Polynomial Regression Analysis Of Beach Profiles

A population density model is presented for urban areas containing multiple centers. Utilities of this model include evaluating time series for a transformation from monocentricity to polycentricity and testing the assumption of monocentricity at any point in time. Following a discussion of the method of calibrating this model, a case study of Toronto is presented. The major finding from 1971 and 1976 Toronto data is that no transformation is yet detectable. Interpretation of the model is exemplified in this empirical exercise.     

Developing and testing of an error propagation model for GIS overlay operations

Abstract

This study examines the propagation of thematic error through GIS overlay operations. Existing error propagation models for these operations are shown to yield results that are inconsistent with actual levels of propagation error. An alternate model is described that yields more consistent results. This model is based on the frequency of errors of omission and commission in input data. Model output can be used to compute a variety of error indices for data derived from different overlay operations.     

Geographic Information Technologies and the History of a Shoreline: The Case of Chapter 91 in New Bedford,Massachusetts

Abstract

This article discusses the use of geographic information technologies to assist researchers in the exploration of historical databases. The case study is a pilot project in which we used geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) to study the history of the Public Waterfront Act (the “Chapter 91” program), a policy designed to balance private property rights, public interest, and environmental protection in the Massachusetts tidelands. The issues discussed range from the role of GIS in society and its limitations as a representational tool to the ability of current GIS to deal with historical data and to manage temporal attributes.

     

Requirements and principles for the implementation and construction of large-scale geographic information systems

Abstract

This paper provides a brief survey of the history, structure and functions of ‘traditional’ geographic information systems (GIS), and then suggests a set of requirements that large-scale GIS should satisfy, together with a set of principles for their satisfaction. These principles, which include the systematic application of techniques from several sub-fields of computer science to the design and implementation of GIS and the integration of techniques from computer vision and image processing into standard GIS technology, are discussed in some detail. In particular, the paper provides a detailed discussion of questions relating to appropriate data models, data structures and computational procedures for the efficient storage, retrieval and analysis of spatially-indexed data.     

Environmental decision support system project: an exploration of alternative architectures for geographical information systems

Abstract

Recent changes in information technology offer the opportunity to explore alternative architectures for geographical information systems (GIS) which might better support advanced applications. This paper describes the architecture and implementation of the environmental decision support system (EDSS), a prototype GIS tool kit. The architecture is based on a simple yet powerful systems model using only data collections, views and operations as the basic entity types. The design of the user interface, data management and data analysis within the model are outlined, with particular emphasis on the advanced facilities for which implementation is simplified by the architecture. A prototype applications system, BANKSIA, is also described.     

SIMPLE MARKOV CHAIN MODEL OF SMOG PROBABILITY IN THE SOUTH COAST AIR BASIN OF CALIFORNIA

The simple Markov chain model approximates sequences of episode days for those air-monitoring stations with sufficient data for analysis. The conditional probability for episode days shows a distinct regional pattern, with highest values over the inland valleys and decreasing values toward the coast.     

A Game of European Colonization in Africa

Abstract

This is a game involving role-playing designed to promote student understanding of an interest in the African colonial experience. It may be used as part of a high school or college regional geography course on Africa south of the Sahara, or in courses dealing with modern African or European history, or international relations.     

Travel and Traffic in China

Abstract

Models can greatly assist the student to understand important aspects of a complex reality. A simple model, based on empirical data about farm size in Tokugawa, Japan, is here introduced and applied to China. The model makes explicit one of the major lessons East Asian civilization has for regions of the world more recently integrated into “civilization”; that is, that the productive capacity of land, and thus its ability to support people, is finite. The model also provides a useful integrative framework for introduction to the physical aspects of the geography of East Asia.     

Geographical object–oriented databases—a case study

ABSTRACT

An Australian standard for Spatial Data Transfer modelled on the draft American standard is likely to be introduced in 1993. The spatial data model is not accommodated by existing DBMS such as relational systems. Using this model as an example, the suitability of object–oriented database systems for geographical databases is demonstrated. Some initial performance figures obtained with the ONTOS system on an example database are given.     

Chile

Abstract

This study provides empirical information about the extent of geography instruction present in history classrooms. Techniques of protocol analysis were applied to oral references to geography made by teachers and students in 44 U. S. and European history lessons in several grades. The references were coded according to GENIP' s five themes plus a sixth coding category for explicit references to maps. Two types of references were found: passing references, which merely mentioned a geographic issue or feature, and substantive references, in which geography was taught or played a substantial role. That 550 geographic references occur in these lessons may explain why so many history teachers believe that they are adequately integrating geography and history. However, 75 percent of all the references were passing and not substantive. We conclude that the core epistemological events for learning and reasoning in, about, and with geography are not being taught adequately in history lessons.     

Uncertainties in the SNOWPACK multilayer snow model for a Canadian avalanche context: sensitivity to climatic forcing data

Abstract

As interest in outdoor activities in remote areas is increasing, there is a strong need for improved avalanche forecasting at the regional scale. Due to important logistical and safety matters, avalanche terrain measurements (avalanche observations, snowpack profiles, and stability tests) are not always possible for practitioners/forecasters. An interesting alternative would be to analyze the snowpack without these challenges by using snow model outputs. The SNOWPACK model is currently used operationally for avalanche forecasting and research in the Swiss Alps. Thus, this paper presents a summary of analyses that have been conducted to assess the potential of using the SNOWPACK model driven with both in-situ and forecasted meteorological data in three different Canadian climate and geomorphological contexts. A comparison of meteorological data from in-situ and predicted datasets for two winters shows that the GEMLAM weather model is the most accurate for the three climatic contexts of this project, but also showed a bias proportional to precipitation intensity/rate. Snow simulations forced with GEMLAM are the closest to field measurements. Finally, predictions of persistent weak layers have been validated using the InfoEx platform from Avalanche Canada. Crust and surface hoar formation dates agree with the information reported in InfoEx.     

Development and test of an error model for categorical data

Abstract

An error model for spatial databases is defined here as a stochastic process capable of generating a population of distorted versions of the same pattern of geographical variation. The differences between members of the population represent the uncertainties present in raw or interpreted data, or introduced during processing. Defined in this way, an error model can provide estimates of the uncertainty associated with the products of processing in geographical information systems. A new error model is defined in this paper for categorical data. Its application to soil and land cover maps is discussed in two examples: the measurement of area and the measurement of overlay. Specific details of implementation and use are reviewed. The model provides a powerful basis for visualizing error in area class maps, and for measuring the effects of its propagation through processes of geographical information systems.     

Real-time data collection quality assurance models in three-dimensional spatial information systems

Abstract

Databases used in geographical information systems must be supplied with current data. Maps are usually out of date when they are published. Satellite imagery and aerial photographs supply up-to-date three-dimensional data. Three different models for real-time quality assurance control in three-dimensional data collection for geographical information systems are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the visual detection of ‘blunders’ in three-dimensional data. One data collection quality assurance model has been implemented in the Photogrammetric Analysis Laboratory at Purdue University. An example from this system is given and the precision and speed of digitization of three-dimensional data are discussed.     

COMMUNICATIONS FROM READERS

We recommend use of the widely available computer package GLIM to analyze relationships involving categorical, or qualitative, variables. The package is flexible and fairly simple to use and readily produces data plots as well as information on parameter estimates and residual values. In order to explain how to fit log-linear and logistic-linear models using GLIM, we give two examples based on sample survey data from grocery shoppers in Oxford, England. In the first, we examine relationships between a categorical response to an attitude statement and categorical explanatory variables using the log-linear model and, in the second, relationships between use and a mixture of continuous and categorical explanatory variables using the logistic-linear (logit) model.     

Telegraph Messenger Boys: Crossing the Borders between History of Technology and Human Geography

Abstract

Historians of telegraphy have traditionally focused on the system-builders who invented wire communications technologies and incorporated them into profit-making enterprises. Geographers of communications have traditionally traced the changes that the telegraph network wrought on the rank-size of cities and the speed of business. Both have ignored the history of the telegraph messenger boys and the “lived geography” of the telegraph network. This article summarizes a study of telegraph messengers as both active components of technological systems and laboring agents within produced urban spaces, bringing together the fields of both history of technology and human geography.

     

Combining Surge and Wind Risk from Hurricanes Using a Copula Model: An Example from Galveston,Texas

Consideration of climate-related impacts on coasts is important to ensure readiness for disaster response. Local risk of storm surge and strong winds from hurricanes affecting Galveston, Texas, is quantified using a bivariate copula model fit to observed data. The model uses a two-dimensional Archimedean copula. Parametric uncertainty (5th and 95th percentiles) is quantified using a Monte Carlo procedure. The annual probability of a hurricane producing winds of at least 50 ms^?1 and a surge of at least 4 m is 1.7 percent with a 95 percent confidence interval of (1.33, 1.78) percent. The methodology can be extended to include inland flooding and can be applied elsewhere with available information.     

Modelling uncertainty and spatial dependence: Stochastic imaging

Abstract

The most vibrant area of research in geostatistics is stochastic imaging, that is, the modelling of spatial uncertainty through alternative, equiprobable, numerical representations (maps) of spatially distributed phenomena. These stochastic images are conditioned to a variety of data accounting for their specific measurement scale and reliability.

Any geostatistical prediction is built on a prior model of spatial correlation that ties data to unsampled values and, equally importantly, unsampled values at different locations together. Since a major goal in the exercise of mapping is to display organization in space, spatial correlation is a necessity. As for uncertainty it is so pervasive that it is imperative to account for it.     

Geography and Planning: Some Perspectives

This paper analyzes the migration of Puerto Rican-born women from the United States to Puerto Rico using longitudinal data. We hypothesize that sojourn length in the United States is a function of both structural (macro-level economic and cultural factors) and behavioral (micro-level life-cycle experiences and personal attributes) variables. We test these hypotheses by estimating a proportional hazards model. The parameter estimates of this model indicate that sojourn length in the United States, and thus the decision to return to Puerto Rico, is a function of wage trends and community characteristics on the mainland plus a number of individual attributes that include education, marriage, and childbirth.     

A Landscape Guide in Environmental Education

Abstract

The interpretation of landscapes is an important way to learn about geography in environmental education. A Landscape Guide to the Bachelor Reserve applies geographic/historical and biological/ecological perspectives to the interpretation of ten landscape scenes along a three-mile walking tour. For each scene, the guide describes the environmental setting, the composition and structure of the vegetation, and the history of human influences. Questionnaire and field assessments document a well-received interpretive tool, and the need to guide participants across land transitions and interpret land use history clearly. Landscape guides can be used in school/community land labs and contribute to holistic learning and multidisci-plinary exercises in formal and informal environmental education programs.