Author: Sam Ellerbeck

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Sam Ellerbeck – Stage 6

CRP and White-tailed Deer in Iowa

The Conservation Reserve Program is a federally funded operation that provides a degree of protection and support for ecosystems in the United States. For deer hunters, the CRP is beneficial in that it maintains land suitably for deer and promotes environmental diversity in plant and animal species. Currently, the state of Iowa is known for having excellent hunting, particularly for white-tailed deer. However, it was not always like this in the past. By 1900, hunting white-tails was banned due to extremely low population numbers. Eventually, the white-tail population recovered, and in the 1950s, Iowa lifted the hunting ban. With the CRP’s creation in 1985, land was converted into many protected regions appropriate for white-tails, allowing the species to grow in number immensely. Recently, CRP acreage in Iowa has decreased, which is causing white-tail harvests to decrease as well. The maps show white-tail harvests per CRP acreage in Iowa’s counties over time, and it seems clear that there is correlation between deer harvest numbers and the amount of CRP-protected land. As CRP acreage continues to decline, the concern is that white-tail deer populations may drop dramatically, potentially even to what it had been in 1900, where it was thought that there were less than 100 of them in the state.

One strength of this mapping product is that it narrates this cyclical pattern of white-tail population numbers over time very well. The history provided was very interesting and relevant to the conclusions drawn. A good connection was made between the past (very low white-tail population) and what the future might look like if CRP acreage continues to decline. Additionally, I thought that the use of a video to show change in harvests per CRP acreage over time was good. The maps and graph also complemented each other very well, and they were both able to emphasize the correlation between deer harvests and the CRP. Lastly, the presentation was visually consistent. Everything was matched to the same color scheme, which made the project look very professional.

One critique that I may offer concerns other potential reasons why white-tail hunting harvests have decreased, other than a connection to CRP protections on land. I was curious if a decrease in harvest numbers means that the overall population has decreased as well, or maybe other things – like less hunting activity in the last 20 years, just as an example – could also explain a decrease in harvests. It would be interesting to see if harvest numbers are also correlated to population numbers.

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Sam Ellerbeck – Stage 3

Sources of Data

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI).” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 2020. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html.

  • This site has downloadable data pertaining to the social vulnerability index by census tract. I may be able to use this to identify vulnerable populations in Omaha and see if these populations also face inequitable access to medical/health related resources.

Douglas County Health Department. “COVID-19 Vaccinations Dashboard.” Douglas County GIS, n.d. https://dogis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/f03f7ff56e06435a8050a565fefe2d4a.

  • This dashboard displays various statistics on COVID-19 vaccinations, including the percentages of residents by zip code that received initial and/or follow-up immunizations. While I am having a hard time locating the actual underlying data, I think this resource might still be helpful as I can view the raw numbers in each zip code. This resource would be useful in connecting the creation of medical deserts to the inaccessibility of obtaining immunizations during a recent pandemic.

Douglas County Health Department. “Current and Historic Hospitals.” Douglas County GIS, n.d. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/13d3208dfc05457c8c4829d5a519a928.

  • This digital map contains the pinpointed locations of hospitals and community clinics that no longer exist. This will be useful for showing how the specific locations of health services has changed over time.

Lys, Nataliya. “Hospitals.” ArcGIS Hub, 2024. https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/f113f28a389c4b0abdc8170d3af3e784_0/explore?location=41.286711%2C-95.855334%2C9.59.

  • This online resource pinpoints current hospital locations in the Douglas County area. I could potentially use it to create some sort of Voronoi diagram to show the spatial differences of Omaha communities’ proximity to hospital resources.

Moore, Steven. “OpenStreetMap Medical Facilities for North America.” ArcGIS Hub, 2022. https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/openstreetmap::openstreetmap-medical-facilities-for-north-america-2/about.

  • This ArcGIS map layer pinpoints a wide variety of current medical facilities across all of North America. It may be useful to include as it would be more encompassing than just the locations of hospitals in particular.

Nelson, Robert K., LaDale Winling, et al. “Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America.” Edited by Robert K. Nelson and Edward L. Ayers. American Panorama: An Atlas of United States History, 2023. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining.

  • I plan to use this site to download data pertaining to the redlining map of Omaha. This may help in prefacing how discriminatory housing policy in the 19th century had a cascade of negative effects for communities – one being the potential creation of medical deserts in particular.

Manson, Steven, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, Katherine Knowles, Tracy Kugler, Finn Roberts, and Steve Ruggles. 2023. “1950 Census Tracts, Population by Race.” IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System, Accessed March 27, 2023. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V18.0.

Manson, Steven, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, Katherine Knowles, Tracy Kugler, Finn Roberts, and Steve Ruggles. 2023. “1980 Census Tracts, Population by Race.” IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System, Accessed March 27, 2023. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V18.0.

Manson, Steven, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, Katherine Knowles, Tracy Kugler, Finn Roberts, and Steve Ruggles. 2023. “2010 Census Tracts, Population by Race.” IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System, Accessed March 27, 2023. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V18.0.

Manson, Steven, Jonathan Schroeder, David Van Riper, Katherine Knowles, Tracy Kugler, Finn Roberts, and Steve Ruggles. 2023. “2020 Census Tracts, Population by Race.” IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System, Accessed March 27, 2023. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V18.0.

  • I will use these resources to collect census data based on race for the Omaha area, years 1950, 1980, 2010, and 2020. The data can be mapped and used to show demographic change over time and the overall growth of the city as a whole, and it can be used to show where medical services have been located regarding demographic populations over time.

Secondary Sources

Egede, Leonard E., Rebekah J. Walker, Jennifer A. Campbell, Sebastian Linde, Laura C. Hawks, and Kaylin M. Burgess. 2023. “Modern Day Consequences of Historic Redlining: Finding a Path Forward.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 38(6): pp. 1534-1537. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-023-08051-4.

  • This information relates how discriminatory housing policy in the 20th century has left longstanding impacts on particular communities in various areas of health.

Fletcher, Adam F.C. 2015. “A History of Hospitals in North Omaha.” North Omaha History, September 17, 2015. https://northomahahistory.com/2015/09/17/a-history-of-hospitals-and-healthcare-in-north-omaha/.

  • This article provides details on the closing of hospitals in North Omaha and the movement of hospitals to other areas of the city, relating this to the overall health and accessibility to medical services today.

Gaynor, Tia S. and Meghan E. Wilson. 2020. “Social Vulnerability and Equity: The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19.” Public Administration Review 80(5): pp. 832-838. DOI: 10.1111/puar.13264.

  • This article could be used in conjunction with the source data I found of social vulnerability index to help better explain what that data is describing.

Gregg, Aaron and Jaclyn Peters. 2023. “Drugstore closures are leaving millions without easy access to a pharmacy.” The Washington Post, October 22, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/10/22/drugstore-close-pharmacy-deserts/.

  • The information in this article describes how large pharmacy retailers are tending to move out of areas that are largely minority in population. This information could be used in relation to the creation of medical deserts in Omaha/the lack of availability of health services.

Lu, Richard, Suhas Gondi, and Alister Martin. 2021. “Inequity in vaccinations isn’t always about hesitancy, it’s about inaccess.” Association of American Medical Colleges, April 12, 2021. https://www.aamc.org/news/inequity-vaccinations-isn-t-always-about-hesitancy-it-s-about-access.

  • This source highlights a common misconception that unequal COVID vaccination is due to hesitancy to actually receive the shot. Instead, a variety of social factors and structural barriers may help to better understand these disparities.

Nguyen, Amanda, Jeroen van Meijgaard, Sara Kim, and Tori Marsh. 2021. “Mapping Healthcare Deserts.” GoodRx, September 2021.

  • This paper discusses the various forms that healthcare deserts can take, and it analyses the entirety of the United States in regard to this topic. It provides information on how those in healthcare deserts are likely to face additional health related barriers as well.

Rollston, Rebekah and Sandro Galea. 2020. “COVID-19 and the Social Determinants of Health.” American Journal of Health Promotion 34(6): pp. 687-689. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117120930536b.

  • This journal article offers a variety of social factors that play some sort of role in health and wellness, and it describes the ways in which these things have had particular consequences in the context of the COVID pandemic.

Schleicher, John. 2013. “UNMC History 101: Omaha’s history of hospitals.” University of Nebraska Medical Center. https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2013/07/02/unmc-history-101-omahas-history-of-hospitals/.

  • This short article discusses some brief history on hospitals in the Omaha area that are no longer in operation.

Smith, Kate. 2021. “Effects of redlining last in Omaha.” ULOOP Inc., February 18, 2021. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=creighton&id=GALE|A652171801&v=2.1&it=r.

  • This news article highlights the generational impacts of redlining in Omaha specifically and puts redlining in context with the city’s tendencies to direct money and services to certain areas over others. It also offers a few statistics on the differences in the amount of COVID cases across Omaha based on zip code.

Ying, Xiaohan, Peter Kahn, and Walter S. Mathis. 2022. “Pharmacy deserts: More than where pharmacies are.” Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 62: pp. 1875-1879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2022.06.016.

  • This research article describes how healthcare deserts (in particular, pharmacy deserts) don’t only manifest in extremely rural areas. For example, one who may live decently close to a pharmacy may still face barriers in being able to receive its services, such as lacking personal or public transportation access. In short, the considering healthcare deserts bay be much more complex than a “distance” analysis.
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Sam Ellerbeck Blog Post 8: Mapping & Ethics

Monroe Work Today’s “Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence” and the Equal Justice Initiative’s map “Lynching in America” are both very powerful depictions of historical racial violence in the form of lynching, but the maps differ heavily in their intended messages. Monroe Work Today portrays the United States’ occurrences of lynching as a widespread issue that has affected all people and geographic locations, whereas the EJI has a much more narrow lens, connecting past lynchings of African Americans to the structural issues that persist today.

The map from Monroe Work Today uses points to represent the lynchings that have occurred in America based on location. Additionally, each point includes information in regard to the lynching event, such as the individual’s name, race, and some background and sources that help provide context. In doing so, the map argues that lynching was a violent act faced by people of various races and ethnicities.

Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence, Monroe Work Today [1]

Just as important to its argument, however, is that the focal point of the map is very broad, encompassing the entirety of the United States (with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii), and it emphasizes the great length of history in which lynching has been an issue. In doing so, it makes the case that racial violence in the form of lynching has persisted as a very widespread and prolonged American issue. Lynching is not necessarily unique to one particular people, place, or time.

The EJI’s “Lynching in America” makes a different argument. It uses a choropleth style to tally the lynchings of African Americans by county across the United States. In excluding the lynchings of other races and ethnicities, the map particularly highlights the continual violence and injustice against African American populations, where it calls attention to the structural forces that have perpetuated this into the present day.

Lynching in America, the Equal Justice Initiative [2]

In contrast to the first map, the EJI’s map focuses solely on lynchings of African Americans, particularly in southern states, which are centered spatially on the webpage. Also, the timeframe is relatively obscure, and there is no background information regarding each lynching displayed. In doing these things, the map brings structural violence against African Americans collectively to the foreground, narrowing the scope of the mapping significantly and opposing Monroe Work Today’s more all-inclusive approach.

In considering the ethical implications of mapping, Monroe Work Today does a much better job of acknowledging the victim of each lynching as an individual. In recognizing humanity and the historical wrongdoing of lynching, the map more ethically portrays that “the individual deaths are of greater significance than the [geopolitical] boundaries” in which they occurred []. The EJI falls short in this aspect – in using a choropleth map and making each individual event more obscure, it portrays the lynchings of African Americans simply as data and not much else.

Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence FAQ, Monroe Work Today [1]

Monroe Work Today also acknowledges the difficulties in the ethical decisions of mapping such information by providing a list of additional relevant discussion. Topics such weighing what is considered lynching, the inclusion of particular ethnicities, and even the challenges of collecting and analyzing the sometimes hard-to-find records are all mentioned. It seems to set a good example in considering a wide variety of ethical implications while describing the challenges of retaining dignity when mapping victims of racial violence.

Lastly, while it holds a sort of symbolic notoriety in American history, lynching was not the extent of racialized violence and marginalization that minority populations faced over time [3]. For ethical considerations, it would be important to bring attention to any profound details as such that a particular map may not be able to fully represent.

[1] Monroe & Florence Work Today. 2016. “Map of White Supremacy Mob Violence.” PlainTalkHistory. https://plaintalkhistory.com/monroeandflorencework/?u=2

[2] Equal Justice Initiative. n.d. “Lynching in America.” EJI with support from Google. https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/explore

[3] Hepworth, Katherine & Christopher Church. 2018. “Racism in the Machine: Visualization Ethics in Digital Humanities Projects.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 12(4). https://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/12/4/000408/000408.html

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Sam Ellerbeck – Intro to ArcGIS

1880
1900
1940

One large change is the conversion of land in much of the state of Oklahoma for agricultural use. In 1880, the percentage of land used for agriculture in Oklahoma was almost nothing compared to the surrounding states. From 1880 to 1940, many of the counties in Kansas, Texas, and (to some degree) Colorado increased in the proportion of land being used for crops as well. Even so, the growth in percentage of agricultural land still seemed to be somewhat regional – there didn’t seem to be much (or any) percentage increase in the counties of New Mexico or southwest Texas.

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Sam Ellerbeck – Stage 2

The general scope of my project will pertain to the city of Omaha from the beginning of the 20th century through today. In observing the creation of medical deserts in Omaha, I think that this time frame will allow me to view hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, etc. that once existed but no longer do. This time frame also offers the ability to compare this information to locations of health-related services today. Additionally, I think that this scope is well suited to observe sociodemographic trends over time by location, such as race/ethnicity, income, etc. In comparing these two things over time, it may offer insight into where medical deserts have been generated and what groups of people have been disadvantaged by it.

In terms of sources, I think that data from phonebooks and historical maps may prove to be useful in finding locations or addresses of health services. In using this data, I think it becomes easier to find out things such as when a particular hospital closed or when a new one opened. For demographic information over time, online resources with available census data (potentially by region/zip code) would be useful, much like the 1950s census tracts data used in the Philadelphia redlining practicum. More recent online data, such as COVID-19 vaccination rates by location, would be useful in potentially showing how the creation of medical deserts in the past still affects populations in the city today.

I think that a story map will be the best way to present my analysis in a final project, as I am planning to focus on how the availability of health-related resources has changed based on location over a larger chunk of time. A story map format would allow me to generate a narrative to help explain where medical deserts have been created, what groups of people have been affected by this, and how the creation of these deserts has left lasting impacts on communities in Omaha. I don’t think that other mapping formats would allow me to do this as effectively.

As to the value of this project, I think that the results of it may tie into particular historical events we have discussed in this class, such as redlining and the multitude of social and economic disparities it created. The problems that arise with the creation of medical deserts is a very intersectional topic, and I think that viewing these occurrences in Omaha through a historical lens may allow for some understanding as to the root causes of these problems.

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Sam Ellerbeck Blog Post 7: Mapping Rural Development

Henry Gannett’s 1903 map outlines the relative distribution of wheat production in the United States at the dawn of the 20th century. At first glance, one can see that much of the land that produced large sums of this crop was concentrated across the Midwestern regions of the country, whereas the Mountain West, West, and Southern lands of the United States did not contain high densities of wheat [2]. Gannett’s map, however, also serves a greater purpose – it offers a narrative about various environmental factors and it gives the audience a degree of insight into man’s ability (and inability) to manipulate natural landscapes.

In On the great plains, Geoff Cunfer describes the variation in land use between regions the central United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, highlighting the plowing efforts of many with their eyes set on agricultural profitability. To turn natural grassland into money-making fields of crops, there were a complex set of factors that needed to be just right. The land itself needed to be relatively level; enough rainfall was required for successful growth; temperatures needed to be mild enough to retain water in the soil, but consistent enough to have a lengthy growing season; and the soil itself must have nutritive substances. Each of these variables were required in the equation of making money in the agricultural realm, and any one that was missing would certainly detract from success [1].

Returning to Gannett’s map, we can begin to infer that areas with many bushels of wheat per square mile fit the slope, rain, temperature, and soil requirements necessary for profitable farming. Even though it only displays wheat per square mile, this map tells much more about the environments, weather patterns, and climates in specific areas of the United States. Prospective land buyers may have likely used this map as a tool to assess the environmental diversity across the country, basing their purchase of land on their intended use (farming or ranching, in particular).

Lastly, Gannett’s map shows that, given the technological state of the 1900s, there is a clear limit to man’s ability to completely alter a landscape. Not all land can be stripped of its natural state and converted into an economic and agricultural tool, as seen by the light-green and beige regions of the map. Further, Cunfer records that by the 1940s, farmers attempted to plow beyond the limit allowed by the natural environment, and much of what had been plowed eventually returned to grassland. Gannett’s map is a representation of the forces of nature versus the intent of man.

In terms of the final project, I think that the analysis of this map helps me to understand how, even though a map displays one particular thing, it can still be telling of a variety of other factors. In this case, even though Gannett only mapped bushels of wheat per square mile, the map still offers great insight into physical and environmental aspects of particular regions in the United States.

[1] Cunfer, Geoff. 2005. On the great plains. Texas A&M University Press, pp. 16-37.
[2] Gannett, Henry. 1903. “Production of Wheat per Square Mile at the Twelfth Census 1900.” DavidRumsey.com.

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Sam Ellerbeck – Heat Maps and Voronoi Polygons

Heat Map
Voronoi Polygons

Aside from mortality data during an epidemic, can you think of any other situations where a heat map or Voronoi polygons would be useful ways to analyze spatial data? How might they be useful in this context of your final project?

One situation in which a Voronoi polygon may be useful would be for a business to pinpoint it’s locations of operation along with the relative proximities of its customers. This may offer a business insight as to whether or not it is worth opening new locations or closing existing ones. Voronoi polygons may also be helpful for public transportation purposes, where someone could view the map and easily find out where the nearest bus stop, subway station, etc. is located relative to their location. Heat maps could prove to be useful for many statistical purposes. For instance, any economically based data (such as interest rates as in the previous practicum) could be visualized in a heat map to better understand spatial relationships. Additionally, I usually think of heat maps used to visualize the density or frequency of made shots by location on a basketball court, where the heat map serves some importance in sports analytics.

In terms of my project, I think that Voronoi polygons may be useful, as I am planning to observe the spatial locations of pharmacies in the Omaha area and put that in context with COVID vaccination rates and community health over the last 4 years. I could create Voronoi polygons around pharmacies as the center point, and this would allow me to better analyze the distances that certain communities lie from health-related resources.

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