Burton helps clients, primarily government agencies, locate these tire piles by using a method she and her business partner, Becky Quinlan, developed. Their method reduces the time required to create maps of tire piles, thus enabling customers to make faster policy, environmental and/or economic decisions.
The method is a computer-assisted image-processing algorithm that, when used in conjunction with manual image interpretation, will produce a map of tire piles from commercially available satellite imagery.
Creating an algorithm isn’t something the average person does on a daily basis -- if ever. Burton and Quinlan developed the algorithm in 2005 while interning and working on a project at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Burton decided to start her own business, Endpoint Environmental, based on the project’s success.
Harvard-Westlake interviewed Burton to learn more about her path to this line of work and where she sees it going. The questions and answers follow.
Note: Burton earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geography from San Francisco State University.
HW: When you started college, did you start out thinking you wanted to study a different field than you ended up in?
Burton: When I first started college, I planned on getting a degree in business. However, the first college I attended was not a good fit for me. After returning to Los Angeles, I figured out that I wanted to work with the environment. Through the process of taking undergraduate coursework, I found geography and geographic information systems. I loved geography and cartography and pursued the degree at San Francisco State University. Only in the last year of grad school did I choose to become an entrepreneur based on the success of a pilot project I managed while interning at NASA Ames Research Center.
HW: While at Harvard-Westlake, were there classes you took and teachers you had that piqued your interest and contributed to what you decided to study and what you now do for a living?
Burton: My first exposure to environmental work as part of a school activity was in 8th grade. Mrs. Sally Reynolds had gathered a group of student volunteers to create activities for the 20th anniversary celebration of Earth Day. As well as activities orchestrated on campus, on April 22, 1990 we participated in a peaceful march from Crossroads school to the Santa Monica beach for environmental awareness. I remember feeling really positive about rallying around people who also cared about the planet.
Another strong influence I had at Harvard-Westlake was the three years I studied video art under Mr. Kevin O’Malley. It was there that I learned to appreciate the power of an image or picture that can relay a story without using words. I carry this knowledge with me every time I create a map because maps always have a story to tell and rarely use words. Maps can be very powerful communicators - think of the now infamous “Blue state / Red state” map and how that changed the collective consciousness of the American people.
HW: Your method, called TIRe (the Tire Identification from Reflectance Model) is used to identify tire piles, but what happens next? Do your clients do something with the tires?
Burton: After the TIRe Model is used to find tire piles and a map is created, government agencies either require the land owner on whose property the tires are located to clean up the tires and dispose of them legally, or the government does the job. They are legally disposed of in one of two ways. Generally, if the tire is old, dirty and/or corroded in some way, it is sent to a dump. If the tire is new, clean and relatively intact, it is sent to a recycling facility.
HW: Are your clients also interested in finding ways to recycle tires so that the piles aren’t created in the first place?
Burton: America generates 298 million new tires every year, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association. All government personnel that I have spoken or worked with are as interested in recycling tires as they are cleaning up tire piles. Scrap rubber is used as playground cover, mulch, molded or extruded products, and as in-fill material for sport fields. The supply of tires for scrap rubber far exceeds the demand; however, government and private industry continue to fund research for other marketable uses of scrap rubber.
HW: Do you see tire-mapping technology as just one service you will provide in the long term, or do you see the technology as adaptable to other environmental or business needs?
Burton: The image processing technology used to map tire piles is definitely adaptable to other environmental and business needs. In fact, when I was first lobbying for the TIRe Model, I knew that it could be done because I had built a similar model/algorithm for my master’s thesis. There are many different environmental or business concerns that can be evaluated using satellite and/or aerial imagery. We found that as people become more familiar with the uses of imagery, largely in part to Google Earth, more opportunities for business have presented themselves.
HW: Besides agencies within the state of California, where are your other clients, or potential clients?
Burton: Funding has been approved for a pilot project to map the northern quarter of the state of Indiana for tire piles in 2008. I have also been in communication with Nevada, Wyoming, Michigan, Texas, Florida and Missouri.
HW: How do you envision your business growing?
Burton: I would love to build and operate a web 2.0 application for the consumer using geospatial technology, and am currently pursing various networking opportunities to make that dream a reality. In the meantime, Endpoint Environmental will continue to market our products and services either as stand-alone offerings or on a contract/subcontract basis to government and private sector clients nationwide.
To learn more about tire-pile mapping, or to reach Catherine, please visit Endpoint Environmental.