Stockton Maple Project

A team of Stockton faculty members has been awarded a three-year United States Department of Agriculture grant to promote maple sugaring in the South Jersey region through research and community outreach. The project aims to collect data to investigate the science and economic potential of a maple syrup industry in non-traditional syrup production regions, such as southern New Jersey. They will also research the environmental impact of the tapping on the trees and local wildlife.

I was tasked with the generation of maps and spatial datasets that show location of hubs, hub participants, potential participants, and abundance of maple trees in southern NJ using ArcGIS mapping software and Online services. This independent study aimed to create a comprehensive map showing hub owners and participants, identify which participants belong to which hub owner based on travel distance, overlay Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) data for red maple and sugar maple, and find potential locations of new participants. A final web-based mapping application was created using ArcGIS Online to considolate my data and geospatial analyses.