Vol. 55, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2017
HISTORIC MAPS FROM BERMUDA’S FIRST 100 YEARS OF SETTLEMENT: GIS AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE ANALYSIS
(pp. 1 - 14)
Alison E. Feeney
Department of Geography and Earth Science
Shippensburg University
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
Charles W. Kann, Ruiwen (Patrick) Fu, and Jingyi Liu
Department of Computer Science
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Abstract
Historic maps are important primary documents and increasingly digital technology is helping researchers gain insights to the past. This project evaluated the accuracy of five maps made in Bermuda’s first hundred years of settlement and the benefits of open source software. GIS and GRI’s Map Comparator tool was used to georectify, digitize, and measure displacement angles and lengths from the historic maps to the current coastline of Bermuda. The results demonstrate that the interactive web browser tool is ideally suited for a range of users, and along with GIS, provided quantitative measurements to determine that Europeans had great surveying and mapping skills, as displayed in Norwood’s 1622 map. No significant changes in accuracy occur for the next 100 years. Future maps added details to the coastline and recognized a few more individual islands, but mapped no additional information to the surrounding coral reefs.
(pp. 15 - 35)
Robert C. Ziegenfus
Department of Geography
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
Abstract
Annual reports from the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Lead Surveillance Program for the years 2007-2014 were used to update the data from a previous paper (Ziegenfus and Wagner 2012). An analysis of housing and socioeconomic correlates were examined to study the different spatial patterns for the percent elevated blood lead levels for black, white, and all children for the period 2010-2014. The percent of confirmed elevated blood lead levels was highest for black children.
ABORIGINAL LAND CLAIM AGREEMENTS: THE CASE OF NUNAVUT LAND CLAIM AGREEMENT IN CANADA
(pp. 36 - 50)
James C. Saku and Andrew Boch
Department of Geography
Frostburg State University
Frostburg, Maryland
Abstract
Many of the world’s native people have struggled over the years with issues on land rights and ownership with Europeans who settled on their ancestral lands. There are similarities and differences in the history and approaches to achieving land claim agreements in the developed nations of Australia, Canada, and the United States. While there are fundamental similarities and differences in the way Native Land Claim Agreements were achieved in these countries, the notion of land right in these countries is based on the British concept of property rights and ownership. This paper explores the similarities and differences in Native Land Claim Agreements in Australia, Canada and the United States. As the largest agreement, achieved in Canada in the 20th century, Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (NLCA) is examined within the context of Modern Land Claim Agreements (MLCA). This agreement restored land rights to, provided monetary compensation, and established development corporations and self-government to the people in Nunavut.
(pp. 51 - 59)
Joseph Matthew Sernell
President
Borough of Geistown, Pennsylvania
Ashlie Hildebrand
GIS Coordinator
Highland Sewer and Water Authority
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Steve Kocsis
GIS Director
Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Abstract
Geistown Borough, Highland Sewer and Water Authority, and Cambria County face very different challenges and can bring very different resources to solving those challenges. In the GIS field, these entities and their partnership show how practical implementation of tools, policies, and technology can help each partner achieve their own goals and larger goals of the group. Through an understanding of each of the entities and their implementation of GIS tools a greater understanding of how these partners work together can be understood.