Loss of Prime Farmland in Duxbury, Massachusetts

This project and resulting map were made to represent different soil types in Massachusetts, focusing on Duxbury, and how this land has been effected by impervious surfaces. Each of the three farmland types have physical and chemical differences, making Prime Farmland the most ideal soil to have farmland on. Farmland of statewide importance is a slightly less desirable soil but still ideal for different farm uses. Farmland of unique importance is defined as less conventional farmland, such as cranberry bogs, which are considered a type of farmland however since they are located on wetlands, this type of land would not be eligible to build on. This project calculated how many square kilometers of these three types of farmland were lost to impervious surfaces.

Raster data about the soils were used to create a map in the ArcMap program, and information from the attribute tables of the layers are combined to make sense of the data and show where the types of farmland are being lost to construction of things such as impervious surfaces.

Figure 1. This map shows the loss of prime farmland in Duxbury, broken down into the three categories.

	Count	Square Kilometers
Total study area size	623,266	623.266
Prime farmland	47,026	47.026
Farmland of statewide importance	90,766	90.766
Farmland of unique importance	24,703	24.703

Table 1. This table shows the total area of farmland types in the study area of Duxbury, Massachusetts.

	Count	Square Kilometers
Prime Farmland Lost	4,845	4.845
Farmland of statewide importance lost	8,028	8.028
Farmland of unique importance lost	626	0.626

Table 2. This table shows the loss of farmland by farmland type in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Conclusions: The data and map show that some farmland in each of the farmland categories has been lost to imperious surfaces. Farmland of statewide importance lost the most land at 8 square kilometers. This is most likely due to the land being versatile, and the fact that most farmland is also a good area to build on due to the soil composition not being too wet. The least land lost was that of unique importance. This is most likely due to this land being comprised of wetlands, causing the land to be much harder to build on and less desirable for any construction. 

Using the Web Collector Application

In this project, Esri's Web collector app was used with ArcMap to create an application that can be interactive with mobile users, and allow them to add data to the map. The app is used to map the emergency poles and blue light system around Bridgewater State University's campus. 

Description of the application: This application was created to help students and others on Bridgewater State University’s campus to learn where the emergency poles/ blue light system poles are located around the campus. This could be especially helpful for new students trying to learn where things are around campus and to know where these poles are in case of an emergency. The map can be found online at http://arcg.is/2kk9TKb.

Field Name	Type of Field	Possible values
Feet from sidewalk	Float	0-300 ft
Cameras	Text	Present or not present
Visibility	Text	1,2,3 (high to low)
BSU police instructions	Text	Present or not present
Color	Text	Blue or other color
Team member	Text	Brittney, Nathaniel, Steve

Table 1. This table shows the different attributes used in the application for the emergency poles. In the application, users are promoted to answer each of the questions, or attributes, to give information about each emergency pole. 

Figure 1: Here, there are nine emergency poles plotted using the web app. Each of the points/poles has information about the pole as well as a picture of that specific pole.

Conclusions: This application could be improved by adding in the scale description of the visibility to allow users to more accurately rate the visibility of the poles. It could also be improved by adding a field that indicates if the pole is located in a parking lot or on the sidewalk to give a better idea of where the pole is.

The collector’s app can be used for many different topics to make maps of. For example, a good use for this app that would definitely be helpful to students is using the app to identify the best restaurants near campus, or the best coffee shops. Students could write reviews on the app to help other decide what restaurant or coffee shop would be best for them to go to. Another idea could be locations of walking trails or outdoor activities nearby that students would enjoy.