Geographic Information Systems

Brenning, A. & K. G. van den Boogaart (2001): Geostatistics without Stationarity Assumptions within GIS. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the International Association for Mathematical Geology (IAMG), 6-12 Sep 2001, Cancún, Mexico, 14 pp.

by Alexander Brenning

Mapping indigenous Siberia: Spatial changes and ethnic realities, 1900–2010

by Ivan Sablin

co-authored with Maria Savelyeva, published in Settler Colonial Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 77–110.

This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century... more This article discusses spatial changes in the ethnic territories of Native Siberians from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to model and observe these changes. The GIS also features resource-oriented economic activities, major waterways and railroads. Analysis of the model, textual sources and statistical data made it possible to determine what factors constituted Siberia’s ethnographical pattern of the early twentieth century and led to its changes in the ensuing decades and what impact on the indigenous peoples these changes had. Four special maps showing Siberia in the 1900s–10s, 1930s–40s, 1970s–80s and 2000s–10s were produced from the GIS and are included in the article. The current legal status of the indigenous peoples’ territories was also examined. This article presents an interdisciplinary macroscale case study.

THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SIMULATION MODELLING IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT OF THE …

by Martin Bunch

The problems involved in the environmental management of Cooum River in Chennai, India, relate not merely to pollution... more The problems involved in the environmental management of Cooum River in Chennai, India, relate not merely to pollution and environmental degradation, but to a complex situation involving linkages between social, economic and physical systems. For managing this complex problem, and Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM) approach is considered. The use of a series of workshops of the key actors, the development of a dynamic system model and the potential role of geographic information systems are discussed. Details of the procedure for operationalizing the AEAM process for the Chennai project are presented.

Usability Trumps Features: User needs and the redesign of a web-based GIS to support community environmental monitoring

by Martin Bunch

Bunch, M. J. and M. MacLennan (2010). "Usability Trumps Features: User needs and the redesign of a web-based GIS to support community environmental monitoring." OSGeo Journal 6: 40-52.

Web-distributed tools that complement community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) initiatives can improve... more Web-distributed tools that complement community-based environmental monitoring (CBEM) initiatives can improve processing of and access to information, supporting environmental education and better informing decision-making. To this end a web-based geographic information system known as “Juturna” was developed to support CBEM in the vicinity of Toronto, Canada. This web-GIS facilitates input, analysis, and reporting of community data. However, use of the system steadily declined in activity since this initiative started in 2004. Lay users reported that the system was complicated and confusing, and so discouraged use. Also, it employed expensive proprietary software, which was a disincentive for the local Conservation Authority and collaborating NGO to adopt the system.

To revitalize use of the website and provide support to the CBEM program, we undertook to redesign the web-GIS using open source software. To understand why the original web-GIS was not well used and to inform redesign of the system, we implemented a user-centered design methodology. Methods included user testing, rapid prototyping and stakeholder interviews. The process was invaluable in prioritizing user tasks, defining characteristics of users of the website, and identifying those components of the web-GIS most confounding to them. Findings were used to inform re-development of the web-GIS through an iterative process that led to the creation of two prototypes that were evaluated by the user audience and so informed the design of a new (more accessible) website.

Green Parcel Subdivision Map

by Brian Crisan

Created for an Intermediate GIS course, The University of Akron, Spring 2012 semester

The purpose of this map was to create a fictitious subdivision within the city of Green, Ohio.  Goals of the... more The purpose of this map was to create a fictitious subdivision within the city of Green, Ohio.  Goals of the project include: subdividing parcels and geocoding addresses.

Reviews: Sharing Geographic Information Harlan J. Onsrud and Gerard Rushton, editors Center for Urban Policy Research, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1995. 528 …

by Albert Schorsch

Overlaying Paper Maps with Digital Information Services for Tourists

by Beat Signer

Moira C. Norrie and Beat Signer, Proceedings of ENTER 2005, 12th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel & Tourism. Innsbruck, Austria, January 2005

Despite the increasing availability of various forms of digital maps and guides, paper still prevails as the main... more Despite the increasing availability of various forms of digital maps and guides, paper still prevails as the main information medium used by tourists during city visits. The authors describe how recent technologies for digitally augmented paper maps can be used to develop interactive paper maps that provide value-added services for tourists through digital overlays. An initial investigation into the use of these maps to support visitors to the Edinburgh festivals is also presented.

Putting Location-Based Services on the Map

by Beat Signer

Michael Grossniklaus, Moira C. Norrie, Beat Signer and Nadir Weibel, Proceedings of W2GIS 2006, 6th International Symposium on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, Hong Kong, China, December 2006

Location-based services for users on the move provide a convenient means of filtering information based on current... more Location-based services for users on the move provide a convenient means of filtering information based on current geographical position. However users also often want to retrieve or capture information associated with past or future locations. We show how new technologies for interactive paper can be used to augment conventional paper maps with location-based services using a combination of user tracking and pointing to the map to specify location.

Incorporating Shading Losses in Solar Photovoltaic Potential Assessment at the Municipal Scale

by Joshua Pearce

H. T. Nguyen and J. M. Pearce, “Incorporating Shading Losses in Solar Photovoltaic Potential Assessment at the Municipal Scale” Solar Energy 86(5), pp. 1245–1260 (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.01.017

Recently several algorithms have been developed to calculate the solar photovoltaic (PV) potential on the basis of... more Recently several algorithms have been developed to calculate the solar photovoltaic (PV) potential on the basis of 2.5D raster data that can capture urban morphology. This study provides a new algorithm that (i) incorporates both terrain and near surface shadowing effects on the beam component; (ii) scales down the diffuse components of global irradiation; and (iii) utilizes free and open source GRASS and the module r.sun in modeling irradiation. This algorithm is semi-automatic and easy to upgrade or correct (no hand drawn areas), open source, detailed and provides rules of thumb for PV system design at the municipal level. The workflow is pilot tested on LiDAR data for 100 buildings in downtown Kingston, Ontario. Shading behavior was considered and suitable roof sections for solar PV installations selected using a multi-criteria objective. At sub-meter resolution and small time steps the effect of occlusion from near object was determined. Annual daily horizontal irradiation values were refined at 0.55m resolution and were shown to be lower than those obtained at 90 m by 30%. The robustness of r.sun as capable of working with different levels of surface complexity has been confirmed. Finally, the trade off of each computation option (spatial resolution, time step and shading effect) has been quantified at the meso scale, to assist planners in developing the appropriate computation protocols for their regions.

Utilization of Virtual Globes for Open Source Industrial Symbiosis

by Joshua Pearce

Open Environmental Sciences, 3, pp. 88-96, 2009.

Several proprietary industrial symbiosis software tools have been developed, however, without long term financial... more Several proprietary industrial symbiosis software tools have been developed, however, without long term financial commitments these endeavors fall short of creating generalizable and sustainable tools. The recent development of virtual globes such as Google Earth (GE), an information service that provides imagery and three dimensional data depicting the entire physical earth, provides an opportunity to use a new sustainable method of navigating information to save energy and use materials more efficiently in the real world. To test this open source methodology, a data set was used from the Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania, which has mandated reporting the location of disposal and type of residual waste from sources producing more than one ton per month. This data set was integrated into the GE interface to identify and quantify opportunities for materials and energy efficiency improvements. This investigation found that virtual globes coupled with open source waste information can be used to: 1) reduce embodied transport energy by reducing distances to recycling facilities, 2) choose end of life at recycling facilities rather than landfills, and 3) establish industrial symbiosis and eco-industrial parks on known by-product synergies. For one waste category, a potential 70% reduction in ton-kilometers was identified by simply observing closer disposal locations than currently utilized; similar reductions are achievable in other categories. It is concluded that the open source sharing of information in virtual globes provide a means to identify economically and environmentally beneficial opportunities for waste management if the data have been made available.

NARDINI A., SALVADORI F., A GIS platform dedicated to the production of distribution models of archaeozoological remains

by Frank Salvadori

published in 'Archaeofauna', 12, 2003, pp. 127-141

The paper considers all the problems related to the planning of a digital tool for processing faunal remains with the... more The paper considers all the problems related to the planning of a digital tool for processing faunal remains with the use of a GIS (Geographic Information System) solution. Archaeological data processing can be done on different levels: it can concern both the production of thematic maps or the elaboration of interpretative and predictive models, using statistical and mathematical tools.
The distinction between an excavation and an animal bones analysis GIS platform is based on differences in data processing methods. In fact the detail level shifts from stratigraphical contexts to the set of bone fragments pertaining to the same context (or structure, or period, etc.); at the same time the underlying database (strictly dialoguing with the GIS platform) becomes our animal bones DBMS instead of the excavation DBMS.
Data frequency (and eventually other statistical analysis) are done on the DBMS and then imported within the GIS platform as points related to the zooarchaeological sample; using a GIS technique called geocoding, coordinates of the points are generically positioned inside the stratigraphical context they belong to.
Our aim is to display the bone deposit, by using stratigraphical and zooarchaeological keywords in order to understand how anthropic, animal and natural factors transformed the original animal population into a fossilized sample. Experimenting of GIS technology on a large open area excavation like the Poggio Imperiale project (more than 1.5 hectars excavated, with a bone sample of 5.763 fragments), has allowed us to produce important information used in elaborating diachronical models of social and economical structures; it is also possible to predict the archaeozoological potential of non-excavated areas, through a combination of statistical and spatial analysis.

Document retrieval using fuzzy related geographic ontologies

by Ivan Ricarte

Co-authored with Maria Angelica A Leite. Published in Workshop on Geographic Information Retrieval, 2008

Many documents stored in digital libraries and document database include geographic references within their texts... more Many documents stored in digital libraries and document database include geographic references within their texts typically by means of place names. These geographic references can be associated to knowledge to help improve related retrieved documents. For example, in a meteorological document collection the climate knowledge can be associated to the geographic references allowing the retrieval of relevant climate or geographic related documents to an initial user query. In order to explore these issues this work describes a framework to encode a geographic knowledge base composed of multiple related ontologies whose relationships are expressed as fuzzy relations. Each ontology represents a distinct area of the knowledge domain related to geographic references. This knowledge organization is used in a fuzzy method to expand the user initial query. Each ontology can be represented independently as well as their relationships. The fuzzy query expansion method is tested with the Apache Lucene search engine improving the precision measure.

Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Ohio's Ten Largest Counties (2004)

by Brian Crisan

Created for an Intermediate GIS course, The University of Akron, Spring 2012 semester

This map joined a non-spatial table with information about the number of bachelor of arts degrees awarded in Ohio's... more This map joined a non-spatial table with information about the number of bachelor of arts degrees awarded in Ohio's ten largest counties in 2004 to a table displaying census information about the state of Ohio generally.

Greater Akron Unemployment Claims for January 2012

by Brian Crisan

Created for an Intermediate GIS course, The University of Akron, Spring 2012 semseter

This map displays data regarding unemployment claims made in the Greater Akron area in January 2012.  It was... more This map displays data regarding unemployment claims made in the Greater Akron area in January 2012.  It was created to demonstrate a student's ability to join a non-spatial attribute table to a spatial attribute table, which enables the user to display the non-spatial table on a map.

Capital Vice in the Midwest: The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins (Map Set)

by Mitch Stimers

These are the maps that accompany the Seven Deadly Sins paper.

Laser Scanner Applications in Forest and Environmental Sciences

by Paolo Tarolli

Published in European Journal of Remote Sensing, 2012. Co-authored with Francesco Pirotti, Stefano Grigolato, Emanuele Lingua, Tommaso Sitzia.

Potential forest-related information can be obtained from processing data obtained from laser scanning sensors making... more Potential forest-related information can be obtained from processing data obtained from laser scanning sensors making this technology extremely useful for forest management and
environmental assessment. It is thoroughly documented in recent literature how specific forest characteristics can be estimated at stand, plot and single tree level using laser scanner surveys at corresponding scales. The high resolution models of the canopy surface and of the bare earth (terrain), as well as the information obtained related to the structure of the volume between these two surfaces, concur at offering a more complete source of information not only for direct forestry-related applications, but also for connected disciplines such as hydrology, engineering, forest disturbances analysis and ecological assessment.
Having accurate and spatially distributed information over the above mentioned aspects give land assessment and management added value data to work with. Correct utilization
of laser scanner data can lead to the assessment of many characteristics usually obtained by ground surveys. Ground-plots require significant expenditure in terms of human effort,
economical investment and can be distributed on large areas only in limited number. The following paper shows the efforts which are being undertaken by scientific research towards testing laser scanner applications for forest and environmental sciences.

The Functionality of a Geography Information System (GIS) Technology in Geography Teaching: Application of a Sample Lesson

by Halil Eksi

Nurettin ÖZGEN
Educational Sciences: Th eory & Practice
9 (4) • Autumn 2009 • 1879-1894

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a high performance computer-aided chain of
software which enables us to... more A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a high performance computer-aided chain of
software which enables us to understand, interpret, capture, update, map, and display natural
and human-originated events on Earth and allows us to bring out such phenomena
in a form of synthesis. Th erefore, a GIS is an important information system in which
graphical and non-graphical information, which are based upon spatial observations, are
accumulated, saved, processed, and presented to the users in unity. A GIS is known to be
one of the devices employed in the application of spatial analysis of geography, a scientific
field that makes an analysis of the reciprocal interaction between human and the natural
environment in a sustainable framework. It does not seem to be very easy to draw as much
benefit as would be expected from a geography lesson in which no atmosphere of sharing
and discussing is available for students, memorization is given a good deal of emphasis
and only the descriptive aspect of geography is laid emphasis upon. However, a geography
lesson supplied with a GIS appears to make it possible for students to access whatever information
is being sought at the desired level. It also off ers some very good advantages to
not only students but also to teachers who may still be teaching geography in the conventional
way. It is also possible to feed into a GIS every single device, numerical data, technical
knowledge, and equipment used in geography teaching, as well as analysis or application
of all this stuff . Th erefore, if functionality of a GIS can be increased through the
incorporation of various programs into it, the teaching of geography may well be easier
and more productive. Besides, the enthusiasm of students for learning geography could
be furthered even more, thus maximizing the level of the benefit to be drawn from teaching
geography. Th e present study aims to encourage teaching geography with the help of
a GIS in not only secondary and high schools but also in universities. With this in mind,
a sample lesson on “Internal Migration” was presented. Th e method used in this lesson
was based upon the contributions that a GIS could make to the teaching of this geography
lesson so that the eff iciency of a GIS in learning geography could be appreciated.

Možnosti a limity počítačové rekonstrukce minulých cest na příkladu Čertovy louky v Krkonoších

by Jan John

John, J. 2010: Možnosti a limity počítačové rekonstrukce minulých cest na příkladu Čertovy louky v Krkonoších. Acta FF ZČU 4/10, 231-239.

The article attempts to complement the partially known system between the deserted modern period mountain cottages in... more The article attempts to complement the partially known system between the deserted modern period mountain cottages in Čertova louka in Krkonoše. The reconstruction was undertaken with the use of frictional surfaces of raster- oriented GIS (Idrisi 32).

TOURISM PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY IN THE ZANTE ISLAND BASED ON THEMATIC ROUTES AND THE USE OF INFORMATION …

by Takis Ktenidis

Using Geographic Information Systems to Develop and Analyze Land-Use Policies

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Gillfillan, Abigail, "Using Geographic Information Systems to Develop and Analyze Land-Use Policies" (2008). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 273.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/273

Urbanization has a profound effect on the natural environment. Decisions concerning the transformation of land from a... more Urbanization has a profound effect on the natural environment. Decisions concerning the transformation of land from a natural to developed state take place almost exclusively on the local level in the United States. While the importance and complexity of land-use decisions are high, the resources available to local government officials are sparse. Incorporating ecological principles (stream quality protection) into local land use decisions is challenging due to the complexity of the problems and significance of the impact on the community. This research explored the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a tool to clarify land use decisions. The method employed was a case study of the city of San Marcos, Texas where GIS technology was used to create build-out maps of three different watersheds within the city. These build-out maps provide a snapshot of the stream quality in each of the three watersheds when the city reaches build out. Impervious cover is used as the indicator for stream quality. A land-use method was used to estimate and forecast impervious cover levels in each of the three watersheds. Three working hypotheses were developed to predict whether stream quality would be consistent with community expectations under current development policies, a conservation development ordinance, or a restriction on development within the 100-year floodplain. The results indicate that when the city of San Marcos reaches build out, two of the three watersheds analyzed will not meet community expectations for stream quality under current development policies. Results also show that neither of the stream quality protection measures chosen meets community expectations.