Geographic Information System Software Research Articles

DRASTIC for Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment using GIS: A Case Study in Laylan Sub-Basin, Kirkuk, Iraq

Vulnerability evaluation to determine more susceptible to contamination regions has played a significant role in urban planning and resources management. Our study is the first study comes to use the DRASTIC model assessing the vulnerability areas of the Laylan sub-basin. An extra aim is to prove the integration between DRASTIC and the geographical information system for risk estimation of groundwater discrimination. Seven DRASTIC factors have been utilized to maintain the groundwater quality in the study area. These parameters were prepared and analyzed using geographical information system software. Each parameter was got a weight according to its importance. The sum of these parameters produced a final map showing the areas of vulnerability in the region. The final map contains five vulnerability zones distributed in the Laylan sub-basin. The northern and northwestern parts of Laylan sub-basin were characterized as very high and high vulnerability; whilst the central part was dominated as very low and low vulnerability.

Agricultural Land Evaluation Using GIS-Based Matching Method in Highland Areas for Oil Palm Cultivation

<p>Oil palm (<em>Elaeis guineensis</em>) is one of the commodity crops and is mostly found in tropical lands. This study aimed to analyze the current and potential land suitability for oil palm using the geographic information system (GIS) technique. The study was conducted in the Ranau District, Sabah State, Malaysia. Field activity was carried out to collect soil samples and land information in the study area. Land suitability was then assessed using the matching method and GIS software was employed to produce a land suitability map for oil palm. The results indicated that the current land suitability classes in the study area were highly suitable (S1) with a total area of 99,118 ha (27.4%); moderately suitable (S2) with 110,108 ha (30.4%); marginally suitable (S3) with 109,533 ha (30.2%); currently not suitable (N1) with 2,728 ha (0.7%) and permanently not suitable (N2) with 40,693 ha (11.3%). Meanwhile, the potential land suitability classes showed 198,206 ha (54.7%) for S1; 123,281 ha (34%) for S2 and 40,693 ha (11.3%) for N2. Suitable areas that could be planted with oil palm included the gently sloping flank and the low gradient slope margin. Availability of nutrients and work capability were the dominant limiting factors in the study area. The outputs of this study recommend that the Ranau District has the potential for oil palm although it still needs land improvements for sustainable oil palm cultivation.</p>

Identification and extraction of a current urban ecological network in Minhang District of Shanghai based on an optimization method

The urban ecological network has gained substantial interest in the context of urban sustainable development research in recent years. It guides the optimization of the urban ecological spatial layout, which is an important means for inventory development and ecological construction. However, traditional construction methods may not be suitable for urban environments with complex matrices. This can result in the inaccurate extraction of urban ecological networks. This study aimed to improve understanding of the current distribution and composition of key elements in urban ecological networks. In the present study, an optimized evaluation method involving ecological source patches and resistance surfaces was used to identify and extract an urban ecological network. The Minhang District (MhD) of Shanghai formed the study area. The results showed that: (1) There was spatial heterogeneity in habitat quality and the location importance of cores in the MhD. These two factors were inconsistent with the area size. (2) The habitat quality for the same land use types were significantly different. This was because of both vegetation quality and the external environment. (3) The urban ecological network for the MhD had 82 source patches. These were unevenly distributed and mainly concentrated in Pudong. (4) A total of 133 least-cost paths were extracted from between the source patches. However, the cost of least-cost paths were generally high in Puxi. This was not conducive to forming functional connections between patches. This study provided an optimization method for identifying and extracting ecological networks in urban areas by combining Geographical Information System software (GIS), Guidos, Graphab, and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. Ecological indicators such as NDVI, the percentage variation of the probability of connectivity (dPC), and habitat quality were applied to improve accuracy. The study findings lay the foundation for further layout optimization and supporting ecological planning.

Web-Based Decision Support System for Managing the Food–Water–Soil–Ecosystem Nexus in the Kolleru Freshwater Lake of Andhra Pradesh in South India

Most of the world’s freshwater lake ecosystems are endangered due to intensive land use conditions. They are subjected to anthropogenic stress and severely degraded because of large-scale aquafarming, agricultural expansion, urbanization, and industrialization. In the case of India’s largest freshwater lake, the Kolleru freshwater ecosystem, environmental resources such as water and soil have been adversely impacted by an increase in food production, particularly through aquaculture. There are numerous instances where aqua farmers have indulged in constructing illegal fishponds. This process of aquafarming through illegal fishponds has continued even after significant restoration efforts, which started in 2006. This underlines the necessity of continuous monitoring of the state of the lake ecosystem in order to survey the effectiveness of restoration and protection measures. Hence, to better understand the processes of ecosystem degradation and derive recommendations for future management, we developed a web mapping application (WMA). The WMA aims to provide fishpond data from the current monitoring program, allowing users to access the fishpond data location across the lake region, demanding lake digitization and analysis. We used a machine learning algorithm for training the composite series of Landsat images obtained from Google Earth Engine to digitize the lake ecosystem and further analyze current and past land use classes. An open-source geographic information system (GIS) software and JavaScript library plugins including a PostGIS database, GeoServer, and Leaflet library were used for WMA. To enable the interactive features, such as editing or updating the latest construction of fishponds into the database, a client–server architecture interface was provided, finally resulting in the web-based model application for the Kolleru Lake aquaculture system. Overall, we believe that providing expanded access to the fishpond data using such tools will help government organizations, resource managers, stakeholders, and decision makers better understand the lake ecosystem dynamics and plan any upcoming restoration measures.

İnsanız Hava Aracı (Drone) ile Erozyon Alanlarının Tespiti: Trakya Yarımadası Örneği

Bu çalışma, Trakya Yarımadası’nda tespit edilen erozyon bölgelerinin alan ve hacimlerinin Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri (CBS) kullanılarak hesaplanması amacı ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Uzaktan algılama ile yapılan ölçümler hem zaman kazanımı hem de fazla işgücünün önüne geçmektedir. Ayrıca drone ile çekim yapılabilecek araziler için satın alınabilecek uydu görüntülerinden daha az maliyetli olmaktadır. Bu amaçla, bölgede doğal karakteristikleri farklılık gösteren 13 erozyon alanı incelenmiş ve insansız hava aracı (drone) ile görüntüler elde edilmiştir. Çalışmada İHA verilerinin kalibrasyonu amacıyla sınırları belli olan ve doğaya zarar vermeyen beyaz boya ile sınırları belirlenmiş ve çeşitli yüksekliklerden bu alanların tüm ölçümleri (uzunluklar, açılar vb.) yapılmıştır. Sınırları belirlenen alanlar daha sonra İHA görüntüleri alınarak CBS yazılımları ve grafik programı “Autodesk Inventor” ile çeşitli proseslerden geçirilerek hacim hesaplaması yapılmıştır. Görüntülerde farklılık olmaması için uygun hava koşulları beklenmiş ve birleştirilecek olan İHA görüntüleri benzer hava şartlarında elde edilmiştir. Farklı hava koşullarında alınan görüntülerin birleştirilmesinde ışık, gölge gibi faktörlerin hesaplamalarda herhangi bir sapmaya neden olmaması ve görsel olarak farklılık oluşturmaması için özen gösterilmiştir. Toplam 13 adet erozyon alanlarından görüntüler alınmış ve çalışmada koordinat sistemi olarak WGS 1984 (World Geodetic System 1984) kullanılmıştır.
 Bu görüntüler birleştirilerek bu alanların ortomozaik görüntüleri oluşturulmuştur. Görüntülerdeki bölgelerin alan ve hacimlerinin yanı sıra kalibrasyonları da yapılmıştır. Yapılan çalışmada, kalibrasyon için küçük bir alanın kullanılması alansal hesaplamada doğruluk oranını %90’ın üzerine çıkarırken hacim ölçümlerinde ise bu oran uçuş yüksekliğine göre %60 – 78 arasında bulunmuştur. 
 Yaklaşık 100 m2 alanda yapılan kalibrasyon çalışmasında 100 metre yükseklikten çekilen görüntüde 12 fotoğraf, 10 metre yükseklikten çekilen görüntüde ise 103 fotoğraf kullanılmıştır. Buna göre, yerden 10 metre yükseklikten çekilen görüntüde hacimsel doğruluk oranı %78,57 bulunmuştur.

Development and Application of a QGIS-Based Model to Estimate Monthly Streamflow

Changes in rainfall pattern and land use have caused considerable impacts on the hydrological behavior of watersheds; a Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Analysis (L-THIA) model has been used to simulate such variations. The L-THIA model defines curve number according to the land use and hydrological soil group before calculating the direct runoff based on the amount of rainfall, making it a convenient method of analysis. Recently, a method was proposed to estimate baseflow using this model, which may be used to estimate the overall streamflow. Given that this model considers the spatial distribution of land use and hydrological soil groups and must use rainfall data at multiple positions, it requires the usage of a geographical information system (GIS). Therefore, a model that estimates streamflow using land use maps, hydrologic soil group maps, and rain gauge station maps in QGIS, a popular GIS software, was developed. This model was tested in 15 watersheds.

A Mini-Review of Strategies for Quantifying Anthropogenic Activities in Microplastic Studies in Aquatic Environments.

Microplastic pollution is no longer neglected worldwide, as recent studies have unveiled its potential harm to ecosystems and, even worse, to human health. Numerous studies have documented the ubiquity of microplastics, reflecting the necessity of formulating corresponding policies to mitigate the accumulation of microplastics in natural environments. Although anthropogenic activities are generally acknowledged as the primary source of microplastics, a robust approach to identify sources of microplastics is needed to provide scientific suggestions for practical policymaking. This review elucidates recent microplastic studies on various approaches for quantifying or reflecting the degree to which anthropogenic activities contribute to microplastic pollution. Population density (i.e., often used to quantify anthropogenic activities) was not always significantly correlated with microplastic abundance. Furthermore, this review argues that considering potential sources near sample sites as characteristics that may serve to predict the spatial distribution of microplastics in aquatic environments is equivocal. In this vein, a watershed-scale measure that uses land-cover datasets to calculate different percentages of land use in the watershed margins delineated by using Geographic Information System (GIS) software is discussed and suggested. Progress in strategies for quantifying anthropogenic activities is important for guiding future microplastic research and developing effective management policies to prevent microplastic contamination in aquatic ecosystems.

Assessment of Supply Water Quality Using GIS Tool for Selected Locations in Delhi—A Case Study

The importance of water quality is well understood, and it becomes even more critical when is use for drinking purposes. A case study was carried out to know the applicability of GIS tool for determining the quality of supply water. Water samples from 21 houses at different locations of Delhi were collected. Sample analysis was done for physicochemical parameters viz., pH, EC, TDS, Total Hardness, Total Alkalinity, Chloride, Fluoride, and Nitrate. The water quality data from these selected locations was analyzed using Geographical Information System (GIS) Technique. GIS software did interpolation through the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method to know the water quality (WQ) in different part of the city for various parameters mentioned above and prepare thematic maps from the analysis of water quality data as a database. These thematic maps show the distribution of different water quality parameters. Using Weighted Arithmetic Index (WAI) method, Water Quality Index is calculated. After that, the Drinking Water Quality Index (DWQI) map was generated using thematic layer, reclassification, and weight value assigned in weighted overlay tools in GIS software. Five categories viz., excellent, good, satisfactory, poor, and very poor is assign to describe DWQI. Out of all the selected locations, DWQI was good only at two locations, whereas, at the remaining sites, the DWQI was found satisfactory. However, the overall water quality was found suitable for human consumption. The analysis outcome was represented as maps that will be advantageous to know the water quality status for the area under study. The spatial database established can be a reliable technique for monitoring and managing water quality in the water supply system.

Assessing urban vulnerability to landslides using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP): Case study of the municipal head of Djebahia in Algeria

Djebahia is an average city in the Algerian centre, reported to have many risks related to landslides, with very important indices of instabilities. The recurrence of damaging events in this locality has shown the fragility of its urban system. The main objective of this article is to analyse the urban vulnerability in Djebahia municipality by determining the physical condition of its urban structure. The procedures for the analysis of factors at the origin of the risk in this city are mainly derived from the spatial analysis program, represented by the geographic information system software (ARCMAP), which contains a set of tools facilitating the process analysis. The present research was based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) of Thomas Laurie Saaty (1990), which belongs to a series of multi-criteria approaches. The analysis showed three levels of urban vulnerability: high, medium, and low, while the elements most affected by landslides are equipment, collective, and individual housing. These results were translated into a map of urban vulnerability to landslide risk.

GIS TECHNOLOGY FOR HEALTHCARE SERVICE: PLANNING & EVALUATING OUTREACH

Geographic information systems (GIS) is an effective tool for determining the best locations for future healthcare facilities. An increasingly important form of analysis in health information systems involves the analysis of geographic distribution and trends in health service delivery. Geographic information systems software helps map the spatial distribution and coverage of health services and as a tool to identify geographic areas to target for health service development activities. The objectives of this study are to analyze the geographic distribution of the public health facilities in the Dahod District of Gujarat. The listed healthcare facilities of Dahod district were covered for data collection. The data includes detailed survey and collected GIS coordinates Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The collected Latitude and Longitude through a ground survey of every health facility were transferred into GIS software for mapping health facilities of Dahod in the state of Gujarat, India for the year 2020. The Dahod district is divided into 7 sub-districts/blocks. In the district total of 21 Community Health Centers (CHC's), 97 Public health Centers (PHC's) and, 637 Sub Centers (SC's) are operating. The GIS-based methods used in this study show how this methodology can be utilized for planning the location of new health facilities across a range of geographical terrains and regions, including hilly, tribal, and remote areas. Analysis reveals that some talukas have a clustering of health facilities while the other talukas have evenly distributed health centers.

Bounding Box-Free Instance Segmentation Using Semi-Supervised Iterative Learning for Vehicle Detection

Vehicle classification is a hot computer vision topic, with studies ranging from ground-view to top-view imagery. Top-view images allow understanding city patterns, traffic management, among others. However, there are some difficulties for pixel-wise classification: most vehicle classification studies use object detection methods, and most publicly available datasets are designed for this task, creating instance segmentation datasets is laborious, and traditional instance segmentation methods underperform on this task since the objects are small. Thus, the present research objectives are as follows: first, propose a novel semisupervised iterative learning approach using the geographic information system software, second, propose a box-free instance segmentation approach, and third, provide a city-scale vehicle dataset. The iterative learning procedure considered the following: first, labeling a few vehicles from the entire scene, second, choosing training samples near those areas, third, training the deep learning model (U-net with efficient-net-B7 backbone), fourth, classifying the whole scene, fifth, converting the predictions into shapefile, sixth, correcting areas with wrong predictions, seventh, including them in the training data, eighth repeating until results are satisfactory. We considered vehicle interior and borders to separate instances using a semantic segmentation model. When removing the borders, the vehicle interior becomes isolated, allowing for unique object identification. Our procedure is very efficient and accurate for generating data iteratively, which resulted in 122 567 mapped vehicles. Metrics-wise, our method presented higher intersection over union when compared to box-based methods (82% against 72%), and per-object metrics surpassed 90% for precision and recall.

Individual, parental and built environmental features as influencing factors of active travel to school in northeast China: findings from a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesActive travel to school (ATS)-associated factors had been studied in some developed countries but rarely in China. We studied the associated factors of ATS at individual, parental and built environment...

Remote Sensing and Landscape Metrics-Based Forest Physical Degradation: Two-Decades Assessment in Gishwati-Mukura Biological Corridor in Rwanda, East-Central Africa

The management of forest corridors and related ecology is one of the effective strategies to minimize the adverse effects of forest degradation. It controls the connectivity of inhabitant species and the connection of the isolated patches. This study analyzed spatial and temporal forest physical degradation based on forest cover change and forest fragmentation in the Gishwati-Mukura biological corridor from 1990-2019. Remotely sensed datasets, Geographical Information System (GIS) and FRAGSTATS software were used to analyze the spatial and temporal physical degradation and changes in forest cover. The results indicated that the Gishwati-Mukura corridor experienced massive deforestation where approximately 7617.1 ha (64.22%) of forest cover was completely cleared out, which implies an annual forest loss of 262.6 ha·year-1 (2.21%) during 1990-2019. The forest cover transitions patterns and geostatistical analysis indicated that extensive deforestation was associated with intensive agriculture. The results demonstrated that agriculture has dramatically increased from 29.46% in 1990 to 57.22% in 2019, with an annual increase of 1.97%. Since Gishwati-Mukura has changed to National Park (NP), it lacks diversified scientific studies addressing the analysis of the remote and spatial patterns to investigate its physical degradation and landscape dynamics. This research study will serve as remote forest analysis gap-filling and as the cornerstone of numerous other research that will contribute to the improvement of the connectivity assessments along the Gishwati-Mukura corridor and other related ecosystems.

Multicriteria Evaluation‐GIS Integration Framework for Landfill Site Selection in Limited Space Regions: A Case Study in the West Bank

Unplanned solid waste disposal is a global challenge that has created severe environmental and health problems, especially in developing countries. The West Bank, a developing region in the Middle East, is an example of a limited space region that suffers dangerous pollution, hazardous odors, and contaminated plantations as consequences of unplanned solid waste dumping sites and landfills. Limited space allotted to the West Bank Palestinians, making it highly inhabited, is the main reason behind the current allocation of solid waste dumping sites that are close to the residential area. Multicriteria evaluation (MCE) method, integrated with geographic information system (GIS) software, is employed here to find optimal solid waste disposal locations in the West Bank. The model assumes the input of two‐factor types, namely natural and artificial. These two types include nineteen criteria. Based on the MCE method, a hierarchy criteria scheme has been developed and used in data analysis by GIS. The hierarchy scheme divides each required criterion into subcriteria with rankings to be presented. Each criterion has been weighted and intersected by the weight overlaying process in GIS to provide the most suitable locations for regional landfills inside the West Bank. Each existing landfill location has then been examined for compliance with the criteria. The results show that all regional five landfills, including a future planned site, exist in the restricted area determined here. However, one landfill is close to suitable places and can be relocated easily. Moreover, about 323.57 km2 can be sufficiently used for regional landfills inside the West Bank, mostly available in the Eastern parts. The findings confirm the applicability of the MCE‐GIS integration strategy in future planning of landfill siting in areas of limited space.

The suitable distribution area of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) in the Hoang Lien Son Mountain range (Lao Cai Province)

Hoang Lien Son is a high, rugged mountain range in the northwest region of Vietnam where many ethnic minorities gather, and due to socioeconomic characteristics, the life of the people here still faces many difficulties. Artichoke is a medicinal plant with high economic value and favorable growth in temperate climates and is one of the options for sustainable economic development for people in mountainous areas. The study used a multicriteria analysis method on AHP to analyze the influence of ecological factors of the Hoang Lien Son area (Lao Cai Province) on the growth and development of artichokes. The weights from the AHP model are used to establish ecological adaptation maps through geographic information system (GIS) software. The research results show that the most suitable areas (S1 and S2) for the development of artichokes have an area of 125,642.72 hectares, accounting for 34.41% of the study area. However, the area with the highest adaptability (S1) for growing artichokes is not large, located at an altitude of over 1000 m, mainly at 1700 m in the territory of Sapa town and some communes in Bat Xat district. The results provide the scientific basis for planning potential planting areas and exploiting and developing artichokes to improve livelihoods and people's lives, contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Prevalence of Dirofilaria repens in dogs living in deltaic coastal plain of the Volturno River (Italy): a geographical risk model of infection.

The prevalence of vector-associated parasitic infections is high in central-southern Italy. The deltaic coastal plain of the Volturno River has been suspected, by veterinary practitioners, to have a high accidental incidence of Dirofilaria repens. Thus, the goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dirofilariasis and other coinfections frequently described in dogs living in the Volturno area. Blood samples of 100 clinical asymptomatic dogs were examined using a Knott's technique and polymerase chain reaction in order to identify microfilariae. Other vector-borne coinfections were also investigated using ELISA kits. The results were analysed using statistical and Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Microfilariae of D. repens were detected in 10% of the dogs surveyed, with a presence of antibodies against Ehrlichia canis (4/10) and Dirofilaria immitis (1/10). Such high incidence should be considered in light of the zoonotic potential for D. repens and the support for more regular use of repellents to prevent the spread of this disease. The GIS analyses indicated that the study area provides suitable conditions to sustain populations of mosquito vectors and D. repens parasites throughout much of the year.

Geological mapping and mining prospecting in the Aouli inlier (Eastern Meseta, Morocco) based on remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS)

Landsat 8 Oli, ASTER, and Sentinel 2A satellite images processing was used to map geological formations, lineaments and hydrothermal alteration minerals in the Aouli inlier, as a case study to illustrate the application of digital images processing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in geological mapping and mining prospecting. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to the Landsat images allowed good lithological discrimination and contributed to the updating of available geological maps. The Automatic lineament extraction from Sentinel images revealed the main tectonic structures affecting Aouli inlier. The ratio bands (b5+b7)/b6 and the false color composite (b4/b6, b2/b1, b3/b2) allowed the hydrothermal alteration minerals mapping from Aster images. Combined with available geological data and field observations, the satellite derived data were integrated and analyzed in a GIS software to establish mining prospecting guides. The results showed that the anomaly zones are intimately linked to NNE –SSW and NW –SE oriented faults and to highly fractured areas developing argillic and Fe rich alterations. Verified via field survey, this approach was successfully applied to the Aouli inlier to rapidly target potential areas to be explored in the tactical phase. This provides a model for future prospecting efforts for similar mineral deposits in other areas.©2022 China Geology Editorial Office.

The Effect of Drought on Vegetation in Erbil Governorate Plain between “2000 - 2020” Years by Using RS-GIS

Drought and its impact on the current Kurdistan Region's surface cover is an important issue because it affects the country's economic, cultural, and regional security. In this study, has used remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) to analyze satellite images from Landsat satellites (4-8) In April, we are going to show the situation of the surface cover in the research area from 2000-2005-2010-2015-2020, by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), And for showing the impact of drought phenomenon on the surface research area, we have used Standardized Precipitation (SPI) through the weather data stations of research area by using Temperature Condition Index (TCI), and Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), We can reach the goals of our research through several modules and techniques by using RS and GIS programs on the images.

Optimization of Urban Cargo Distribution Network and Station Points with Open Source GIS

The cargo and transportation sector is growing day by day. Resources need to be managed more efficiently in the face of growth in the sector and fast delivery demand in customer requests. Location selection of cargo branches and route planning processes of cargo vehicles are important in order to manage resources more efficiently. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide significant advantages in site selection and route planning processes. Especially open source GIS data and GIS software offer low cost and effective solutions. In this study, the branch locations of a cargo company in ġehitkamil district of Gaziantep province were examined and the routes of the vehicles were analyzed in a way to minimize time loss and fuel consumption. In this context, isochrone maps were produced over the road network. The population numbers within these isochrone zones were calculated and vehicle liability zones were determined according to the population data. Finally, the daily route planning of more than a hundred cargoes, which are required to be delivered by cargo vehicles in one day, has been made.

Use of GIS Mapping in the COVID 19 Outbreak Management

COVID 19 pandemic has exposed gaps in outbreak management in different parts of the world. Evidence based decisions are compelled by health authorities. Even though Geographical Information System (GIS) has been identified as a technology to support different avenues of public health management, it has been rarely utilized at regional level outbreak management. COVID-19 case maps for high-risk Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas at Grama Niladari Division (GND) level were compiled using freely available GIS software. These maps were used in different scenarios of regional level outbreak management and also helped other nonhealth stakeholders involved in COVID 19 prevention activities.