Thomas MyersSelected Works (working document)

Working with Baltimore Green Space, a localnonprofit, and Dr. Matthew Baker, UMBC, Iconducted an inventory of forest patches inBaltimore City. This project aimed to provide astarting point to evaluate the benefits of urbanforest.

Forest area and relative shape (P:A) were chosenas top­level descriptors. In Baltimore, forest patchesvary from trapezoidal polygons to long skinnycorridors of mostly edge conditions. A euclideandistance algorithm was used to identify forestedcells that were greater than 25 meters from a forestedge. A euclidean allocation function was used to"walk out" from each forest core and assign theremaining forest pixels the id number of the nearestcore. This allowed "core" forest and "edge" forest tobe differentiated.

I assisted researchers at the Center for UrbanEnvironmental Research and Education at theUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County. I wasresponsible for collecting, refining, and manipulatingspatial datasets for input into PARFLOW, asubsurface watershed model.

RIGHT: SSURGO soil classification data, extractedfrom Access database and coded for input in model.

FAR RIGHT: Relative transmissivity values, derivedfrom a point shapefile detailing the location andproductivity of groundwater wells in Maryland. (notethe shift in values at the "fall line.")

In order to create a more complete rail transitnetwork in Baltimore, the MTA is moving forward onthe Red Line project. The proposed Red Line willbea light rail system, running east to west from theSocial Security offices in Woodlawn to the JohnsHopkins Bayview campus in east Baltimore.

This analysis was conducted as part of an upper­level undergraduate course called Human­Environmental GIS Applications taught by Dr. RobNeff. The goal of the project was to investigatewhether transportation access coincides spatiallywith transportation dependency.

The map at right indicates relative transportationdependency (TDI), compiled from a number ofcensus variables. Using a parcel­based networkallocation model, I determined the number ofresidents within walking distance to rail transit stops.

In comparing these variables, I found that theaddition of the Red Line decreases the effectivenessof the trail transit system in terms of equity ofaccess.