The GES Department hosted a GAMLab Showcase event on April 9th in the Fishbowl. The Geospatial Analysis and Mapping Laboratory (GAMLab) at CU Denver is tackling complex human-environmental challenges, including food access and housing, by providing the advanced GIS infrastructure and collaborative expertise necessary for groundbreaking community research. During the recent showcase, the GAMLab’s high-powered spatial analysis and visualization tools were highlighted as the core engine for the Youth Housing project. GAMLab researcher and PhD Candidate, Mandy Rees was able to transform student-led data from the Denver Youth Housing Survey into school district maps showing where students feel safe or unsafe. These visualizations allow for a precise understanding of where youth feel safest, directly informing a new housing toolkit and a localized "continuum of care" designed to improve health and educational outcomes for Denver’s most vulnerable young residents.
Simultaneously, the GAMLab is driving the Ag & Food Lab’s mission to build resilient local food ecosystems by solving the ‘last-mile’ delivery crisis in rural Colorado. Rees developed a sophisticated GIS tool to map "Low Income Low Access" (LILA) food gaps and optimize logistics for rural food hubs, where delivery can account for over 50% of distribution costs. By identifying strategic local clusters and ‘subhubs’ with cold storage in towns like Fort Morgan and Simla, the GAMLab’s spatial modeling aims to increase farmer margins by up to 30%. Through these diverse projects, the GAMLab demonstrates its vital role as a hub for innovation, turning raw data into geospatial solutions that foster both social equity and economic resilience across the state.