Application of a spatially explicit backcasting model: A case study of sustainable development in Salzburg,Austria

The high cost of land for housing within urban centres and the common desire to live within extensive residential areas in the green countryside have, in some cases, led to increasing residential development in the urban hinterland, often resulting in dispersed and sprawling development. In order to counteract such development this article seeks to provide a methodology for implementing strategies which aim is to achieve sustainable development in spatial planning. The proposed methodology, which is known as “backcasting”, aims to improve our ability to avoid undesirable future developments and to encourage those developments that are desirable. Backcasting has previously mostly been used within theoretical processes or frameworks. The backcasting exercise presented in this paper used a Python-based model to create often visionary future scenarios based on interviews with relevant experts, and then used these scenarios as input for a backwards running model. This model simulates a development that runs backwards in time, converging towards the present situation. The backcasting model presented herein has been applied to a case study in Salzburg, Austria.     

Mark on the globe: a quest for scientific bases of geographic information and its international influence

David M. Mark published his first journal article in 1970. Since then, he has written or coauthored more than 220 publications over a period of 40 years as of 28 May 2012. Based on data from Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar, Mark’s publications have been cited over 7410 times by researchers in more than 80 countries or regions as of 28 May 2012, when this paper was first prepared. The geographic extent of Mark’s scholarly influence is truly global. An examination of his 20 most cited articles reveals that his work in diverse areas as digital elevation models, geomorphology, geographic cognition, and ontology of the geospatial domain enjoyed a lasting impact worldwide.     

The use of Bluetooth for analysing spatiotemporal dynamics of human movement at mass events: A case study of the Ghent Festivities

In this paper, proximity-based Bluetooth tracking is postulated as an efficient and effective methodology for analysing the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of visitor movements at mass events. A case study of the Ghent Festivities event (1.5 million visitors over 10 days) is described in detail and preliminary results are shown to give an indication of the added value of the methodology for stakeholders of the event. By covering 22 locations in the study area with Bluetooth scanners, we were able to extract 152,487 trajectories generated by 80,828 detected visitors. Apart from generating clear statistics such as visitor counts, the share of returning visitors, and visitor flow maps, the analyses also reveal the complex nature of this event by hinting at the existence of several mutually different visitor profiles. We conclude by arguing why Bluetooth tracking offers significant advantages for tracking mass event visitors with respect to other and more prominent technologies, and outline some of its remaining deficiencies.     

Enabling maps/location searches on mobile devices: constructing a POI database via focused crawling and information extraction

With the popularity of mobile devices and smartphones, we have witnessed rapid growth in mobile applications and services, especially in location-based services (LBS). According to a mobile marketing survey, maps/location searches are among the most utilized services on smartphones. Points of interest (POIs), such as stores, shops, gas stations, parking lots, and bus stops, are particularly important for maps/location searches. Existing map services such as Google Maps and Wikimapia are constructed manually either professionally or with crowd sourcing. However, manual annotation is costly and limited in current POI search services. With the abundance of information on the Web, many store POIs can be extracted from the Web. In this paper, we focus on automatically constructing a POI database to enable store POI map searches. We propose techniques that are required to construct a POI database, including focused crawling, information extraction, and information retrieval techniques. We first crawl Yellow Page web sites to obtain vocabularies of store names. These vocabularies are then investigated with search engines to obtain sentences containing these store names from search snippets in order to train a store name recognition model. To extract POIs scattered across the Web, we propose a query-based crawler to find address-bearing pages that might be used to extract addresses and store names. We crawled 1.25 million distinct POI pairs scattered across the Web and implemented a POI search service via Apache Lucent’s search platform, called Solr. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed geographical information retrieval model outperforms Wikimapia and a commercial app called ‘What’s the Number?’     

基于多源信息融合理论的盐湖资源综合动态监测及预警系统设计与实现

近年来随着人类开采力度的不断加大和全球气候变化的影响,盐湖资源系统正在发生着急剧变化,盐湖生产对环境的影响也日渐突出。将多源信息融合理论与动态综合监测理论相结合,基于GIS、物联网和无线通讯技术,从相互关联的环境、资源和产业多个子系统中选取关键监测指标,从构建理论、构建原则、技术体系和系统结构等方面对构建盐湖资源综合监测系统进行全面设计;并结合青海吉乃尔盐湖区具体实际,在监测站网的最优化布局、传感器选型、数据传输方案和多源数据整合方面开展深入探讨;最后对水灾、环境、生产等预警模型的预警层次和预警模式提出具体实现路径。对保障盐湖产业可持续发展与生产安全,保证西部国民经济、社会和谐发展具有重要意义。     

信息技术对城市居民出行特征的影响——以南京为例

信息技术在城市生产、生活与管理中的加速应用不仅促使城市空间结构正在发生转型,也影响了城市居民的活动空间特征。论文基于社会调查,以南京为例,考察了信息技术对城市居民交通出行行为特征的影响。总体而言,南京城市居民家庭在接入信息技术上已经有了长足的发展,接入互联网能力迈入快速增长期。但由于各城区间、各郊区间的信息接入能力存在显著差异,这必然会影响居民的出行行为。研究表明:在家办公的出现减少了日常的工作出行。信息网络对居民日常出行的引导作用日益突出,并出现了部分替代。城市居民家庭的交通通讯费用大幅增长,上网时间增长较快,而城区更为明显。     

A GIS-based exploration of the relationships between human health,social deprivation and ecosystem services: The case of Wales,UK

Being able to analyse the relationships between people and nature has always been of key interest to ecosystems conservation, planning decisions and in a number of disciplines of natural and social sciences. In this framework, it is of paramount importance to evaluate possible correlations between factors such as ecosystem services, human health, and social deprivation. The present study aims at exploring relationships between ecosystem services, human health, and social deprivation for the region of Wales in the United Kingdom. Wales is of special interest because as a region it offers many ‘green’ ecosystems which have already been found to have a positive influence on humans' well-being as well as on socio-economic status. First, a recreational layer showing the size and location of all potential recreational areas in each Welsh local authority was created. Subsequently, correlation/regression analysis and weighted raster analysis were performed which allowed determining quantitatively the degree of correlation between the observed socio-economic factors and recreational areas.The findings of this exploratory study suggested that the relative size of potential recreational area varies widely within the local authorities comprising Wales. Not all the socio-economic factors which were examined herein found to be correlated with recreational areas. Some variables, such as income and employment deprivation showed high correlations with poor recreation options. Very poor correlation was also reported between recreation options and variables such as life expectancy and long-term illness. Our results, in agreement to previous studies conducted elsewhere, suggested that human health is determined by a complex interplay of more than one of the observed determinants, including for example biology and genetics or living and working conditions. As to our knowledge there are no prior research studies on the topic for our study region, this work provides a key contribution concerning the determination of a “social” value of ecosystems in the context of human health and other socio-economic factors. However, as these are only initial results, further work is required to verify those.     

聚焦变化中的盐湖：二次科考盐湖专题总体方案设计与实现

青藏高原的隆升过程是一个长期的大地构造运动演化过程，是多个陆块从冈瓦纳裂解向北漂移在不同时间与欧亚碰撞的结果，羌塘盆地是我国重要的中生代成盐盆地，具有良好的成盐成钾条件，通过前期研究中依据室内海水蒸发实验模拟结果提出的多级盆地海水迁移变质成盐成钾模式，对羌塘地区开展找钾工作具有重要的指导意义。同时摸清盐湖资源中钾、锂、镁、硼关键元素的成矿、迁移和富集规律，对后端盐湖资源的科学保护与合理开发具有重要意义。并且尝试阐明水-岩-盐系统的资源关联性和资源元素迁移的“源-汇”地球化学过程。在盐湖的探索和开放同时做好重点盐湖开发地区的生态环境影响评价是构筑青藏高原生态安全屏障的重要组成内容和刚性需求，为生态环境保护前提下的盐湖资源开发提供了重要科学依据。通过该盐湖科学数据库功能的深度开发，构建科学数据共享平台。对青藏高原盐湖科学数据进行有效的梳理和科学管理。青藏高原是我国重要的生态屏障，也是重要的盐湖分布区。本次盐湖专题科考聚焦青藏高原盐湖，经过近三年的科考工作，获得了大量一手科考数据，将继续推动二次科考成果转化，探索盐湖的绿色高质量发展途径，为建设世界级盐湖产业基地助力。     

Perceived deficiencies in the provision of climate and weather information for tourism: A New Zealand media analysis

Climate and weather are important for tourism and leisure as they impact on destination attractiveness and subsequent visitation. Through an archive analysis of media articles and a content analysis of Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) websites, this paper explores perceived deficiencies in the currently available climate and weather information for tourists in New Zealand. While media reports focused on concern by many RTOs over the poor regional images generated by inaccurate and poorly presented climate and weather data, the RTO websites were found to contain limited climate and weather information. There is considerable potential for RTOs to improve in this respect.     

基于MSAVI-WI特征空间的新疆渭干河-库车河流域绿洲土壤盐渍化研究

土壤盐渍化是造成干旱区土地荒漠化及生态恶化的重要原因,及时获取大尺度高精度土壤盐渍信息是防治工作的基础。选取新疆塔里木盆地北缘渭干河—库车河流域三角洲绿洲为研究区,利用Lansat-TM数据与野外实测数据分析盐渍化土壤与修改型土壤调整植被指数(MSAVI)、湿度指数(WI)之间的关系,在此基础上提出了MSAVI-WI特征空间概念,构建了土壤盐渍化遥感监测指数模型(MWI)。结果表明:MWI与土壤表层含盐量相关性较高,其相关性为0.844,精度高于土壤盐渍监测常用的盐分指数与实测数据的相关性。MWI能较好的反映盐渍化土壤地表植被及土壤水分的组合变化,具有明确的生物物理意义,并且特征参量简单,理论上易于理解,实践上易于实现,MWI模型的构建有利于干旱区大尺度土壤盐渍化定量监测与评价工作的开展。     

Optimal spatial land-use allocation for limited development ecological zones based on the geographic information system and a genetic ant colony algorithm

Limited development ecological zones (LDEZs) are often located in poverty-stricken, ecologically vulnerable areas where ethnic minorities reside. Studies on optimal spatial land-use allocation in LDEZs can promote economic and intensive land use, improve soil quality, facilitate local socioeconomic development, and maintain environmental stability. In this study, we optimized spatial land-use allocations in an LDEZ using the geographic information system (GIS) and a genetic ant colony algorithm (GACA). The multi-objective function considers economic benefits and ecological green equivalents, and improves soil erosion. We developed the GACA by integrating a genetic algorithm (GA) with an ant colony algorithm (ACA). This avoids a large number of redundant iterations and the low efficiency of the GA, and the slow convergence speed of the ACA. The study area is located in Pengyang County, Ningxia, China, which is a typical LDEZ. The land-use data were interpreted from remote sensing (RS) images and GIS. We determined the optimal spatial land-use allocations in the LDEZ using the GACA in the GIS environment. We compared the original and optimal spatial schemes in terms of economic benefits, ecological green equivalents, and soil erosion. The results of the GACA were superior to the original allocation, the ACA, and the multi-objective genetic algorithm, in terms of the optimum, time, and robust performance indexes. We also present some suggestions for the reasonable development and protection of LDEZs.     

基于产业活动的城市边缘区空间划分方法——以北京主城区为例

城市边缘区是客观存在但却难以精确刻画的空间实体。现有划分方法往往难以兼顾研究精度和空间属性数据的匹配。本文以产业空间特征为主要依据,借助非线性回归、空间自相关和GIS等分析手段,建立了一种单因素的城市边缘区空间划分方法。并利用1996年和2001年基本单位普查数据,以邮政编码区为精细的空间基本单元,对北京主城区城市边缘区进行了实证研究。划分结果表明,北京主城的城市边缘区是环绕在主城区周边的宽窄不一、空间不连续的带状实体地域,该区域面向东、南方向的扇形拓展是未来发展的主要趋势。     

基于遥感与SRTM的青藏高原冰缘地貌信息提取方法——以1 ∶ 100万标准分幅拉萨幅(H46)为例

根据模型和分布函数,本文首先依据多年平均气温、地温和SRTM等数据对研究区域冰缘地貌的分布范围进行分别提取,并利用遥感数据和人工解译方式对其进行了修正。在此基础上,采用一定指标,利用SRTM数据对冰缘地貌次级类型(如起伏度、海拔高度和坡度等)进行了提取,从而完成研究区域冰缘地貌信息的提取。研究结果表明:①研究区域冰缘地貌总面积约5.15×10⁴km²,主要分布在研究区域的西北部和西南部,另外在东北部也有少量分布;通过提取,研究区域中最重要的冰缘地貌类型是冰缘作用的中起伏缓极高山,面积约0.82×10⁴km²,分布范围较广。②冰缘地貌的分布与海拔高度、气温和地温等有密切的关系,基于此提取的结果可为冰缘地貌的解译提供一定的参考;由于青藏高原气象站点较少,数据精度较低,自动提取精度受到很大限制,因此进行人工解译修正是非常重要和必不可少的。     

Estimating the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on rainfall reliability: An example in a Mediterranean agricultural region

Rainfall is the major driver of crop growth in Mediterranean agricultural regions and its spatial and temporal distributions determine yield potential. This study uses a long term spatial archive of rainfall observations for the Eyre Peninsula (South Australia) to estimate the spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on wheat yield. The three step process involved: (1) cluster analysis and statistical comparison to spatially distinguish heterogeneous “hazardscapes” (places that represent the physical susceptibility to hazards (Khan, 2012)); (2) using historical rainfall reliabilities to estimate the probability of receiving rainfall within a range of predefined thresholds and season for each hazardscape; (3) applying 2030 and 2070 climate change projections to determine the potential future impacts on rainfall. Nine hazardscapes were spatially differentiated each having temporally different historical seasonal rainfall reliabilities. Variations over space and time mean that the impacts of climate change will be spatially explicit. Projected rainfall reductions for 2030 showed marginal impact on hazardscapes with low seasonal reliabilities, primarily in winter and spring. The 2070 projections showed that some hazardscapes were unlikely to receive past rates of rainfall thus limiting the ongoing prospects of current and perhaps the potential adoption of alternative rain-fed land uses. Reductions in rainfall for hazardscapes with higher historical rainfall reliabilities will cause negative impacts on crop development. The ability to quantify the potential spatial and temporal impacts of climate change on seasonal trends will inform land managers' climate change mitigation and adaptation pathways.     

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.

     

信息技术对企业空间组织的影响——以诺基亚北京星网工业园为例

最近通信技术的进展引发了对经济活动集聚和扩散力量的争论。本文以坐落于北京经济技术开发区的星网工业园为例 ,探讨在新的信息技术下地方企业集群的动力机制。过去几十年中 ,新的信息技术在经济空间变化中起着越来越重要的作用 ,但是它只是一种提供可能或促成发生的介质 ,并不是决定性的。新的信息技术的应用会导致企业的“虚拟集群” ,这是运用信息技术整合和缩短供应链的必然结果 ,但是零部件厂是否选择在地理空间上与整装厂集中在一起还取决于其他因素。在这个过程中 ,时间成本正成为企业空间组织的重要影响因素     

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

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.     

Land use legacies of the Ohio River Basin: Using a spatially explicit land use change model to assess past and future impacts on aquatic resources

Land uses and their legacies are a major driver of human impacts on the environment. Decision makers have recognized that the legacies of land-use activities continue to influence ecosystems, particularly aquatic ones, for decades or centuries. The main objectives of this paper are to develop land use legacy maps to (1) assess historical and future (predicted) shifts in dominant land use classes (urban, agriculture, forest) in the Ohio River Basin (ORB), and (2) determine the past and future location of catchments in the ORB exceeding critical land use thresholds (10% and 38% urban and agricultural use of catchment respectively) for water quality and other aquatic resources. Our land use legacy simulations show that approximately 80% of the ORB has remained as agriculture (∼37%), forest (∼34%), urban (∼7%) and other classes (∼2%) from 1930 to 1990. Within the remainder of landscape, agriculture to forest (∼16%) and agriculture to urban (∼1.5%) transitions were the most common land use changes between 1930 and 1990. Our forecast model shows that approximately 94% of the ORB will remain as forest (∼47.46%), agriculture (∼35.77%), urban (∼8.84%) and other classes (∼2.07%) between 2000 and 2050. 1.44% and 1.37% of the ORB is predicted to transition from forest to urban and agriculture to urban between 2000 and 2050, respectively. Our results also demonstrate that 13% and 74% of the catchments in the ORB already exceeded critical urban and agricultural land use thresholds in 1930, respectively. We predict that 37% of catchments in the ORB will have exceeded critical urban land use thresholds by 2050, whereas the proportion of catchments to exceed critical agricultural use will decrease to 45%.