THE EXTRACTION OF LAND COVER DATA FOR 13 NORTHEAST GEORGIA WATERSHEDS BY STUDENTS IN A PROJECT BASED GIS COURSE

The purpose of this project was to generate land cover data to support the Soque Watershed Association’s efforts to identify non-point pollution sources in the Soque watershed. Land cover data was extracted, by students in an advanced level GIS course, for eleven smaller watersheds from within the Soque watershed, plus two additional small watersheds from outside the Soque watershed. Smaller watersheds were selected based on nutrient loadings, as indicated in nutrient heat maps, and accessibility for field sampling. Watersheds were delineated by using a combination of automated (using the Spatial Analyst/Hydrology Toolset) and non-automated processes. We converted each watershed raster into a vector layer for editing and data extraction purposes. Land cover rasters were produced for each watershed layer and for buffer layers generated around streams within watersheds. These were used to produce a spreadsheet of land cover values from each watershed and buffer area. The Soque Watershed Association intends to use this data to investigate the relationships between land cover within watersheds and nutrients loadings at selected sample points.