Brandon- Water diagrams

GIS Soil Data

I recently found an excellent source of information all about the soil in New Orleans. You can download the GIS files here:
http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov/Survey.aspx?County=LA071

All you have to do is request the data and you'll get an email with a link to download it in a few minutes. You'll also have to download a plugin for ArcMap called the Soil Data Viewer, which you can download here:
http://soildataviewer.nrcs.usda.gov/download52.aspx

Once you've downloaded both of these, you can install and follow the directions for the Soil Data Viewer (eventually you'll have a new button in your ArcMap toolbar) and then you can load the files in the "spatial" folder into ArcMap. Now, click on that new button and if it doesn't automatically do so, load the database in the main folder called "soildb_US_2002" (you'll have to unzip it first). Make sure everything is synchronized, choose any of the layers in the database, and click "Map". ArcMap should then bring up that map as a new layer. Rinse and Repeat.

Below, I've included images of all the maps I found particularly useful and descriptions of their content. I'm having a hard time deciphering what exactly these maps are telling us, so if you guys have any insight on interpreting and applying this information, please share!

"Water is the most political thing on earth."
David Waggonner

sketch diagram

Derek's original sketch diagram for reference.

NOLA study areas

This map represents the convergence of individual work the studio did following our NOLA field trip. We have narrowed our collective focus to the area surrounding two adjusted transects that run lake to river, including certain spacial and infrastructural connections between them:

1) London Avenue Canal/Elysian Fields
2) 17th Street Canal/Washington Ave Canal/MLK
(connections include Bayou St. John, City Park, the Lafitte Corridor, Jefferson Davis, I-10, and the railroad)

Six groups will study specific aspects of the existing condition in these regions:

1) residential case studies (housing typologies throughout the study area)
2) infrastructure moments (highway, canal, railroad crossings)
3) bottom of the bowl trends (relationships between three adjacent neighborhoods)
4) "blue/green" connections (connective tissue between the transects, see map)
5) surface trends (resettlement patterns, vacant land, etc)
6) physical sections (spaced along transects)

These groups will present their research at the mid review on Monday, March 2, in addition to documentation of all previous Wash U and Toronto work.

Repopulation

For anyone interested in population return, this is a great site with block level information about what households were actively receiving mail in June 2005 and then in September 2008 (there is a really good explanation of the data on the side bar). It also has block level information about what households have received the Road Home Options 1, 2, and 3. Apparently there is address level information (which is what I'm after), but the site says you have to purchase it from a list company called Valassis.


http://www.gnocdc.org/repopulation/index.html























The main GNOCDC site (http://www.gnocdc.org/index.html) also has a lot more information that I haven't sifted through yet, but it looks pretty promising. Unfortunately, one of the data request options on the site specifically says they won't answer requests from students...

Rainwater Path; Waterway Edge Conditions

Diagram illustrating the path taken by rainwater over various surfaces and infrastructural elements; center illustration of three typical edge conditions for waterways, and the correlating spectra of verticality and "hardness" of each condition.