Bondurant adopted Chapter 167 Stream Buffer Protection and Management in an effort to protect the various streams that flow through its city limits. This project will include the mapping of the streams that flow through Bondurant, applying the appropriate buffer zone to each zone, and/or applying the appropriate maintenance zone to each stream. Students in ICIGO will help Bondurant citizens as well as city staff identify undevelopable land surrounding these streams. 

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students created an interactive GIS map for the Maquoketa River watershed. The students used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to make a user-friendly map showing important features of the watershed. 

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students digitized hand made files of the current sewer and water system in Preston, Iowa using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. 

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students conducted an on-site tree study and created a GIS-based digital inventory tool for city-owned trees in Manchester, Iowa.

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students used GIS to analyze risk factors and indicators of emergency management hotspots in Waterloo.

Community Risk Reduction is defined as “a process to identify and prioritize local risks, followed by the integrated and strategic investment of resources (emergency response and prevention) to reduce their occurrence and impact” (Vision 20/20).

Students in the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences created visually-appealing and dynamic maps to show organizational and jurisdictional subsections of Waterloo.

The team used GIS applications to create a user-friendly online map that allows residents to easily access boundary information of distinct parts of the city, including all 31 neighborhood associations, wards and precincts, census tracts, and more.

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students examined wayfinding placement in Webster City, Iowa. They used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to identify and recommend placement locations for signage within the city. 

Webster City requested assistance with several GIS projects. The students updated and maintained easement and land records, as well as examined the overall use of GIS within Webster City to determine best practices. 

As part of the ICIGO student organization within the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences, students created maps of lead and copper utility lines in Keokuk. 

In a report to the the East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), a student in the Geographical & Sustainability Studies: Senior Project Seminar class completed an independent project that evaluated spatial relationships between Brownfields sites and public school buildings, using free and reduced lunch rates as an indicator of vulnerability.  

In a report to the City of Mason City and North Iowa Farmers’ Market Board of Directors, a student in the Geographical & Sustainability Studies: Senior Project Seminar class completed an independent project that evaluated two Mason City farmers market site locations based on mobility and accessibility indicators. 

Students in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences course GIS for Environmental Studies course conducted a flooding risk assessment for the Cerro Gordo County Emergency Management Agency using HAZUS modeling software. 

Students in a geography class completed two separate projects for Iowa City. The first project focused on the ecological functions of roadside vegetation in Iowa City, including identification of roadside land area in the city that can be prioritized for re-planting and re-design as native vegetation areas. The second project focused on urban raptors.