Most popular downloads of 2015

Every year I tally up my papers, talks, posters, etc. for my annual evaluation. Last year I began to start tallying downloads for tools that I post online.  If my estimates are correct, I had 5,695 downloads in 2015 covering covering 26 tools/scripts. The most popular of my tools in 2015 were 1) polygon to centerline, 2) Climatic Water Deficit Toolbox, 3) Topography Toolbox (includes the Riparian Topography Toolbox and PRISM Data Helper), and 4) Landsat Toolbox with 2,034, 629, 629, and 511 downloads respectively. Hopefully, 2016 will provide opportunities for new tools and upgrades to existing ones in order to help solve research problems. All of the tools can be downloaded from HERE.

ArcGIS Idea - geoprocessing tool to create new network dataset

This one doesn't seem like rocket science to me.  It should be possible to create a new network dataset in ArcGIS in a model or with Arcpy - https://c.na9.visual.force.com/apex/ideaView?id=087E00000004nNqIAI

Geocode by Awesome

When was the last time someone sent you a long list of place names and asked you to make a map out of it?  If you are like me, the first thing that might go through your head might go like "Oh really. You couldn't have given me a lat/long??".  Geocoding in ArcGIS is a pain, because you need to have a complete geodatabase.  That might mean every river, stream, lake, street, lightpost, etc. in the USA! Type in each address into Google Maps?  No way. I'd like to get out of my office chair before the end of 2016.  BatchGeo?  Makes great maps, but you can't export the results.  Enter the Geocode by Awesome Table Add-In for Google Spreadsheets. Finally a solution that lives up to its name!

How to e-mail a shapefile

Most GIS professionals are familiar with e-mailing shapefiles.  We've been doing it for a while.  However, for folks just starting out or for those who use ArcMap the process of e-mailing a shapefile may be a little mystifying.  Nonetheless, sharing your data is one of the most valuable GIS skills.  Recently I answered this question for a colleague.

Here is what I wrote:

"It depends on the kind of information that she needs/wants.  If he/she wants both the geographic and attribute data then the best way is to take all of the files associated with the shapefile and put them in a zip file together.  At a minimum you'd need the .shp, .shx, .dbf, but often there is .proj, .shp.xml, .sbn, and even .cpg.  You'll need to use My Computer/Windows Explorer to view all of these files.  ArcGIS treats them as if they are one. The zip file keeps all files together.  It isn't a necessary step, but it is often easier than sending all of the files as individual attachments.

If she/he is just interested in the attribute data or doesn't have ArcGIS then there are two ways to go.

1.  In the attribute table select the rows by highlighting them on the left and then copy and paste into Excel.  Lately I've been finding this method to not work in 10.3, however.

2.  Open Excel.  Open the .dbf file.  Copy and paste all of the contents into a new Excel file without altering the original .dbf (or it can corrupt the shapefile).

Finally, don't forget to check the size.  Anything larger than about 27 Mb probably won't e-mail, although file size limits are specific to the e-mail service used."

Paper is now a pre-print

Our paper "Multi-scale connectivity and graph theory highlight critical areas for conservation under climate change" in Ecological Applications is now a pre-print - http://www.esajournals.org/toc/ecap/0/0 .

ArcGIS idea - date modified/file size for geodatabase

ArcGIS Idea - time date for geodatabase

Paper accepted in Ecological Applications

My paper entitled "Multi-scale connectivity and graph theory highlight critical areas for conservation under climate change" has been accepted in Ecological Applications pending a few minor revisions!  The general idea of this paper is to combine measures of habitat connectivity at the rangewide-scale, metapopulation scale, and local scale to inform conservation decisions. We use a combination of graph theory, Circuitscape, and least-cost paths to analyze the effect of different renewable energy development scenarios and climate change scenarios on habitat connectivity of the Mohave ground squirrel.  This paper follows from our earlier effort to map habitat suitability for Mohave ground squirrel:

Inman, R. D., Esque, T. C., Nussear, K. E., Leitner, P., Matocq, M. D., Weisberg, P. J., ... & Vandergast, A. G. (2013). Is there room for all of us? Renewable energy and Xerospermophilus mohavensis. Endangered Species Research, 20(1), 1-18.

as well as our earlier report to the California Energy Commission that included an analysis of climate change effects on habitat availability, landscape genetics, and a more limited analysis of renewable energy development scenarios titled "Habitat Modeling, Landscape Genetics, and Habitat Connectivity for the Mohave Ground Squirrel to Guide Renewable Energy Development" downloadable HERE .

In addition to demonstrating a multi-scale approach for assessing habitat connectivity and informing conservation decisions, the paper also presents a novel methodological contribution to make graph theory operational for species with continuously-distributed habitat.

Illustration by M. A. Walden