GIS4048 – Applications in GIS - Student Spotlight

Module #2: Natural Hazards and Lahars

The Lahars lab is a real cartography challenge! Students conducted geospatial analysis to determine which cities, schools, and populations near Mt. Hood would be most affected by a lahar event. A lahar is a volcanic mudflow or debris flow that has the consistency, viscosity and approximate density of wet concrete: fluid when moving, solid at rest. As a whole, the entire class did an excellent job executing the analysis. The real challenge this week was to create a meaningful map for the entire study area. One student stood out by including an amazing amount of detail in her final map... that STUDENT is... Charmaine Hingada! Welcome to the Spotlight!

Amber Bloechle, the course instructor, writes: "I like how she chose to describe affected areas -- most affected cities share a unique point symbol, symbology for census tracts are classic yellow to dark orange to indicate importance, and nice list of schools is included on the map. Labeling cities was likely the trickiest for students and Charmaine did a great job of meeting the challenge by using a background. Smaller details like county and river labels are also great. Many students included a nice definition of a lahar, which really speaks to the target audience."

Follow Charmaines’s progress at her student blog:  http://ch78gis.blogspot.com/