Pesticide Use Report (PUR) Mapping ToolJazmin Gonzalez

Project Summary

The Pesticide Use Mapping Tool allows users to view selected California pesticide use summaries for 2011-2015. The web application tool focuses on seven fumigants which tend to be highly volatile and can be of human health concern under high exposure. The data originates from the Pesticide Use Report database and has been summarized for the years of 2011-2015. The summaries are represented in sections (1 x 1 sq. mile) which is the smallest spatial resolution available in pesticide reporting. Through the use of the PUR mapping tool the user should be able to see trends of the seven fumigants over the last five year. Various analysis tools are available within the application as well as school polygons, air monitoring stations, CIMIS stations, county and air basins are supplemental to pesticide summaries.

Purpose

The purpose of the PUR mapping tool is to summarize pounds of use for pesticides in an interactive and efficient manner. It was built to overlay other sources of relatable information that could help depict a better set of data for human and environmental health.

Description

The web application includes data from 2011-2015 for each fumigant. The data summarizes annual use by one PLSS section (1x1 sq. mile). Due to reporting limitations, Dazomet includes only county use. Other pesticide data (Methyl Bromide and Chloropicrin) are represented by a section and the county level. These two fumigants lose some spatial data based on requirements for reporting on various sites the pesticide is applied on. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has studied factors in communities (traffic, ozone, groundwater, population, unemployment, pesticides and many more) and from their result ranked communities with a “CES score” which has been included as a layer. A hot spot analysis was created for this data set and the map shows disadvantaged communities in red based on their designated factors. Current and past air monitoring stations monitored by CDPR and Air Resources Board were also chosen. At no surprise, the data show high use fumigant areas tend to be where air monitoring stations are located. A schools layer composed of 10,000 public, charter and Native American K-12 is a selectable layer (from Greeninfo.org). A feature class with active CIMIS weather station is also an option to view. A county and an air basin layer can be accessed for reference if needed.

Widgets available for use in the PUR mapping tool web map application are:

Analysis-

- Hot Spot- User can create hot spot analysis on any layer and any year of pesticide- Create buffer

-Merge layers- The user can merge any two layers.

Find Nearest- This tool can be used to find the nearest Active CIMIS station in a designated location.

Chart- This features creates an annual summary for each pesticide in a column, pie and line graph.

Basemap- This option gives the user freedom to choose various basemaps.

Print- This tool allows user to export map in a pdf view.

Select- Allows to select any data from a list of layers and allows the use to export that selection.

Filter- One filter is pre-loaded, “Methyl Bromide use in the San Joaquin Valley (8 counties) The user may come up with their own filter by clicking on the attribute table and selecting custom filter.

Add Data- Permission to search AGOL and bring in data from other sources. Example of useful information to be included is soil types throughout the state.

Methodology

First, a list of DPR chemical codes used to identify active ingredients in the Pesticide Use Report database was compiled. Next, access to the Pesticide Use Report database, hosted by the Department of Pesticide Regulation was accessible through work privilages. Using the DPR chem- codes and Benthic’s Golden 6 program, I queried pesticide data from the SQL server.

Data was exported to Microsoft Excel where pivot tables helped summarize annual use by PLSS section. Data was properly formatted for each pesticide.

Excel tables were converted to a geodatabase table in the personal file geodatabase created for the project. A PLSS MTRS shape file was downloaded from Dept. of Pesticide Regulation shared GIS drive. Using Arcmap each pesticide table and the MTRS shape file was imported to create a join using MTRS.

Matching joins were selected and data was then exported to complete a standalone join. Finally, the data was shared as a feature service to the cloud.

Once the data was online, a web map which included all the pesticides was configured. The default setting for each pesticide shows a graded color scheme for 2011-2015 sum of use represented by a PLSS section. Each PLSS section can be clicked and a pop-up window shows rows of data for 5 years and a sum for 2011-

2015 followed by a column chart. Links to photos were added for the air monitoring station layer by including a column in the attributes table with the photo url.

Hot spot analysis was performed on the Cal Enviro Screen Score and a new layer was created.

A second hot spot analysis was chosen for 1,3-d since it had the highest use out of 2011-2015.

Challenges

The biggest problem encountered through the creation of the web application was formatting the data. I had issues showing multiple years of data in one year, but reformatting rows to columns was the solution. One other issue was getting multiple photos displayed in the pop ups for the air monitoring station layer. The solution was to create a flickr account and re-format the attribute table to include an additional column for a picture url. The photo link was entered and those interested in viewing the monitoring station can choose to select it. At times, when trying to publish the feature services to the cloud, it didn’t always work. A large data set may have hindered the response times of the application. As a result, I have turned off all but one layer when the application is opened.

Discussion

After working through challenges of creating the Pesticide Use Reporting tool, I am happy with the end result. Initially, the plan was to include more groups of pesticides in the summary, but I quickly learned ArcGis Online may not be able to handle a large data set in its current state. In the future, I would like to add wind rose diagrams as an embedded photo in the pop ups for the CIMIS weather stations. Fumigants tend to have high volatility, so wind rose data would provide a better idea of wind direction. In addition to having summaries of pounds of pesticides, future goals are to include summaries for site of pesticide applications. This data is beneficial to see trends of use. Working at DPR, the data is easily available; the tough part would be cleaning up the data. The next step is to move the application into DPR’s arcgisonline organizational account. Until DPR finalizes the needs assessment of a GIS public site, the air program will have the application for internal use. In just one week, I have already used the application to pitch ideas to the program on how it’s potential. The response has been well received and I look forward to building this tool for internal and public use.