At left, project representatives conduct training for tree study. At right,
a volunteer's on-screen view of software training materials.
Downtown Campus hosts training program for tree-impact survey
(March 14, 2002)--Volunteers from UTSA, City of San Antonio, City Public
Service, Alamo Area Council of Governments, Texas Forest Service, San Antonio
Water Systems and the Department of Defense received training in Geographic
Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to
conduct a nine-month survey that will determine how existing trees impact
air quality, energy consumption and stormwater runoff in urban San Antonio.
Similar studies have been conducted in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston.
Volunteers representing the Alamo Forest Partnership will use the Citygreen
5.0 software program with hand-held field GPS devices to record numbers, types
and locations of trees, along with information about the conditions under
which they grow.
Citygreen 5.0 was developed by American Forests, based in Washington, D.C.
Cheryl Kollins, director of American Forest's Urban Forest Center,
and Tim Tarvin, geospatial analyst, demonstrated the program in a workshop
held at the UTSA Downtown Campus.
UTSA Assistant Professor Stephen Brown, who represents UTSA in the
partnership, said Kollins and Tarvin, who travel the nation conducting training
sessions using this software, were impressed with the caliber of UTSA's GIS-GPS
system, calling it the "most advanced" they had seen.
Added Brown, "Our program has benefited recently from the acquisition
of three new GIS computers purchased through a $488,000 distance learning/academic
technology grant to UTSA from the Telecommunication Infrastructure Fund Board
of Texas, as part of the grant's community outreach provisions. UTSA will
be providing the GIS support to make this research possible."
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Romo's office featured in Wall Street Journal
Downtown Campus hosts training program for tree-impact survey
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2001