STI uses GIS technology to perform spatial analysis on a variety of environmental, land use, and spatial data sets. Our experience includes working with both vector and raster data sets to investigate spatial relationships and perform statistical analyses to support environmental research. Using GIS technology, we analyze and model various types of data including demographic, socioeconomic, air emissions, air toxics, air quality, and meteorological data.
STI developed spatial allocation surrogates for geographically distributing area and off-road mobile sources for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2020. This work was funded by the California Air Resources Board as part of the Central California Ozone Study (CCOS) and the California Regional PM10/PM2.5 Air Quality Study (CRPAQS). STI GIS specialists used several sources of geographic land use and demographic data, including U.S. Geological Survey land cover and land use data and data from state and local governments. An ArcInfo- and Microsoft Access-based processing system was developed to grid and archive the geographic surrogate data. The processing system produces spatial allocation surrogates gridded at 2 km x 2 km on a countywide basis for California. More than 60 unique surrogates were developed as part of this work.
STI scientists used GIS software to investigate children's exposure to traffic-related pollutants (CO, NOx, PM2.5, ultrafine PM) from roadways as part of the California Air Resources Board-sponsored Children's Health Study.
The Fresno Asthmatic Children's Environment Study (FACES), sponsored by the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. EPA, is designed to analyze the effects of air pollution on asthmatic children aged 6 to 14 years living in Fresno, California. A group of 450 asthmatic children are being monitored from 2001 to 2005 to evaluate the effects of daily air pollution levels on short-term asthma; to assess the influence of short-term asthma exacerbation on the progression of childhood asthma over the course of several years; and to evaluate the extent to which other environmental factors, such as tobacco smoke, allergens and other bioaerosols, and housing characteristics influence asthmatic children's responses to air pollution. This project makes extensive use of GIS technology. STI GIS specialists use ArcGIS to map the study area, participant address locations, ambient air monitoring sites, roadways, and traffic volume data. ArcGIS is also used to quality assure and extract traffic road link characteristics for input to the traffic exposure model, examine land use and biomass patterns in the study area, and create a geo-database to archive and display the results of the traffic exposure modeling. Read more about this project.
TEAK is a suite of desktop tools for examining probable transport, source locations, and emissions for air quality issues. Originally developed as PORSCH (Probability of Regional Source Contribution to Haze) for the Central Regional Air Planning Association (CENRAP) to assist in determining the causes of regional haze in national parks, the current system consists of three tools: Spatial Probability Density (SPD), Emissions Impact Potential (EIP), and Conditional Probability Impact Assessment (CoPIA). Please see the brochure for more information.
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