Wasatch Front Temperature

Summer of 2013 was one of the hottest on record for Utah. Normally the locals escape to the canyons for relief, since it is usually 20 degrees cooler than the valleys. But 20 degrees cooler than 107 is still very hot. Nighttime lows only got to about 75.  In an area that is not used to such extreme heat, it was difficult for many to cope. 

Images above show The Wasatch Front and Great Salt Lake on July 22, 2013. First image is a true color, second shows night land surface temperature represented by a color ramp and the third is daytime temperature. 

The bodies of water heat up and cool down slower than land, so during the day the water is cooler than it's surroundings and during the night it is warmer. 

You can also notice that the mountains are much cooler than the low valleys, still warm by Wasatch Front standards, but it beats sitting in triple digit heat all day. 

Lidar Salt Lake City

Introducing downtown Salt Lake City through the eyes of Lidar. This map

was made from public Lidar data from the AGRC. It is based off of a DSM 

(Digital Surface Model) that has been processed with a hillshade. It reminds 

me of a classic plat map or some of those city word art maps. Salt Lake's

unique geography really helps bring out this feeling. This will hopefully be

the first of many as I delve into other cities datasets and try to make similar ones. 

Please let me know if there are any cities in particular that you would like me to look 

at first. Also, if you are interested in a nice print version just send me a message or 

leave a comment below.

PS ~ This my first guest post on this blog. Thank you for setting it up Adam! 

Salt Lake County Parcels

Salt Lake County, Utah
Parcels are symbolizing according to building age

Another quick project I did for fun. This shows younger buildings in dark and older buildings in light. Interesting to see how most of the county expanded from a central point, which is now downtown. Also you can see pockets of older communities that have expanded as well. Lots to learn from spatial relationships. 

Classification

Analysis of Great Salt Lake

Three images of the Great Salt Lake taken by Landsat 5 in false color 5-4-3 configuration. Below the images show the classification. Remote sensing software is designed to recognize the spectral signature of certain land cover and, with a little help from the user, classify it into colors. It is a major part of remote sensing since it helps to quantify exactly what is happening in the imagery. 

For example, the surface area and shoreline of the Great Salt Lake tends to vary greatly since it is located on a flat plain. Classification lets us count exactly how many more square miles of surface area of water, vegetation, and soil exist at certain water levels. Information like this is useful to the brine shrimp fishermen on the lake, the sailors who need to know when certain reefs are hazards, those concerned with the well-being of the millions of birds who stop at the lake while migrating, urban planners in the local communities, etc. etc. etc.