Current Projects

El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization
*9/1/2012 – 8/31/2013* SpARC provides geospatial support by aggregating relevant data that will be useful to the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization. Some completed aspects of this project include an online interactive map of political boundaries and representatives, air-quality mapping, transportation mapping, and data collection with respect to the El Paso district.
City of Las Cruces, iTree
*5/28/2013 - 6/30/2013* The iTree project collects and evaluates data of the trees currently planted in the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The trees are evaluated with respect to maintenance, water usage, and pollutant removing capabilities. This program has been completed and effective at New Mexico State University and will soon expand to be used at a city-wide level. SpARC provides all analysis, data collection, and further GIS recourses for the sustainable project.
Civil Engineering, New Mexico Department of Transportation
*5/17/2013 - 5/16/2016* SpARC has been recruited to collect New Mexico soil maps and data in order to provide better highway transportation in New Mexico. Further GIS analysis is being done to provide correct placement for new highways.
New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Border Geographic Information System
*5/27/11 - 12/31/13* The U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on transportation planning (JWC) is a binational group whose primary focus is to cooperate on land transportation planning along and across the U.S.-Mexico border and the facilitation of efficient, safe, and economical cross-border transportation movements. The group is comprised primarily of transportation professionals from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Mexican Secretariat of Communication and Transportation (SCT), staff within states departments of transportation in the U.S. and Mexico, and other federal officials in the U.S. and Mexico. In the last several years, the JWC, working through the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), has contracted the Department of Geography and the Spatial Applications Research Center at New Mexico State University (NMSU) on the Border Infrastructure Needs Study and Binational GIS Project (BINS/BGIS). Project outcomes and products are hosted at this site and the linked web pages accessed from this site. Link to project pages.
Examination of Rise to Groundwater from Onsite Wastewater Management Systems
*5/7/12 - 11/7/13* In large portions of Dona Ana County, New Mexico and the municipio de Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, rural residents rely on on-site wastewater management systems (hereafter referred to as onsite systems) to handle residential wastewater needs. Owing to disperse spatial concentration, the age and size of systems, and maintenance issues, these systems generate a major potential risk to groundwater resources in the region. In this proposal, we propose to work with relevant government agencies to compile a spatially referenced inventory of onsite systems, conduct a risk assessment of the risk that these systems generate to groundwater quality, and develop and execute an outreach program to increase public awareness of the risks that are present and how to best manage these risks. This proposed work directly and clearly addresses the first and second objectives under Goal 1 of the RFP, Reduce Water Contamination. Direct outcomes of the project that meet these objectives include the development of a spatially referenced database of onsite systems, scientifically generated identification of specific areas that are at risk that will be of use to relevant governmental agencies, an increased awareness among the public of the risks involved and how to best manage them, and the development of a toolbox that would be very useful to other parts of the border region that face similar challenges and issues.
Dona Ana County Housing and Urban Development, Sustainable Communities Planning Grant
*11/21/12 - 12/31/13* The SpARC Lab is the creator of a cooperative GIS databank which houses metadata from different organizations in the southwest region. Maintenance is also handled through the SpARC lab. The link to the Dona Ana County Data portal can be found here.
San Juan County Selenium Project
*1/15/13 - 1/31/15* SpARC is the GIS resource for data collection and analysis of selenium contamination in the irrigation canals of San Juan County. Selenium contamination had been found due to a mining operation and is now being removed to maintain healthy living in this area.
New Mexico State University Geography Department
*Continuous* The SpARC Lab provides technical, geographic, and cartographic support for the geography department of New Mexico State University. This close relationship has provided further student/professor interaction and work experience for undergraduates of the geography department.

The NMSU Geography Department would like to hear from you. We welcome your comments