project. Phase IV

The OLI is a record of the buildings, structures, sites, districts, and objects across Oklahoma obtained through the federal preservation program for which the OK/SHPO is responsible. The OLI is the central repository for information about Oklahoma’s historic properties and is used daily by OK/SHPO staff, other government agencies, preservation professionals, nonprofit preservation organizations, and concerned citizens. To maximize the use of this invaluable collection, its computerization is essential. The project maintains the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma interactive website and the placement of the OLI database on the web.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Historical Society and National Park Service

PIs: George Carney, Allen Finchum

 

Analyzing Socioeconomic Impacts of Highway Construction Activities in Oklahoma

This research seeks to expand a Geographic Information Systems-based methodology to analyze the socioeconomic impacts of highway bypasses in Oklahoma.  The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) wanted to formalize its analysis of economic impacts of highway bypasses, and a recent project delivered to ODOT was successful by highlighted several problems that need to be overcome for a more detailed analysis of bypass impacts: (1) Scale of the project – Due to the limited scope of the project, only the U.S. 70 corridor between Ardmore and Idabel was modeled in the original GIS database. (2) Business data availability – Due to the rural nature, business data for many small towns in Oklahoma are not disclosed in U.S. Census Bureau publications. (3) Socioeconomic data availability – Also due to the state’s rural nature, detailed, spatially disaggregated social and economic data were not published for Oklahoma until the 1990 census, preventing any sort of analysis of changing characteristics over time.  Each of these major areas will be addressed by this research.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Transportation Center

PIs: Jonathan C. Comer, Allen Finchum

 

Development of a Web Based Information Retrieval System for National Register Sites in Oklahoma

Information and photographs of all properties in the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma will be prepared for dissemination of the World Wide Web and a website to serve this information in both a text and map based format will be prepared. The map based retrieval system will allow the user to work with a fully interactive map displaying the location of all National Register locations in Oklahoma and connect the user to the appropriate text and photo record for the desired site. The project will encompass all preparation of the data, including scanning of site photographs, editing and display of text data, and construction of a complete user interface to allow easy access to the data for users throughout the state and nation.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Historical Society and National Park Service

PI: Allen Finchum

 

Reconnaissance Level Survey for Four East Central Oklahoma Towns: Henryetta, Holdenville, Wetumka and Wewoka

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the properties within the designated boundaries of the four study towns in order to identify those that are potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of History Places. This project also identifies districts that warrant further study as potential historic districts as well as individual properties and areas that do not warrant further study. This research will provide information that can be used for the evaluation of properties under the review and compliance program of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and will increase the area and number of recorded historic properties within Oklahoma.

Sponsor: Oklahoma Historical Society

PI: Alyson Greiner

 

Partnership between OSU & the University of World Economy & Diplomacy; & Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages

This proposal aims to strengthen the structure of higher education in Uzbekistan by providing curriculum development and instructional expertise directed at what is potentially one of the most profitable and today least exploited, of the country’s natural assets: tourism. This will be accomplished by sharing American expertise in tourism development across a spectrum of disciplines: business, journalism, political science and geography. American academics from these fields will share their knowledge and experience in tourism marketing, business law, management information systems, tourism advertising and strategy, economics in developing a cadre of public administrators for the tourist industry in Uzbekistan. The significant end product of the project is a comprehensive textbook on tourism in Uzbekistan, based on the cooperative work of the participants of the program. This text will be employed by future generations of Uzbekistani professionals in the field of tourism economics, thereby attracting badly needed foreign investment and currency, and generating employment opportunities in the Uzbek economy. Finally, the ancillary economic benefits to tourism development in Uzbekistan will be crucial to the future stability of the country.

Sponsor: USIA

PI: Reuel Hanks

 

GPS Tools for Geographers

The purpose of this project is to develop web-based instructional modules that address theory, operation, and applications of global positioning system (GPS) technology and its integration with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Increasing use of GPS within agriculture, transportation, natural resource management, and other fields highlights the importance of understanding GPS principles and application. Four modules will be designed for adaptation within undergraduate geography (or related) courses that emphasize basic navigation/positioning, spatial data capture, data management/integration, or the analysis of geographic information. Modules will contain presentation materials for instructors, interactive web-based lessons and testing, and “hands-on” field and lab exercises emphasizing data capture, processing, integration, or analysis. Following evaluation by a curricula review team and testing within selected universities and courses, the GPS Tools for Geographers web page will begin dissemination of this educational resource.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PIs: Michael Myers and Thomas Wikle

 

Developing a GIS-based Tool for Automated Feature Information Retrieval from Multisource Geospacial Data: Application to CRP Mapping in Texas County, Oklahoma 

This project aims at developing a GIS-based tool, Automated Feature Information Retrieval System (AFIRS), for remote-sensing (RS) applications. In addition to satellite imagery, AFIRS will involve multisource geospatial data to achieve accurate and robust feature extractions. The proposed AFIRS will be used as an analytical tool to aid in the delineation of USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) tracts and to achieve accurate and detailed digital CRP maps.

Sponsor: Environmental Institute – Water Research Center

PIs: Mahesh Rao, Guoliang Fan

 

Toward an Integrated Web-GIS Decision Support System for Evaluating United States Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Program (CPR)

This project will address some of the critical aspects by designing a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation platform where novel software-enabled control strategies can be tested. Structure of this project will be along the following thrusts: A simulation and visualization tool for UAV navigation, robust mode-switching control for autonomous formation flight, and an experimental platform for hardware-in-the-loop/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles coordination.

Sponsor: University of Oklahoma, NASA EPSCoR

PIs: Mahesh Rao

Computer Science: Johnson Thomas

School of Electrical & Computer Engineering: Gouliang Fan

 

Oklahoma Wind Power Assessment Initiative

This project is a joint effort with personnel from the University of Oklahoma assessing wind power potential for siting of wind turbines across Oklahoma. Using a wind power model employing Oklahoma Mesonet wind summaries, digital elevation models, and landuse/landcover (surface roughness) the entire state is being examined in grid cells less than 400 m across. Within a GIS we are incorporating the results from the wind power modeling with infrastructure features (e.g. location of roads and power grids) and land ownership types (e.g. avoidance of wildlife reserves) to produce maps identifying the most favorable sites for wind power development.

Sponsor: Oklahoma State Senate

PI: Steve Stadler

 

Oklahoma Wind Power Assessment Initiative. Phase II: Initial Analysis of Mesonet Wind Products and Landscape Data

The project is a joint effort with personnel from the University of Oklahoma studying the spatial variations in the suitability of the Oklahoma landscape relative to wind power development. The study is based on two scales: 1) small scale wind generation (50 Kw or less) suitable for households and small businesses and 2) large scale wind farms (10 Kw or more) suitable for connection to existing power grids. In a geographic information system (GIS) covering the entire state, we are incorporating several layers of data (wind power potential, existing power transmission grids, access to roads, land ownership, etc) to identify more and less suitable sites of potential development for wind power. The high spatial resolution of this work is fostered by the incorporation of the wind data from the Oklahoma Mesonet that provides mesoscale measurements of wind.

Sponsor: OSU Energy Institute

PIs: Steve Stadler, Allen Finchum

 

REU Site of GIS and Soil/Water Research

The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site provides ten undergraduate students with unique opportunities to taste the excitement of the research process through applications of geographic information system (GIS) to soil and water research problems. With assistance from their mentors, student researchers are responsible for: 1) conceptualizing a research question, 2) data collection, 3) GIS and statistical analysis, and 4) interpretation and presentation of project results. Examples of the topic areas for projects include GIS-based investigations of phosphorus and sediment transport, evaluating soil and water constraints on urban development and studies of regional evapotranspiration.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

PIs: Thomas Wikle, Michael Myers