Area Of Parcels Research Articles

Measuring Land Preservation Success: Applying Fragstats to Preserved Farmland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Edge effects are traditionally discussed in biogeography and ecosystem protection. Yet preserved farmland can also experience challenging pressures at its perimeter, such as increased development pressure and conflicts between farms and nonfarm neighbors. Academic assessments of the most common farmland preservation goal—large, contiguous blocks—have focused on the area and connectivity of preserved parcels and largely overlooked the block or shape component, which relates most strongly to these types of pressures. This study fills that gap, applying the edge-effects concept to preserved farmland for the first time and tracking the shape of preserved farmland patches in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a leading agricultural county in the United States. The study uses the spatial pattern analysis program Fragstats to examine preserved farmland patch size, shape, and area in Lancaster County between 2000 and 2023. Results show that although land preservation organizations in Lancaster County had success at increasing the area and contiguity of preserved land, the perimeter of farmland patches increased even more significantly, even when accounting for differences in area. Farmland patches became increasingly irregular over the study period, with meandering shapes that maximize edge. The outcome suggests that tracking edge separately from area and contiguity is important because success in one does not mean success in the others. Information on edge and shape can help land preservation organizations prioritize parcels that reduce the edge effects that make it more expensive to purchase easements and more challenging for farmers to keep farming.

Effects of Payments for Ecosystem Services and Livelihoods on Non-Grain Agricultural Land Use

Non-grain agricultural land use (NGALU) could be an alternative to payments for ecosystem services (PES) to achieve ecosystem benefits, given their joint contribution to forest transition. Unraveling the correlation between PES and NGALU can enhance cost-effective decisions. While farmland abandonment and non-grain cash crops (NGCCs) plantation are two main manifestations of NGALU, previous studies have primarily assessed the effects of PES on farmland abandonment. Little is known about the effects of PES on NGCC planting. This study evaluated the effects of China’s two nationwide PES programs (i.e., the Grain to Green Program, GTGP, and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program, EWFP) on NGALU in the Black River Basin of Shaanxi province. The study found a wide adoption of NGALU, with 52% of households adopting NGALU. The total area of NGALU is more than half of the afforested area through the GTGP. A quarter of the NGALU area is abandoned farmland, while the remaining NGALU area is planted with NGCCs. The two PES programs did not have effects on NGCC planting, but reduced farmland abandonment. Engagement in labor migration and local non-farm employment increased NGALU, while livestock breeding and farmland area reduced NGALU. Furthermore, the large area and unfavorable geographical conditions of farmland parcels promoted NGALU. These results highlight the important implications of leveraging NGALU to boost ecological gains from conservation investments.

Identifying Land Use Functions in Five New First-Tier Cities Based on Multi-Source Big Data

With the continuous development of big data technology, semantic-rich multi-source big data provides broader prospects for the research of urban land use function recognition. This study relied on POI data and OSM data to select the central urban areas of five new first-tier cities as the study areas. The TF-IDF algorithm was used to identify the land use functional layout of the study area and establish a confusion matrix for accuracy verification. The results show that: (1) The common feature of these five cities is that the total number and area of land parcels for residential land, commercial service land, public management and service land, and green space and open space land all account for over 90%. (2) The Kappa coefficients were all in the range [0.61, 0.80], indicating a high consistency of accuracy evaluation. (3) Chengdu and Tianjin have the highest land use function mixing degree, followed by Xi‘an, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. (4) Among the five new first-tier cities, Hangzhou and Nanjing have the highest similarity in land use function structure layout. This study attempts to reveal the current land use situation of five cities, which will provide a reference for urban development planning and management.

Unreliability of cadastral data on parcel area and its effect on sustainable real estate valuation

Abstract Appropriate and sustainable management of land is required to the preserve spatial order and the appropriate use of resources. To make quality decisions in space, as well as to actively manage a resource, it is crucial to be able to use, among others, credible, up-to-date spatial details, including the cadastral data. The question is, however, whether the data inscribed in the cadastre correspond to reality. Among others, the problem of considerable differences between recorded, cadastral and geodetic area (reflecting actual circumstances) of the parcels can be commonly observed, influencing the procedure of real estate appraisal. This research examines the scale of the problem of unreliability of cadastral data regarding the area of parcels. Based on the example of a middle-sized city, analyses of the scale of the problem and an investigation of the types of properties most commonly involved were conducted. Moreover, an analysis of legal acts in force and those already expired, as well as the literature on the subject was performed to determine the permissible differences in the area between relevant records. The influence of the unreliable cadastral data on the procedure of appraisal of real estates was also investigated.

Measuring Accessibility and Optimising Logistics of Marginal Land Grass Biomass in the Case of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland

Abstract Grass biomass originating from marginal agricultural land unsuitable for food production can be utilised in variety of bio-based productions. The key profitability constraints for such productions are regional availability and transport costs. The aim of this paper is to methodologically test open access agricultural field parcel data – enabled by the EU INSPIRE directive – integrated with the road network in measuring biomass accessibility and optimising collection and transport using geographic information system (GIS) technology in two Finnish case areas. The analytical framework applies closest facility and vehicle routing analyses for tractor and truck transport scenarios. The key finding is that the area of field parcels and the amount of biomass accumulating within an observed area are not the only important factors influencing transport efficiency: cost-effectiveness of collection routes can be equally high in regions with scarce and abundant biomass areas.

Mapping corpus callosum surface reduction in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders with sulci and connectivity-based parcellation.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) range from fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to non-syndromic non-specific forms (NS-FASD) that are still underdiagnosed and could benefit from new neuroanatomical markers. The main neuroanatomical manifestation of prenatal alcohol exposure on developmental toxicity is the reduction in brain size, but repeated imaging observations have long driven the attention on the corpus callosum (CC), without being all convergent. Our study proposed a new segmentation of the CC that relies on both a sulci-based cortical segmentation and the "hemispherotopic" organization of the transcallosal fibers. We collected a monocentric series of 37 subjects with FAS, 28 with NS-FASD, and 38 with typical development (6 to 25 years old) using brain MRI (1.5T). Associating T1- and diffusion-weighted imaging, we projected a sulci-based cortical segmentation of the hemispheres on the midsagittal section of the CC, resulting in seven homologous anterior-posterior parcels (frontopolar, anterior and posterior prefrontal, precentral, postcentral, parietal, and occipital). We measured the effect of FASD on the area of callosal and cortical parcels by considering age, sex, and brain size as linear covariates. The surface proportion of the corresponding cortical parcel was introduced as an additional covariate. We performed a normative analysis to identify subjects with an abnormally small parcel. All callosal and cortical parcels were smaller in the FASD group compared with controls. When accounting for age, sex, and brain size, only the postcentral (η2 = 6.5%, pFDR = 0.032) callosal parcel and % of the cortical parcel (η2 = 8.9%, pFDR = 0.007) were still smaller. Adding the surface proportion (%) of the corresponding cortical parcel to the model, only the occipital parcel was persistently reduced in the FASD group (η2 = 5.7%, pFDR = 0.014). In the normative analysis, we found an excess of subjects with FASD with abnormally small precentral and postcentral (peri-isthmic) and posterior-splenial parcels (pFDR < 0.05). The objective sulcal and connectivity-based method of CC parcellation proved to be useful not only in confirming posterior-splenial damage in FASD but also in the narrowing of the peri-isthmic region strongly associated with a specific size reduction in the corresponding postcentral cortical region (postcentral gyrus). The normative analysis showed that this type of callosal segmentation could provide a clinically relevant neuroanatomical endophenotype, even in NS-FASD.

State of forest fund and planning in forestry

State of forest fund and planning in forestry

Determination of Paddy Rice Parcels from RGB Satellite Images Using Image Processing Techniques

The remote sensing technique is of great importance in agriculture in determining vegetation cover, monitoring its development, classification, and yield estimation. Various sofwares, mathematical algorithms, and statistical approaches are used to make satellite images meaningful in remote sensing. In this study, it is aimed to determine the rice plant plots and areas by using the Augelab Studio sofware, which is a new approach in artificial intelligence-supported image processing techniques. Using the RGB image covering an area of 2.5 km2 obtained from Google Earth Pro, the classification of paddy rice fields and the calculation of these areas were made. Rice fields from parcels with different plant patterns were separated using Augelab Studio artificial intelligence image processing software using filtering blocks. The real areas of the other rice parcels were determined by the coefficient created by taking the pixel area values of some of the parcels whose total area is known as a reference. It is found that total areas of rice parcels in Augelab Studio and Google Earth Pro programs to be 798 and 801 decares, respectively. It has been observed that the areas of the paddy rice parcels can be determined with high accuracy by using Augelab Studio.

Inconsistencies in Cadastral Boundary Data—Digitisation and Maintenance

Most cadastral systems today are coordinate-based and contain only a weak or no reference to measurements or the origin of the information. In some contexts, this is largely due to the transition of land data management and maintenance from an analogue to a digital environment. This study focuses on analysing the importance of the measurement-based cadastre and the digitisation process in North Macedonia and Slovenia. The survey-based boundary data and their integration into the digital environment were not considered in either case study. The positional differences between the survey-based boundary coordinates and the graphical coordinates of the boundaries are significant. The RMSE(2D) for Trebosh was 48 cm, and the RMSE(2D) for Ivanjševci was 56 cm. Consequently, the differences in location affected the areas of the cadastral parcels, resulting in an RMSE of 26 m2 and 23 m2 for Trebosh and Ivanjševci, respectively. These differences can be considered as differences within the cadastral boundary data. Therefore, before harmonising the data between the cadastre and the land register, the inconsistencies within the cadastral data should be eliminated first. The differences in the location of cadastral boundaries and parcel area create new challenges in cadastral procedures (formatting of parcels), conflicts in the relocation of boundaries, and impacts on the land market. The solution lies in the way data is maintained, avoiding duplication of attributes or eliminating inconsistencies (after duplication). Both solutions require further modifications of the legal framework for cadastral procedures related to boundary adjustments and data compliance. This study provides a basis for evaluating inconsistencies in cadastral data and highlights the importance of proper source data selection in the digitization process.

한국의 종교 용지 변화에 관한 공간 분석

Religions are recognized as having a great influence on Korean society, although the number of those who have religion has decreased. We tried to extract spatial statistics on the distribution of religious sites using the zoning information of the Korea Land Information System and to interpret their meanings. Nationally, the religious population decreased by 15% in 2015 compared to 2005, while the number of parcels for religions increased by 38% in 2018 compared to 2008. The total areas of parcels for religions increased 42%. In addition, parcels for religions showed a cluster distribution, and the degree of clustering in 2018 increased in comparison with that in 2008 across Korea. We investigated Busan Metropolitan City in detail. In this case, we found very low correlation between the total population and areas of parcels for religion, and that both Kangseo-gu, new-developed area and youngdo-ku, old town showed an increase in a huge cluster. We discussed the meanings of statistical figures and the necessity of qualitative and quantitative research.

Spatial Stability of Functional Networks: A Measure to Assess the Robustness of Graph-Theoretical Metrics to Spatial Errors Related to Brain Parcellation.

There is growing interest in studying human brain connectivity and in modelling the brain functional structure as a network. Brain network creation requires parcellation of the cerebral cortex to define nodes. Parcellation might be affected by possible errors due to inter- and intra-subject variability as a consequence of brain structural and physiological characteristics and shape variations related to ageing and diseases, acquisition noise, and misregistration. These errors could induce a knock-on effect on network measure variability. The aim of this study was to investigate spatial stability, a measure of functional connectivity variations induced by parcellation errors. We simulated parcellation variability with random small spatial changes and evaluated its effects on twenty-seven graph-theoretical measures. The study included subjects from three public online datasets. Two brain parcellations were performed using FreeSurfer with geometric atlases. Starting from these, 100 new parcellations were created by increasing the area of 30% of parcels, reducing the area of neighbour parcels, with a rearrangement of vertices. fMRI data were filtered with linear regression, CompCor, and motion correction. Adjacency matrices were constructed with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 thresholds. Differences in spatial stability between datasets, atlases, and threshold were evaluated. The higher spatial stability resulted for Characteristic-path-length, Density, Transitivity, and Closeness-centrality, and the lower spatial stability resulted for Bonacich and Katz. Multivariate analysis showed a significant effect of atlas, datasets, and thresholds. Katz and Bonacich centrality, which was subject to larger variations, can be considered an unconventional graph measure, poorly implemented in the clinical field and not yet investigated for reliability assessment. Spatial stability (SS) is affected by threshold, and it decreases with increasing threshold for several measures. Moreover, SS seems to depend on atlas choice and scanning parameters. Our study highlights the importance of paying close attention to possible parcellation-related spatial errors, which may affect the reliability of functional connectivity measures.

城市低效用地更新为绿色基础设施优先度评价

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 城市低效用地更新为绿色基础设施优先度评价 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202108182283 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金项目（51478217） Priority evaluation of urban inefficient land renewal to green infrastructure Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (General Program) 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:在以存量更新促进城市可持续发展的时代，将城市低效用地有序更新为绿色基础设施（Green Infrastructure，GI）是实现城市建成区生态空间再造和生态格局优化的可操作路径。现有低效用地的更新优先度评价多将经济效益作为发展潜力的判断依据，未能很好地考虑地块的潜在生态效益。以广西桂林市中心城区为例，采用层次分析法、熵权法和TOPSIS方法，从经济和社会效益角度构建综合指标体系定量评价城市低效用地的更新潜力，在此基础上，基于最小费用路径和电路理论方法，采用标准化最小费用廊道值与中心性值，评价低效用地对提升研究区景观连通性的重要性，最后利用二维判别矩阵方法，综合更新潜力与重要性分析结果，对低效用地更新为GI的优先度进行了评判。结果表明：（1）研究区更新潜力等级较高的低效用地面积占比达38%，集中分布在研究区西部和北部。（2）低效用地更新后充当廊道和踏脚石的潜力存在显著差异，对提升景观连通性重要性较高的低效用地面积占比达40%，主要分布在研究区北部、西部和南部。（3）低效用地更新潜力评价结果和基于景观连通性提升的重要性评价结果在部分区域差异明显，更新为GI优先度较高的低效用地主要分布在研究区北部和西南部，应根据其不同优先度等级采取差异化的更新规划措施。研究结果可为城市低效用地再开发的规划实践和绿色基础设施网络格局优化提供新框架和决策参考。 Abstract:In the period of promoting urban sustainable development by stock renewal, orderly renewal of urban inefficient land to green infrastructure (GI) is an operational path to realize the reconstruction of ecological space and the optimization of ecological pattern in urban built-up area. In the existing researches, the evaluation of renewal priority of urban inefficient land mostly takes economic benefits as a basis of judging the development potential, and fails to consider the potential ecological benefits of the land parcels. Taking the downtown area of Guilin city as an example, this paper constructed a comprehensive index system to quantitatively evaluate the renewal potential of urban inefficient land from the perspective of economic and social benefits by using analytic hierarchy process, entropy weight method and TOPSIS method. Then, using the Least-Cost Path and the Circuit Theory method, we adopted the normalized least cost corridor value and the centrality value to evaluate the relative importance of urban inefficient land for the improvement of landscape connectivity in the study area. Finally, using two-dimensional discriminant matrix method, the priority of urban inefficient land renewal to GI was evaluated by integrating the results of renewal potential evaluation and importance analysis. The results showed that:(1) the area of inefficient land parcels with high renewal potential accounted for 38%, which were relatively concentrated in the west and north of the study area. (2) The renewal of inefficient land to GI could significantly improve the overall landscape connectivity of the study area, and for these inefficient land parcels, there were significant differences in their potential of serving as corridors and stepping stones after renewal. The area of inefficient land parcels which were highly important for improving landscape connectivity accounted for 40%, and they were mainly distributed in the north, west and south of the study area. (3) There were obvious differences between the results of inefficient land renewal potential evaluation and the results of importance analysis based on the improvement of landscape connectivity in some regions. The area of inefficient land parcels with high priority for renewal accounted for 21%, and they were mainly distributed in the north and southwest of the study area. For these inefficient land parcels, different renewal planning measures should be taken according to their different renewal priority grades. The research results can provide a new method framework and decision-making reference for the planning practice of urban inefficient land redevelopment and the optimization of green infrastructure network patterns. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Pemanfaatan Smart PTSL Sebagai Instrumen Pengumpul, Pengolah dan Pengintegrasi Data Fisik dan Data Yuridis Pendaftaran Tanah Sistematis Lengkap

One of the obstacles in achieving the target of PTSL is the difficulty in integrating physical and juridical data, as effect of inefficiency of data collection. This research aims to explain the benefit of using SMART PTSL as an instrument to collect, process and integrate physical and juridical data and to test relative accuracy of area, shape and position of land parcels mapped using SMART PTSL, compared to land parcels download from Geo-KKP. Mixed method by combining quantitative and qualitative methods was implemented. The sample was determined using purposive sampling method. The results show that SMART PTSL give benefit in (a) simplify the process of physical and juridical data integration; (b) shorten the process of physical and juridical data verification; (c) simplify data entry to KKP PTSL. The result of relative accuracy comparison of area, shape and location show that from 34 land parcels, 11 parcels were meet the tolerance, while 23 parcels were not. The tolerance was calculated using equation 0,5 ?L. Moreover, the result of tolerance calculation was affected by measurement method.

Land Consolidation at the Household Level in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Land consolidation is an effective solution for the hindrances in agricultural production and rural development caused by land fragmentation. In the Red River Delta of Vietnam, where land is still highly fragmented, the application of land consolidation is required. By using a bottom-up approach, the paper aims to clarify the effect of land consolidation on farm households in selected communities (as case studies) of two provinces (Hung Yen and Vinh Phuc) in the Red River Delta. With the primary structured and semi-structured interview method, 172 household questionnaires and 22 in-depth questionnaires (from local officials) were collected. The results indicated that land consolidation could either change the spatial structure or expand the area of land parcels, facilitate the conversion of crop structure, increase household incomes, accelerate mechanization in agricultural production, and create more job opportunities for agricultural laborers. However, we also found that the land consolidation process conducted in the case studies is inadequate and lacks integration with other related policies.

THE CHANGE OF COORDINATE SYSTEM VERSUS THE AREA OF PARCELS

The transition from one coordinate system to another creates many problems, one of which is the change in the area of land parcels. There are at least three reasons causing a change in the area of the parcels after transition from one coordinate system to another. 1. The change in area associated with the transition from one reference ellipsoid to another; 2. The change in area due to deformations caused by random and systematic errors of one of the coordinate systems; 3. The change in the area of the parcel associated with the properties of the projection of Gauss-Krüger. It is shown that the greatest change in the area of the parcel during the transition from CS-63 to UCS-2000 (the coordinate systems of Ukraine) is associated with the properties of the Gauss-Krüger projection. For the parcel of 1 hectare, extreme changes in the area at the borders between the zones of the coordinate systems, can reach the size of 1.95 sq. m. When using local coordinate systems based on UCS-2000, extreme area changes can reach 7.02 sq. m per 1 hectare. It is concluded that the difference in the areas of parcels caused by the properties of the Gauss-Krüger projection could have been avoided if the prime meridians of the zones in the UCS-2000 and CS-63 systems coincided.

Three‐stage assessment of parcel area quality

The most important spatial attributes of any cadastral parcel are the coordinates of its boundary points, which define the extent of property rights. The derivative of the boundaries is the area of the parcel, which, in Poland, is determined based on the coordinates of the boundary points satisfying certain conditions. It is essential that the data entered into the real estate cadastre describing the areas of the parcels are of sufficiently high quality. For this reason, the authors of this research paper propose a three‐stage assessment of the quality of the area of cadastral parcels. The first stage involves analysis of the standardised values of selected attributes of the boundary points entered into the cadastral database, describing the accuracy of their position, the source of data capture, and the monumentation method. This forms the basis for evaluating the quality level of individual boundary points throughout the entire study area. Taking the geometry of the parcel into account, this information is used to determine the quality of the data on the areas of individual parcels, which forms the second stage of the analysis. The third and final stage consists in determining the global coefficient for the quality of areas of parcels in the study area. Such an approach provides a wide range of possibilities, both for carrying out unit control procedures and for comparing the quality of spatial data on parcel areas between individual cadastral districts or areas with a specific land use. The results of the analyses carried out on the research objects, i.e., on two cadastral districts located in southern Poland, have confirmed that the proposed method may also prove useful for other purposes. It is also a universal tool that can be adapted for use in other countries.

Spatial monitoring of grassland management using multi-temporal satellite imagery

Abstract Spatial monitoring of grassland management is crucial for ecosystem assessment and the establishment of sustainable agriculture. Switzerland is covered by large areas of small structured grassland parcels differing in management practices and use intensities, making the mapping of grassland management challenging. We present a monitoring tool to map grassland management, distinguishing between mowing- and grazing practice, and between different use intensities for Swiss agroecosystems. By analyzing pixelwise spectral time series of 2015, derived from satellite imagery of the Landsat archive, we estimated the number of management events and biomass productivity. Both estimates were used to map classes of dominant management practices and use intensities following a stepwise clustering approach. The grassland management (GM) classes were evaluated relative to established spectral and topographical patterns of grassland use intensity, and in terms of spatial conformity with available regional land use data. The GM classes were also analyzed with respect to management related vegetation plot data on species diversity, as well as on indicator values for nutrient supply and management tolerance. The stepwise clustering gave three use intensity classes for each dominant management practice of grazing (pasture) and mowing (meadow). Use intensity was higher for meadows than pastures with a distinct intensity gradient for each grassland practice. The GM classes reproduced established spectral and topographical patterns of grassland use intensity, indicated by increased standard deviations (SD) of spectral time series profiles (e.g. mean SD of 0.048 for pastures and 0.054 for meadows) and lower slopes (e.g. mean slopes of 10° for pastures and 7° for meadows). The averaged spatial conformity of the GM classes with a cantonal land use map was 82% for meadows and 97% for pastures. The GM classes spatially matched with land use patterns of three subregions, e.g. with an areal proportion of 73% pasture classes for a subregion dominated by grazing. Moreover, the GM classes reproduced established vegetation patterns of grassland use intensity along the GM intensity gradient, showing a mean decrease in species richness (33%), as well as a mean increase in indicator values for nutrient supply (5%), grazing tolerance (4%), and mowing tolerance (6%).

Impact of land expropriation on farmers’ livelihoods in the mountainous and hilly regions of Sichuan, China

Research on the sustainable livelihoods of rural households is of great significance to mitigating rural poverty and reasonable land expropriation policy helps to realize better livelihoods and sustainable development. Scholars have conducted considerable research on the relationships between land expropriation and farmers' livelihoods. However, few quantitative studies have used the characteristics of villages as control variables to systematically analyze the impact of land expropriation on farmers' livelihood capital and strategy in the mountainous and hilly regions of China. This study uses the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS- SEM) to systematically explain the impact of land expropriation on farmers' livelihoods in mountainous and hilly regions of Sichuan in 2013, with the characteristics of the village including income, accessibility and terrain as control variables. The analysis uses both representative sample data of 240 rural households and spatial data calculated using a 30 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) by Geographic Information System (GIS). Results are as follows: (1) The land expropriation characteristics are negatively affected by village accessibility. Villages with worse accessibility tend to have fewer land parcels and less land area expropriated. Additionally, land that is expropriated from inaccessible villages tends to receive less compensation. (2) Natural capital is negatively affected by number and area of land expropriation. Natural capital is not only directly affected by village accessibility, but also indirectly affected by village accessibility through the mediating effect of the number and area of land parcels expropriated. (3) Physical capital is positively affected by compensation for land expropriation, and negatively affected by village accessibility through compensation for land expropriation. The worse a village's accessibility/location is, the less compensation it will receive for land expropriation, resulting in lower physical capital. (4) Financial capital is negatively affected by village accessibility indirectly through compensation for land expropriation. The better the village's accessibility is, the greater is its compensation for land expropriation and, hence, the greater is its financial capital. (5) Social capital is directly and negatively affected by the number and area of land parcels expropriated, and is indirectly and positively affected by village accessibility through the number and area of land parcels expropriated. This study enhances our understanding of the characteristics of land expropriation and rural households' livelihood as well as the impact of land expropriation on rural households' livelihood. These findings provide reference for the formulation of proper policies related to land expropriation and the improvement of rural households' livelihoods in the mountainous and hilly regions of China.

Individual Vacant House Detection in Very-High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images

The formation and demolition of vacant houses are the most visible sign of city shrinking and revitalization. Timely detection of vacant houses has become an inevitable task to aid the “Smart City” initiative. Two pressing problems exist for vacant houses, however: (1) No publicly accessible information is available at the individual house level and (2) the decennial census survey does not catch up with the rapidly changing status of vacant houses. To this end, remote sensing provides a low-cost avenue for detecting vacant houses. Traditionally, remote sensing was accredited for its success in deriving biophysical parameters of human settlements, such as the presence and physical size of buildings. It is still a challenge, though, to infer the functions of buildings, such as land-use types and occupancy status. In this study, we aim to detect individual vacant houses with very-high-resolution remote sensing images through a smart machine learning method. Our proposed method entails three steps: ground-truth data collection, classification, and feature selection. As a result, a new building change detection method was developed to collect ground-truth vacant house data from multitemporal images. Important features for classification of houses were identified. Subsequently, we carried out a classification of vacant houses and yielded promising results. Furthermore, the results indicate that both the area of the vacant house parcels and the healthy conditions of the surrounding vegetation contribute most to the detection accuracy. Our work shows the potential of using remote sensing to detect individual vacant houses at a large spatial extent. Key Words: machine learning, remote sensing, smart city, vacant house.

Detailed model of topological and metric relationships between a line and region

Topological relation is one of the basic topics of geographic information systems (GISs), and it has been widely applied in data organization and spatial analysis. It seems whether a simple topological relation can hardly represent complex space situations in some cases. Different topological relations may result in the same expression by some topological relation models, among which the 9-Intersection Model (9IM), and its extended models are well known. In this paper, a detailed model and calculation method for topological relations are proposed, to describe the complex topological relations between lines and regions more exactly. It is better to answer the question, e.g., “How does the road cross the park?” The programs are developed to compute the complex topological relations between a line and region, and the actual area of land use parcels, from which the area of related linear features wait to be subtracted.