Missoula Heat Risk Index
The problem
How can city planners prioritize areas of a city most at risk from heat islands? This portfolio project creates a heat risk index for Missoula, Montana; combining data on population, surface temperature, and tree cover across the city to determine the areas that could benefit most from tree cover.
Cities and other urban environments can create urban heat islands, areas where things like buildings, concrete, glass, cars, and lack of shade can contribute to hotter temps — up to a 20-deg F difference compared with other shadier or greener communities in the same city.
Approach
I used the Storymaps platform to accomplish this project because of its strong ability to weave together geographic information with various other media like images, videos, audio, and data visualizations into a story that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Skills
Research: into urban heat island impacts and examples of community resilience.
GIS: analysis for creating a composite index focused on vulnerability to heat.
Writing, design, storytelling
Results
I used this demonstration to secure multiple contract projects using Storymaps as a data storytelling platform.
