https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/ Notes on cartography, spatial analysis, and GIS applications by Brian Busch, GISP. en-us Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0600 https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-water-dashboard-rebuild/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-water-dashboard-rebuild/ How a job-interview map became the Western Water Dashboard: reservoir storage, snowpack, and drought for eleven western states in one ArcGIS 5.1 application, rebuilt with AI agents under written rules. Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0600 https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/agentic-ai-lessons/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/agentic-ai-lessons/ Most of the Western Water Dashboard was written by AI agents under written rules. The failures that mattered were about meaning, not about code, and the test suite stayed green through all of them. Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0600 https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-reservoir-dashboard/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-reservoir-dashboard/ A Utah reservoir drought dashboard built on the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JS, then rebuilt in MapLibre GL JS as an open-source parity comparison. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0600 https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/sidewalk-trails-master-plan/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/sidewalk-trails-master-plan/ How Millcreek turned a fragmented set of sidewalk and trail studies into one citywide map that a director can act on, with sidewalk data built from aerial imagery. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/future-land-use-millcreek/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/future-land-use-millcreek/ Millcreek planners lost meeting time flipping through a six-page General Plan appendix. This work turned that appendix into one four foot by six foot wall map of all 13 future land use categories. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/millcreek-redistricting/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/millcreek-redistricting/ How Millcreek combined ArcGIS Pro analysis and a public StoryMap/Survey123 feedback loop to redraw its City Council districts after the 2020 Census. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/wui-boundary-mapping/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/wui-boundary-mapping/ Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) boundary mapping for Utah local governments, covering HB 48 and HB 41 compliance workflows. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/alcohol-spacing-regulations/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/alcohol-spacing-regulations/ A map and interactive web app visualizing alcohol-establishment spacing regulations across Millcreek, Utah. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/polygon-neighbor-coloring/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/polygon-neighbor-coloring/ A Python (ArcPy) script that automatically assigns unique colors to neighboring polygons using a graph-coloring approach. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-dark-sky-points/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-dark-sky-points/ Utah's International Dark-Sky Parks mapped as points, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-scenic-byways/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-scenic-byways/ All 27 of Utah's Scenic Byways, 1,893.84 miles of roadway symbolized as line features, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-federal-land-ownership/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-federal-land-ownership/ Government land ownership across Utah — federal agencies and state trust lands — styled in Esri's Firefly look, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-population-hexagons/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-population-hexagons/ Utah Population Density: A Hexagonal Perspective — a Hexagons-themed 30 Day Map Challenge map aggregating Census 2020 population to a 50-square-mile hexagon grid. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-old-spanish-trail/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-old-spanish-trail/ The Utah segment of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, mapped for the A Journey theme of the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/raster-terrain-study/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/raster-terrain-study/ An Imhof-inspired hillshade of Utah's terrain, built for the Raster theme of the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge using Esri's Terrain Service. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-vintage-atlas/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-vintage-atlas/ Utah's urban areas and rivers in a vintage cartographic style inspired by the 1854 David Rumsey Map Collection, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-localities-hdx/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-localities-hdx/ Utah's populated places mapped from a single humanitarian dataset, for the Humanitarian Data Exchange theme of the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-ai-fictional-map/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-ai-fictional-map/ A ChatGPT-generated fictional map of Utah water resources, for the AI theme of the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge — kept for what it gets wrong. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-counties-pen-paper/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-counties-pen-paper/ Utah's counties and county seats in a hand-drawn pen-and-paper style, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-avalanche-paths/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-avalanche-paths/ A 3D map of avalanche paths in Little Cottonwood Canyon, styled for an Arctic aesthetic, for the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge. https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-time-and-space/ https://buschbrian.github.io/notes/utah-time-and-space/ Mule deer migration pathways across Utah's Paunsaugunt Plateau, mapped for the Time and Space theme of the 2024 30 Day Map Challenge.