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Photos courtesy of NC Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development |
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Featuring Our Faculty
Geospatial Technologies
Community Outreach Interests
I am interested in promoting the adoption of geospatial technologies by communities for better land use planning, environmental quality, and natural hazards reduction. The strategy I am pursuing in outreach seeks to raise awareness, develop capacity, and proselytize the labor, time-saving, and efficiency of GIS and related technology. Many communities lack the awareness or technical wherewithal to utilize GIS. My community outreach intends to raise the public awareness of spatial decision-making, providing the layperson, government, and activists alike access to the environmental data and ultimately life-sustaining resources for an ecological foundation of sustainability. I am a highly engaged scholar who enjoys working with others in a variety of disciplines. In particular, I have become strongly allied with practitioners in public health and mosquito control, environmental management, and sustainable design, manufacturing, and planning.
Research Interests
I am fascinated by the revolution in science and technology that allows us to map with unprecedented accuracy and precision as well as to record and analyze spatial patterns and processes. I work on problems with a holistic perspective that includes the spatial dynamics of environmental systems. I am most interested in coastal ecosystems, watersheds, and landform changes (e.g., sea-level rise, coastal erosion, natural hazards, and environmental quality). Toward this, I have studied a wide range of systems, from barrier islands, shore erosion mapping techniques, mosquito-borne disease, land use and stormwater runoff, and sea-level rise. Since coastal environments offer such attractive tourism resources, my interest in sustainable tourism flows naturally from my passion for the coasts.
Notable Publications
- Allen, T. R., Tolvanen, H., Oertel, G. F., & McLeod, G. M. (2007). Spatial characterization of environmental gradients in a coastal lagoon, Chincoteague Bay, USA. Estuaries and Coasts, 30(6), 1–19.
- Allen, T. R., & Wong, D. (2006). Exploring GIS, spatial statistics, and remote sensing for risk assessment of vector-borne disease: A West Nile virus example. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 6(4/5/6), 253–275.
- Oertel, G. F., Allen, T. R, & Foyle, A. M. (2008). The influence of drainage hierarchy on pathways of barrier retreat: An example from Chincoteague Bight, Virginia, U.S.A. Southeastern Geology, 45(3), 179–208.
- Wang, Y., & Allen, T. R. (2008). Estuarine shoreline change detection using Japanese ALOS PALSAR HH and JERS-1 L-HH SAR data in the Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds, North Carolina, USA. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29(15), 4429–4442.
Courses
- GEOG 6410: Advanced Cartography
- GEOG 6230: Earth Surface Processes on the Coastal Plain
- GEOG 6440: Spatial Analysis of Coastal Environments
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