Standard Geographic Information System Research Articles

Visual Interpretation of High-Resolution Aerial Imagery: A Tool for Land Managers

Abstract Remotely sensed imagery from various collection platforms (e.g., satellites, crewed and uncrewed aircraft) are used by biologists and other conservation personnel to support management activities ranging from monitoring invasive species to assessing land cover and vegetation characteristics. Although remote sensing–based vegetation indices and models have been developed and used for some management applications, straightforward visual interpretation of imagery by on-the-ground personnel may be a pragmatic approach for obtaining time-sensitive and spatially relevant information to support and guide local management activities. Our primary objective was to qualitatively assess our ability to identify patches of target invasive plant species based on simple visual interpretation of high-resolution aerial imagery. We also sought to compare the high-resolution imagery to widely available imagery (e.g., National Agriculture Imagery Program) to determine the efficacy of each for assessing vegetation communities and land-cover features in support of management activities. To accomplish these objectives, we obtained high-resolution imagery and visually scanned and assessed the imagery by using standard geographic information system software. We were able to differentiate patches of crownvetch Securigera varia (L.) Lassen and wild parsnip Pastinaca sativa L., but not spotted knapweed Centaurea stoebe L. or leafy spurge Euphorbia esula L. The relative success in identifying these species had a relationship to plant characteristics (e.g., flower color and morphology, height), time of year (phenology), patch size and density, and potentially site characteristics such density of the underlying vegetation (e.g., grasses), substrate color characteristics (i.e., color contrast with flowers), and physical disturbance. Our straightforward, qualitative assessment suggests that visual interpretation of high-resolution imagery, but not some lower-resolution imagery, may be an efficient and effective tool for supporting local invasive species management through activities such as monitoring known patches, identifying undetected infestations, assessing management actions, guiding field work, or prioritizing on-the-ground monitoring activities.

Optimizing offshore wind export cable routing using GIS-based environmental heat maps

Abstract. In the United States, there are plans to produce up to 30 GW of offshore wind power by the year 2030, resulting in numerous seabed lease areas which are currently going through the leasing or construction and operations phase. A key challenge associated with offshore wind is optimal routing and installation of the subsea power cables, which transmit power from the main offshore wind energy production area to a land-based station, where it connects to the electrical grid. By traversing a vast extent of the seafloor, the installation and operational phases of subsea power cables have the potential to result in a range of environmental impacts, which may negatively affect sensitive biological, physical, human and/or cultural resource receptors. Presented here is a case study from southeastern North Carolina to identify optimal seabed cable routes and coastal landfalls for a recently leased offshore wind farm by using a combination of publicly available data, coupled with standard environmental impact assessment methodologies and geographic information system (GIS)-based heat maps. The study identified a range of high-risk areas, in addition to a number of potential low-risk routes and landfall areas which minimize seabed user conflicts and impacts on environmentally sensitive locations. Although additional high-resolution and site-specific environmental, geological and biological surveys are required to develop a robust cable installation plan, the preliminary steps from this research optimize early-phase marine spatial planning for offshore wind projects and other similar subsea industries.

EventGeoScout: Fostering Citizen Empowerment and Augmenting Data Quality through Collaborative Geographic Information Governance and Optimization

In this manuscript, we present EventGeoScout, an innovative framework for collaborative geographic information management, tailored to meet the needs of the dynamically changing landscape of geographic data integration and quality enhancement. EventGeoScout enables the seamless fusion of open data from different sources and provides users with the tools to refine and improve data quality. A distinctive feature of our framework is its commitment to platform-agnostic data management, ensuring that processed datasets are accessible via standard Geographic Information System (GIS) tools, reducing the maintenance burden on organizations while ensuring the continued relevance of the data. Our approach goes beyond the boundaries of traditional data integration, enabling users to fully harness the power of geospatial information by simplifying the data creation process and providing a versatile solution to the complex challenges posed by layered geospatial data. To demonstrate the versatility and robustness of EventGeoScout as an optimization tool, we present a case study centered on the Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem (UFLP), where a genetic algorithm was used to achieve outstanding performance on both traditional computing platforms and smartphone devices. As a concrete case study, we applied our solution in the context of the Málaga City Marathon, using the latest data from the last edition of the marathon.

A Meso-Scale Petri Net Model to Simulate a Massive Evacuation along the Highway System

Natural disasters may require that the residents of the affected area be evacuated immediately using a potentially damaged infrastructure. In this paper, we developed a mesoscopic simulation modeling approach for modeling traffic flow over a large geographic area and involving many people and vehicles. This study proposed a novel model, namely, Colored Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Net (CDSPN), which can mesoscopically provide an individual vehicular traffic dynamic. Each vehicle has a unique identifier, speed, distance to go, assigned target, and a specific route. It also proposed a method to automatically construct a Petri net model that represents the evacuation of Guilford County (GC), North Carolina, from standard Geographic Information Systems (GIS) shapefiles. We showed that this model could successfully simulate the dynamics of hundreds of thousands of vehicles moving on the highway system towards pre-specified safe targets such as medical facilities, exit points, or designated shelters. The vehicles are assumed to obey traffic laws, and the model reflects the complexities of the actual highway systems. The developed software can be used to analyze in reasonable detail the evacuation process, such as identifying bottlenecks and estimating efficiency and the time needed. An explicit list of 18 assumptions is stated and discussed. The Petri net for GC evacuation is reasonably massive, consisting of 35,476 places and 43,540 transitions with 531,595 colored tokens, where each token represents a vehicle in GC. We simulate the evacuation, develop statistics, and evaluate patterns of evaluation. We found that the evacuation took about 8.7 h.

Generation of High-Resolution Orthomosaics from Historical Aerial Photographs Using Structure-from-Motion and Lidar Data

This study presents a method to generate historical orthomosaics using Structure-from-Motion (SfM ) photogrammetry, historical aerial photographs, and lidar data, and then analyzes the horizontal accuracy and factors that can affect the quality of historical orthoimagery products made with these approaches. Two sets of historical aerial photographs (1934 and 1951) were analyzed, focused on the town of Woodstock in Connecticut, U.S.A. Ground control points (GCPs) for georeferencing were obtained by overlaying multiple data sets, including lidar elevation data and derivative hillshades, and recent orthoimagery. Root-Mean-Square Error values of check points (CPs ) for 1934 and 1951 orthomosaics without extreme outliers are 0.83 m and 1.37 m, respectively. Results indicate that orthomosaics can be used for standard mapping and geographic information systems (GIS ) work according to the ASPRS 1990 accuracy standard. In addition, results emphasize that three main factors can affect the horizontal accuracy of orthomosaics: (1) types of CPs, (2) the number of tied photos, and (3) terrain.

Identifying Exposure of Urban Area to Certain Seismic Hazard Using Machine Learning and GIS: A Case Study of Greater Cairo

The 1992 Cairo earthquake, with a moment magnitude of 5.8, is the most catastrophic earthquake to shock the Greater Cairo (GC) in recent decades. According to the very limited number of seismological stations at that time, the peak ground acceleration (PGA) caused by this event was not recorded. PGA calculation requires identification of nature of the earthquake source, the geologic setting of the path between the source and site under investigation and soil dynamic properties of the site. Soil dynamic properties are acquired by geotechnical investigations and/or geophysical survey. These two methods are costly and are not applicable in regional studies. This study presents an adaptive and reliable PGA prediction model using machine learning (ML) along with six standard geographic information system (GIS) interpolation methods (IDW, Kriging, Natural, Spline, TopoToR, and Trend) to predict the spatial distribution of PGA caused by this event over the GC. The model is employed to estimate the exposure of the urban area and population in the GC based on the available geotechnical and geophysical investigations. The exposure (population) data is from free and easy-access sources, e.g., Landsat images and the Global Human Settlement Population Grid (GHS-POP). The results show that Natural, Spline, and Trend are not suitable GIS interpolation techniques for generating seismic hazard maps (SHMs), while the Kriging Method shows sufficient prediction. Interestingly, with an accuracy of 96%, the ML model outperforms the classical GIS methodologies.

Geolog: Scalable Logic Programming on Spatial Data

Spatial data is ubiquitous in our data-driven society. The Logic Programming community has been investigating the use of spatial data in different settings. Despite the success of this research, the Geographic Information System (GIS) community has rarely made use of these new approaches. This has mainly two reasons. First, there is a lack of tools that tightly integrate logical reasoning into state-of-the-art GIS software. Second, the scalability of solutions has often not been tested and hence, some solutions might work on toy examples but do not scale well to real-world settings. The two main contributions of this paper are (1) the Relation Based Programming paradigm, expressing rules on relations instead of individual entities, and (2) Geolog, a tool for spatio-logical reasoning that can be installed on top of ArcMap, which is an industry standard GIS. We evaluate our new Relation Based Programming paradigm in four real-world scenarios and show that up to two orders of magnitude in performance gain can be achieved compared to the prevalent Entity Based Programming paradigm.

Geographic information science in supporting business decisions

Most of the studies to date concern the use of GIS tools in business. Meanwhile, the emergence of GIScience as a separate field of knowledge significantly expands this problem. This article aims to highlight these consequences in the broad context of the geographical relevance of business decisions. The main aim is to indicate the theoretical, methodological and practical problems resulting from the slowly increasing use of GIScience as a tool for supporting business decisions. This is the effect of the rapid development of geodata acquisition technologies, the emergence of new technologies in remote sensing, including big geodata, and the improvement and dissemination of geographic information systems (GIS). These issues are rarely addressed in the literature focusing on the presentation of detailed solutions and the most typical examples. They were discussed in turn in the article: traditions in geographic research and reasoning, types of geographic relevance of business activity, geographic aspects of business decisions, geographically relevant business decisions and their specificity, types and sources of geodata. The most useful and standard GIS tools in the context of supporting business decisions are then discussed. Finally, general principles of supporting business decisions by GIScience and related problems were discussed.

Comparing geographic information system-based estimates with trauma center registry data to assess the effects of additional trauma centers on system access.

Geographic information systems (GISs) are often used to analyze trauma systems. Geographic information system-based approaches can model access to a trauma center (TC), including estimates of transport time and population coverage, when accurate trauma registry and emergency medical systems (EMS) data are not available. We hypothesized that estimates of trauma system performance calculated using a standard GIS method with public data would be comparable with trauma registry data. A standardized GIS-based method was used to estimate metrics of TC access in a regional trauma system in which the number of TCs increased from one to three during a 3-year period. Registry data from the index TC in the system were evaluated for different periods during this evolution. The number of admissions to the TC in different periods was compared with changes predicted by the GIS-based model, and the distribution of observed ground-based transportation times was compared with the predicted distribution. With the addition of two TCs to the system, the volume of patients transported by ground to the index TC decreased by 30%. However, the model predicted a 68% decrease in population having the shortest predicted transport time to the index TC. The model predicted the geographic trend seen in the registry data, but many patients were transported to the index TC even though it was not the closest center. Observed transport times were uniformly shorter than predicted times. The GIS-based model qualitatively predicted changes in distribution of trauma patients, but registry data highlight that field triage decisions are more complex than model assumptions. Similarly, transport times were systematically overestimated. This suggests that model assumptions, such as vehicle speed, based on normal traffic may not fully reflect emergency medical systems (EMS) operations. There remains great need for metrics to guide policy based on widely available data. Epidemiological, level III.

Validating the Global Surgery Geographical Accessibility Indicator: Differences in Modeled Versus Patient-Reported Travel Times

BackgroundSince long travel times to reach health facilities are associated with worse outcomes, geographic accessibility is one of the six core global surgery indicators; this corresponds to the second of the “Three Delays Framework,” namely “delay in reaching a health facility.” Most attempts to estimate this indicator have been based on geographical information systems (GIS) algorithms. The aim of our study was to compare GIS derived estimates to self-reported travel times for patients traveling to a district hospital in rural Rwanda for emergency obstetric care.MethodsOur study includes 664 women who traveled to undergo a Cesarean delivery in Kirehe, Rwanda. We compared self-reported travel time from home to the hospital (excluding waiting time) with GIS estimated travel times, which were computed using the World Health Organization tool AccessMod, using linear regression.ResultsThe majority of patients used multiple modes of transportation (walking = 48.5%, public transport = 74.2%, private transport = 2.9%, and ambulance 70.6%). Self-reported times were longer than GIS estimates by a factor of 1.49 (95% CI 1.40–1.57). Concordance was higher when the GIS model took into account that all patients in Rwanda are referred via their health center (β = 1.12; 95% CI 1.05–1.18).ConclusionsTo our knowledge, in this largest to date GIS validation study for geographical access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries, a standard GIS model was found to significantly underestimate real travel time, which likely is in part because it does not model the actual route patients are travelling. Therefore, previous studies of 2-h access to surgery will need to be interpreted with caution, and future studies should take local travelling conditions into account.

GLOBAL-FATE (version 1.0.0): A geographical information system (GIS)-based model for assessing contaminants fate in the global river network

Abstract. GLOBAL-FATE is the first open-source, multiplatform, user-friendly, and modular contaminant-fate model operating at the global scale linking human consumption of pharmaceutical-like compounds with their concentration in the river network. GLOBAL-FATE simulates human consumption and excretion of pharmaceuticals, the attenuation of the contaminant load in waste water treatment plants as well as the attenuation of the contaminant load in river reaches, lakes, and reservoirs as a first-order decay depending on residence time. We provide a comprehensive description of model equations and the overall structure of the model, with special attention to input–output datasets. GLOBAL-FATE is written in C, can be compiled in any platform, and uses inputs in standard geographical information system (GIS) format. Additionally, the model can be run in the Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) as a plug-in. The model has no built-in working resolution, which depends on the intended use and the availability of appropriate model inputs and observed data. We exemplify the application of GLOBAL-FATE solving the global concentration of diclofenac in the river network. A comparison with a dataset of diclofenac concentration observations in rivers suggests that GLOBAL-FATE can be successfully applied in real-case modelling exercises. The model is particularly sensitive to the generation of contaminant loads by human pharmaceutical consumption and to the processes governing contaminant attenuation in the river network. GLOBAL-FATE will be a valuable tool for the scientific community and the policymaking arena and could be used to test the effectiveness of large-scale management strategies related to pharmaceutical consumption control and waste water treatment implementation and upgrading.

О проектных работах при создании опорных геодезических сетей с использованием ГИС-технологий

During the last decades Geodesy and other Earth Sciences have undergone revolutionary changes concerning the use of Global Positioning Systems. Currently, traditional geodetic and topographic technologies are giving way to high-precision, productive and all-weather space systems. In 1995 the Federal Service of Geodesy and Cartography approved “the Concept of transiting topographic and geodetic production to autonomous methods of satellite coordinate definitions”. The transition to new technologies entails restructuring not only the methods of determining the coordinates, but also the stages of pre-design and design work. Currently, there has been intensive penetration of geoinformation technologies into sciences related to the analysis and processing spatially coordinated data, and geodetic data in particular. Specialized software products are developed but they are quite expensive and difficult for mastering. The authors describe the opportunities of using standard geographic information systems (for example, GIS ArcView V. 3.1) in the view of their spatial orientation for the analysis and optimal selection of the points of the initial geodetic framework and effective implementation of the complex of geodetic works, in order to accurately determine the coordinates of the points of the created geodetic reference network.

Geographical and temporal patterns of interstate security competition: Global and regional evidence

This article tests what seems to be a reasonably widespread perception, namely, that the last few years have witnessed intensified interstate security competition in several of the world’s regions. Specifically, we investigate whether or not states’ military budgets tend to change as a function of changes to the armaments levels of neighbouring states, as the security dilemma model would suggest. We perform two empirical analyses. First, we specify a least square dummy variables model, whose results we map using standard geographic information system software. Our ‘hot spot’ analysis for the period 2008/2009–2014 suggests that action–reaction dynamics are present in the Middle East, Central and Southern Africa, and the South Caucasus. Neither South nor East or South East Asia is ridden by severe security competition. Europe generally forms a ‘cold spot’ region, indicating a lower-than-expected level of changes in arms spending. Second, our spatial lag model suggests the presence of action–reaction globally for the whole post-Cold War era, although results are still substantially driven by the last few years. Interstate security competition is now, apparently, an important element of international politics – albeit only in some regions. Our findings also reveal the potential for disarmament spirals.

Overview of the application of geospatial technology to groundwater potential mapping in Nigeria

Sustainable development of groundwater resources in many developing nations like Nigeria is hampered by paucity of information about the resource. Geospatial technology has provided useful information in understanding the distribution of groundwater throughout the world for the purpose of planning, exploration, monitoring and conservation. Numerous studies have integrated remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) in the assessment of groundwater potential in different parts of Nigeria. This paper therefore aims to review the literatures and reveal the successes and most importantly the challenges faced by such studies and provide useful recommendations for improvement in future research. A global perspective of advances in the application of geospatial technology to groundwater mapping was first captured from where the strength and weaknesses of the same application in Nigeria in terms of methodology of data extraction, modelling and validation were assessed. The review shows that less than 20 bibliographies are available with about 50% from the south-western part of the country. Few parameters controlling groundwater are often analysed and categorised without any standard. Most models are produced from software packages that do not allow weighting of thematic layers hence cannot incorporate expert judgements. Areas needing urgent attention for improvement include: time of remote sensing data acquisition, methods of parameter extractions, standard GIS software packages used, novel models and comparison between models and the need for model and map validations. Recommendations on country wide coverage of groundwater potential assessment, provision of groundwater monitoring facilities and strict adherence to groundwater development standards were also made.

Automated location of active fire perimeters in aerial infrared imaging using unsupervised edge detectors

A variety of remote sensing techniques have been applied to forest fires. However, there is at present no system capable of monitoring an active fire precisely in a totally automated manner. Spaceborne sensors show too coarse spatio-temporal resolutions and all previous studies that extracted fire properties from infrared aerial imagery incorporated manual tasks within the image processing workflow. As a contribution to this topic, this paper presents an algorithm to automatically locate the fuel burning interface of an active wildfire in georeferenced aerial thermal infrared (TIR) imagery. An unsupervised edge detector, built upon the Canny method, was accompanied by the necessary modules for the extraction of line coordinates and the location of the total burned perimeter. The system was validated in different scenarios ranging from laboratory tests to large-scale experimental burns performed under extreme weather conditions. Output accuracy was computed through three common similarity indices and proved acceptable. Computing times were below 1 s per image on average. The produced information was used to measure the temporal evolution of the fire perimeter and automatically generate rate of spread (ROS) fields. Information products were easily exported to standard Geographic Information Systems (GIS), such as GoogleEarth and QGIS. Therefore, this work contributes towards the development of an affordable and totally automated system for operational wildfire surveillance.

Automated derivation and spatio-temporal analysis of landslide properties in southern Kyrgyzstan

The study area located in southern Kyrgyzstan is affected by high and ongoing landslide activity. To characterize this activity, a multi-temporal landslide inventory containing over 2800 landslide polygons was generated from multiple data sources. The latter include the results of automated landslide detection from multi-temporal satellite imagery. The polygonal representation of the landslides allows for characterization of the landslide geometry and determination of further landslide attributes in a way that accounts for the diversity of conditions within the landslide, e.g., at the landslide main scarp opposed to its toe. To perform such analyses, a methodology for efficient geographic information system (GIS)-based attribute derivation was developed, which includes both standard and customized GIS tools. We derived a number of landslide attributes, including area, length, compactness, slope, aspect, distance to stream and geology. The distributions of these attributes were analyzed to obtain a better understanding of landslide properties in the study area as a preliminary step for probabilistic landslide hazard assessment. The obtained spatial and temporal attribute variations were linked to differences in the environmental characteristics within the study area, in which the geological setting proved to be the most important differentiating factor. Moreover, a significant influence of the different data sources on the distribution of the landslide attribute values was found, indicating the importance of a critical evaluation of the landslide data to be used in landslide hazard assessments.

Thermal behaviour analyses of gas‐insulated switchgear compartment using thermal network method

In development of electric power products, aspects related to thermal phenomena are becoming very important due to the fact that they guarantee the correct operation of product. The temperature limits specified by the standards cannot be exceeded which makes the knowledge of the temperature behaviour an important factor in order to predict reliability and performance of the product component in its working environment. In this study, thermal network method (TNM) is used for modelling of temperature conditions in typical geographical information system (GIS) compartment arrangements. Models implemented in ATP-EMTP software were validated with OrCAD Capture simulation environment and with high-current measurement results. On the bases of the TNM presented as the network approach composed of heat sources, thermal resistances and capacitances which can be easily represented and calculated by means of ATP-EMTP simulation software and also with the OrCAD Capture environment. This study addresses the thermal behaviour of a standard ELK-3 GIS compartment. Modelling in application to design rating calculations of the typical GIS compartment arrangements are presented and analysed. These analyses can serve as a base for development of more advanced ATP-EMTP models using the TNM approach.

Mapping surface liquefaction caused by the September 2010 and February 2011 Canterbury earthquakes: a digital dataset

ABSTRACTWe present maps and digital data of the surface manifestation of liquefaction for the two major events during the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence, the 2010 Darfield and the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, in order to show liquefaction extent. Maps include detailed interpretation of aerial photograph mosaics and satellite images captured immediately following each event, and incorporate ground-based surveys of liquefaction occurrences. Evidence of liquefaction includes predominantly silt to fine sand and/or water ejected to the ground surface, and the presence of lateral spreading cracks (with or without ejected sediment). Liquefaction appears to be related to recent alluvial systems, and is more prevalent adjacent to existing waterways and in abandoned stream channels, where young, normally consolidated and poorly compacted sediments are water-saturated. The digital data are available for download in standard geographic information system (GIS) formats, and should provide a reference for future regional scale liquefaction studies.

A Study on Parallax Registration for User Location onthe Transparent Display using the Kinect Sensor

국제 수로기구(IHO)에서는 해양분야에 범용으로 사용 가능한 국제 GIS 표준으로 S-100 표준규격을 채택하였다. 이에 따라 GIS 표준기술 기반의 차세대 항행정보 지원시스템에 대한 기술이 개발되고 있으며, 현재 CCTV 영상에 항행정보를 덧입혀 항행에 지원할 수 있는 증강현실 기반의 항행정보시스템이 개발되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 이 시스템을 효과적으로 지원할 수 있는 방안으로 투명 디스플레이에서의 적용을 고려하였다. 투명 디스플레이 적용 시 시계확보를 위한 광각 렌즈 사용으로 인한 영상왜곡, 사용자 위치에서의 CCTV 영상과 투명 디스플레이 투영 이미지의 불일치로 인하여 사용자가 실제 바라보는데 이질감이 발생하므로, 이를 해결하기 위한 시계정합 및 영상보정 방법에 대한 연구를 진행하였으며, 이를 프로토타입으로 개발하여 기술적용의 가능성을 입증하였다.International Hydrographic Organization(IHO) adopted standard S-100 as the international standard Geographic Information System(GIS) that can be generally used in the maritime sector. Accordingly, the next-generation system to support navigation information based on GIS standard technology has being developed. AR based navigation information system that supported navigation by overlapping navigation information on the CCTV image has currently being developed. In this study, we considered the application of a transparent display as a method to support efficiently this system. When a transparent display applied, the image distortion caused by using a wide-angle lens for parallax secure, and the disc s, and demonstrated the applicability of the technology by developing a prototype.

Construction précise de bases d’amers géo-référencés pour la localisation d’un véhicule en milieu urbain

To provide high quality Augmented Reality AR service, accurate 6DoF localization is required. To ensure such accuracy, most of current vision-based solutions rely on an offline large scale modeling of the environment. While existing solutions require expensive equipments and/or a prohibitive computation time, we propose in this paper a complete framework that automatically builds an accurate city scale database of landmarks using only a standard camera, a GPS and GIS Geographic Information System.