If there is one area of environmental science in which GIS or Geographic Information Systems/Science is vital, it is Environmental Planning and Design. This is true whether we are looking at an urban or rural landscapes, both of which provide issues of their own with different sets of data and considerations. The role of an…
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Why Environmental Engineering Is Vital for Our Future
Humanity has always engineered the environment around us. From the earliest days of wetland drainage and the need to acquire fresh water, to keep it flowing and keep it clean enough to drink, building cesspits to take away our waste and to stop pollution of vital waterways, we have always strived to maximize our sanitation…
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The Environmental Impact of Roads
Roads are increasingly common in today’s world as human development expands and people increasingly rely on cars for transportation on a daily basis. The United States contains over 4 million miles of roadways and an estimated 20% of land in the country is impacted by the presence of roads.1 This large network of roads has…
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The Concrete Jungle: Study of Urban Landscapes as Environmental Science
Many universities in North America and in Europe now offer studies of the urban environment BAs/BScs MAs/MScs in such subjects as Urban Studies and Urban Archaeology. The growing importance of our towns and cities means they are now a subject of major academic study – an area that is only expected to grow as we…
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Geospatial Technology: An Introduction and Overview
Geomatics or geospatial technology as it is more commonly known, is such a multidisciplinary tool that there are now advanced degrees in specific subjects such as GIS. Most students will come at it from some of these core disciplines: archaeology (especially those who have taken degrees and projects concerned with landscape studies), geology, geography and…
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NEPA 101: Introduction to United States Environmental Policy
What is NEPA? The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is one of the shortest laws to exist and is less than 6 pages in length. NEPA was passed by Congress in 1969, signed into law on January 1, 1970 by President Richard Nixon and set the stage for environmental policy for the United States (1). …
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Principles and Applications of Aerial Photography
Desk based research is not just about reading papers for vital pieces of information, it is not just about tables, graphs, facts and figures. For many, primary data is all around us; aerial photography, for example, is an important source of information for researchers in landscape studies. This includes disciplines such as Landscape Archaeology (the…
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