Student Led Campus Desire Path Evaluation Using Pictometry® Neighborhood Imagery

Abstract

A student led evaluation of desire paths (e.g., paths created by pedestrians on an open landscape) across the Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) campus was performed within a senior level spatial science course in order to create a method for mitigation of desire paths and for campus beautification. Each desire path on campus was identified with the length of each path measured in the field and categorized by the condition of the path in order to assess and determine a necessary solution for each path identified. In addition, Pictometry® high spatial resolution digital imagery was used to determine if the categorization of the conditions of the desire paths, as well as the length of each desire path, could be identified and quantified without the need to measure each individual desire path in the field. Students, within an interactive hands-on classroom environment, compared in-field desire path measurements with Pictometry® on-screen measurements to determine the effectiveness of remotely sensed Pictometry® imagery to identify and quantify desire path location and length respectfully.

Integration of CITYgreen Landscape Ecological Analysis into a Capstone Environmental Science Course

“…Once this was completed, tenets of landscape ecology were discussed based on the patch, corridor matrix model (Forman, 1995;Coulson and Tchakerian, 2010) to explore options for directing change of vegetation on a college campus. Methods of change needed to be directed by planned activities (i.e., tree planting) based on campus groups working together to increase greening of the campus or repair of desire trails (Krasney and Tidball, 2012;Kulhavy, Unger & Hung, 2018). Once these were completed, students presented their findings in a group-led service-learning project integrating planning with spatial change based on principles of landscape ecology to promote campus change…”