Nigel Waters

• PhD
• Professor Emeritus at University of Calgary

The presentation explains how our experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic will help us to prepare for future pandemics. It also discusses how we did not learn from that pandemic. Finally there is a brief discussion of GIS research that will help us to prepare for future pandemics. This presentation was one of two keynote talks given on GIS Day 202...

A brief history of the early years of artificial intelligence and the development of expert systems followed by a discussion of how knowledge acquisition tools can be used to elicit expertise in the field of computer mapping and related disciplines.

202 words) Geospatial technologies in transport begins by describing the current use of Geographic Information Systems for Transportation (GIS-T) in national, regional (provincial or state) and urban departments of transportation. The current state of the art and use of "smart" geospatial technologies in "smart cities" and how these technologies in...

The national origins of the graduate students in the Alberta International Medical Graduate Program.

The Routledge Handbook of Geospatial Technologies and Society provides a relevant and comprehensive reference point for research and practice in this dynamic field. It offers detailed explanations of geospatial technologies and provides critical reviews and appraisals of their application in society within international and multi-disciplinary conte...

Delivery drones are a disruptive technology that is spurring logistics system change, such as the adoption of urban micro-fulfilment centres (MFCs). In this paper, we develop and implement a two-stage continuum approximation (CA) model of this disruptive system in a geographic information system. The model includes common CA techniques at a local l...

Rural Canadians have high health care needs due to high prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) but lack access to care. Examining realized access to three types of providers (general practitioners (GPs), orthopedic surgeons (Ortho), and physiotherapists (PTs)) simultaneously helps identify gaps in access to needed OA care, inform accessibility assessmen...

The utilization of non-local primary care physicians (PCP) is a key primary care indicator identified by Alberta Health to support evidence-based healthcare planning. This study aims to identify area-level factors that are significantly associated with non-local PCP utilization and to examine if these associations vary between rural and urban areas...

Accurately estimating the length of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) distances can inform transportation planning in a wide variety of delivery and service provision contexts. This study extends the work of previous research where multiple linear regression models were used to estimate the average distance of VRP solutions with various customer demand...

Background Knowledge of geospatial pattern in comorbidities prevalence is critical to an understanding of the local health needs among people with osteoarthritis (OA). It provides valuable information for targeting optimal OA treatment and management at the local level. However, there is, at present, limited evidence about the geospatial pattern of...

The article begins with a historical account of Hudson’s rural settlement theory and the various attempts to replicate Hudson’s research. Harvey’s exhortation “by our theories you shall know us” is discussed as a motivation for replication. Motivations not considered are the detection of fraud, mendacity, and incompetence, because these are the dom...

Microtargeting is a market segmentation strategy (identifying submarkets of individuals and groups for marketing or political purposes) based on an individual's behavioral, geodemographic, and psychographic characteristics. It has its origins in the use of geodemographic and psychographic cluster analysis and was developed in part because of its ef...

In 1969 J. C. Hudson proposed a general theory of rural settlement location. Hudson's theory envisaged three phases of settlement. In the first phase there was colonization with clustered settlement. This pattern gave way to a more random distribution through settlement spread and eventually the pattern became regularly spaced through competition f...

The recurrent question about the effectiveness of agri-environmental measure (AEM) in Sardinia (Italy) is whether European Union (EU) funds allocate resources to where they are most needed. To answer this question, a spatial approach is suggested, namely an approach that considers geography as a factor in measuring the success of such policy. A geo...

There is limited evidence on the geographical variation in the prevalence of comorbidities in people with osteoarthritis in Alberta. Our study explores the spatial pattern of osteoarthritis comorbidities along the rural-urban continuum. The results showed a pattern of higher age-sex standardized prevalence rate of osteoarthritis comorbidities in th...

There is limited evidence on the geographic distribution of osteoarthritis (OA) in Alberta to inform planning of equitable access to health care services. This research aimed to explore the geographic variation in age-sex standardized OA prevalence rates by geographic areas across the rural-urban continuum, and by six-digit postal codes using globa...

A CyberGIS approach is presented in this chapter where microscopic traffic simulation and gas dispersion simulation systems are combined in order to estimate atmospheric pollution for different scenarios. The combination of these two simulation models allows for detailed investigations of different situations such as the investigation of pollution...

A lack of transportation services for the increasing number of senior citizens in Calgary presents a challenge for planners and decision makers alike. Transportation services offered by Access Calgary, Calgary Transit, and volunteers are unable to meet the current needs of this growing segment of society. Difficulties accessing transportation servi...

Geographic information systems were first formally introduced with the development of the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) in the early 1960s. The CGIS both benefitted from earlier conceptualizations and pioneered new software, hardware, and algorithms for handling spatial data. From the 1970s to the 1990s there was an emphasis on geogra...

This chapter discusses the fusion of VGI, primarily textual posts from Twitter, ground photographs from Flickr and radiological measurements from Safecast Geiger counters, with remote sensing data, mainly aerial photographs that were collected from a Falcon Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Civil Air Patrol airplanes, as well as several high-resolution s...

Representing surfaces is fundamental to research concerning the natural environment. The state of the art as addressed in current textbook literature is discussed. This isfollowed by an historical account that describes the development of the three primary ways of representing surfaces, namely, as triangulated irregular networks, as digital elevati...

Tobler's first law (TFL) of geography was introduced into the geographical literature in an article that Waldo Tobler published in the journal Economic Geography in 1970. In this article, which described a simulation of population growth in Detroit, Tobler stated that to make his model operational he would “invoke the first law of geography: everyt...

Tobler's first law (TFL) of geography was introduced into the geographical literature in an article that Waldo Tobler published in the journal Economic Geography in 1970. In this article, which described a simulation of population growth in Detroit, Tobler stated that to make his model operational he would “invoke the first law of geography: everyt...

Environmental hazards pose a significant threat to urban areas due to their potential catastrophic consequences affecting people, property and the environment. Remote sensing has become the de-facto standard for observing the Earth and its environment through the use of air-, space-, and ground-based sensors. Despite the quantity of remote sensing...

In the late fifteenth and throughout the sixteenth century, European intellectual, scientific, and industrial influences manifested themselves brilliantly in the fields of geography, cartography, and printing and in improving maritime technologies. These areas of expertise came together in a fashion that made possible a rapid transference of inform...

An account is given of the military, government, and academic antecedents that preceded the formal development of GIS in terms of software, hardware, and conceptual developments. The widely recognized origin of the first GIS, the Canada Geographic Information System, during the 1960s is described. Accomplishments of the Harvard Laboratory for Compu...

Equitable access to Osteoarthritis (OA) health services in Alberta is challenged by the geographic spread of the Alberta population coupled with variations in OA prevalence across the province. OA is a degenerative chronic condition affecting 10-15% of adults in Canada. Our goal was to determine geographic variations of patients with OA, considerin...

As evidence linking Zika virus with serious health complications strengthens, public health officials and clinicians worldwide need to know which locations are likely to be at risk for autochthonous Zika infections. We created risk maps for epidemic and endemic Aedes-borne Zika virus infections globally using a predictive analysis method that draws...

The variety of offerings of online Geographical Information Science (GIS) programs has been extensively reported in the literature, which describes various types of degrees and certificates offered by institutions all over the world. Most online courses have merely focused on delivering lectures, for which standard presentation tools such as PowerP...

The US transplant community has long been concerned about geographic disparities in access to and outcomes of transplantation. While several policies have been introduced to address the discrepancies, transplant researchers still report that a number of key elements that determine equity in transplantation vary significantly depending on the locati...

Motorists are vulnerable to extreme weather events, which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change throughout the world. Traffic accidents are conceptualized in this article as the result of a systemic failure that includes human, vehicular, and environmental factors. The snowstorm and concurrent accidents that occurred in the Northeastern Un...

Background: Risk maps identifying suitable locations for infection transmission are important for public health planning. Data on dengue infection rates are not readily available in most places where the disease is known to occur. Methods: A newly available add-in to Esri's ArcGIS software package, the ArcGIS Predictive Analysis Toolset (PA Tool...

DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2016.02.018

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic arboviral infection that has occurred across Africa and parts of the Middle East. Geographically weighted discriminant analysis (GWDA) is a spatially-adaptive extension of traditional discriminant analysis (DA) which has rarely been applied to infectious disease epidemiology research. This study compares the cl...

Introduction: by passing refers to a person's decision to seek care at a healthcare facility that is not the nearest one of its type to the person's home. Methods: this study examined inpatient care facility bypassing in urban Bo, Sierra Leone using data from 1,980 women with children 15 years of age and younger who were interviewed in 2010-2011....

A new methodology is introduced that leverages data harvested from social media for tasking the collection of remote-sensing imagery during disasters or emergencies. The images are then fused with multiple sources of contributed data for the damage assessment of transportation infrastructure. The capability is valuable in situations where environme...

Introduction Evaluating the condition of transportation infrastructure is an expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming process. Many traditional road evaluation methods utilize measurements taken in situ along with visual examinations and interpretations. The measurement of damage and deterioration is often qualitative and limited to point obs...

During emergencies in urban areas, it is paramount to assess damage to people, property, and environment in order to coordinate relief operations and evacuations. Remote sensing has become the de facto standard for observing the Earth and its environment through the use of air-, space-, and ground-based sensors. These sensors collect massive amount...

Objective: To identify risk factors for human Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) infection. Methods: A systematic review identified 17 articles reporting on 16 studies examining risk factors for RVFV. Pooled odds ratios (pOR) were calculated for exposures examined in four or more studies. Results: Being male [pOR = 1.4 (1.0, 1.8)], contact with aborted...

Outbreaks, epidemics and endemic conditions make dengue a disease that has emerged as a major threat in tropical and sub-tropical countries over the past 30 years. Dengue fever creates a growing burden for public health systems and has the potential to affect over 40% of the world population. The problem being investigated is to identify the highes...

The rate at which geospatial data is being generated exceeds our computational capabilities to extract patterns for the understanding of a dynamically changing world. Geoinformatics and data mining focuses on the development and implementation of computational algorithms to solve these problems. This unique volume contains a collection of chapters...

This chapter begins with a discussion of how communications technologies have reduced the influence of distance on the location of economic activity. The origins of network analysis in regional science are described. The importance of social networks and social network science in sociology and related disciplines during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s...

During the period from childhood through young adulthood individuals select the occupation that best satisfies their needs based on their values, interests, education, and environment. Arlington County, Virginia, provides an opportunity to study the impact that geography played on occupational choice for one black community during segregation. Usin...

In order to coordinate emergency operations and evacuations, it is vital to accurately assess damage to people, property, and the environment. For decades remote sensing has been used to observe the Earth from air, space and ground based sensors. These sensors collect massive amounts of dynamic and geographically distributed spatiotemporal data eve...

Introduction: Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral infection, is a growing threat to human health in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. There is a demand from public officials for maps that capture the current distribution of dengue and maps that analyze risk factors to predict the future burden of disease. Methods: To identify relevant art...

Outbreaks, epidemics, and endemic conditions make dengue a disease that has emerged as a major threat in tropical and sub-tropical countries over the past thirty years. Dengue fever creates a growing burden for public health systems and has the potential to affect over 40% of the world population. This paper presents a geospatial analysis called Si...

Background: Diagnosis and treatment for venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) have evolved considerably through diagnostic and therapeutic innovations. Despite their considerable potential for enhancing care, however, the extent to which these innovations are being adopted in usual practice is unknown. We documented the infrastructure available in ho...

This research proposes a methodology that leverages non-authoritative data to augment flood extent mapping and the evaluation of transportation infrastructure. The novelty of this approach is the application of freely available, non-authoritative data and its integration with established data and methods. Crowdsourced photos and volunteered geograp...

This is the last issue of Cartographica for whose content I was fully responsible as Editor. I took over the duties of Editor from Jeremy Crampton on January 1, 2011, although I was appointed to this position in the summer of 2010. During the final months of 2010 I was involved in developing the content of the first issue of 2011; the lengthy timel...

Emergency evacuations during the past decade have transitioned from landline analog to mobile digital communication devices. Over 88% of US citizens own a mobile phone, providing a tool to enable better communication between first responders and citizens in order to minimize risk to evacuees during no‐notice evacuations. During an emergency, evacue...

Every year, flood disasters are responsible for widespread destruction and loss of human life. Remote sensing data are capable of providing valuable, synoptic coverage of flood events but are not always available because of satellite revisit limitations, obstructions from cloud cover or vegetation canopy, or expense. In addition, knowledge of road...

To evaluate healthy dietary factors in relation to prior residence outside the United States (US) among university-affiliated individuals currently residing in the US. Current diet information was collected via a 4-day food record and residential history data were collected by in-person interview for 114 individuals. Residence outside of the US at...

Utilizando teorías establecidas sobre la selección de vecindarios como marco teórico, así como métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos y fuentes de datos mixtos, el presente trabajo documenta un estudio que explora los patrones residenciales de los afroamericanos viviendo en Arlington, Virginia, durante la segregación (1900-1970). Una ciudad del sur,...

This research proposes a methodology that leverages non-authoritative data to augment flood extent mapping and the evaluation of transportation infrastructure. The novelty of this approach is the application of freely available, non-authoritative data and its integration with established data and methods. Crowdsourced photos and volunteered geograp...

This research proposes a methodology that leverages non-authoritative data to augment flood extent mapping and the evaluation of transportation infrastructure. The novelty of this approach is the application of freely available, non-authoritative data and its integration with established data and methods. Crowdsourced photos and volunteered geograp...

Geographic disparities in access to and outcomes in transplantation have been a persistent problem widely discussed by transplant researchers and the transplant community. One of the alleged causes of disparities in the United States is administratively determined organ allocation boundaries that limit organ sharing across regions. This paper appli...

This research proposes a methodology that leverages non-authoritative data to augment flood extent mapping and the evaluation of transportation infrastructure. The novelty of this approach is the application of freely available, non-authoritative data and its integration with established data and methods. Crowdsourced photos and volunteered geograp...

Every two years, the International Cartographic Association (ICA) organizes the International Cartographic Conference (ICC). This year the ICC is being held in Dresden on 25–30 August. For several years the Editors of Cartographica, The Cartographic Journal (UK), and Cartography and Geographic Information Science (US) have been invited to select wh...

Most scholarship on racial segregation in U.S. cities retraces the Great Migration, from the rural South to the urbanizing, industrializing North. Arlington County, Virginia, adjacent to the large, prosperous black community of Washington, D.C., provides a unique opportunity to study processes that transcended this dichotomy. During segregation bla...

Intestinal bacteria contribute to the overall host (human) metabolism, and the microbiome (profile of microorganisms that inhabit the human body) is a multidimensional system. Several factors have been identified in the development of the microbiome, and evidence suggests that exposures to environmental factors (including diet) at various time poin...

Geographic Information Science is a relatively new discipline. Indeed the teaching of the technology of Geographic Information Systems did not really begin as a university subject until the US based National Center for Geographic Information Analysis developed a "Core Curriculum" in 1990. This Curriculum was revised in the late 1990s in an ongoing...

Background: Health care service areas have been utilized to assess use of health care services and evaluate population health indicators. Primary Care Service Areas (PCSAs) are examples of health care service areas, made up of contiguous ZIP Code Tabulation Areas and based almost entirely on Medicare usage. PCSAs have been proposed as rational serv...

Background Evaluating geographic access to health services often requires determining the patient travel time to a specified service. For urgent care, many research studies have modeled patient pre-hospital time by ground emergency medical services (EMS) using geographic information systems (GIS). The purpose of this study was to determine if the m...

The objective of this study was to compare nutrient intake of two 24-hour recalls collected using the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Recall to a 4-day food record. A convenience sample of university-affiliated adults was chosen because of the diverse population at this university. Ninety-three participants completed the 4-day record an...

Emergency services personnel face risks and uncertainty as they respond to natural and anthropogenic events. Their primary goal is to minimize the loss of life and property, especially in neighborhoods with high population densities, where response time is of great importance. In recent years, mobile phones have become a primary communication devic...

Mortgage innovations and New Deal agencies facilitated lower priced loans for prime borrowers and minimum price disparities across US regions. In the 1980s deregulation removed price restrictions on banks’ mortgages and also removed geographic distance restrictions on lending, opening the subprime industry. Global and local Moran indices identified...

During this one-day event, the ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Data Mining for Geoinformatics (DMGI) brought together scientists working in different fields such as geographic information science (GIS), data mining, machine learning, geoinformatics, remote sensing, and earth and atmospheric sciences, to propose new ideas, identify promisin...

Snow avalanche terrain in backcountry regions of Canada is increasingly being assessed based upon the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES). ATES is a terrain based classification introduced in 2004 by Parks Canada to identify "simple", "challenging" and "complex" backcountry areas. The ATES rating system has been applied to well over 200 backcou...

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is preferred over fibrinolysis for the treatment of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In the United States, nearly 80% of people aged 18 years and older have access to a PCI facility within 60 minutes. We conducted this study to evaluate the areas in Canada and the proportion of the...

This conference presentation introduces the concept of a volunteered geographic service to provide transportation for senior citizens in the city of Calgary, Alberta. In conjunction with ElderNet (a seniors advocacy group) members of the Calgary Motor Dealers Association agreed to provide one of hour of their shuttle service each week for transport...

The United States is facing an epidemic of childhood obesity, with obesity rates amongst children more than double what they were just 20 years ago. At the same time, research on the accessibility of healthy foods, especially in urban areas, has shown that certain populations are facing major barriers to a healthy diet. While there has been researc...

Complexity does not mean complicated (Nijkamp 2007; Waldrop 1992, pp. 11–12). Confusion arises since complexity is a word in common use but in science it has a special meaning (O’Sullivan 2004). The first part of this chapter will consider the various definitions of complexity that have appeared in the literature. The second part will discuss a cas...

Using models to estimate snow avalanche runout distance is useful for areas where there is a lack of historical avalanche observations and no obvious physical signs of avalanche activity. Along roadways, details of avalanche runout are often recorded; however, in Canada, backcountry areas typically used by recreationists may not have a recorded his...

The urban center has become an important arena of economic participation for increasing numbers of Sub-Saharan Africans. Because of problems associated with censuses, economic assessment of participation rates, proportions employed, unemployed and underemployed and their temporal and spatial variations are unreliable for most countries. In addition...

During 1997-1999, 32 Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) were translocated from the Sustut Herd to the Telkwa Mountains in westcentral British Columbia to augment recovery of the Telkwa Caribou Herd. The animals were fitted with radiocollars and located during 1997-2000 to determine selection of habitat features and terrain variables. Six...

This study uses geographic information systems (GIS) as a tool to evaluate and visualize the general accessibility of areas within the province of Alberta (Canada) to cardiac catheterization facilities. Current American and European guidelines suggest performing catheterization within 90 minutes of the first medical contact. For this reason, this s...

This paper implements a land use classification for the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, using an object-oriented approach for six Landsat TM and ETM+ images and simulates the land use pattern in the future using Markov Chain analysis and Cellular Automata analysis based on the interactions between these land uses and the transportation network. S...