Mapping Palestine and Mesopotamia in the First World War

Abstract

The survey and mapping activities which took place in Palestine and Mesopotamia during the First World War need to be considered in their contexts, both of long-term British mapping activities in the region, and of survey and mapping generally during the First World War. Thus, while it is important to recognise the real technical advances in map-making which resulted from survey activities in the Near and Middle East during the First World War, it needs to be recognised that this was simply the culmination of nearly 80 years of British military mapping in the region. Each generation of surveyors used the most appropriate tools for the task in hand and the conditions under which the survey needed to be conducted. The First World War surveyors were fortunate that a new tool, aerial photography, had become available just prior to the war.     

Water Supply Maps for the Western Front (Belgium and Northern France) Developed by British,German and American Military Geologists during World War I: Pioneering Studies in Hydrogeology from Trench Warfare

Abstract

Innovations for the British Army during World War I included use of a military geologist to compile 'water supply' maps and to guide well drilling. Between June 1915 and November 1918, W. B. R. King served as a staff lieutenant at General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force deployed on the Western Front. He pioneered British development of water supply maps for parts of Belgium and northern France, in several different styles and at scales of 1 : 100 000, 1 : 250 000 and 1 : 40 000. These assisted planning for advances into enemy-occupied territory or the development of water supply infrastructure within the region held ultimately by five British armies: in total about 1,500,000 men with some 500,000 horses and mules, each man/animal requiring on average 10 gallons (45 L) per day of potable water. The maps guided emplacement of over 470 military boreholes to supply drinking water to British forces, especially in provinces underlain by Cretaceous Chalk: Picardy and Artois. German forces also made use of military geologists at the Front, but in much greater number: up to about 300 in total. Water supply tasks were given high priority, and German water supply maps were finally standardized like other medium scale German geotechnical maps at 1 : 25 000. Six geologists were deployed with the American Expeditionary Force late in the war, and for their sector of the Front compiled at least two water supply maps at 1 : 80 000, and 11 at 1 : 50 000 that were supported by explanatory reports. Wartime imperatives thus generated expertise in hydrogeology that became available for civilian use post-war, and laid the foundation for further military development during World War II.     

数字地形分析与地形三维可视化表达研究

数字地形分析是基于数字高程模型(DEM)进行地形分析的一种数字分析技术,是常规纸质地图分析、DEM应用范围的拓广和延伸。地形的可视化表达是地形地貌、景观建模、地形分析等领域的基本技术手段之一,通过和地形分析技术的有机结合,可使地形的表达更加逼真形象。本文简要论述了数字地形分析的基本内容和原理,总结归纳了地形三维可视化表达的相关模型。     

Deriving a minimum set of viewpoints for maximum coverage over any given digital elevation model data

This paper introduces how to automatically derive a minimum set of viewpoints for maximum coverage over a large scale of digital terrain data. This is a typical data and computation-intensive research covering a series of geocomputation tasks that have not been implemented efficiently or optimally in prior works. This paper introduces a three-step computational solution to resolve the problem. For any given digital elevation model (DEM) data, automatic generation of control viewpoints is the first step through map algebra calculation and hydrological modeling approaches. For each viewpoint, the viewshed calculation then has to be implemented. The combined viewshed derived from the viewshed of all viewpoints establishes the maximum viewshed coverage of the given DEM. Finally, detecting the minimum set of viewpoints for the maximum coverage is a Non-deterministic Polynomial-time hard problem. The outcome of the computation has broader societal impacts since the research questions and solutions can be adapted into real-world application and decision-making practice, such as the distribution, optimization and management of telecommunication infrastructure and wildfire observation towers, and military tactics and operations dependent upon landscape and terrain features.     

Paleoart: Visions of the Prehistoric Past

Abstract

Cartography in general, and building solid landscape models in particular, requires an interdisciplinary set of skills in order to be done well. Traditional handcrafted construction methods provide quality results, but are extremely labour-intensive and therefore costly. Modern methods using digital terrain models (DTMs) and computer numerical control (CNC) milling are fast and accurate, but the finished models are visually less than optimal. Solutions are proposed using DTMs and CNC milling to create landscape models in which the initial shaping is done mechanically and the fine details are carved by hand. This ‘balanced approach’ to landscape modelling combines the time- and cost-advantages of modern digital technology with the quality of traditional handcrafted techniques resulting in highly accurate landscape models which still retain the artistic ‘feel’ of the human touch.     

American Cartographic Transformations during the Cold War

A great convergence of cartography, secrecy, and power occurred during the Cold War. In the American case, a complex series of interactions between secret and classified programs and institutions and their publicly accessible counterparts accomplished both traditional and novel objectives of military geographic intelligence. This process also yielded the World Geodetic System, a mass-centered "figure of the earth" at accuracies adequate for warfare with intercontinental ballistic missiles. A structural and institutional separation developed between enterprises charged with overhead data acquisition systems, which were classified at increasingly high levels of secrecy, and those responsible for data reduction, analysis, and mapping systems, which remained largely unclassified and publicly accessible, in part to conceal the classified data acquisition systems. This structural separation destabilized photogrammetric mapping by displacing systems that privileged dimensional stability with systems that privileged novel sensor types more appropriate to Cold War geo-political objectives and constraints. Eventually, photogrammetric mapping systems were re-stabilized by successfully implementing analytical solutions imposed in digital mapping and data management systems. This achievement re-privileged dimensional stability, now redefined to the new media of geo-referenced digital data. In the early 1970s these developments culminated in advanced research projects of Military Geographic Intelligence Systems (MGIS). Their deployment in the Vietnam War was both their apex and their undoing. In the aftermath, classified mapping and database systems diverged from civilian versions of MGIS, which became known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS).     

Georelief Transfiguration in Areas Affected by Open‐cast Mining

Open‐cast mining activity causes the largest georelief transfigurations all over the world. Large localities in north‐west Bohemia (the Czech Republic) are affected. In this area, we focus on a very significant case: the royal town Most, which has been turned into a lake. The main aim of this article is the reconstruction of the original georelief in different time periods together with analysis showing the process of landscape devastation. The workflow and analysis is based on precise elevation data obtained from aerial photographs and old maps. The georelief development is reconstructed using the digitized contour lines contained in Derived state‐map 1:5,000 (SMO5) from the years 1953, 1972, and 1980; maps of the 3^rd Military Survey (year 1936); and digital surface models (DSM) extracted, using the pixel correlation method, from aerial images (year 1953 and 2008). The most important results of the analysis are digital terrain models showing the evolution of the landscape which may be used for many purposes in landscape development analysis, historical applications, visualization or landscape reclamation.     

Specialist Maps Prepared by German Military Geologists for Operation Sealion: the Invasion of England Scheduled for September 1940

Abstract

During the Second World War, the German army developed the largest organization of any nation ever to contribute military applications of earth science in wartime. In the summer of 1940, its military geologists assisted planning for potentially the greatest amphibious assault to that time in history by preparing maps which analysed the terrain of southeast England in terms of coastal geomorphology, groundwater supply, quarry sites for construction materials and off-road trafficability. These specialist maps were generated at scales of 1:50 000, 1:100 000 or 1:250 000 by annotating topographical base maps, derived from the then current Ordnance Survey maps at most similar scale, with data derived from maps and memoirs published by the Geological Survey of Great Britain or larger-scale Ordnance Survey maps. They represent an early example of geotechnical mapping skills developed more fully in the German armed forces for operations elsewhere later in the war.     

基于GIS构建村庄3维模型的方法研究——以广州市萝岗区九龙镇汤村规划为例

利用MapInfo软件实现地形空间数据在CAD与GIS软件之间的格式转换,通过ArcView 3.2软件平台,建立3维数字模型,以广州市萝岗区九龙镇汤村新农村规划为例,构建村庄的3雏景观模拟环境,为新农村规划提供参考.     

Geologic and geomorphic controls in land use patterns — examples using remote sensing techniques

Land use on earth’s landscape primarily indicates the degree of human activity which in turn reflects the man’s life style. Though land use is controlled by several factors like soil, hydrologic, climatic, socio-economic and political yet geology and gecmorphology play an important role. The basic lanscape formation depends mainly on the inherent lithology and sturcture. Certain landforms in the present landscape are such that they are suitable to a particular land use, and the human being from the very beginning without knowing this natural relationship between the landform and landuse, have been using that part of land for that particular use only. Remote sensing techniques are used effectively to map the landforms, to find out the land use pattern and to delineate the lithology and structure. Some examples from east coast deltaic plains and sedimentary terrain of Tripura state have been given here to show the influence of geology and geomorphology on broad land use pattern.     

THEORETICAL MODELS OF THE ACCURACY OF DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS: AN EVALUATION AND SOME OBSERVATIONS

This paper is an attempt to evaluate existing theoretical models for the accuracy of digital terrain models (DTM) both through a theoretical analysis and by experimental tests. In order to extend the discussion, some comments on the general form in which a DTM accuracy model should be constructed are also made and a possible solution is offered.     

On the Origins of Analytical Cartography

This paper examines the development of analytical cartography and the contributions Waldo Tobler has made to it, starting well before his definition of the subject in 1976. Analytical cartography's roots in World War II and the Cold War are examined, and the influences and precedents for the academic course that Tobler described are discussed. The systems of knowledge production developed for analytical cartography in its social context are summarized and are found to show a powerful dependence on a working relationship between academia, industry, government, and the intelligence mapping community. Current research trends in analytical cartography, including the organization of research, its institutions, and its priorities, are discussed, and it is proposed that declassifying the "missing pool" of analytical cartographic research literature could be of great benefit in the future. The four-way academic/industrial/government/intelligence partnership is seen as an opportune direction forward for analytical cartography. The next generational shift in the center of the discipline may occur in networks that even Waldo Tobler did not anticipate.     

地形特征线提取方法的研究进展

地形与地貌是数字地形分析中重要的自然地理要素,数字高程模型中蕴含着丰富的地形地貌信息,从中提取地形特征线信息是当前地学研究的热点之一。目前,很多学者使用不同的方法来研究地形特征线的提取,但是仍然存在着许多不足之处。本文对这些方法进行了介绍,对各种方法的研究现状展开综述并分析了优点和不足,最后对特征线提取方法存在的主要问题进行总结和展望。     

基于GIS的彭州市崩塌滑坡地质灾害地形因素分析

基于ArcGIS平台,利用DEM数据资料,选择位于四川西北部的彭州市作为研究区域,提取了区内高程、地形起伏等地形因子;统计了5.12震后区内39个滑坡点,58个崩塌点,建立了地形地貌与崩塌滑坡地质灾害之间的关系:这类地区对应的地貌类型主要是海拔高程较高的山坡地带。实验证明,利用GIS技术,结合数字地面模型,进行崩塌、滑坡等地质灾害的地形因子相关性分析,结果可靠,对防灾减灾具有重要的借鉴意义。     

基于3ds MAX的三维数字城市可视化模型构建方法

随着地理空间信息技术发展与应用的不断进步,数字城市建设已从二维向三维发展,数字城市可视化模型的构建是数字城市的重要工作。本文分析三维数字城市的数据需求,结合3ds Max软件实现三维地形模型、三维建筑模型、三维小品模型技术,构建三维数字城市可视化综合模型。     

DEM及数字地形分析中尺度问题研究综述

基于DEM尺度的概念与类型、DEM地形分析的尺度效应、DEM地形分析尺度研究的关键问题、DEM地形分析尺度研究的方法等几个方面的论述，分析了当前国内外在该领域的研究进展，并指出了今后应重点研究的方向，包括自然地面与DEM模拟地面之间的尺度匹配、尺度冲突与尺度耦合的关系；空间尺度参数对DEM地形分析影响的过程与机理；DEM格网单元地形分析的异质性效应。在尺度层面上，提出不同地形复杂度条件下的DEM地形分析的确定性与不确定性规律，建立以尺度为自变量的多尺度地形分析模型，建立DEM地形分析的尺度转换模型。     

城市3维景观模型重建技术研究

3维景观模型越来越广泛地应用于城市建设和管理之中,如何高效快速地构建城市3维景观模型成为一个关键技术问题。地形与地物分层建模法是城市3维景观模型重建领域中的一个热门方法,它采用地形数据叠加建筑物实体来构建3维景观。该方法已成功应用于惠州市3维建模,实践证明该方法建模速度快、操作简单、具有广阔的应用前景。     

基于WorldWind与无人机影像的三维场景重建与漫游研究

本文基于无人机低空遥感影像与拼接镶嵌处理结果,在WorldWind开源软件框架上,二次开发与实现了影像金字塔的构成过程与在NASAWorldWind中的快速实时显示,并结合数字高程信息（DEIM）、无人机飞行过程中的GPS定位信息与WorldWind中NLTLandsat7（VisibleColor）影像数据,建立了无人机遥感影像的实时三维地形重建与场景漫游系统。该系统为矿区地形分析与建设规划、灾区灾情监测与快速应急处理等提供了较好的应用平台。     

激光测绘卫星对不同地表形貌探测能力分析

针对斜坡地形、台阶地形和植被地貌、分界地貌建立了4种基本模型,研究了不同的地表空间起伏和反射率分布对回波信号时空分布特性的影响,并采用蒙特卡罗方法仿真了4种模型下Geiger探测模式星载激光雷达的高程测量精度,发现:地形起伏主要影响回波信号的时间分布特性,统计条件下可以消除测量误差;回波信号空间分布特性变化主要由地貌(反射率)的变化引起,误差较小可以忽略.研究结果表明:激光三维测绘卫星对垂直陡变地形(如城市建筑)、斜坡地形(如山坡)、分界地貌(如水陆分界)和折射率起伏地貌(如植被地貌等)具有良好的探测能力.