The Laboratory of Compuational Spatial Science for Sustainability (COMPASS Lab) is a research group in the School of Geoscience at University of South Florida. The COMPASS Lab conducts research on GIScience and Spatial Data Science to promote resilience and sustainability of human communities facing natural hazards and climate change. The lab is led by Dr. Yi Qiang, an Associate Professor at USF Geosciences.
Xiang Li published his study on evacuation in 2022 Hurricane Ian in Annals of GIS. [Access]
Megan Grove successfully defended her Master thesis in March 2024. [Access to thesis]
Md Zakaria Salim successfully defended his Master thesis in March 2024. [Access to thesis]
Using data science and spatial analysis techniques, we detected notable changes in population movements, both within Florida and nationwide, which are potentially linked to the hurricane-induced population evacuation. The distance decay pattern of population flows from Florida demonstrates a propensity for individuals to relocate to nearby areas during the hurricane. Furthermore, the increase in population outflows from the impacted areas suggests the effectiveness of mandatory evacuation orders. A more pronounced increase in outflows from designated mandatory evacuation areas points to the public awareness of the evacuation zone designation. This study provides large-scale, fine-resolution analysis of evacuation behaviours in natural disasters which cannot be easily detected in traditional data sources.
Publications:
Li, X., Qiang, Y., & Cervone, G. (2024). Using human mobility data to detect evacuation patterns in hurricane Ian. Annals of GIS. [access]
We use night-time light remote sensing images to detect disturbance and recovery of human activities in natural disasters. Our study demonstrates that NTL remote sensing is a low cost, efficient and large-scale data acquisition method to analyze community resilience.
Publications:
Qiang, Y., Huang, Q., Xu, J., (2020) “Observing Disaster Resilience from Space: Using Nighttime Lights to Model Economic Disturbance and Recovery Pattern in Natural Disaster”, Sustainable Cities and Society [ pdf ]
Xu, J. & Qiang, Y. (2021). “Spatial Assessment of Community Resilience from 2012 Hurricane Sandy using Nighttime Light”. Remote Sensing. [pdf]
We use crowdsourced traffic data in Google Maps to monitor road network condition in extreme weather events (e.g. a winter storm). We found that accessibility to critical facilities reduces due to weather impacts and the recovery process differs in different places. This method can provide support for emergency response and assessment of road network resilience.
Publications
Qiang, Y., Xu. J., (2020) “Empirical assessment of road network resilience in natural hazards using crowdsourced traffic data”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science. vol: 12(34) pp.2434-2450. DOI: 10.1080/13658816.2019.1694681 [pdf]
We used GIS and digital elevation models (DEM) to map ocean visibility in Oahu, Honolulu. The result shows that oceanview is unequally shared by different population groups. Also, the oceanfront high-rise buildings has caused significant
Publications:
Qiang, Y., Shen, S., and Chen, Q. (2019) “Visibility Analysis of Oceanic Blue Space Using Digital Elevation Models”, Landscape and Urban Planning. vol:181. DOI:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.09.019 [pdf]
We conducted national assessment of flood exposure of population and critical infrastructures. It is estimated that 21.8 million (6.87% of) U.S. population are exposed to 100-year-flood in 2015. At a national scale, economically disadvantaged population are more likely to reside in flood zones than outside. At a local scale, this trend varies at different places. Our studies provides baseline information for policymaking at different levels of administration and pinpoints local areas where diversified and ad hoc strategies are needed to mitigate flood risk.
Publications:
Qiang, Y. (2019) “Disparities of Population Exposed to Flood Hazards in the United States”, Journal of Environmental Management. vol: 232 (15). DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.039 [pdf]
Qiang, Y. (2019) “Flood Exposure of Critical Infrastructure in the United States”, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. vol: 39, DOI:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101240 [pdf]
Compass was invented in China during the Han Dynasty (200 BC - 100 AD) where it was called the "south-governor" (sīnán 司南). The original form of compass is a spoon-shaped lodestone placed in the center of a plate. In the Age of Exploration, compass had a profound influence on geography and the shaping of the world. In the 21st century, the COMPASS Lab leverages data and computing revolutions to study environment-human interactions for a sustainable future.
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