The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Archer Gravely, Director
UNCA Office of Institutional Research
This talk will review the principles of graphical excellence as articulated by Edward Tufte in his 1983 landmark book. The application of these principles create presentations that communicate complex ideas with clarity, precision, and efficiency while avoiding the pitfalls of chartjunk, graphical decoration, unintentional "optical art", and other forms of bad graphical design. Guidelines for choosing among tables, graphs, and text as presentation devices will be discussed. Examples of both good and bad graphics that have resulted in life and death situations will be reviewed.
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Flood Modeling in a Mountain Environment: A Case Study on the Watauga River in Western North Carolina
J. Greg Dobson, GIS Research Associate, NEMAC
Linking GIS with hydraulic models can be an efficient way to model the flow of water through a floodplain. However, relatively few attempts have been made at modeling horizontal flood extent in mountain environments. This study compared the utility of USGS and LIDAR elevation data at varying resolutions for flood modeling purposes.
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A Cadastral-Based Change Analysis of the French Broad River Basin of Western North Carolina
Carolyn Fryberger, Environmental Studies Major
This analysis was undertaken to generate much needed change data for land use planning in Western North Carolina. Data created by this analysis describes how counties in Western North Carolina are changing, and specifically how smaller regions, such as watersheds, are being impacted. This information can be used as a tool in land use decision-making processes, and can also help groups such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service prioritize management areas.
Additionally, this base of change information can be combined with other data layers to investigate more specialized questions regarding issues such as water quality, conservation planning and the effect of development on species habitat.
