{"id":572702,"date":"2023-02-08T10:10:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T18:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=572702"},"modified":"2023-02-08T10:10:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T18:10:24","slug":"students-protect-the-unhoused-from-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/students-protect-the-unhoused-from-wildfires","title":{"rendered":"Students Protect the Unhoused from Wildfires"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25032,425602,211],"tags":[475612,961],"arcuser_issues":[483782],"class_list":["post-572702","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-2","category-imagery-2","category-public-safety","tag-gis-in-education","tag-spatial-analysis","arcuser_issues-au-winter-2023"],"acf":{"short_description":"Los Angeles high school students used web maps, GIS, and infrared technologies to identify homeless encampments in high-risk areas.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":569842,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"Students at a Los Angeles high school used web maps, GIS, and infrared technologies to identify the location of homeless encampments in high-risk fire areas. The completed map was shared with the Los Angeles Fire Department and will be used to help in future wildfire evacuations."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Knowing where unhoused populations are sheltering is vital during wildfire evacuations. The numbers of both wildfires and unhoused people have grown in California. The forests, fields, and hills in urban areas are full of dry brush due to drought. The results of the 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count showed that the number of residents experiencing homelessness grew 12.7 percent in 2020 to 66,426 people\u2014many of them sheltering on the dry, open land.\r\n\r\nThe students from Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School, whose school borders the Angeles National Forest in Glendale, set out to prove that infrared images analyzed with GIS technology could identify homeless encampments near areas at high risk of wildfire.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":572762,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

A Geographic Approach to Research<\/h3>\r\nThe curriculum at Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School integrates technology with core academics, including an honors course in GIS remote sensing. Spanning six weeks in 2021, 12 students enrolled in the course collaborated to build, program, and test what\u2019s known as a cube satellite, or CubeSat, prototype. These square miniature research satellites are used to collect data and take measurements. CubeSat prototypes are built with inexpensive materials and tested at low layers of Earth\u2019s atmosphere using balloons, drones, amateur rockets, or small aircraft.\r\n\r\nThe students\u2019 CubeSat project was part of the US Department of Education\u2019s CTE Mission: CubeSat challenge, which calls for designing, building, and testing a cube satellite prototype to tackle issues important to local communities.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":572742,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"To make the prototype, the students chose infrared sensors that could detect heat signatures, and a GPS receiver to map the locations of high-risk encampments. For the building phase, students were divided into two teams: one for the flight station and the other for the ground station.\r\n\r\nEnsuring that each student had an opportunity to design a piece of the project, they self-assigned roles based on interest. Each student was also responsible for a secondary role such as managing documentation, writing the flight report, or determining the best location for the test. They learned to assemble and program their CubeSat prototype with instructional videos from their teacher as well as information on YouTube and online forums.\r\n\r\n\u201cThroughout the project, I consistently was on forums looking up how to make stuff work. CubeSats are not a widely used product, but there was so much information about them online,\u201d said Matthew Keshishian, one of the students who worked on the project.\r\n\r\nKeshishian added that programming the prototype\u2019s onboard computer was personally challenging because he created three code variations. He conducted a test flight over the school to determine which code worked best with the sensors and camera. \u201cWe needed a code that was easy to use in most situations, since we weren\u2019t sure how we would import the data into a map at that point,\u201d Keshishian said.\r\n\r\nAfter building the prototype, the students searched for a test site. They performed a site suitability analysis using factors such as land type, locations without drone flight restrictions, and fire risk based on Los Angeles County data. In GIS, they layered the data to identify a high-risk area within a 15-mile radius of their school.\r\n\r\nThey chose the Hansen Dam Recreation Area as the best place to test their technology. Because of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airspace restrictions, students attached their prototype to a tethered weather balloon instead of a drone.\r\n\u201cA wildfire broke out at Hansen Dam halfway through our second flight and proved our fire-risk data was right,\u201d said Keshishian.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":572772,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

A Positive Impact on Careers and Community<\/h3>\r\nThe students shared their Hansen Dam Recreation Area web map<\/a> and ArcGIS StoryMaps story<\/a> with Fire Captain Steven Marotta of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Marotta noted that dense vegetation makes evacuation efforts challenging and that the students\u2019 map would help emergency responders know where to search.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis type of intelligence will help us to focus rescues and evacuations,\u201d Marotta said.\r\n\r\nThe team of students has since graduated, but their teacher Dominique Evans-Bye hopes to see the CTE Mission: CubeSat work continue in future class cohorts and to grow the project\u2019s impact. Evans-Bye said the project could one day include more geospatial technologies, drone imagery, and full motion video captures through a partnership with the Los Angeles Sheriff\u2019s Department and Los Angeles Fire Department.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":572782,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Anderson W. Clark Magnet High School students received several accolades, including gold placement in the Industrial and Engineering Technology Cluster at the 55th annual SkillsUSA state conference and competition. Judges there noted the students\u2019 technical and workforce-ready skill sets, including hands-on engineering, programming, and mapping.\r\n\r\nEvans-Bye agreed, \u201cGIS impacts all industries. It is important to give students hands-on experiences like this where they can show off what they create while also impacting their community.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe students also had a unique opportunity to present their project to educators and professionals from around the world at the 2022 Esri Education Summit. \u201cThese experiences were a great opportunity for us to really revel in the work we\u2019d done and celebrate our achievements,\u201d said student Gabriela Marcucci.\r\n\r\nKnowing their work could make a difference made their task more important. \u201cI didn\u2019t just look at textbooks,\u201d said Keshishian. \u201cI can look back at my high school journey and, from this project, say I participated in something that gives back to the community and can save lives.\u201d\r\n\r\nLearn more about how GIS helps children turn data into maps, stories, and knowledge<\/a> and how students can prepare for the workforce by using ArcGIS<\/a>."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nStudents use GIS to protect homeless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Students at a Los Angeles high school used web maps, GIS, and infrared technologies to identify the location of homeless encampments in high-risk fire areas. 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