# Presentation: 498301

## GeoSTAC -GEOSpatial Tools and ACcess 

- Pat Havens, PhD
- Research Leader, Dow AgroSciences
- on behalf of the
- CLA Environmental Exposure Modeling Workgroup
- 27 February 2007

## Where can Geospatial information have a role in risk assessment?

**Notes:**
Under a tiered risk assessment paradigm, spatial analyses has a role in
Problem Formulation
Analysis
Risk Characterization
Risk Communication

## What are some barriers to the use of geospatial information?

**Data**
- There are many potential sources for the data
- quality, documentation, currentness can vary widely
- Many data sources are used again and again
- requires locating, certifying, documenting every time
**Analysis**
- Often many ways to do the same thing
- Significant effort may be required for even routine analyses (esp. for non-expert users)
- May have to consult an expert every time
- Documentation every time
-  Need for standardized data, methodology and tools so industry and agencies are working from an understood and common basis

**Notes:**
GIS-based analyses are useful for higher-tier risk assessments

## A Way Forward – GeoSTAC

**Data**
- Compile standard datasets in a agreed-upon format
- Rigorously document source and quality with FGDC-compliant metadata
- A single citable source
**Analysis**
- Understandable tools built with standard technology
- allows 2nd – tier, non-expert users to perform GIS tasks
- allows increased efficiency for expert users
- Freely distributable and source code available
- Ongoing updates and improvements

## Issues for adoption

- Accessibility
- Public access via geostac.org at no cost
- All data downloadable
- Compiled tools downloadable
- Tool code available
- freely to CLA members and gov’t people
- others with CLA approval (process in place)
- Review & QC
- Most of the data is Federal (data details below)
- All data has complete metadata
- External QA effort
- Technology barriers
- Development in standard format (ESRI)
- Most widely used & Federal standard
- Support and ongoing maintenance
- CLA/Agencies user support free through 2007
- others, by arrangement with SEI/TAMU

**Notes:**
from minutes of May 24 meeting:

Next steps
Arty repeated that an internal group at EPA will examine this proposal and get back to the CLA group. The CLA group will provide a data set list to EPA. Shelly will provide this list to the EPA agency-wide GIS group (~50, 15 as regulars). There is also a regional/headquarters GIS group broadly throughout EPA. The Agency GIS group is composed of EPA staff and associated internal contractors working for the agency are included. The regulated community is not a part of this, but OPP could make a presentation to this group. In fact, some presentations have been made, and these have also pointed out how OPP had done certain things differently because of the unique nature of their work. OPP was one of the first to have a geospatial info officer, and the discussion here today was in no way unique. Purpose of the agency wide program is to cut down on redundancy and move toward common use of data sets. Shelly can inquire of them how certain data sets may have been developed and how privacy and other issues have been dealt with. 

Pat, this is good info for the SOC. Implication is that EPA is rattled and we are putting ourselves in the position that we are pushing the issue ahead of them.

## Adoption – current status

- CLA-member companies have already adopted
- Advantages in consistency, traceability (and resource savings)
- Quality improvement in submissions
- Can the Agencies benefit too?
- This presentation
- Smaller-scale rollouts to EPA/USDA/USGS Aug 2006
- QA – contracted to Research Triangle Institute in late 2006
- Assessment of data and v 1.0 of tools in final draft
- Minimal findings
- Most related to original metadata
- Submission planned 2Q2007 w/ “responses” to “audit”

## www.geostac.org – now live!

- c. 60 registered users
- .com, .gov, .org

## System requirements

- Current production version of tools is v. 1.1.1
- ESRI ArcGIS 9.1 with Service Pack 1+
- ESRI ArcGIS Spatial Analyst Extension (for raster layers)
- Will function with ESRI minimum requirements for ArcGIS
- But...the more memory & performance the better!
- 70MB disk space (tools)
- 7.5 GB disk space (minimal data)
- 75+ GB disk space (full data)
- For tool programming Visual Studio .NET 2003 (VB.NET)
- (For v. 2 on, VS .NET 2005)

## Data structure

- Vector data in ESRI Personal Geodatabase (gdb) format
- Raster data in ESRI Grid format
- All spatial in same projection (Albers Conical Equal Area, NAD83)
- Tabular in gdb tables

## Admin and Infrastructure

**Admin and Infrastructure**

- Standard Federal layers, National Atlas (USGS)
- AgCensus – Crop Reporting Districts (USDA)

- Federal Lands and Wilderness Areas

## Natural Resource Boundaries

- EcoRegions – USFS Bailey’s ecoregions
- LRR – USDA NRCS Land Resource Regions
- MLRA – USDA NRCS Major Land Resources Regions

- USGS NAWQA – cycle 1(‘91-’01) and cycle 2 (‘01-’12) study units

- USGS gauge locations – from NWIS, September 2005

- NRI – 1997 NRCS National Resources Inventory
- statistical survey of land resources
- exact points not available, but contain county, MLRA and 8-digit HUC
- Boundaries formed by intersection of these three
- Extensive tabular database
- soils
- crop history
- wetlands
- wind erosion factors

## Hydrology

- HUCS – USGS river basis
- 8-digit Nationwide
- 12-14 digit – 29 states
- 303(d) list – EPA CWA 303(d) impaired waters for TMDLs
- linkable to EPA TMDL tracking system
- based on NHD reaches (lines/polys)
- points can be discharges, TMDLs, etc

## More hydrology

- National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) – USGS/EPA – medium resolution nationwide (as of 11-2005)
- In Arc-Hydro data model (connectivity, network tools)
- Note that NHD-Plus is the next generation

## more hydrology

- EPA – ERF1 v. 2 watersheds
- PWG analyses of proximity of water to agriculture, corn and cotton
- NHD (4 types)
- Land Use
- NLCD ag land
- NASS corn & cotton
- 4 buffer widths
- 60, 120, 360, 480 m
-  % of land in ag (or crop) within certain distance

## Soils and Weather

- Soils – NRCS STATSGO
- tabular database linked in
- NOAA SAMSON points (from CEAM)
- Representative weather stations
- SAMSON polygon
- processed as overlay of MLRA and nearest SAMSON point

**Notes:**
SAMSON = Solar and Meteorological Surface Observation Network 

## Raster data

- NLCD – National Land Cover Database – USGS/EPA
- 30-meter (from LandSat Thematic Mapper)
- 1992 version
- by state and nationally for each class
- NASS Cropland Data Layer (CDL) (2004)
- 30-meter; truthing with field observations
- 9 States, 50+ crops ID’ed

## More raster

- Monthly Precipitation estimates with PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) – Oregon State Univ.
- USGS Hydrologic landscape regions (HLRUS)
- Penn State Univ. layer-weighted soils data (from STATSGO)
- raster version of a few of the vector layers

## additional Tabular – linked (or linkable) with spatial layers

- ’97 and ‘02 Census of Agriculture – NASS – all tables
- National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP) Pesticide Use in U.S. Crop Production – 1997 – state level
- Crop rotation from CDL – various years

## Tool details

- Programmed in Visual Basic .NET
- Table Join tool
- allows joins of tables to geospatial layers
- automates a routine task
- Feature and Attribute Extraction tool
- Complex query tool, with multiple input layers
- Data Aggregation and Summary tool
- Aggregate and summarize vector or raster datasets over a spatial dataset that represents a different set of features
- Linear Feature Summary tool
- Summarize length & density of linear features by polygon features
- Doane’s Aggregation/Disaggregation tool
- Aggregate county-level market research data to CRD level and back to county-level based on NASS, NLCD or CDL
- Examples below in relation to risk assessment applications

## Application of GeoSTAC Tools and Data to Risk Assessment

- Scenario: Wheat/barley fungicide – CmpdX
- Aerial/ground applications; WA
- aquatic tox concern for endangered salmonids
- Problem Formulation
- Source/exposure characteristics
- Ecosystem at risk
- Analysis
- Risk Characterization & communication

##  Source and Exposure Characteristics

- Ag Census Data
- Feature and Extraction Tool
- Refine with market research data
- Join Tool
- Doane’s Aggregation/Disaggregation Tool

## Wheat counties in WA

- Is this the actual use areas?

## We have some sales data

## County-level market data

## Aggregate/Disaggregate Market Research Data

- Doane’s Aggregation/Disaggregation tool
- Survey data at county scale often unreliable; better at CRD level
- Aggregate to CRD & then reapportion based on land use

## Ecosystems potentially at risk

- Steelhead ESU

## Intersect county sales estimates w/ ESU – refined ecosystem at risk

- How much relative potential exposure?
- Summary and Aggregation Tool

##  further refine for potential HUCs at Risk

## New Layer Metadata

- Tools produce processing inputs for submission documentation
**Abstract:**
- Geographic Extent: State =  WASHINGTON
- Aggregation Type: Summarize Vector Attributes by Features in Same Layer
- Attribute Layer Info
- Attribute Layer: cmdx_sales_Intersect
- Attribute Fields: CMPX_SALES
- Aggregation Field: HUC
- Attribute Zone Field:
- Statistics Info
- AreaWeighted Mean,

## Analysis of Potential Exposure

- What is mode of transport?
- Spray drift; potential setback 60 m
- Ag Margin analysis by ERF1.2 watersheds
- Intersect @ > 12K lb

**Notes:**
intersect of area weighted sales > 12000 with ERF1.2 Ag margin

## Exposure analysis and risk communication

- Percent of land classified as Ag land use within 60 m of small flowing streams (likely spawning areas)

## Additional measure of potential impact

- Linear Feature Summary Tool
- Of the HUCs with high proximity, how many miles of stream length are in the HUC?
- Summarize NHD by HUC
- Risk mgt. decision on acceptable levels at local scales

## Next steps

- Port to ArcGIS v. 9.2 (now in beta – v. 2.1)
- Ongoing data updates & tool maintenance
- data refresh annually
- tool updates as developed & validated (current production version 1.1.1)
- Full data drive available
- Finalization and submission of RTI QA report and response

## Contributors

- geostac.org hosted by Texas A&M Spatial Sciences Laboratory
-  Website built by TAMU/SSL and Stone Environmental, Inc.
- Data compilation by Waterborne Environmental, Inc.
- Tool programming by SEI
- Pyrethroid Working Group contributed water proximity results (previously submitted)
- Funding through CLA Ecological Risk Assessment Committee and managed by Environmental Exposure Working Group subcommittee

## Thanks and Questions