Hotspots for Growth

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Our study contributes to the ongoing debate about the ability of Maryland's Priority Funding Area (PFA) program to control urban sprawl. We develop an economic-based land use conversion model to estimate if the PFA program steers urban growth to locations inside targeted growth areas within a fast-growing, exurban county. The results indicate that the size of an agricultural parcel, its distance from urban parcels, its proximity to highways, the productivity of agricultural land, and location in or outside PFAs influence the probability an agricultural parcel will be converted to urban use. We find that some of the parcels experiencing the greatest market pressure for development are located outside PFAs, and Maryland's incentive-based strategy is not completely effective at preventing sprawl.

Takeaway for practice: Careful design of the location of entrances and exits on and off highways, limitation of agricultural parcel fragmentation, and vigilant control of land use change in unproductive agricultural areas can limit sprawl. Our analysis highlights, yet again, the importance of communication between transportation and land use planners.

Research support: The research was supported by funding from the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agroecology, Inc.     

Publications Received

Problem: Most housing programs in the United States do not focus on the most pressing housing needs. In 2003 more than 13 million households spent at least half their incomes on rent or the costs of homeownership, an increase of more than 35% since 1993. The vast majority of these households were poor. Yet housing policy has shifted away from deep-subsidy programs targeted to the poorest households toward providing shallow subsidies to higher-income households.

Purpose: This article considers whether, given that the federal government is unlikely to increase funding for low-income housing, state and local governments are likely to increase housing assistance to the lowest-income households in the future, how such assistance could be structured, and how states and localities might be persuaded or compelled to provide this assistance.

Methods: We examine the income distribution of households supported by major programs administered by state and local governments and the extent to which these programs target the poor and provide them with sufficient levels of subsidy. We reviewed program data reported to funding agencies and trade associations, census data on housing problems compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and data from surveys of policies and practices conducted by academic researchers and policy organizations.

Results and conclusions: We find that the shift to state and local administration of federal funds has not significantly shifted priorities. We provide evidence that states are not using their discretion go beyond federal requirements, and are not serving income groups below those they are required to serve. Locally funded programs are less likely to target the poor than state or federal programs.

Takeaway for practice: Rather than hoping for substantial local housing assistance targeted to the poor, we recommend making more effective use of existing federal resources.

Research support: None.     

Club Goods and Local Government

Problem: Private approaches to urban service provision are becoming more popular. Some argue these approaches are more efficient and more democratic than government provision because they are voluntary. While these club approaches can shift the burden of infrastructure finance to direct groups of users, they can also fragment urban service delivery and justify unevenness in service quality across the city.

Purpose: This article explores examples of club goods, that is, common interest developments (CIDS) for housing, business improvement districts (BIDs) for commercial areas, and economic development zones (EDZs) for commercial and industrial areas, and assesses their implications for local government. Emphasis is given to how clubs internalize benefits to members of the club but shed externalities onto the broader local government system. A critical governance concern is the impact on the long-term ability of local government to coordinate across disparate elements and interests in the community.

Methods: I discuss three types of clubs ranging from totally private common interest developments (home owners associations), to partially private business improvement districts, to totally public economic development zones. These club types are analyzed in terms of economic benefits, externalities, governance structure, and broader concerns with equity and sustainability.

Results and conclusions: Club good approaches to urban infrastructure delivery enhance private investment and reduce costs to cities, but they also shed externalities onto the broader city. Although these clubs are often private associations, this article shows how they are critically supported by government, beyond the property rights requirement assumed by most theorists. A further concern is that club approaches may undermine support for equity and redistribution at the broader city level.

Takeaway for practice: Local governments are under pressure to provide public goods efficiently and engage private voluntary approaches whenever possible. The efficiency and popularity of club approaches derives in part from their ability to capture the benefits of increased investment for internal benefit. However, local government managers also must manage diversity and build public support for investment to ensure equity across the urban territory. Balancing the benefits of club goods with the need for broader urban integration is a key challenge for planners and urban managers.

Research support: None.     

Vernacular Culture and Urban Economic Development: Thinking Outside the (Big) Box

Problem: This article addresses the increasing homogeneity of urban commercial areas and the loss of local culture associated with this trend. It seeks to identify strategies that build effectively on vernacular culture as an asset in neighborhood development.

Purpose: We aim to identify tools that advance the cultural preservation approach to urban economic development and to describe instances in which planners and neighborhood groups have applied these tools successfully.

Methods: We completed a wide-ranging literature review to identify the characteristics of places that have employed cultural preservation approaches and conducted six case studies involving 43 interviews in five cities.

Results and conclusions: Our interviews and case studies showed us that there are at least three types of anchors in neighborhoods with strong vernacular culture: 1) markets; 2) ethnic areas and heritage sites; 3) and arts-and-culture venues and districts. Although the balance between preservation and development will be different in each place, we did cull some widely applicable lessons learned while conducting our fieldwork: a) involve residents; b) find assets in local needs; c) transfer lessons rather than replicating others' work; d) create opportunities for ownership; e) if it doesn't exist, invent it; and f) balance culture and commerce. Our analysis also suggests that a neighborhood wishing to pursue a neighborhood development strategy based on vernacular culture should have at least one of the anchors listed above and strong, community-based organizations.

Takeaway for practice: We argue that it is both possible and preferable to advance an urban economic development strategy based on the local cultural assets that exist in urban neighborhoods. Our research illustrates different paths that places have taken to advance this kind of strategy and provides several ways for local planners and policymakers to integrate the maintenance of vernacular culture into their larger economic development plans.

Research support: Our research was supported by the Fannie Mae Foundation.     

Neighborhood Policy Options The Reagan Agenda

Abstract

Although neither articulated a clear, coherent neighborhood policy, presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan both came into office advocating neighborhood revitalization and increased neighborhood self-sufficiency as key elements of their urban policies. These common policy goals and shared vocabulary prompt two basic questions: How do the Carter and Reagan administration's policies toward neighborhoods differ? And are the differences important? This article uses three criteria to describe the Reagan administration's neighborhood policy and compare it to that of the Carter administration—the level of public spending on neighborhood-level activities, the process used to allocate assistance, and the mechanisms used to implement policy goals. Comparing budgetary appropriations shows that the Reagan administration's cuts in spending on spatially targeted programs and withdrawal of direct funding of neighborhood groups are major changes from Carter policies. The increasing use of tax expenditures and the reliance on market forces to achieve neighborhood policy goals, however, appear to have more significant political consequences for neighborhood groups.     

The Impact of Local Supporters on Smart Growth Policy Adoption

Problem: To succeed, the smart growth movement must be active at the local level. However, little is known about the movement's composition and effects.

Purpose: This research aims to identify who pursues smart growth at the local level, what types of smart growth policies are being adopted, and the impact of supporters on the types of policies adopted.

Methods: Using surveys I conducted with planning and development officials in 202 cities and other data, I estimate regression models predicting the effects of local activism and other possible influences on the number of smart growth, land preserving, and inner-city redevelopment policies these cities adopted.

Results and conclusions: I found that (a) as the number of types of groups promoting smart growth increases, cities adopt more smart growth policies; (b) the supporters of smart growth have more impact on the adoption of land preserving policies than on the policies associated with inner-city redevelopment; and (c) cities in states that require comprehensive planning adopt more smart growth policies.

Takeaway for practice: Politics prevents many cities from adopting comprehensive smart growth policies, though state laws that mandate comprehensive planning at the local level appear to encourage them. Planners can build support for smart growth by inviting environmental groups to the table and by devising smart growth policies that encourage both land preservation and inner-city densification.

Research support: None.     

Citizen Participation in Planning: The Relationship Between Objectives and Techniques

Problem: As Richard Florida's writings about the creative class garnered attention across the globe, planners and local government officials responded by enacting policies to attract and retain creative workers, often favoring spending for amenity and lifestyle attractions over more established economic development approaches. It is not clear, however, if the presence of these workers drives regional growth and development as effectively as more traditionally accepted place-based and institutional factors.

Purpose: In this article we explore the relationships between the presence of the creative class and regional economic performance, contrasting measures of regional creative capacity with traditional competitiveness factors.

Methods: We examine how Florida's creative class measures correlate with each other and with common indicators of economic performance for U.S. metropolitan areas. We also estimate multivariate regression models to compare the influence of Florida's measures to those of more traditional indicators of economic competitiveness on metropolitan job growth, income growth, and job instability.

Results and conclusions: We find that differences in Florida's measures of creativity are not generally associated with differences in metropolitan economic performance. Indicators of human capital and industry composition perform as well or better than talent, tolerance, and technology in explaining metropolitan job and income growth and job instability.

Takeaway for practice: Since we find measures derived from Florida's creative class hypotheses to be no more associated with positive economic outcomes than traditional competitiveness measures, we do not advocate replacing traditional economic development strategies with those based primarily on attracting the creative class. Programs supporting education, business creation, and industrial diversity are more likely to be effective tools for promoting economic well-being.

Research support: We received support from the Center for the Study of the American South and the Office of Economic and Business Development's Program on Southern Politics, Media, and Public Life, both of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.     

Potential gains from more efficient spending on Texas highways

The Federal Highway Administration developed a state-level version of its Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS-ST) model to help states plan and manage their highway systems. Unlike frameworks that consider engineering sufficiency criteria only, the HERS-ST model also allows economic evaluation based on benefit-cost analysis. This study employs the model to address two questions about the level and allocation of investment spending on Texas highways: (1) Does the level of spending fall short of what is economically warranted and, if so, by how much? (2) Could a reallocation of spending between urban and rural areas, and among the highway functional classes produce substantial benefits? The results suggest that Texas is indeed under-investing in highway by a substantial amount. TxDOT expenditure on highway investments within the scope of HERS-ST averaged $2.7 billion per year during the 5 years starting FY 2000, and continuation of recent trends would bring the annual average for the 20 years starting in that year to about $3.4 billion. Relative to this 20 -year projected level of spending, our estimates from HERS-ST indicate that a near doubling would be economically warranted. The results also indicate that reallocation of investment spending, relative to the recent historical pattern, would produce substantial benefits. These gains are estimated at over $5.6 billion per year from reallocating funds from rural to urban areas, and over $1.0 billion per year from reallocating urban and rural funding among highway classes. The estimates are only broad indications, however, and numerous caveats apply.     

Response to APA Comment (Drinan, 2015)

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local governments often react to sprawl by adopting urban containment policies to limit fringe growth and encourage core development. An alternative is to design impact fee programs accounting for the higher costs of providing services to remote locations. Zone-based impact fee programs carry this potential, but there is no empirical work investigating their effect on residential development. We explored the effects of a zone-based impact fee program on residential permits issued across the Albuquerque, NM, metropolitan statistical area using 21 years of data, identifying countervailing influences on density. The program mitigated sprawl by reducing the share of construction occurring near the urban fringe and by increasing the share in more centrally located areas, but there is no evidence the program increased core development. During a brief period when Albuquerque had impact fees but an adjacent community did not, we observed spillover effects that exacerbated sprawl.

Takeaway for practice: Planners managing sprawl can use zone-based impact fee programs that account for the higher costs of fringe development to effectively increase the density of residential construction, but it may be necessary to use regional programs or coordinated efforts to prevent spillover to adjacent communities.     

Do Strict Land Use Regulations Make Metropolitan Areas More Segregated by Income?

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Income segregation has risen in each of the last four decades in U.S. metropolitan areas, which can have lifelong impacts on the health, economic productivity, and behaviors of residents. Although it is widely assumed that local land use regulations—such as minimum lot sizes and growth controls—exclude low-income households from wealthier neighborhoods, the empirical research is surprisingly limited. We examine the relationship between land use regulation and segregation by income using new measures for the 95 biggest cities in the United States. We find that density restrictions are associated with the segregation of the wealthy and middle income, but not the poor. We also find that more local pressure to regulate land use is linked to higher rates of income segregation, but that more state control is connected to lower-income segregation.

Takeaway for practice: Density restrictions do drive urban income segregation of the rich, not the poor, but should be addressed because rich enclaves create significant metropolitan problems. Planners at the local level need assistance from regional and state efforts to ameliorate income segregation. Inclusionary housing requirements have a greater potential to reduce income segregation than bringing higher-income households into lower-income parts of the city. Finally, comprehensive and consistent data on the impacts of local land use regulations should be collected to inform future research and planning practice.     

School Siting

Problem: The United States is embarking on an unprecedented era of school construction even as debate continues over where schools should be located and how much land they should occupy.

Purpose: My three goals for this study were to trace the evolution of school siting standards, to explain the factors currently influencing school facility location decisions, and to identify what local and regional planners could contribute to school siting decisions.

Methods: I reviewed the land use planning and educational facilities literatures on school siting and conducted in-depth interviews with school facility planners from 10 counties in Maryland and northern Virginia to assess their perspectives on the school planning process.

Results and conclusions: I discovered that different groups use very different definitions of community school. Smart growth proponents advocate community schools that are small and intimately linked to neighborhoods, while school facility planners expect community schools to meet the needs of entire localities. I recommend that individual communities consider the tradeoffs associated with different school sizes and make choices that meet local preferences for locations within walking distance of students, potential for sports fields, school design, and connections to neighborhoods. State school construction and siting policies should support flexibility for localities.

Takeaway for practice: Local and regional planners should work with school facility planners to conduct exercises and charettes to help each community determine how to realize its own vision of community schools.

Research support: The School of Architecture at the University of Virginia and the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supported this research.     

Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City

Problem: Suburban areas have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet little is known about the magnitude of reductions that can be expected or which strategies are most promising. Local GHG reduction strategies are often capital investments such as new green buildings, ignoring the promise of operational strategies.

Purpose: The research is intended to support local planning efforts for GHG reduction in areas where land uses are separated and transit use is low. It is also intended to contribute to the dialogue on the potential for local actions versus broader state, federal, or international initiatives.

Methods: Using the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP) campus in eastern Los Angeles County as a case study, this ex ante evaluation estimates the cost effectiveness of eight capital and operating GHG-reduction strategies. It uses locally developed estimation methods in combination with the Clean Air-Cool Planet GHG inventory model.

Results and conclusions: Carbon neutrality in suburban areas is a fantasy unless there are supportive energy, transportation, and carbon sequestration initiatives at the state, national, and international level. We find that local operational strategies, such as online classes and alternative scheduling, green energy purchase, and parking pricing and carpool programs have merit. Greater results are achieved when operational strategies are combined with cost-effective capital investments such as land use mixing (in this case, on-campus housing). Even so, some of the most favored capital approaches, such as a new green building or building commuter rail transit station facilities, rank near the bottom in cost effectiveness.

Takeaway for practice: Given the urgency of reducing GHG emissions, local planners and activity center managers should evaluate both capital and operating strategies and implement the most cost-effective strategies in new and existing development.

Research support: Support for this research was provided by the President's Office, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.     

Infrastructure as Practice

Abstract

To design infrastructure is to design a built form that can be generative and directive: it has the potential to create place and suggest future growth. Yet transportation infrastructure in North America is routinely designed as isolated, mono-functioning works of engineering. In urban areas, this singular approach often leaves areas of adjacent land as vacant and unviable public space discouraging to other patterns and modes of movement. Conversely, new infrastructure in dense urban areas could be developed that promotes public space and includes cultural and social agendas as primary generators of built urban form. This new approach would weave novel, responsive elements into an existing fabric, generating a multiplicity of connections, program, and places.     

What Is a Forecast for?

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The forecasts transit agencies submit in support of applications for federal New Starts funding have historically overestimated ridership, as have ridership forecasts for rail projects in several countries and contexts. Forecast accuracy for New Starts projects has improved over time. Understanding the motivations of forecasters to produce accurate or biased forecasts can help forecast users determine whether to trust new forecasts. For this study I interviewed 13 transit professionals who have helped prepare or evaluate applications for federal New Starts funds. This sample includes interviewees who have had varying levels of involvement in all 82 New Starts projects that opened between 1976 and 2016. I recruited interviewees through a snowball sampling method; my interviews focus on the interviewees’ perspectives on how New Starts project evaluation and ridership forecasting has changed over time. Interview results suggest that ridership forecasters’ motivations to produce accurate forecasts may have increased with increased transparency, increased influence on local decision making, and decreased influence on external (federal) funding.

Takeaway for practice: Planners can evaluate the likely trustworthiness of forecasts based on transparency, internal influence, and external influence. If forecast users cannot easily determine a forecast’s key inputs and assumptions, if the forecaster has been tasked with producing a forecast to justify a predetermined action, and if an unfavorable forecast would circumvent decisions by the forecaster’s immediate client, forecasts should viewed with skepticism. Planners should seek to alter conditions that may create these conflicts of interest. Forecasters seem to be willing and able to improve forecast accuracy when the demand for accurate forecasts increases.     

Energy Conversion Goes Local: Implications for Planners

Problem: Emerging energy technologies are bringing planners a new set of issues. The supply-oriented framework from engineering economics within which energy planning has traditionally been conducted may be useful for siting large refineries, power plants, and transmission corridors, but it is not helpful for mitigating conflicts at the site level, encouraging new technology adoptions, managing the demand for energy, or, especially, coordinating the diverse users of smaller, local energy facilities.

Purpose: I provide an alternative conceptual framework for thinking about emerging energy planning tasks. I highlight factors not considered in the traditional model, and introduce terminology for characterizing key characteristics of the changing energy economy.

Methods: I draw on concepts from industrial ecology, urban metabolism, and ecological economics, and apply my new framework to a set of examples illustrating its advantages relative to the traditional approach to energy planning.

Results and conclusions: I propose that planners use network models to think about energy systems and focus especially on nodes where energy is converted from one form to another. Understanding the scale, scope, commodification, and agency of such nodes, and whether and when these attributes are open to change, can improve energy planning decisions for traditional energy investments such as power plants and for energy initiatives such as wind farms, rooftop solar systems, energy-efficient buildings, cogeneration, compact growth, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Takeaway for practice: Planners should do more than just mitigate energy facility siting conflicts. They should also identify points of governmental leverage on private decision makers, keep track of evolving technologies, bundle energy users with different temporal demand profiles, and help build smarter energy networks. Focusing on energy networks and their nodes should help planners see how they can be most effective.

Research support: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.     

Incentivize It and They Will Come? How Some of the Busiest U.S. Airports Are Building Air Service With Incentive Programs

Problem, research strategy, and findings: In the 1990s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibited airport sponsors (local authorities managing airports) from diverting airport revenue to general municipal budgets and allowed the busiest airports to create air service incentive programs (ASIPs) to induce airlines to launch new air service. These incentive programs have not been evaluated, although planners need information on their long-term effectiveness. Few data, however, are available on ASIP programs; I created a database to identify which airports have ASIPs, which new airline services received incentives, and the services that continued after incentives ended. I find that 26 of 44 airports with ASIPs that recruited new routes spent $171.5 million combined between 2012 and the first quarter of 2015, 40% on routes that were not retained when the incentive ended. The busiest airports in the largest cities with growing populations, relatively independent of local economic status, were most able to recruit and retain new airline services. Small and medium airports, particularly in stagnant areas, were not able to recruit and retain new air services.

Takeaway for practice: The FAA should require airport sponsors to submit comprehensive information on their ASIP programs—the routes recruited and retained, as well as detailed estimates of the costs and benefits of each route—to provide planners with needed information. The FAA also should loosen the constraints on the use of non-aeronautical airport revenues so that communities can choose between spending on incentives to increase air service and other programs to increase local economic development.     

The Effect of Mandated Planning on Plan Quality

Problem: What is a “good plan”? Among their key goals, plans aim to communicate, influence and engage. Persuasiveness (the ability to engage and motivate) is, therefore, an essential plan quality. Unfortunately, all too many comprehensive plans lack this important quality. In addition, state planning mandates intended to strengthen planning can instead worsen this shortcoming.

Purpose: To develop a methodology to measure and compare the communicative and persuasive qualities of plans in states with and without planning mandates.

Methods: A specially designed protocol was developed to measure the communicative and persuasive qualities of comprehensive plans. Plans of 20 municipalities in states with planning mandates were compared with those of 20 municipalities in states without planning mandates. Statistical analyses of the results were conducted using the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney (U) test and simple t tests.

Results and conclusions: Requiring local governments to prepare plans did not result in better plans—at least as measured by a protocol tailored specifically to assess the persuasiveness and communicative quality of plans. Plans prepared in mandate states were much more rigid and standardized than those prepared in nonmandate states. Nonmandated plans also scored much higher in terms of their narrative and storytelling qualities than mandated plans. Private consultant involvement in plan making significantly increased the communicative and persuasive qualities of plans.

Takeaway for practice: Plans in all 40 municipalities fell far short of the ideal communicative and persuasive qualities set forth in the protocol. The deficiency was greatest in states with planning mandates. The involvement of private consultants had a positive impact on plan quality, while the provision of state funding for planning did not.

Research support: None.     

From the Subprime to the Exotic: Excessive Mortgage Market Risk and Foreclosures

Problem: The recent rapid growth of high-risk mortgage lending raised the financial risk profile facing not only the American homeowner but entire neighborhoods. From the perspective of planners, the problem of increased and geographically concentrated foreclosures is the most critical outcome that has resulted from high-risk mortgage markets.

Purpose: This article analyzes recent trends in mortgage finance in order to recommend what local planners can do to reduce the negative consequences of high-risk home lending for their own communities.

Methods: I plot public and private data, much of it readily available for little or no cost, to discover where in the nation recent mortgage foreclosures are concentrated, and describe how similar analysis could be used prospectively and at a local scale to anticipate future problems.

Results and conclusions: Numbers of subprime, exotic, and zero-down-payment mortgages have all been growing. Where they are spatially concentrated they are linked to rising and geographically concentrated home mortgage foreclosures. I find evidence that subprime lenders achieve greater market penetration in metropolitan areas with less educated residents, and that higher-risk lending is more prevalent where housing prices are high and increasing. I also find that when local housing markets are hot, even high levels of subprime lending are associated with only slightly higher foreclosure filing rates, but foreclosure rates rise quickly when hot markets cool.

Takeaway for practice: Although foreclosures are less likely to be a severe problem in very strong real estate markets, when prices in previously hot markets stagnate or decline, foreclosures can quickly follow. This is a serious concern given recent trends in mortgage financing that have extended credit to more economically vulnerable populations and generally weakening housing markets in many metropolitan areas. These foreclosures tend also to be spatially concentrated within metropolitan areas, particularly stressing housing markets in neighborhoods where the higher-risk products are more prevalent. I recommend that planners: (1) track local lending and foreclosure patterns; (2) promote healthier mortgage markets in vulnerable areas; (3) fund targeted foreclosure prevention and counseling; (4) develop refinancing/restructuring programs; (5) redesign programs to promote sustainable homeownership; (6) get foreclosed properties reoccupied quickly; (7) recognize the effect of foreclosure surges on rental housing markets; and (8) be proactive in policy debates on lending regulation and foreclosure processes.

Research support: None.     

Barriers to GIS Use in Planning

Problem: Despite the widespread availability of geographic information systems (GIS) in local government, there is some evidence that the potential of GIS as a planning tool is not being fully exploited. While obstacles to GIS implementation in local government have been investigated, most of these investigations are either dated or do not focus on planning applications.

Purpose: We aim to add to the limited literature on the current barriers hindering GIS use in public planning agencies. We also offer some insights into how to mitigate these barriers and help planning agencies move beyond using GIS simply for routine tasks of data access and mapmaking.

Methods: We analyzed responses to a 2007 web-based survey of 265 practitioners in Wisconsin's public planning agencies and follow-up interviews with 20 practitioners we conducted in 2008.

Results and conclusions: Planning departments still face a range of technological, organizational, and institutional barriers in using GIS. Training, funding, and data issues appear to be the most significant barriers preventing greater use of GIS for planning purposes, suggesting that organizational and institutional issues are more pertinent than technological barriers. Our literature review indicates that the barriers to GIS use in local government are similar to those of the past, but not identical. Furthermore, our observations indicate that, in general, practitioners are not aware of the full potential of GIS and planning support systems (PSS).

Takeaway for practice: Increased funding alone is not likely to move a planning agency beyond routine applications of GIS. Improved access to training that is geared toward the planning process and planning applications may help alleviate many barriers planners face in using GIS in general and in incorporating more sophisticated GIS functions in their work.

Research support: This work was supported in part by the Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations, funded by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and in part by the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the University of Wisconsin–Extension.