SMC Students Track & Analyze the Canyon’s Geography

Allina Tadesse

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

Geography students from Santa Monica College will soon begin surveying the Canyon in order to develop an accurate map of its narrow roads, intermittent staircases, and other unique features to use in an emergency.

Allinta Tadesse, 23, will be leading the effort. The UC Santa Barbara graduate is fascinated by geographic Information systems (GIS) technology, which can combine 3D maps with a database of information, and the ability of that system to provide guidance on public health and environmental issues.

“In my career, I would love to be able to integrate GIS with public health work,” said Tadesse, who will be pursuing an online master’s degree in public health at UC Berkeley this fall. “Part of the reason why I joined the Canyon Alliance team was because I was very motivated by the fact that this is something that I can do right now to help the community.”

A screenshot of the ArcGIS QuickCapture interface

Tadesse, who is studying GIS technology at SMC this summer, has developed an interface using the ArcGIS app’s QuickCapture function to enable students and residents to log the coordinates and features of the Canyon landscape in order to better synchronize residents and first responders during a disaster. The app tracks the longitude and latitude of a user’s phone, and the user can then input photos and details about the landscape that might be either helpful or problematic during a disaster.

Tadesse tailored the interface to Canyon features, and she and fellow students have been experimenting with it in their own neighborhoods to uncover potential bugs and other issues. On Aug. 16, the students will gather in the Canyon to test the app by logging the area’s hydrants, driveway gates, construction projects, obstructions, overgrown brush, staircases, and waste. In September, they are hoping that some Canyon residents will volunteer to join them to further test the interface while also gathering more data on the Canyon’s facets. (Email Tadesse at tadesse_allinta01@student.smc.edu if you would like to help.)

The precision of mapping can be tricky, Tadesse said. Different phones may report slightly different coordinates for the same spot. In addition, even though a phone might be close to a landscape feature, sometimes it might be dangerous for the user to get too close. The photo function should help with identification, but more data from multiple users will also allow the students to analyze that data and create higher accuracy in the final map.  

“Our biggest goal would be cleaning the data and seeding out which points we can use and then which points might not be the most accurate,” Tadesse said. “Generally, you want to collect as much data as possible so you have a better group of information to work with.”

The students will also be reaching out to first responders to get their feedback on the system, so that the final product will be as helpful as possible to the community, Tadesse said. At the same time, the students are conscious of how important privacy and data safety is to members of the community.

“The fires have been a really stressful thing, so having a better way to make sure everyone is safe and accounted for is important,” Tadesse said. “But we’re also walking a tightrope. We want to increase accessibility to information while making sure the information is still secure and private and doesn’t compromise the people we’re trying to help.”