Thank you for those who attended last week’s GIS Council Meeting. Here is a recap of some of the announcements:
Walker Weiland – Urban Heat Island
The California Environmental Protection Agency released a study that identifies areas across California experiencing hotter summer temperatures as a byproduct of urban development. Urban areas have higher temperatures during summer compared with adjacent rural communities, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island. Heat islands are created by a combination of dark pavement and roofs that absorb heat, heat-generating activities such as engines and generators, and the absence of vegetation that provides evaporative cooling. While the phenomenon is well-known, the study for the first time creates an Urban Heat Island Index to quantify the extent and severity of the heat island effect for individual cities throughout the state. The study found temperature increases ranging from a few degrees in small cities and coastal areas to as much as 19 degrees on average over a day in large, inland urban areas.
The link to the Urban Heat Island page is here: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/UrbanHeat/
Tim Lindeman – Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program
The Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) is a coordinated, integrated, collaborative program to restore the health of California’s primary watershed through increased investment and needed policy changes. This effort is being organized and coordinated by the state’s Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) and the federal United States Forest Service (USFS), in close partnership with other federal, state and local agencies, and diverse stakeholders.
Sierra Nevada forests and watersheds are at a critical point. A four-year drought, a century of fire suppression, widespread tree mortality due to Insect attacks and disease, and a changing climate have led to an increased risk of large, damaging wildfires.
http://www.sierranevada.ca.gov/our-work/sierra-nevada-wip
http://www.sierranevada.ca.gov/our-work/sierra-nevada-wip/AIIXAttB.pdf
Fiona Renton – Statewide City Boundaries
This is the 2015 BOE city boundaries layer. It has not been updated with annexations this year yet. We don’t maintain it real time: http://services.gis.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Boundaries/BOE_Cities_2015/MapServer
This is the ArcGIS online account where you can download the data: http://www.arcgis.com/home/search.html?q=BOE_cities