Use Of Spatial Technologies Research Articles

Use of Spatial Technology for Land Cover Change Assessment in Protected Area Management

Land cover assessment and monitoring of land cover dynamics are important to understand social and ecological processes in protected areas and it is helpful in monitoring, modeling and detection of environmental changes. Land cover is the characteristics of the physical material on the ground surface. Change in land cover is among the most important human alteration affecting the surface of earth that directly impacts on biological diversity. Such changes affect and increase the vulnerability of population, environment and ecosystem to global phenomena of climate change. This study has assessed the changes in land cover in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park (SNNP) along with its Buffer Zone during twenty-seven years. The main objective of this study is to identify the changed scenario on land cover condition of the study area based on available topographic maps (1994), Google Earth images (2021) and Key Informant Interview (KII). The study has adopted Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) approach supported by secondary data and focus group discussion for classification and mapping of land cover. Among the different land cover classes, forest land, sandy area, water bodies and others land particularly built up area have been increased whereas, the bush/shrub land, cultivated land and grass land have been found decreased in the park area. On the other hand, the cultivated land, grass land and water bodies have been found decreased, while the bush/ shrub land, forest land, sandy area and others land particularly built up areas have been found significantly increased during 1994 to 2021 in the BZ area. It will provide a baseline for planners and policy makers to make proper plans to sustainably manage the protected area’s land cover.

Learning from critiques of GIS for assessing the geoweb and indigenous knowledges

Advances in geospatial technologies over recent years have marked dramatic changes in traditional cartographic practices and conventional geographic information systems (GIS). Scholars in GIScience and digital geographies commonly argue that, compared to GIS, the geospatial web (geoweb) offers improved opportunities for Indigenous communities to make their own maps, contribute their own place-based content, and tell their own stories. Critical GIS has informed us about the potential issues with the use of spatial technologies in Indigenous contexts, which we synthesize into three themes: 1. compartmentalizing and distilling Indigenous knowledges, 2. undermining Indigenous ways of knowing and of transferring knowledges, and 3. exploiting and assimilating Indigenous knowledges. These three criteria are used to assess what Indigenous communities should examine when engaging with the geoweb and Indigenous knowledges. Our analysis focuses on issues of data ownership, access, sharing, and appropriation. We point to ways in which Indigenous peoples should carefully assess various components of the geoweb to avoid the misrepresentation, distortion, assimilation, exclusion, and exploitation of Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous ways of transmitting knowledge. We conclude with potential solutions for development of the geoweb.

Using spatial technology to locate the view illustrated in Eugene von Guérard’s painting of the Kosciuszko massif

The colonial artist Eugene von Guérard travelled extensively throughout south-eastern Australia sketching thousands of views during his three-decade-long sojourn in Australia. His field drawings are renowned for their fidelity to nature and observational accuracy, but the validity of the latter claim depends on comparing drawings with the view at the sites where he sketched. The location of the view in some artworks, such as Mount Kosciusko, seen from the Victorian Border, has eluded art historians and aficionados who have ventured into the field. This article discusses the collation of clues from historical narratives, maps and surveying techniques to limit the search area for the vantage point where he sketched the view on which he based his painting of the Kosciuszko massif. Novel use of spatial technology utilising satellite imagery, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data, particularly digital elevation models, to locate the actual site is explored, and the topographical accuracy of his sketches evaluated when compared with photographs taken from close to the site. Finally, the potential value of using spatial technology in art history field work is discussed.

Recent Advances in Modelling and Implementation of Rainwater Harvesting Systems towards Sustainable Development

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is perhaps the most ancient practice to meet water supply needs. It has received renewed attention since the 1970s as a productive water source, water savings and conservation means, and sustainable development tool. In RWH, it is important to know how much water can be harvested at a given location from a given catchment size, whether the harvested water meets the intended water quality, whether the RWH system is economically viable and whether the state regulations favor the RWH. Furthermore, the selected RWH system should be suitable to local rainfall and field conditions, downstream impacts, and socio-economic and cultural characteristics. In this regard, this paper provides an overview of the special issue on “Rainwater Harvesting: Quantity, Quality, Economics and State Regulations”. The selected papers cover a wide range of issues that are relevant to RWH such as regionalization of design curves, use of spatial technology, urban agriculture, arid-region water supply, multi criteria analysis and application of artificial neural networks.

Emerging Use of Spatial Technologies in Natural Resource Management Services

Spatial technology is a vital technology and opens up new opportunities for sustainable use of natural resources, principally land, water, bio-diversity and helps in increasing productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm. Now a day's spatial technology became an important tool for sustainable agriculture that includes environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable and economically viable. Satellite based imagery are used widely in monitoring agriculture, radar imagery are used during monsoon season. Integrated use of geospatial tools with crop models and ground truthing enables timely crop production forecasts and drought assessment and disaster management. Analysis of spatial, temporal and spectral characteristics of concern objects provide valuable information about the biomass and yield estimation, irrigation infrastructure monitoring & performance assessment, reservoir capacity &loss assessment, vegetation vigor, drought stress monitoring, assessment of crop phenological development, crop acreage estimation, cropland mapping, land-use/land-cover (present and past), and also addressing five natural disasters viz., forest fire, flood, earthquake, cyclone, and landslide. Geographical Information System with decision support tools enable combined analysis of different datasets, their visualization, monitoring and management in a timely and most cost-effective manner.

Application of geographical information system and remote sensing in malaria research and control in South Africa: a review

This paper presents a review of numerous items of published literature on the use of spatial technology for malaria epidemiology in South Africa between 1930 and 2013. In particular, focus is on the use of statistical and mathematical models as well as geographic information science (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology for malaria research. First, the review takes cognisance of the use of predictive models to determine the association between climatic factors and malaria epidemics only in KwaZulu-Natal province. Similar studies in other endemic regions such as Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces have not been reported in the literature. While the integration of GIS with remote sensing has the potential of identifying, characterising, and monitoring breeding habitats and mapping malaria risk areas in South Africa, studies on the application of spatial technology in malaria research and control in South Africa are inexhaustive and have not been reported in the literature. As a result, a critical robust mal...

Use of Spatial Technologies to Study the Winds’ Directions in Rub’ Al-Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia

Use of Spatial Technologies to Study the Winds’ Directions in Rub’ Al-Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia

Applying Geographic Information System (GIS) for Maintenance Strategy Selection

Spatial technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), are particularly appropriate for integrating road- way data and enhancing the use and presentation of these data for highway management and operation by using spatial relationships to relate geographic and geometric objects and events. To different degrees, roadway management problems, such as pavement management, involve relations between objects and events located in different spatial positions. Because the data used in the decision-making process have spatial components, the use of spatial technologies emerges as a very appealing alternative. Spatial technologies may enhance the analysis of several transportation-related issues and may improve the quality of the decision-making process. This paper built a GIS based system that provides information for use as a platform on which all aspects of the Pavement Maintenance and Management System (PMMS) process can be built. The resulting system, GPMMS, represents a significant enhancement of all aspects of the PMMS process. A variety of spatially integrated data are important to pavement management decision making. GIS technology is shown to be the most logical way of relating these diverse, but relevant, data. In this paper, 23 sections is selected along the roadways of Nahrain University and all these sections are distresses due to different causes like weathering, ageing, traffic load, and also the bad maintenance, etc. The PSI of these sections in the range between 1 to 4, and most of these sections in the low range (between 1 to 2). That cause of need to future developments including other elements of a road maintenance management system should be considered. Completion of the whole roads database with all the types of surveys recorded i.e. all distresses, construction and maintenance history and so on.

David C. Cowley, ed. Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Management (Proceedings of the 11th EAC Heritage Management Symposium, Reykjavík, Iceland, 25–27 March 2010), Occasional Publication of the Aerial Archaeology Research Group No. 3. (Brussels: Europae Archaeologia Consilium (EAC)), 2011, 312 pp., hbk, ISBN 978-963-9911-20-8)

David C. Cowley, ed. Remote Sensing for Archaeological Heritage Management (Proceedings of the 11th EAC Heritage Management Symposium, Reykjavík, Iceland, 25–27 March 2010), Occasional Publication of the Aerial Archaeology Research Group No. 3. (Brussels: Europae Archaeologia Consilium (EAC)), 2011, 312 pp., hbk, ISBN 978-963-9911-20-8) - Volume 15 Issue 2

Fits and misfits of linked public participation and spatial information in water quality management on the Great Barrier Reef coast (Australia)

Public participation is experiencing increasing recognition as an indispensable component of effective communication and engagement between resource users and managers in natural resource planning and management. To bridge a gap between communication, information and participation, natural resource management agencies have increasingly used the visual capability of spatial decision support tools, such as geographic information systems. Nevertheless, both participation and the use of spatial technologies have been promoted without much consideration of how particular stakeholder groups participate and use existing decision support tools. This paper analyses the current state of public participation and the extent to which spatial data and geographic information tools are used by stakeholder groups to facilitate access to information and to support communication in water quality management on the Great Barrier Reef coast. Data were collected via document analysis, participant observation at stakeholders’ meeting, face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. Qualitative data were coded for themes using coding analysis processes, whereas quantitative data from the surveys were analysed using standard exploratory and descriptive statistical techniques. Results reveal that reliance on the natural resource management officer, established networks and personal relationships, and provision of property-scale spatial information are important aspects of a meaningful public participation process.

New Developments in the Use of Spatial Technology in Archaeology

Spatial technology is integral to how archaeologists collect, store, analyze, and represent information in digital data sets. Recent advances have improved our ability to look for and identify archaeological remains and have increased the size and complexity of our data sets. In this review we outline trends in visualization, data management, archaeological prospecting, modeling, and spatial analysis, as well as key advances in hardware and software. Due to developments in education, information technology, and landscape archaeology, the implementation of spatial technology has begun to move beyond superficial applications and is no longer limited to environmental deterministic approaches. In the future, spatial technology will increasingly change archaeology in ways that will enable us to become better practitioners, scholars, and stewards.

Integration for sustainable catchment management

Sustainable catchment management requires increased levels of integration between groups of natural and social scientists, land and water users, land and water managers, planners and policy makers across spatial scales. Multiple policy drivers, covering urban and rural communities and their relationships with land and water use, have resulted in the need for an integrated decision making framework that operates from the strategic national scale to the local catchment scale. Large gaps in integration between policies are resulting in uncertain outcomes of conflicting and competing policy measures. The need for further integration is illustrated by little or no reductions in nitrate and phosphate levels in surface and ground waters in England and Wales. There is a requirement for natural scientists to consider the socio-economic setting and implications of their research. Moreover, catchment system level science requires natural and social scientists to work more closely, to provide robust analysis of the state of the environment that fully considers the bio-physical, social, political and economic settings. The combined use of spatial technologies, scenarios, indicators and multicriteria analysis are increasingly being used to enable improved integration for sustainable catchment management.

English

Kentucky -31 (KY-31) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacae) produces an effective ground cover and can be a valuable forage crop; however, it has been shown to be a detriment to wildlife populations through habitat colonization (elimination of bare ground, suppression of other valuable plants, and the toxic nature of seeds and vegetative matter to wildlife species). Because of its ability to effectively control erosion and produce high forage yields, KY-31 has been a commonly used grass species for surface mine reclamation. The objective of this study is to assess the suitability of approximately 54.1 hectares of reclaimed wildlife habitat inadvertently seeded with KY-31 fescue at Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AECI), Prairie Hill Mine in northern Missouri. Land type assessment models were used to score wildlife habitat suitability. Models were structured to rate quality factors based on vegetative communities, spatial distribution, and favorable environmental conditions to wildlife species. Data collection was accomplished with real time mobile mapping GPS devices using ArcPad software and analyzed with ArcGIS desktop. Through the use of spatial technologies, wildlife models produced a score under optimal conditions as well as applied a rating to both KY-31 seeded wildlife habitat and wildlife areas proposed by AECI for mitigation. Rating points for wildlife habitat seeded with KY-31 and areas proposed for mitigation were totaled and compared to the derived target value. Initially, wildlife sites seeded with KY-31 fescue scored below the target values. However, when the fescue areas were totaled with the wildlife mitigation tracts the habitat suitability exceeded the target values generated by the assessment models. This study demonstrates the site specific effects of KY-31 in differing wildlife habitat land types and provides field assessment techniques to measure suitability. Through the use of adapted wildlife habitat rating models and new technologies such as mobile computing and GIS, the effects of KY-31 can be quantified, allowing appropriate mitigation to offset resource losses.

Landscape Level Validation of a Douglas-Fir Beetle Stand Hazard-Rating System Using Geographical Information Systems

Abstract A geographical information system (GIS) and historical infestation data were used to validate a Douglas-fir beetle hazard-rating system currently in use by the USDA Forest Service in parts of the West. This hazard-rating system is based on stand characteristics including percent Douglas-fir basal area (BA), stand BA, average Douglas-fir dbh, and stand age. To validate the hazard-rating system, stand information and aerial detection survey maps from 1996–1999 were combined in a GIS. Analyses determined that the highest amount of acreage infested and highest tree mortality occurred in moderate- and high-hazard stands, although the total area of these stands was less than that in other hazard classes. Furthermore, as beetle populations shifted from endemic to epidemic population levels, more acres were infested and tree mortality was greater in high-hazard areas. The use of spatial technologies and aerial detection survey maps provided a novel alternative for validating a forest insect hazard-rating system. West. J. Appl. For. 19(2):77–81.

Achieving Effectiveness in Stakeholder Participation Using the GIS-Based Collaborative Spatial Delphi Methodology

Environmental problems have spatial origins and consequences. Hence, effective stakeholder participation demands the integration of comprehensive facilities for understanding the spatial components that affect environmental change. This study develops the Collaborative Spatial Delphi (CSD) methodology to embed spatial thinking, conceptualise the dynamic mechanisms, and assess the effectiveness of the resulting participatory process. The CSD uses a collaborative geographic information system (GIS) and the Delphi procedure in a descriptive decision-making framework that integrates diverse stakeholder knowledge for spatial awareness, understanding, and negotiated outcomes. The CSD synthesises relevant theories to conceptualise the participation mechanisms, and an application of the methodology to urban green spaces planning in Montreal, Canada is presented. The results suggest that a deficiency in technical background is not a barrier to effective use of spatial technology in participatory planning. The methodology enhanced many spatial facets of the participation process and was evaluated as effective in achieving negotiated outcomes.