Seamless integration of spatial statistics and GIS: The S-PLUS for ArcView and the S+Grassland Links

The extension of the functional capacity of geographic information systems (GIS) with tools for statistical analysis in general and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) in particular has been an increasingly active area of research in recent years. In this paper, two operational implementations that combine the functionality of spatial data analysis software with a GIS are considered more closely. They consist of linkages between the S-PLUS software for data analysis and two different GIS implementations, the ArcView desktop system, which is mostly vector-oriented, and the primarily raster-based Grassland open GIS environment. We emphasize conceptual and technical issues related to the software implementation of these approaches and suggest future directions for linking spatial statistics and GIS. Received: 14 January 1999 / Accepted: 11 May 1999     

内外业一体化历史建筑保护系统研究——以潮州为例

近年来,GIS技术已在越来越多的领域中得到了应用。在历史建筑保护领域,GIS主要用于建筑的空间信息展示及空间分析;在历史建筑信息采集方面,传统调研方式在调研前期缺少GIS技术的投入,主要集中在后期数据入库以及统计分析等功能上。本文介绍了基于GIS移动终端的历史建筑信息快速采集技术,通过统一的内外业采集系统,改变了以往内外业工作割裂的模式,并依据统一的数据标准,将外业现场调研的数据直接导入到内业数据生产平台,以缩短中间环节,实现内外业一体化,提高了历史建筑保护数据的生产效率。     

Mobile Wireless GRASS GIS for Handheld Computers Running GNU/Linux

Recent developments of the communication technologies in the last years opened a new dimension to Geographical Information Systems and Geoinformation Techno‐logies. This new dimension is mobility. It is simplifying data gathering, processing and presentation independent from the area of application. A new branch, Mobile Geoinformation Technologies, is based on wireless communication systems, mobile personal computers, positioning systems and GIS. There are some proprietary GIS software solutions for mobile or handheld devices available on the market, but they are more focused on data logging tasks than providing full powered GIS support or data processing functions. In this paper, we propose a mobile implementation of the free and easily expandable GRASS GIS software in combination with the GNU/Linux operating system run on handheld devices. This approach supports real time in the field computations, data processing and cooperation of several active mobile clients using wireless networking.     

GIS Methodology for Characterizing Historical Conditions of the Willamette River Flood Plain, Oregon

Recent environmental developments have stimulated an interest in conservation and restoration of the historical Willamette River flood plain, both to protect against flooding and to provide wildlife habitat. In order to best utilize scarce resources, we characterized historical and modern river channel and flood‐plain conditions to evaluate changes and help prioritize restoration sites. Using cartographic and photographic data sources, we developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map active channels, side channels, islands and tributaries for four separate dates, as well as riparian and flood‐plain vegetation characteristics for pre‐European settlement and modern time periods. Coverages based on flood records and other boundaries were used to partition the flood plain into spatial subsets for analysis. The GIS allowed comparisons between historical and present conditions for a variety of environmental factors. Much of the pre‐settlement channel complexity has been removed. Total channel length in 1995 was 26% less than in 1850, with almost 58% of the river's side channels disconnected from the system. In addition, we found a 72% loss of flood‐plain forest from 1850 to 1995, since it was converted to agricultural and urban land uses. Selected river and flood‐plain variables were made available for a spatial model to prioritize potential locations for flood‐plain restoration.     

Reflections on Arno Peters (1916–2002)

Abstract

This paper describes a methodology for evaluating the planimetric accuracy of three US Civil War maps using GIS and spatial analytical techniques. The case-study is the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee and, in particular, maps depicting the events of December 31, 1862. An examination of the objectives, limitations and techniques employed by the topographer engineers who created the maps provides focus for the quantitative analysis and establishes the historical context needed to understand how and why the maps were constructed. The paper shows how GIS and spatial analysis can be utilized to document vanishing historic landscapes and reconstructing where certain historical events took place.     

Space-Time Intelligence Systems: Technology, applications and methods

Geographic Information System (GIS) software is constrained, to a greater or lesser extent, by a static world view that is not well-suited to the representation of time (Goodchild 2000). Space Time Intelligence System (STIS) software holds the promise of relaxing some of the technological constraints of spatial only GIS, making possible visualization approaches and analysis methods that are appropriate for temporally dynamic geospatial data. This special issue of the Journal of Geographical Systems describes some recent advances in STIS technology and methods, with an emphasis on applications in public health and spatial epidemiology.The STIS expert workshops were funded in part by grants R01CA092669 and R01CA096002 from the National Cancer Institute, and by grants R43-ES010220 and R44-ES010220 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Gillian AvRuskin provided cheerful editorial assistance. We thank the participants at the workshops for providing invaluable expertise and critical insights.     

两汉时期人口数据库建设与GIS应用探讨

在社会信息化趋势日益突出的情况下 ,提出了历史地理信息化的必要性和可行性。以人口记录相对完整的西汉和东汉时期为例 ,就如何合理利用信息资源、选择技术路线、建设人口地理数据库等问题做了探索。对比以往的文字描述和地图分析结论 ,更体现了 GIS应用的合理性和技术优势 ,即全面、准确地管理历史人口数据及其地理属性 ,直观、丰富地展现历史人口分布特征。例如西汉时期人口向西北地区的迁徙 ,东汉时期在西部和北部的退缩 ,及向南方的拓展。在实践的基础上对学科信息化提出若干探讨意见 ,认为 GIS与数字化技术应尽快转化为推动历史地理学科进步的有力工具     

两汉时期人口数据库建设与GIS应用探讨

在社会信息化趋势日益突出的情况下 ,提出了历史地理信息化的必要性和可行性。以人口记录相对完整的西汉和东汉时期为例 ,就如何合理利用信息资源、选择技术路线、建设人口地理数据库等问题做了探索。对比以往的文字描述和地图分析结论 ,更体现了 GIS应用的合理性和技术优势 ,即全面、准确地管理历史人口数据及其地理属性 ,直观、丰富地展现历史人口分布特征。例如西汉时期人口向西北地区的迁徙 ,东汉时期在西部和北部的退缩 ,及向南方的拓展。在实践的基础上对学科信息化提出若干探讨意见 ,认为 GIS与数字化技术应尽快转化为推动历史地理学科进步的有力工具     

基于B/S体系的Internet GIS分布式异构空间数据库的集成

Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ ＧＩＳ的蓬勃发展使得通过网络获取空间信息成为可能,然而,由于地理数据格式的多样性（异构数据）,限制了用户透明的获取远程数据以下对不同历史时期、不同格式、不同存在形式的数据用户端无缝的操作与表现。提出了Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ环境下基于浏览器／服务器结构交互的服务器端虚拟ＤＢＭＳ听概念,以对终端分布式异构数据库组织、管理,以及实现异构数据获取与互操作。     

Extraction of spatio‐temporal data about historical events from text documents

Often, we are faced with questions regarding past events and the answers are hidden in the historical text archives. The growing developments in geographic information retrieval and temporal information retrieval techniques have given new ways to explore digital text archives for spatio‐temporal data. The question is how to retrieve the answers from the text documents. This work contributes to a better understanding of spatio‐temporal information extraction from text documents. Natural language processing techniques were used to develop an information extraction approach using the GATE language processing software. The developed framework uses gazetteer matching, spatio‐temporal relationship extraction and pattern‐based rules to recognize and annotate elements in historical text documents. The extracted spatio‐temporal data is used as input for GIS studies on the time–geography context of the German–Herero resistance war of 1904 in Namibia. Related issues when analyzing the historical data in current GIS are discussed. Particularly problematic are movement data in small scale with poor temporal density and trajectories that are short or connect very distant locations.     

中国历史地理数字化应用平台研究

"中国历史地理数字化应用平台"是基于中国历史地理基础数据的一个应用系统,现在的基础数据主要来自中国历史地理信息系统CHGIS。各学科的学者利用这个平台,可以非常方便地开发出文学、考古、经济、军事等学科的各种专题历史地图和专题历史地理信息系统。本文介绍了此平台的设计思想和总体设计方案。     

基于时间语义的地籍管理信息系统数据组织与实现

地籍管理信息系统属于GIS范畴,具有很强的时态特性,如何高效地组织时空数据是系统成败的关键。本文在分析地籍管理信息系统必要性以及时间概念及其具体含义的基础上,引入时间语义,提出基于时间语义的数据模型。根据语义对地籍管理信息系统的时空数据组织方法进行了研究。并根据地籍管理对模型的要求,分别从时间点、时间段角度对历史信息进行查询和回溯,验证了模型的可行性。     

Application of GIS to estimate soil erosion using RUSLE

This paper describes the use of the Arc/Info and ArcView GIS tools to estimate soil erosion with Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE).Calculations are be done by using capabilities available.This study start with a digital elevation model(DEM) of Shaanxi,which was created by digitizing contour and spot heights from the topographic map on 1:250000 scale and grid themes for the USLE K and C factors.It is note worthy that USLE K can be obtained by adding the K factor as an attribute to a soil theme‘s table.The C can be obtained from tables or using the information about land use and management given by USLE program.A land use theme can be used to add the C factors as an attribute field.The purpose of this study is to establish spatial information of soil erosion using USLE and GIS and discuss the analysis of the soil erosion and slope failures in GIS and formulate the possible framework.     

Modeling and Communicating the Conceptual Intent of Geo‐Analytical Tasks for Human‐GIS Interaction

One of the fundamental issues of geographical information science is to design GIS interfaces and functionalities in a way that is easy to understand, teach, and use. Unfortunately, current geographical information systems (including ArcGIS) remains very difficult to use as spatial analysis tools, because they organize and expose functionalities according to GIS data structures and processing algorithms. As a result, GIS interfaces are conceptually confusing, cognitively complex, and semantically disconnected from the way human reason about spatial analytical activities. In this article, we propose an approach that structures GIS analytical functions based on the notion of “analytical intent”. We describe an experiment that replaces ArcGIS desktop interface with a conversational interface, to enable mixed‐initiative user‐system interactions at the level of analytical intentions. We initially focus on the subset of GIS functions that are relevant to “finding what's inside” as described by Mitchell, but the general principles apply to other types of spatial analysis. This work demonstrates the feasibility of delegating some spatial thinking tasks to computational agents, and also raises future research questions that are key to building a better theory of spatial thinking with GIS.     

GIS模糊可靠性分析的关键问题

从GIS数据的模糊可靠性分析、GIS软件模糊可靠性分析、GIS硬件模糊可靠性分析和GIS人员模糊可靠性分析等4方面阐述GIS的模糊可靠性分析中的关键问题,论述各个关键问题所研究的现状以及面临的困难,提出了解决的方法。     

A GIS FOR THE ANTARCTIC SPECIALLY MANAGED AREA OF ADMIRALTY BAY,KING GEORGE ISLAND,ANTARCTICA

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基于三维时空数据库的地信时空过程可视化研究

随着GIS数据不断更新,大量的GIS历史数据也不断累积起来。本文即是着眼于如何有效利用累积下来的多个时期的数据,模拟地信时空过程,让人们能直观了解空间信息的发展变化过程。论文先介绍了由地理信息时空数据建立的三维时空数据库,然后阐述了在此数据库支持下的地信时空过程可视化的实现技术。本文的研究是一次时态GIS与3D-GIS结合应用的尝试,实现了4D概念下更为逼真和动感的地理信息服务方式。     

Applying Cost/Benefit Analysis to Evaluate Investment in GIS: The Case of Ghana's Lands Commission Secretariat, Accra

One of the many reasons why GIS programmes in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world never get started is that top management are not fully persuaded to support such innovations. A favourable financial analysis of GIS investment will greatly enhance its chances of approval and continued funding if the computation is tied to the goals set by organisations. We argue that an approach provided by a score and weight process that is part of the Investment Evaluation Methodology (IEM) developed by Digital Equipment Corporation USA, for cost benefit analysis fulfils this objective as it is designed to assist top managers and policy‐makers in coming to an understanding of the nature and scope of the proposed GIS project. The methodology involves measuring benefits that are quantifiable (tangibles) and identifying those that are not (intangibles). A coherent and consistent framework for evaluating the GIS project is therefore made. The methodology is generic enough to be applied in any developing country context.     

GIS and simple systems for visual,interactive, spatial analysis

Abstract

In much the same way as a spreadsheet is more appropriate to some needs than a fully relational DBMS, many users interested in analysis of spatially referenced data have fairly unsophisticated requirements for extensive data storage or complex retrieval functions, and limited needs for topographic detail, cartographic accuracy or advanced map editing; however, they do require access to a wide range of statistical functions for data transformation, reduction and smoothing, multivariate analysis, and the modelling of spatial relationships. This paper argues that the needs of such users are poorly met by the 'mainstream' model for GIS that is often presented in the literature. A PC-based system, equivalent in GIS terms to the spreadsheet, is described. It integrates simple data structures, limited map creation and editing, a powerful range of standard and spatially orientated statistical functions, and the ability to interactively present results through chloropleth, contour, proportionate symbol, or proximally shaded maps. It is particularly designed to be easily accessible and to encourage visual interactive analysis. For some users such a system has acted as an adequate solution in its own right and for others it has provided a useful educational transition to more extensive and powerful systems.     

Spatial analysis in epidemiology: Nascent science or a failure of GIS?

This paper summarizes contributions of GIS in epidemiology, and identifies needs required to support spatial epidemiology as science. The objective of spatial epidemiology is to identify disease causes and correlates by relating spatial disease patterns to geographic variation in health risks. GIS supports disease mapping, location analysis, the characterization of populations, and spatial statistics and modeling. Although laudable, these accomplishments are not sufficient to fully identify disease causes and correlates. One reason is the failure of present-day GIS to provide tools appropriate for epidemiology. Two needs are most pressing. First, we must reject the static view: meaningful inference about the causes of disease is impossible without both spatial and temporal information. Second, we need models that translate space-time data on health outcomes and putative exposures into epidemiologically meaningful measures. The first need will be met by the design and implementation of space-time information systems for epidemiology; the second by process-based disease models.