Identifying Biomass Sources for Local Ethanol Production in Iowa

Learning Unit Description:

The Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training Project (iGETT) presents a series of Learning Units (LU) designed to incorporate federal land remote sensing data into Geographic Information System (GIS) instruction. The Identifying Biomass Sources for Localized Ethanol Production LU, by Terry Brase of Kirkwood Community College, asks the question "How can communities document local sources of biomass that can be used for energy production?" Students will use ArcGIS and ENVI software to develop a classified map that can be used to identify a source of biomass for energy production. The lesson will guide students through procedures for image processing, creating a vegetative index and identifying areas which have biomass materials. 

The iGETT Learning Units amount to about two weeks of instruction and are designed for use both as “skills-based case studies and building blocks for new courses.” All LUs are intended for students with a basic understanding of GIS. Each LU includes three core documents, an instructor’s guide, a student guide, and a curriculum support document, as well as the remote sensing data needed to complete the unit. Completion of this LU takes roughly eight weeks and is intended as a summer semester project. 

Upon completion of the lesson, students should have developed skills in using ENVI software to render remotely sensed images into usable form, delineate areas of interest in these images, produce Enhanced Vegetative Indexes, and perform unsupervised classification schemes. Students should also be able to locate and use data for proposed research, use maps, charts, and PowerPoint to communicate findings. 

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with Brase_Thumbnail.pdf, which offers a description of the LU as well as an overview of topics covered, required software, and the intended audience.

Lesson Contents:

The attached files associated with this LU exist in a variety of formats and a variety of geospatial data file types.

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

LU_TBrase.zip

• Documents
  • Lesson Overview (Brase_Thumbnail.pdf 165KB)
  • Instructor Guide (Brase_IG.pdf 154KB)
  • Student Handout (Brase_SH.pdf 7.2MB)
  • Curriculum Support Document (Brase_CS.pdf 36KB)
• Data
  • tbrase_data (tbrase_data.rar 101.3MB)
    • BiomassProjectData
      • info (8 data files, 8KB)
      • avbiomasscl (8 data files, 62KB)
      • (0707_EVI+StackSS 1.66GB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification5 80KB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification5.hdr 833 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification3.hdr 584 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification4 80KB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification4.hdr 1KB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification3 59.4MB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification.hdr 1KB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification2 80KB)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification2.hdr 809 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI_Classification 80KB)
      • (0707_EVI.HDR 734 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI+StackSS.sta 390 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI+Band5Classes 80KB)
      • (0707_EVI+Band5Classes.hdr 664 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI+Band5SS 637KB)
      • (0707_EVI+Band5SS.hdr 577 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI+Band5SS.sta 185 bytes)
      • (0707_EVI+StackSS.hdr 927 bytes)
      • (JCountyRoads.dbf 11.2MB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.sbx 3KB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.shp 1.1MB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.shp.xml 16KB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.shx 22KB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.dbf 7.4MB)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.prj 548 bytes)
      • (NEJCountyParcels.sbn 29KB)
      • (JCountyRoads.shp 4.9MB)
      • (JCountyRoads.shp.xml 17KB)
      • (JCountyRoads.shx 74KB)
      • (JCountyRoads.sbx 6KB)
      • (JCountyRoads.prj 548 bytes)
      • (JCountyRoads.sbn 96KB)
      • (AVBiomassCL.aux 6KB)
      • (AVBiomassCL.lyr 12KB)
      • (IA_Boundary.dbf 49KB)
      • (IA_Boundary.prj 167 bytes)
      • (IA_Boundary.sbn 1KB)
      • (IA_Boundary.sbx 228 bytes)
      • (IA_Boundary.shp 21KB)
      • (IA_Boundary.shp.xml 180KB)
      • (IA_Boundary.shx 892 bytes)
      • (IncorpCities.dbf 287KB)
      • (IncorpCities.prj 424 bytes)
      • (IncorpCities.sbn 12KB)
      • (IncorpCities.sbx 2KB)
      • (IncorpCities.shp 395KB)
      • (IncorpCities.shp.xml 14KB)
      • (IncorpCities.shx 8KB)