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1995 Annual Research and Extension Report

Report of GIS research conducted in 1995 as part of University of Florida's Agro-ecology Research Initiative

GIS-based Project Management System for Buck Island Ranch

John C. Capece and Ted Meng

Southwest Florida Research and Education Center


OBJECTIVES

    1. Develop a flexible, comprehensive, and up-to-date project management system to facilitate the various research activities related to Buck Island Ranch.
    2. Assemble project related information; integrate GIS data base for future modeling project.

 

BACKGROUND

As the number and the scope of the projects at the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center increase, maintenance of communications and supporting data datasets become an increasingly important task. This project seeks to assemble the documents, GIS coverages, experimental protocols, and historical information related to Buck Island Ranch. These resources are to be available to all cooperating researchers and external parties through a home page system residing at SWFREC. The project also seeks to begin utilizing the various coverages toward hydrologic modeling of the Buck Island Ranch system and its component experimental units.

GIS data bases at Buck Island Ranch are being created by Archbold Biological Station in accordance with SFWMD project number 5298. A decision support system is also being developed by the Agricultural Engineering Department under SFWMD contract. Ecological inventory, climatological history, agricultural and cattle information are being collected by project participants. These data will be used in modeling the impact of alternative grazing practices on water quality in Lake Okeechobee ecosystem.
 

METHODOLOGY

Arc/Info GIS residing on the SUN workstation has been used to document, display and query most of the available research information, documents, experimental protocols, historical information, and all available GIS data bases. Similarly, all this information has been included in a web server residing at SWFREC. This permits easy access to all information for retrieval, organization, and propagation. It can also be used for project management.
 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

A framework (see appendix) of the project management system has been established based on Arc/Info GIS system. It includes (1) project documenting (2) GIS data base display, query and statistics, (3) research protocols and agricultural management practices, and (4) agricultural system modeling. Today the first two components are fully functional.

The project documenting component allows easy document access, display, add-on, edit and organization. The project background information, statements of work MOUs, and mailing list have been integrated to one pull-down menu and can be brought up by pressing mouse button.

The GIS component represents a friendly user interface for spatial data base display, query and statistics. Available GIS databases, such as soils, hydrography and fencing are overlaid on a single map. The graphical interface provides many tools for users to zoom in and out, query a specific coverage, measure distance and area, and acquire statistics by pressing buttons on the screen. New databases can be added with minimum modifications of the AML programs.

Most parts of the first two components have also been implemented through WWW. Users may use a web browser to retrieve project information and display existing spatial database if a graphical browser like Mosaic is used. All users need to do is to press the hyperlink to the information they need. The advantage of using WWW is that it is easy to use and implement within a short period of time with minimum cost.

The agricultural practices and modeling components are not functional since data needed, such as fertilizer and pasture information, are not available.
 

FUTURE PLANS

Collect available databases and information on agricultural practices. Enhance the web server so that it will be able to provide users with more functionalities and convenience. Also, if possible, establish an inter-application communication framework to let end-users make use of Arc/Info GIS server through Mosaic without having to have direct access to and knowledge of Arc/Info system. In the long run, the fulfillment of these plans would benefit the future research activities.
Attachments:
Menu Tree
BIMS Interface Layout
BIMS Major Components
Example Retrieval
Example Research Document Retrieval
Example GIS Coverage Utilities
Example GIS Task Interface
Example GIS Data Interface
 

Menu Tree for

Buck Island Management System (BIMS)* **


1. Project Information

I. Introduction

II. Events Schedule

III. Participants Directory

a. UF/IFASk
b. Archbold Biological Station
c. SFWMD
 

1. Research Programs

I. Project M.O.U
II. Statement of Work
III. Experimental Protocols

a. On-going b. Previous


IV. Publications

V. Datasets

c. Weather
d. Runoff
e. Water Quality
 

1. GIS Utilities

I. Coverage Management
II. Display/Query Tools

a. Soil
b. Hydrography
c. Aerial
d. Fencing
e. Experiments

III. Unit Converter

 

1. Agricultural Management

a. Fertilizers
b. Citrus
c. Beef
 

1. IDM Model Utilities

a. TTY
b. Mailtool
c. Xterm


* Italicized enteries are not currently functional due to lack of the data.
** The WWW home page is basically the same as BIMS menu tree.
 
 

Menu Tree for
Buck Island Management System (BIMS)* **
 


Help

a. Main menu help
b. Arc/Info on-line help


Quit


The senior author can be reached at:
Dr. John C. Capece
Tel: (813) 657-5221
Fax: (813) 657-5224
E-mail: jcce@icon.imok.ufl.edu

 

 

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