Integration Of GIS Research Articles

GIS Integration of DInSAR Measurements, Geological Investigation and Historical Surveys for the Structural Monitoring of Buildings and Infrastructures: An Application to the Valco San Paolo Urban Area of Rome

Structural health monitoring is a crucial issue in areas with different hazard sources, such as Italy. Among non-invasive monitoring techniques, remote sensing provides useful information in supporting the management process and safety evaluations, reducing the impact of disturbances on the functionality of construction systems. The ground displacement time-series based on the analysis of Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, as well as the information about the geology of the area and the geometry of the construction under monitoring, provides useful data for the built environment’s structural assessment. This paper focuses on the structural monitoring and damage assessment of constructions based on the GIS integration of DInSAR measurements, geological investigation, historical surveys and 3D modeling. The methodology is applied to the residential area of Valco San Paolo in the city of Rome (Italy). Once the geological interpretation has confirmed the results of the DInSAR measurements, a quick damage assessment that considers all the possible conditions of the pre-existing damage at the time zero of the monitoring is shown for a damaged manufact in the area. The presented results highlight how the strategy to correlate the DInSAR-monitored ground settlements with the damage scales allows potentially to monitor continuous construction systems.

Integration of GIS, remote sensing, and spectral indices for evaluation of forest canopy density model in drought and wet years in Western Ghats region of humid tropical Kerala, India

Integration of GIS, remote sensing, and spectral indices for evaluation of forest canopy density model in drought and wet years in Western Ghats region of humid tropical Kerala, India

ANALISA LAJU SEBARAN YIELD SEDIMEN PADA DTA WADUK SAGULING DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN PENDEKATAN USLE-GIS

<p>One of the issues that is still a problem in the upstream watershed, including the<br />water catchment area of Saguling Reservoir, is land use change. Changes in land<br />use in water catchment conservation areas into economic, industrial and residential<br />areas, will cause an increase in run-off during the rainy season and sediment<br />transport to the reservoir inlet, while changes in land use downstream of the<br />reservoir will cause an increase in demand. Therefore, research is needed to<br />determine the rate of increase in sediment yield that occurs in the watershed of the<br />Saguling Reservoir. The integration of USLE and GIS allows us to determine the<br />spatial distribution of parameters. Each factor in USLE is calculated using the<br />existing facilities in the GIS software. The results showed that there was an<br />increasing rate of sediment yield in the "Very Heavy" TBE category, while in the<br />"Medium" TBE category the trend of sediment yields showed a downward trend.</p>

Integrating Spatial Modelling and Interpolation of Environmental Factors in Landscape Design Analysis

Rapid landscape change for physical development has led to extensive environmental consequences. Analysing and simulating landscape change's impact is vital in understanding the consequence of existing development scenarios, particularly on the microclimate and thermal comfort. Spatial interpolation is one of the tools capable of visualising the characteristic of the environmental scenario in any area with empirical data. This paper discussed the method of GIS integration in modelling the environmental characteristic (microclimate) in landscape design development. A spatial database is developed based on the input from empirical data, and IDW is used to simulate the environmental characteristic of the landscape in the analysis stage. Using campus landscape rehabilitation at UTMKL Pasir Gudang as an example, an empirical study was conducted to collect the microclimate data and the existing landscape composition. Both existing and future microclimate situations are visualised and simulated to strengthen the understanding of the functionality of the new landscape design proposal. It indicates the performance of the landscape design and demonstrates the thermal comfort level of the campus. This analysis goes beyond aesthetic value evaluation and gives designers the necessary idea to orientate the ideal design concept to optimise ecosystem service to the campus. The spatial interpolation clearly shows the expected environmental condition scenario as the landscape at the campus changes. This simulation significantly improves the decision-making process in landscape design that contributes to an eco-friendly campus where the community will have a more comfortable environment. In conclusion, the spatial interpolation of the environmental characteristic is vital to formulate a substantial understanding of the landscape design consequence to maximise ecosystem service provision.

Integrating building and context information for automated zoning code checking: a review

Interoperability approaches have attracted much attention in the AEC/FM industry with the increased interest in Building Information Modeling (BIM) studies since 2000’s. Especially, the integration of BIM with GIS is crucial for areas, which need detailed information on buildings and their surroundings. Automated code compliance checking against zoning codes is an area that requires both zoning data and building design data. In an ideal automated zoning code checking process, building codes should be retrieved from the responsible authority, data regarding the neighborhood the project is located in should be retrieved directly from the local municipality’s GIS, and the building project should be supplied by the designer as a BIM file. The checking process should be able to work with a combination of GIS and BIM data and generate a compliance report. Although recent BIM-GIS integration efforts have been successful in some areas, BIM-GIS integration studies in the context of automated zoning code compliance checking are limited, and the data interoperability problem in this field still needs to be addressed. This paper intends to (1) provide a critical review and analysis of the current BIM and GIS integration studies for building permit processes, (2) present the opportunities that the implementation of integrating BIM and GIS might bring to the automated zoning compliance checking domain and (3) identify promising integration approaches for future efforts.

An Integrated GIS Method – The Influence of Human Activities on Shoreline Change in Western Indian Small Island States: A Two Centuries Analysis of Urban West Unguja - Zanzibar Shoreline

Purpose: Urban areas have a high impact on shoreline changes that are more influenced by human activities rather than natural factors, together with hard structural mitigation and management, which are more practiced compared to other areas. This paper describes shoreline changes of small islands specifically; the shoreline of Urban West of Unguja Island in Zanzibar United Republic of Tanzania. This island has been changed for 174 years in different stages due to human activities including; reclamation of Darajani creek, port expansion at Malindi, Mtoni beach nourishment, sewer and stormwater channeling at Kilimani, construction of walls, groins, jetties, etc. 
 Methodology: The study uses an integrated method to analyze and detect changes using a sketch plan survey map of 1846 and 1892, a topographic map of 1907 and 1987, an aerial photo of 2004, Landsat images, and google images of 2019 and 2020. These maps were carefully georeferenced with latitude and longitudes, digitized using ArcGIS and demarcated along the study area supported with ground truth observation to analyze the coastal shoreline changes.
 Findings: The results show that the area experiences more accretion rather than retreat, integrated analysis and projections of the overall accretion and retreat for 174 years is 1,527,693.85 m2 (1.53 km2) and -936,135.48 m2 ( -0.94 km) receptively. The average accretion of land from 1846 to 2020 is 8,779.85m2/yr. (0.0088 km2/yr.) and retreat is -5,380.09m2/yr. (-0.0054 km2/yr.). A major accretion was observed and detected during the early 1900s to late 1987 which were major land transformation while other minor development activities were between 2010 to 2020. Sea walls, groins, beach nourishment, mangroves, barrier islands, and islets are major management practices of the shoreline which show a positive impact.
 Recommendations: The study finds it more appropriate to use multi datasets as an integrated method to analyze long-term coastal shoreline changes especially when there is limited data.

Integration of GIS and WEAP models for groundwater resource management in arid regions: case of the Djeffara-Medenine shallow aquifer (Southeastern Tunisia)

Integration of GIS and WEAP models for groundwater resource management in arid regions: case of the Djeffara-Medenine shallow aquifer (Southeastern Tunisia)

Collaboration and Risk in Building Information Modelling (BIM): A Systematic Literature Review

Building information modelling (BIM) has become increasingly popular in construction projects in recent years. Simultaneously, project management has received more attention from academics and practitioners worldwide. Many studies have suggested that perceiving collaboration and risk are critical for successful construction project management. This study investigates the current status and future trends in building information modeling (BIM) literature from the Web of Science database. This review systematically uses bibliometric and systematic literature review (SLR) methods through co-occurrence and co-citation analysis. First, 650 academic documents were retrieved from the Web of Science database. Then, co-occurrence and co-citation analyses were performed along with network visualization to examine research interconnections’ patterns. As a result, relevant keywords, productive authors, and important journals have been highlighted. The prominent research topics within the literature on building information modelling focus on the following topics: collaborative in BIM, integration of BIM, GIS and Internet of Things (IoT), barriers to the integration of BIM, sustainability and BIM, and risk assessment and uncertainty. Finally, the potential research directions are developing towards digital twin technology, integration of BIM and AI, and Augmented Reality (AR) and BIM. The presented findings of only 88 articles discuss the collaboration and risk issue in BIM for the construction industry and thus confirms the need for more studies on this topic to enhance the chances of successfully building information modelling projects. The review focuses only on the academic documents retrieved from the Web of Science database, thus restricting the coverage of the reviewed literature relating to building information modelling collaboration and risk.

Identification of Groundwater Potential Zones Using AHP, GIS and RS Integration: A Case Study of Didessa Sub-Basin, Western Ethiopia

Groundwater is a precious water resource in underground rocks and major water source for drinking, industry and irrigation. Identifying the groundwater potential zones in certain areas of Ethiopia is still challenging in terms of time and cost for resolving water scarcity. Groundwater evaluations in Ethiopia are normally done based on field survey. Therefore, this study aims to use the timely and cost-effective remote sensing data and GIS techniques for the evaluation of groundwater potentials in Didessa Sub-Basin from Western Ethiopia. STRM DEM and Landsat-8 satellite image with secondary data was used for this study. Thematic layers showing distribution of slope, lithology, lineament density, drainage density, LULC, soil texture and rainfall were analyzed using weight overlay analysis and AHP algorithm to determine the groundwater potentials. The weights for each element then assigned according to their relative relevance using Saaty’s (AHP) scale. The rainfall and geomorphology showed a higher weight and lithology the lowest. About 4.6% (1289.4km2) of the study area was classified as ‘very high potential, 66% (18532.2 km2) classified as ‘high potential, 27% (7683km2) as moderate potential and 2.1% (587.5 km2) as ‘low’ groundwater potential areas. Therefore, this study demonstrates a robust method, efficient and useful technique for delineating and mapping groundwater potential zones for planning and decision-making for better groundwater management.

Seismically-induced changes in sea-level markers: Jolly Buoy Island, South Andaman

Sea-level markers like coastlines, landforms, tidal notches and coral reefs can unveil the seismic behaviour of subduction processes. Jolly Buoy Island, South Andaman, has undergone a remarkable change in shape and orientation due to rising sea levels and active tectonics. Involving integrated field, remote sensing and GIS techniques, we systematically estimated shoreline change rate, reef uplift and morphometry of tidal notches to track inter-, co- and postseismic periods. We quantified higher subsidence rates in the SW coast (−0.227m) than in the NE coast (−0.128m) during the coseismic period from geomorphology and biological resource mapping. The uplift was evident during the postseismic period in the NE and Eastern part of the Island compared to the SW and Western coast. The shoreline change analysis corroborates the results of the seaward migration of the northeast coastline. A gradual fading of uplift towards the southwest coast cause erosion in that part. The tidal notches identified during fieldwork also suggest similar subsidence and uplift patterns. Finally, here we proposed a model of geomorphological evolution of Jolly Buoy with possible local tectonic connections. More seismic data and geomorphic evidence from other islands can reveal regional significance.

Monitoring deformations of infrastructure networks: A fully automated GIS integration and analysis of InSAR time-series

Ageing stock and extreme weather events pose a threat to the safety of infrastructure networks. In most countries, funding allocated to infrastructure management is insufficient to perform systematic inspections over large transport networks. As a result, early signs of distress can develop unnoticed, potentially leading to catastrophic structural failures. Over the past 20 years, a wealth of literature has demonstrated the capability of satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) to accurately detect surface deformations of different types of assets. Thanks to the high accuracy and spatial density of measurements, and a short revisit time, space-borne remote-sensing techniques have the potential to provide a cost-effective and near real-time monitoring tool. Whilst InSAR techniques offer an effective approach for structural health monitoring, they also provide a large amount of data. For civil engineering procedures, these need to be analysed in combination with large infrastructure inventories. Over a regional scale, the manual extraction of InSAR-derived displacements from individual assets is extremely time-consuming and an automated integration of the two datasets is essential to effectively assess infrastructure systems. This paper presents a new methodology based on the fully automated integration of InSAR-based measurements and Geographic Information System-infrastructure inventories to detect potential warnings over extensive transport networks. A Sentinel dataset from 2016 to 2019 is used to analyse the Los Angeles highway and freeway network, while the Italian motorway network is evaluated by using open access ERS/Envisat datasets between 1992 and 2010, COSMO-SkyMed datasets between 2008 and 2014 and Sentinel datasets between 2014 and 2020. To demonstrate the flexibility of the proposed methodology to different SAR sensors and infrastructure classes, the analysis of bridges and viaducts in the two test areas is also performed. The outcomes highlight the potential of the proposed methodology to be integrated into structural health monitoring systems and improve current procedures for transport network management.

Integrated Analytical Hierarchical Process and Geographical Information System for Allocation of Compatible Land Uses along Uluguru Mountain Slopes

The northern slope of the Uluguru mountain, that falls under the sovereignty of Morogoro’s urban area, has steadily become populated and connected with uncontrolled human activity, which has had a harmful effect on the ecosystem. The rapid conversion of natural forests to farms and settlements has a severe effect on biodiversity and the land’s productive capacity. In order to assist the identification of compatible land uses for managing degradation and restoration of degraded land, as well as ensuring the long-term use of natural resources, this study applied the integration of Geographical Information System and Analytical Hierarchical Process. The land resources of the research area were identified using a Geographical Information System to guide in the evaluation of various land uses’ suitability. Land resource values were generated from different sources of data whereby elevation, slope, temperature, rainfall, soil properties, soil moisture index, and land surface temperature classifications were obtained. The land resource classification values throughout the study area were used to create land mapping units. The results of the criteria classification were integrated into questionnaires together with proposed compatible land uses obtained from the literature review. These well-structured questionnaires were used to retrieve expert opinions on land use allocation from environmental beneficiary institutions in the area. The influence of criteria on each suggested land use was assessed accordingly based on the score provided by Saaty’s scale. The weight of each criterion at each land mapping unit toward proposed compatible land uses for mapping purposes was calculated using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) technique. The weighted criteria produced by the AHP technique were integrated into GIS using the weighted overlay method to produce a map that reflects expert judgments on mountain slope planning for long-term natural resource management. A literature review reveals that conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and forest land use types are compatible in the management of natural resources in the area, while settlements have to be integrated to accommodate the existing situation. The integration of GIS and AHP produced a plan that consists of conservation agriculture that covers the majority of the study area (50%) and is generally found in the foothills of the mountains up to land mapping unit 3. Agroforestry is the second-largest land use, accounting for 19% of the study area and being concentrated in the second and third land mapping units. Settlements, which occupy 17% of the study area and are mostly located at the foothills of the mountain, are the third most covered land use. Finally, forest land use is distributed at the top of the research area, inside land mapping units 4 and 5, and accounts for 13% of the total study area. According on the findings of this study, a sustainable land use plan is recommended. Economic activity that could assist in the management of natural resources would be advantageous to both parties. Planning of the mountainous slopes within urban areas that are not designated as conservation zones should be done with great care, and only economic activities that assist management of natural resources should be permitted.

Research of Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Production and GIS Integration Based on 3D Panorama

3D panorama technology is a kind of virtual reality technology based on image creation, which is used real photos to show the scene to achieve the effect of immersive virtual roaming, and improve the interactivity between the network platform with the user. Panoramic images, UAV remote sensing and GIS technology is the application and development of new technology of surveying and mapping industry, but apply combination is rarely studied. In this paper, based on rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fixed-point hover took photos of different angles using PTGui software to create panorama images stitching, optimization, software reuse Pano2VR making 3D roaming figure, and compared with Supermap GIS integration. Based on a downtown building community will be released on GIS 3D roaming figure, you can see, after the integration of 3 d panorama with two-dimensional GIS geospatial information, also can see the area the real scene. The surveying and mapping, tourism and other industries to provide a new technical method.

Assessing the Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover and Climate Changes on Soil Erosion by Using Integrated RUSLE, GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study on Ketar Watershed, Main Ethiopian Rift

Assessing the Impact of Land-Use/Land-Cover and Climate Changes on Soil Erosion by Using Integrated RUSLE, GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study on Ketar Watershed, Main Ethiopian Rift

Assessment of effects of a Cemetery leachate on Groundwater Quality using an Integrated Approach

The dependency of residents in the vicinity of cemeteries on groundwater from hand-dug wells as an alternative source of water supply for their domestic use without cognisance of the quality of such water has been a concern. So, this research assesses the effects of a cemetery on groundwater quality using an integrated approach in Edunabon, South-western Nigeria. Thirty groundwater samples from available hand-dug wells were collected and analysed for various physicochemical parameters. GIS cloud data collection server and Mobile Data Collector (MDC) were used to obtain these hand-dug wells' locations and spatial distributions. The determination in variation in physicochemical concentration parameters was obtained using the curve fitting technique of ARCVIEW GIS software and digital map. Physicochemical results were used to calculate Water Quality Index (WQI) of each sample. Two Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) of 130.0m long were conducted at 10.0m intervals to the wall and the next VES, on each side of the cemetery. Current spacing (AB/2) and apparent resistivity (ρa) data were plotted on a double logarithm paper, curved matched and iterated using IPI2Win software for qualitative and quantitative interpretation. WQI results ranged from (107.37–173.64), (76.60–93.37), (54.94–71.53), (31.29–48.01), and (10.84–25.31) for fourteen, seven, three, four and two hand-dug wells respectively, an indication that the water from these wells was unfit for drinking, very poor, poor, good, and excellent respectively. VES results revealed that first, second and third layers were mainly clayey topsoil (46.7–96.8Ωm), lateritic soil (169.0–551.3Ωm), and weathered layer (3.21–27.4Ωm), which favourably enhances the migration of leachate from the cemetery to the surrounding soils and groundwater. The lowest resistivity values recorded in the second and third layers indicated leachate presence at these hand-dug wells. The integration of GIS and electrical resistivity methods would be useful tools to assess groundwater quality around cemeteries. Keywords: Groundwater quality, Mobile Data Collection, unfit for drinking, Vertical Electrical Sounding, Water Quality index

THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMART CITY APPLICATIONS: PREFACE

Abstract. This Conference Proceedings volume contains the written versions of the contributions presented during the 6th International Conference on Smart City Applications.The event had been planned to organized in Safranbolu Campus of Karabuk University, Turkey. Then, it has been converted to the online conference because of the Covid-19 situation. It took place with the motto of “Virtual Safranbolu” by inspiring historical UNESCO Heritage city Safranbolu, on October 27–29, 2021. The conference provided a setting for discussing recent developments in a wide variety of topics including Geo-Smart Information Systems, Smart Cities, 3D City Modeling and Visualization, Smart Building and Home Automation, Smart Environment and Smart Agriculture, Location Based Services, GeoInformation for Mobile, Wearable Technologies and Wireless Sensor Networks, Building Information Modeling, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Big Data and Urban Data Analytics, Smart Healthcare, Smart Economy and Digital Business, Smart Education and Intelligent Learning System, and etc.The event has been a good opportunity for the more than 400 participants coming from 43 countries of the world to present and discuss topics in their respective research areas. In addition, five keynote speakers presented latest achievements on their fields; Domingos Santos “Smart Cities Strategies: Critical Sucess Factors”, Mohsen Kalantari Soltanieh “Smart buildings to Smart cities – The role of BIM and GIS integration”, Ksentini Adlen, “Zero Touch Management and Orchestration of Network Slices in 5G and Beyond Networks”, Bakr M.Aly Ahmed, “Smart Sustainable Urbanism”, Yusuf Arayıcı, “Design for Energy:Prosumer Buildings”.The 86 papers that were selected as a result of review process and presented during the conference were accepted for the final publication in the ISPRS Archives.We would like to thank all participants, organizing and scientific committee members, and session chairs for their contributions to the conference program and these Proceedings.

Runoff Estimation by Integration of GIS and SCS-CN Method for Kanari River Watershed

Conventional water management is the only alternative to overcome the gap between demand and supply and for this surface water resource management is interpretative issue. Kanari river watershed, located between 23°33′36.73″N and 80°06′57.49″E at an elevation of about 490 m in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh State, India has been used for the study. The major component of the hydrologic cycle is rainfall, directly related to runoff. Integration of GIS and SCS-CN method can be beneficial to overcome this problem of runoff estimation. The runoff varies from 465.59 to 1119.24 mm (1990–2019). The amount of rainfall varies from 1136.7 to 1592.98 mm in the Kanari river watershed. The calculated average annual runoff was 729.87 mm and average runoff volume for the period of 29 years is 218.36. The model finally depicted the runoff in the area kept on increasing as rainfall kept on increasing following a linear trend which predicted that the infiltration opportunity decrease and ultimately resulting in decreased infiltration rate causing decreased base flow. Artificial recharge structures can be recommended in the study area.

GIS-Based Land Suitability Classification for Wheat Cultivation Using Fuzzy Set Model

In terms of food safety, it is important to use the lands correctly in agricultural production. In this study, potential crop suitability classes for wheat cultivation were created by using the fuzzy model and GIS together. Spatial and spectral factors considered as model inputs were separated four main groups, such as soil (drainage, depth, texture, CaCO3, stoniness, pH, organic matter, salinity, ESP), topography (slope), water availability (irrigation) and vegetation indices (NDVI). Criterion maps were standardized with the fuzzy membership model. Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to determine the weights of the factors. The vegetation change between years in the study area was determined by using NDVI values obtained from Landsat satellite images. In addition, the effect of temporal difference on land use and land suitability was evaluated. Land suitability index was created in GIS environment by weighted linear combination method and divided into four main suitability classes. The results with the Fuzzy method showed 9.7% (805 ha) of the study area as highly suitable for wheat, 46.5% (3868 ha) as medium suitable, 27.6% (2297 ha) as marginally suitable and 16.2% (1350 ha) as unsuitable. According to these classes, highly suitable and medium suitable classes are the areas that should be evaluated primarily in agricultural production. The Fuzzy model and GIS integration can be effectively used to identify priority areas for crop cultivation and sustainable land use management.

Revealing the solar energy potential by integration of GIS and AHP in order to compare decisions of the land use on the environmental plans

Due to the depletion of fossil fuel resources, interest in renewable energy sources is steadily increasing in the world. Turkey, is very rich in terms of its solar energy potential enabling it to use the sun as a means of generating energy. Thanks to marginal lands such as non-residential areas, agricultural areas and industrial areas, electricity production is provided by means of renewable energy sources. Since land is a scarce resource, optimal use of it is a spatial necessity. In developed societies its usage is determined in the environmental plan based on criteria related to industry, agriculture etc. and presented to decision makers for their approval. However, in these plans, natural energy potentials such as the sun and wind can often be ignored. This lack of planning hinders the effective utilization of the solar energy potential. A case study has been carried out to better understand this issue. The most commonly used Solar Power Plant criteria have been determined with the literature review, an informal interview with SPP experts and the authors’ experiences and these criteria have been weighted with the Analytical Hierarchy Process method. A cost-surface map has been produced for the study area and the environmental plan has been associated with it. It has been determined that areas that have a very high solar energy potential in the cost-surface map have been planned for urban, commercial or different purposes in the environmental plans. In spite of the fact that the solar energy potential atlas shows the same solar potential for the study area, there are still huge differences in terms of solar energy potential among some regions in the study area. For this reason, it is not logical to build SPP facilities based only on the solar energy potential atlas. It is suggested to determine natural energy potential spatially throughout the country and consider it before the environmental plans are prepared. In addition, those wanting to research this subject are recommended to conduct studies in areas promoting alternative methods according to alternative site selection criteria including geographical and soil characteristics.

Ecotourism potential assessment for Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan using integration of GIS, remote sensing, AHP and crowd-sourced data

It is widely believed that the tourism industry, particularly ecotourism, contributes significantly for sustainable development. However, planning for ecotourism development is a multi-criteria process that commonly involves spatial analysis. A MCDA model was presented and applied for ecotourism suitability analysis in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. This study attempts to identify potential ecotourism sites using GIS and AHP by collecting Remote Sensing and Crowed-sourced data in mountainous regions where geospatial data is sparse. Fifteen factors influencing the ecotourism were selected based on local knowledge and expert opinion. The criteria layers cover natural beauty, infrastructure, physical and social parameters of the stud area. Results revealed that about 16.2% of study areas had very low suitability and 11.5% of the study area has very high suitability, of which 37% falls in most suitable elevation range (2600–3200 m). The findings and method employed will be useful to decision-makers and planners in the study area.