![[Picture of me]](dhart.jpg)
GIS Specialist
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Goodnight Hall, Room 201
1975 Willow Drive
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1177
Telephone: (608) 262-6515
Fax: (608) 262-0591
Email: dhart *at* aqua.wisc.edu
Curriculum Vitae (pdf file - 39 KB)
Biographical Sketch (pdf file - 12 KB)
List of Research Projects (pdf file - 21 KB)
The Wisconsin Coastal GIS Applications Project is a cooperative venture of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and the Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The primary goal of the project is to teach the application of GIS/LIS and related spatial technologies to local government staff and officials to aid them in moving towards the sustainable management of Great Lakes coastal resources.
Wisconsin Coastal Guide - Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
The Wisconsin Coastal Guide is an interactive web mapping site that promotes the cultural and natural attractions along Great Lakes coasts of Wisconsin. For tourists, the site shows where to pull off the state and federal highways of the Great Lakes Circle Tour to explore coastal parks and beaches, lighthouses, shipwrecks and other attractions. “Hot links” on interactive maps connect to other Web sites offering more information about each attraction. More than 200 panoramic photos show locations with public access and/or water views. For those involved in Great Lakes coastal tourism, the site demonstrates how geospatial and Web technologies can pull together information from disparate sources. The site employs Google Maps, Google Earth, and other interactive map viewers to display categories of attractions. It also describes the Great Lakes Circle Tour, explains the technology behind the Web site, and offers links to related Web sites. The site was built with funding from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program to demonstrate possibilities for supporting coastal cultural tourism.
Developing a Dynamic and Distributed GIS to Support Coastal Management Along the Lake Superior Coast of Wisconsin - NOAA Coastal Services Center
A dynamic and distributed GIS is one where custodians, whether they be local, regional, state, federal, academic, or non-profit, maintain and provide access to the most current spatial data and multiple remote users can access and integrate data in real-time from multiple sources. The first task involved the development of web mapping interfaces and tools to support public access to local government GIS data. It extends the prototype developed for Bayfield County to other local and regional government organizations along the Lake Superior coast. The second task concerns the implementation of web mapping services that allow integration of disparate GIS data across political boundaries. Rather than developing stand-alone local government web mapping sites, the project will draw upon the principles and protocols of the Open GIS Consortium (http://www.opengis.org) to link local web mapping services and build an interoperable, “bottom-up” coastal GIS. The third task builds upon the Sea Grant/LICGF coastal GIS training program to teach local government professional staff, citizens, and other coastal constituents how to use these integrated web mapping services through workshops and web-based tutorials.
Visualizing Coastal Processes - University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technologies, and the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program
This is a collaborative project with Prof. Mark Harrower of the Department of Geography at UW-Madison. The pproject integrates animation, aerial photography, pictures, charts, and text to help the public better understand: (1) the natural process of coastal erosion; (2) how local land development decisions impact coastal erosion; and (3) the case for scientifically-based coastal development setbacks. The visualization work helps to bridge the gap between scientific understanding and public perception of coastal hazards. It is very difficult to convey to the public all the complex changes that happen as coastal bluffs erode. Our work has helped to emphasize the role that imagery and animation have in public understanding and decision-making about coastal erosion. When coastal landowners see the 3D animations of bluff erosion, they “get it” in a way that scientists can’t describe solely through formulas and charts. Conversely, the 3D animations also help scientists by allowing them to revise their theories. This “knowledge representation process” can help scientists build better and more useful representations of coastal change. This work has helped make sense of a large volume of scientific and spatial data and has helped identify the most suitable software tools for representing dynamic coastal processes. Finally, through the success of developing the visualization site, we have identified an important area of future research – the need for methods to effectively visualize the uncertainty of natural processes.
Acquisition, and Integration of Large-Scale Digital Mapping for the Wisconsin Lake Michigan Shoreline in Support of the Lake Michigan Potential Damages Study - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit DistrictThis research project, sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District is designed to integrate and aggregate large-scale, local government spatial data to support the analysis of the potential damages caused by storms in conjunction with high water levels in Lake Michigan. The digital spatial data to be integrated include: parcels, planimetric features, topography, digital orthophotos, land use, land cover, and soils. The location of the study covers a 1000 meter zone inland from the Lake Michigan shore in Wisconsin. In addition to the primary role of supporting the Lake Michigan Potential Damages Study, the research also serves as an early test of the ability of the Wisconsin Land Information Program to support collaborative regional efforts.
GIS Training for DNR Water Management Specialists in Support of the Wisconsin Waters Initiative - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The primary goal of this project is to develop a training program for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) water management specialists on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in their day-to-day activities. This activity supports the Wisconsin Waters Initiative, a program to integrate state and local water protection programs and make site-specific information readily available for state and local regulatory staff, property owners, and developers.
The engine that drives the modernization of land records in Wisconsin is the Wisconsin Land Information Program (WLIP). The WLIP was enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in a two-step process beginning in 1989. Revenue for the WLIP is provided through a $6 increase in the fee for recording documents in county Register of Deeds offices. The WLIP has led to a direct investment of over $60 million for modernization of land records at the local government level since the funding mechanism for the program was instituted in 1991.
The Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is cooperating with the Wisconsin Land Information Board to collect information on the status, progress, and benefits of the Wisconsin Land Information Program. This includes development of a web-based system for collecting information on the modernization of land records at the county level.
This project involves working with the American Planning Association to develop a paper and web site presenting a formal documentation method for databases that contain land-use information classified by Land-Based Classification Standards (LBCS). Land-Based Classification Standards (LBCS) provide a consistent model for classifying land uses based on their characteristics. The model extends the notion of classifying land uses by refining traditional categories into multiple dimensions, such as activities, functions, building types, site development character, and ownership constraints. Each dimension has its own set of categories and subcategories for classifying land uses. By classifying every land-use across multiple dimensions, users can have precise control of land-use classifications.
Metadata Education and Research Project - National States Geographic Infomation Council/Federal Geographic Data CommitteeThe National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) was awarded a 1995 Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Competitive Grant to implement its proposal titled An Educational and Research Program in Support of Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata. NSGIC's mission is to encourage effective and efficient government through the coordinated development of geographic information and systems to ensure that information may be integrated at all levels of government. NSGIC has been active in the area of metadata research and adoption through the review of technical standards, compilation of a catalogue of metadata inventories held by states, and support of publications and other related initiatives. The NSGIC metadata research and education project consists of three phases. The first tests the FGDC metadata standard on a wide range of state, local, tribal and federal information as part of a cooperative effort of nine member states. The second involves the preparation of a practical explanation of the metadata standard for state and local governments. The third phase is a distance education educational program based on the results of the second phase.
Lake Superior is a unique and valuable resource. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world, with an area of 31,820 square miles. It is the cleanest of the Great Lakes, primarily because of the low population density in its basin. Because of the relatively pristine nature of the lake, there is great interest in preventing any further degradation of its water quality. The governments of Canada and the United States have initiated a "Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin." The U.S. Program is coordinated through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A specific objective of the regulatory component of the program is the assessment of discharge of pollutants in stormwater to determine the need for control of stormwater runoff. To further this objective, environmental control agencies in the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan entered into a cooperative agreement with the EPA to monitor stormwater events and inventory storm sewer systems in several municipalities in the Lake Superior Basin. This project examines the use of GIS to facilitate stormwater planning and management in 14 communities with a population of greater than 5,000 in the basin.
The New Orleans region, located on the deltaic plain of the Mississippi River, is constantly changing in both a horizontal and vertical manner. Mapping this region represents a challenge to the mapping sciences and can be thought of as similar to trying to map a bowl of vibrating jello. This project examines the use of GIS to support development of a model of subsidence for the New Orleans region. Environmental variables are correlated with observed benchmark heights to demonsrate the initial steps necessary to begin model development.
URPL 969 - Applied GIS Workshop: Rethinking New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina (Spring 2006)
This GIS course was offered during the Spring 2006 semester in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UW-Madison.
It allowed students to use GIS to offer ideas and recommendations on how to rebuild New Orleans.
It provided an opportunity to learn about the environmental setting and culture of New Orleans;
review the literature on coastal hazards, disaster recovery, sustainable development, and public participation GIS;
acquire and integrate spatial data; conduct sophisticated GIS analyses;
and communicate ideas in a forum that will help guide decision-makers as they shape the city’s future.
URPL 969 - Applications of GIS in Urban and Regional Planning (Spring 2005)
An introductory to intermediate-level GIS course that focused on the application of geographic information systems
in the practice of urban and regional planning, with a focus on land use and environmental issues.
Topics covered included data models and structures, coordinate systems and projections, thematic mapping, spatial analysis,
acquisition and integration of spatial data from various sources, interoperable web mapping services, spatial data policy issues,
and GIS application development. The central component was a class project covering the collection, formatting, analysis,
and presentation of land use data for a Madison neighborhood utilizing the Land-Based Classification Standards
developed by the American Planning Association.