TraceSpatial

Overview

TraceSpatial brings over 20 years of experience in spatial analysis tailored to the needs of community groups, nonprofits, academic institutions, and planning professionals. From neighborhood-focused initiatives to regional analyses, our consultancy delivers expertise in the technical aspects of spatial data science tied directly to environmental justice issues and ecological planning principles. Working with TraceSpatial ensures tailored data collection and cleaning strategies, robust spatial analysis, and high-quality presentation outputs that integrate cartographic design excellence.

Each project is approached with deep respect for its broader social, environmental, and political context, whether examining historical land use, current conditions, or future scenarios. We are actively engaged in land use advocacy, ensuring spatial insights support equitable and sustainable outcomes. Leveraging advanced geospatial software — including R, Python, QGIS, and ESRI ArcGIS Pro — TraceSpatial delivers custom solutions that empower clients in their unique research and advocacy goals. From detailed maps to scenario modeling, TraceSpatial delivers spatial data findings and solutions that make an impactful difference.

Utilization of current data science & software technologies.
Specialization in environmental justice issues tied to fossil fuel infrastructure.
Robust, evidence based data outcomes necessary for advocacy and legal cases.
Work across various scales from neighborhoods to regions.
Tailored data collection; comprehensive spatial analyses; exacting cartographic design.
Integration of broader temporal and spatial contexts to project findings and solutions.

Data Services

TraceSpatial provides end-to-end spatial data services, from data collection and development to advanced spatial analysis designed to uncover geographic patterns and relationships.

Cartographic design, GIS expertise, and geoprocessing techniques ensure high-quality, customized maps tailored to each project’s objectives, turning complex data into clear, impactful visuals that inform decision-making.

Services & Capabilities- Data Collection and Development
- Spatial Analysis
- Cartographic Design

Contact

Case Studies

The Bethel Inventory Mapping Project

Urban Heat Research Project

NRG Astoria Replacement Project

ESNG Spatial Assessment & Risk Map

Book Synopsis

Climate Crisis, Energy Violence: Mapping Fossil Energy’s Enduring Grasp on Our Precarious Future communicates the breadth and scope of fossil fuel infrastructure and its global impact. Comparative research coupled with data and maps accentuates the spatial, temporal, and physical forms of energy violence. Over 25 international case studies track the world’s three primary fossil fuels—first coal, followed by oil, then gas—revealing patterns of loss and damage, as well as industrial tactics of climate delay and deception used to prolong fossil fuel harms.

Through analyses of hotspots, sacrifice zones, fast vs slow violence, death prints and fuel life cycles, immediate ecological damage as well as long-term climate impacts are revealed, tied directly to fossil fuel interests. In detailing the broad scope of damage from energy extraction systems, this book provides a compelling argument to move past fossil fuels, directly confronting the climate crisis through energy justice alliances.

Amazon

Elsevier Science Direct

Examines & maps fossil fuel infrastructure across more than 25 unique global research sites.
Analyzes energy violence in a theoretical yet accessible framework grounded in ecology, ethics, and human rights.
Explores collective action and energy justice alliance to move past the desructive patten of fossil fuels.

Teaching & Training

Principal of TraceSpatial, Stephen Metts, has maintained over a decade of teaching and training experience in GIS technologies. Currently a Part-Time Associate Professor at The New School in New York City, Metts' teaching has two primary goals: to empower students in developing accurate, effective, quantitative analysis of complex urban and global challenges, and to understand the technical processes of doing so, using current GIS technologies. In short, students make maps from data sets on complex issues, delivering meaningful and actionable findings.

Metts' current courses include a graduate seminar lecture focused on mapping global challenges and an undergraduate course introducing students to the fundamentals of GIS

GIS for International Crises, Development, and the Environment

Spatial Thinking with GIS