15 replies to this topic

[Pete Y.]

...and I'm a GIS Analyst from Redlands, CA. It's only by sheer coincidence that I live there, though; I'm a contractor mapping wildfires at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base (they have possibly the most frequent fires in the country, it really is a full time job). So I spend a lot of time doing fieldwork, and a lot of time producing maps (mainly for technical reports). I have degrees in geography from Penn State and then Syracuse, where Mark Monmonier was on my thesis committee. I think the site administrator must have known him too...? But that doesn't mean I'm good at this stuff or anything.

I'm trying to apply sound cartographic principles to the GIS chaff I put out on a daily basis. I work mostly in ESRI products and Photoshop. I stumbled on this site today and now wonder how I got along without it. I could see immediately how useful this could be for my own maps. I could definitely use the help...

[Martin Gamache]

Welcome Pete!

Looking forward to seing some fire maps. This is a new interest of mine since I recently learned how to estimate fire temperature from satellite imagery!!!

[ELeFevre]

Hi Pete,
Welcome to the forum. Two years ago I had the pleasure of working on a project mapping fuel types in NE Utah. Very interesting work indeed (lot's of hiking involved). I look forward to your contributions -

p.s At the moment I'm living in an 19th century cabin surrounded by dense pine at 8,500ft in the Rockies, it eases my mind to know there are people working full-time on this stuff... Erin

[Nick Springer]

I have degrees in geography from Penn State and then Syracuse, where Mark Monmonier was on my thesis committee. I think the site administrator must have known him too...?

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Pete,

When were you at S.U.? I do indeed know Mark Monmonier well.

[Pete Y.]

Erin,

I was a firefighter, after college, before I began mapping. I worked a couple of big fires in Colorado, one near Durango and one just southwest of Denver. I loved the place. At the time I wished the whole state would burst into flame so I could stay.

[Pete Y.]

I have degrees in geography from Penn State and then Syracuse, where Mark Monmonier was on my thesis committee. I think the site administrator must have known him too...?

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Pete,

When were you at S.U.? I do indeed know Mark Monmonier well.

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Nick --

I was at Syracuse from 2002 through 2004, for an MA. I took Mark's excellent Map Design class when I first arrived and we hit it off. He was on my committee, plus I also helped him out on a few projects. He's a great professor; I still have my Map Design portfolio, with all his little margin notes on all my maps, on my bookcase over my desk.

[DaveB]

Welcome, Pete!

There's that Penn State tie again (PSUDOG). I got my Master's degree there (95-97).

[Nick Springer]

Nick --

I was at Syracuse from 2002 through 2004, for an MA. I took Mark's excellent Map Design class when I first arrived and we hit it off. He was on my committee, plus I also helped him out on a few projects. He's a great professor; I still have my Map Design portfolio, with all his little margin notes on all my maps, on my bookcase over my desk.

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Missed you by a decade. I was there for undergrad from 1988-1992.

[Matthew Hampton]

Welcome Pete,

Do you use one of those handhelp GIS input jobbers? I see them advertised a lot - but don't know many folks who have had experience with them. I would imagine for fire mapping they would be a good utility.
__
Matthew

[Pete Y.]

Welcome Pete,

Do you use one of those handhelp GIS input jobbers?  I see them advertised a lot - but don't know many folks who have had experience with them.  I would imagine for fire mapping they would be a good utility.
__
Matthew

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Hey Matthew,

I guess you're referring to ArcPad? Well at the moment no: I do everything on paper, including the mapping, believe it or not. I can't use GPS because I can't walk to a lot of places where I work (unexploded ordnance), and I've found the ArcPad interface (using a stylus to digitize areas onscreen) very clunky, overly sensitive, prone to error, and basically a lot slower and more frustrating than using a fine pen or pencil on an orthophoto or topo. Does that answer your question?

[Mike H]

Pete,

when were you at PSU? and which fires south of Denver were you fighting? Those are two of my favorite places.

Another PSU geographer, Mike Solem, got me to really love forest fires - that was his thing, mapping historic burns and arguing that fire suppression actually hurts the forest.

Of course, it's a little different when your house is in flames.

I lived in Evergreen, Colorado doing cart for Trails Illustrated in 95-96. We had few big fires, which was a concern since I lived in a remote house at 9000 ft with one long 4wd road in and out. Used to watch the choppers fly by to fill the drop bags with water from Evergreen Lake when fires hit the Conifer area... and we always donated tons of maps to the fire crews, assuming we had a title of the area burning.

i do miss the rockies...

m.

[Matthew Hampton]

I've found the ArcPad interface (using a stylus to digitize areas onscreen) very clunky, overly sensitive, prone to error, and basically a lot slower and more frustrating than using a fine pen or pencil on an orthophoto or topo.

That's sort of what I thought.

I can't walk to a lot of places where I work (unexploded ordnance)

Yikes!!!
Mapping unexploded ordnance might be a worthwhile venture...

[Pete Y.]

Pete,

when were you at PSU?  and which fires south of Denver were you fighting? Those are two of my favorite places.

Another PSU geographer, Mike Solem, got me to really love forest fires - that was his thing, mapping historic burns and arguing that fire suppression actually hurts the forest.

Of course, it's a little different when your house is in flames.

I lived in Evergreen, Colorado doing cart for Trails Illustrated in 95-96. We had few big fires, which was a concern since I lived in a remote house at 9000 ft with one long 4wd road in and out. Used to watch the choppers fly by to fill the drop bags with water from Evergreen Lake when fires hit the Conifer area...  and we always donated tons of maps to the fire crews, assuming we had a title of the area burning.

i do miss the rockies...

m.

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Michael,

I was at Penn State from '94 through '98. I had a pretty good time in the Walker building. The geog. department definitely had a sense of energy to it (even more so now, I'd guess).

I was on a fire called (I believe) the Schoonover fire, right next to the Cheesman reservoir on the Pike National Forest. This was in 2002. The funny thing about that one was, a month or two later, the largest fire in state history swept through and completely burned up the area around our fire. I remember it being a really nice area aside from all the incineration, trout leaping out of the south Platte river...

I've gotten hit by the water drops from those helicopters. The force could easily knock you down a mountain.

[Mike H]

We must have overlapped, but i don't remember you. I was in Walker bldg from 93-95 as an (old) undergrad. I went back to State College in 97 to start Purple Lizard, and came to Maine in 2000.

[Pete Y.]

We must have overlapped, but i don't remember you. I was in Walker bldg from 93-95 as an (old) undergrad. I went back to State College in 97 to start Purple Lizard, and came to Maine in 2000.

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Aha, well that explains it. I was a late convert to Geography, and crammed all my classes in starting in '97.

But you might know Dave Call, and/or Michael Schramm? Both successful geography types I later attended Syracuse with.


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