An integration of GIS,virtual reality and the Internet for visualization,analysis and exploration of spatial data

This paper explores the way in which GIS, Virtual Reality (VR) and the Internet are closely integrated through the link of Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) for spatial data visualization, analysis and exploration. Integration takes advantage of each component, and enables the dynamic 3D content to be built, visualized, interacted with and deployed all on the Web. To accomplish this, a hybrid approach that merges the conventional client-side and server-side methods is proposed, which offers the best of both worlds in terms of flexibility and capability, as well as the rational use of computing resources. Based on this approach, a Web-based prototype toolkit is designed and implemented by using an affordable desktop GIS through its macro language together with Java, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) and HTML programming. This toolkit comprises a 3D visualization tool, a 3D analysis tool, and a Java/VRML interface, which are respectively used for the creation of VRML models from 2D maps, surface analysis (e.g. profile creation and visibility analysis), and interaction (e.g. selecting and querying) with the output VRML worlds of 3D visualization and analysis. It is demonstrated that this toolkit provides an integrated environment, facilitating users to gain insights from the interaction with virtual environments that are built from existing GIS databases.     

基于VRML_ArcGIS的虚拟旅游景观设计与实现

虚拟旅游系统是利用三维GIS、虚拟现实与网络等技术构建的面向旅游业的网络虚拟现实系统平台。在整个虚拟旅游系统构建中,最基础也是最重要的部分是虚拟旅游景观的实现,它关系着虚拟景观的展示效果、显示速度以及空间分析、情景模拟等各项功能的实现。本文基于虚拟旅游景观的特点及实现难点,使用ArcGIS和3DSMax分别建立具有不同形态特征的虚拟地面模型和虚拟地物模型,将所有模型转换为VRML文件格式并进行优化,不仅有效融合了虚拟地面模型和虚拟地物模型,并且兼顾了模型的逼真度和显示速度。本文提出了一套虚拟旅游景观的设计方案、关键技术,并通过圆明园遗址公园虚拟旅游景观的实现,验证了其可行性。本研究对于虚拟旅游的发展具有积极的参考意义,对于我国众多旅游景区虚拟旅游系统的研发具有技术的应用性和可推广性。     

协同虚拟地理环境中多用户交流交互模式及实现

依据现实中人与人之间交往交流以及人与真实环境之间的关系互动方式，结合Internet上用户之间的信息交流手段，建立协同虚拟地理环境中多用户的交流交互模式，并以此为基础设计了协同虚拟地理环境的系统框架结构。以陕西绥德韭园沟小流域淤地坝坝系规划为例，应用JAVA、JAVA3D、VRML研发了小流域坝系三维协同规划原型系统，并对协同虚拟地理环境中多用户的交流交互方式进行初步实验。     

Approximation of Gaussian spatial autoregressive models for massive regular square tessellation data

Most of the literature to date proposes approximations to the determinant of a positive definite n × n spatial covariance matrix (the Jacobian term) for Gaussian spatial autoregressive models that fail to support the analysis of massive georeferenced data sets. This paper briefly surveys this literature, recalls and refines much simpler Jacobian approximations, presents selected eigenvalue estimation techniques, summarizes validation results (for estimated eigenvalues, Jacobian approximations, and estimation of a spatial autocorrelation parameter), and illustrates the estimation of the spatial autocorrelation parameter in a spatial autoregressive model specification for cases as large as n = 37,214,101. The principal contribution of this paper is to the implementation of spatial autoregressive model specifications for any size of georeferenced data set. Its specific additions to the literature include (1) new, more efficient estimation algorithms; (2) an approximation of the Jacobian term for remotely sensed data forming incomplete rectangular regions; (3) issues of inference; and (4) timing results.     

Web data mining for automatic inventory of geohazards at national scale

In this study, we present a fully automated procedure to analyze online news using data mining techniques. It is then used to compile and continually update a geohazard database. The procedure is based on new technologies that publish news on the internet, i.e., the news is analyzed, georeferenced and attributed to a category of geohazards (the current categories are landslides, floods and earthquakes). A continuous flow of georeferenced events is established to populate and update the geodatabase automatically and in near-real time. We tested the procedure for 2 years at a national scale, creating a geodatabase containing more than 20,000 news items concerning geohazards that occurred in Italy. This procedure enables continuous feedback from events in the real world, such that information about geohazards can be fully exploited rapidly (compared to traditional techniques based on remote sensing, field surveys and historical inventories).     

极地陆生植物3D形态数据库(3D MPP)

植物3D形态是植物的重要生理特征和存在形式。3D形态由于与植物的光合作用效率息息相关,因而对植物生长具有重要意义。将2014年在南极乔治王岛长城站附近采集的56份苔藓植物标本鉴定为4科6属6种及1变种。从每一种中选取一个代表性群落样品用REVscan 3D扫描仪进行高精度的激光扫描,共获取120 M 3D点云数据,987 429个点和1 700 380个面,重构出7个植物样本的表面3D模型。在此基础上,基于Java Web技术、开源数据库系统My SQL、第三方开源Web GL库Three.js、开源Web应用服务器Tomcat等构建了国内首个极地植物3D形态数据库(3dmpp.gznu.edu.cn),提供了3D渲染功能。通过本数据库用户可以方便地浏览和搜索已有的物种信息数据,并全方位地获取植物的3D表面信息。本数据库的建立为极地植物的3D形态信息提供了储存、展示与共享的平台,为不同植物间3D表面形态的比较研究提供了基础数据和工具,为保护极地植物,特别是濒危植物的全息信息资料提供了重要保障。     

Integration of GIS and video surveillance

This paper discusses the integration of three-dimensional (3D) geographic information systems (GIS) and video surveillance systems using augmented reality (AR) techniques. The motivation for this integration is to overcome problems faced by conventional video surveillance systems. Explicit information concerning which camera currently monitors what area in such systems is missing; therefore, insight into the situation depends heavily on the operator’s training and experience. To ensure the complete coordination and monitoring of a situation in a system with multiple cameras, it is necessary to introduce a single reference system. GIS arises as a natural solution because it not only provides a solid ground truth but also provides semantic information that can be highly important in certain video surveillance applications. To integrate information into a GIS application, that information must be georeferenced. Based on our previous research regarding the addition of georeferencing information to surveillance video, this paper introduces models that can be applied to help integrate video and GIS. With an analogy to Milgram’s continuum between the real world and virtual reality, and analogous to the augmented reality and augmented virtuality in Milgram’s continuum, two models of integration are defined here: GIS-augmented video and video-augmented GIS. Then, we define the architecture of GIS-based video surveillance based on these proposed integration models, and finally, a prototype is implemented. The implemented prototype serves as a basis for analysing possible applications of real-world systems based on the integration of GIS and video.     

Extracting ecological information from oblique angle terrestrial landscape photographs: Performance evaluation of the WSL Monoplotting Tool

While aerial photography and satellite imagery are the usual data sources used in remote sensing, land based oblique photographs can also be used to measure ecological change. By using such historical photographs, the time frame for change detection can be extended into the late 1800s and early 1900s, predating the era of aerial imagery by decades. Recent advancements in computing power have enabled the development of techniques for georeferencing oblique angle photographs. The WSL Monoplotting Tool is a new piece of software that opens the door to analyzing such photographs by allowing for extraction of spatially referenced vector data from oblique photographs. A very large repeat photography collection based on the world's largest systematic collection of historical mountain topographic survey images, the Mountain Legacy Project, contains >6000 high resolution oblique image pairs showing landscape changes in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta between ca. 1900 – today. We used a subset of photographs from this collection to assess the accuracy and utility of the WSL Monoplotting Tool for georeferencing oblique photographs and measuring landscape change. We determined that the tool georeferenced objects to within less than 15 m of their real world 3D spatial location, and the displacement of the geographic center of over 121 control points was less than 3 m from the real world spatial location. Most of the error in individual object placement was due to the angle of viewing incidence with the ground (i.e., low angle/highly oblique angles resulted in greater horizontal error). Simple rules of control point selection are proposed to reduce georeferencing errors. We further demonstrate a method by which raster data can be rapidly extracted from an image pair to measure changes in vegetation cover over time. This new process permits the rapid evaluation of a large number of images to facilitate landscape scale analysis of oblique imagery.     

国外旅游研究领域Web点击流分析研究进展

Web点击流数据记录了在线旅游者使用互联网实际发生的电子记录,为旅游研究提供了新机会。该文介绍了Web点击流数据的特性及Web点击流数据分析在旅游研究中的价值,回顾了国外Web点击流分析在旅游研究领域的相关进展,包括旅游网站(目的地网站和酒店网站)访问者行为、旅游者在线信息搜索以及旅游目的地建议系统等,并对其发展前景进行了讨论。     

基于WebGIS的旅游景区空间智能评价系统研究

针对现有信息系统在空间智能评价方面的薄弱之处,运用WebGIS空间智能集成方法探讨旅游景区空间智能评价系统的设计和实现,从三方面提高了旅游景区评价系统的智能化层次:通过集成旅游景区网上调查问卷系统,提高了数据收集提取的智能化层次;通过集成旅游景区模糊综合评价模型、客流结构评价模型及旅游专家知识系统,增强了评价系统的半结构化智能推理功能;采用B/S C/S系统构架,并利用Web技术提高了人机交互界面的智能化。周庄景区案例评价结果显示,该系统原型的运行效果良好且智能化层次较高。     

Exploration of spatiotemporal and semantic clusters of Twitter data using unsupervised neural networks

ABSTRACT

The investigation of human activity patterns from location-based social networks like Twitter is an established approach of how to infer relationships and latent information that characterize urban structures. Researchers from various disciplines have performed geospatial analysis on social media data despite the data’s high dimensionality, complexity and heterogeneity. However, user-generated datasets are of multi-scale nature, which results in limited applicability of commonly known geospatial analysis methods. Therefore in this paper, we propose a geographic, hierarchical self-organizing map (Geo-H-SOM) to analyze geospatial, temporal and semantic characteristics of georeferenced tweets. The results of our method, which we validate in a case study, demonstrate the ability to explore, abstract and cluster high-dimensional geospatial and semantic information from crowdsourced data.     

Patterns of development in tourist accommodation enterprises on farms in England and Wales

The spatial distribution of UK farm-based tourist accommodation is not known in detail, although this type of facility has been an important element in the growth of rural tourism and the most common option for farm diversification. A database of farms in England and Wales offering tourist accommodation has been prepared and the individual entries georeferenced to enable their locations to be determined with respect to selected Scenic Areas (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Heritage Coasts and National Parks). Exploratory analysis of this database indicates a possible ‘neighbourhood effect’ in which the provision of farm-based accommodation within buffer zones immediately surrounding these designated areas has a higher level of penetration in the farming community than in more distant areas. Further research is outlined to examine the interaction between actors in farming and planning communities using the geographical framework presented here.     

POLITICS AND MEDIA RICHNESS IN WORLD WIDE WEB REPRESENTATIONS OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

ABSTRACT. Media-richness theory is applied to World Wide Web sites to demonstrate how Web-page designers are using hypertext markup language to shape conceptions of place and to provide competing visions of the events that have transpired in the former Yugoslavia. We argue that Web sites vary in their interactivity, strategically, to reduce equivocality surrounding conceptions of space and territory. Media-richness theory as applied here allows the development of a heuristic to understand how Web pages communicate information about geographical entities and help to shape perceptions of place.     

Everyday space–time geographies: using mobile phone-based sensor data to monitor urban activity in Harbin,Paris, and Tallinn

This paper proposes a methodology for using mobile telephone-based sensor data for detecting spatial and temporal differences in everyday activities in cities. Mobile telephone-based sensor data has great applicability in developing urban monitoring tools and smart city solutions. The paper outlines methods for delineating indicator points of temporal events referenced as ‘midnight’, ‘morning start’, ‘midday’, and ‘duration of day’, which represent the mobile telephone usage of residents (what we call social time) rather than solar or standard time. Density maps by time quartiles were also utilized to test the versatility of this methodology and to analyze the spatial differences in cities. The methodology was tested with data from cities of Harbin (China), Paris (France), and Tallinn (Estonia). Results show that the developed methods have potential for measuring the distribution of temporal activities in cities and monitoring urban changes with georeferenced mobile phone data.     

Interoperable information model for geovisualization and interaction in XR environments

ABSTRACT

Since the vision of a Digital Earth (DE) was introduced in 1998, geo-browsers seem to have nearly fulfilled this vision. Virtual reality (VR) for visualizing the DE provides an immersive user experience in a mirror world. Location-based augmented reality (AR) browsers have been introduced and provide content according to user and environmental contexts. However, the content models of traditional geo-browsers and AR browsers have very limited interoperability, because they are described in application-specific formats using their domain standards. Each application is vertically integrated from content to application. The Web is an interoperable and open platform, and hundreds of millions of users are already using it to create and share content. To envision DE browsers for cross-reality (XR) environments that concurrently support geovisualization as well as VR, AR, and mixed-reality environments, we propose a DE content model based on Web standards and architecture that provides full interoperability and openness for XR browsers as a first-class citizen of the Web. This is expected to improve the DE content development efficiency by fully using the Web content development environment.     

Semantic Web Services‐based process planning for earth science applications

In a Web service‐based distributed environment, individual services must be chained together dynamically to solve a complex real world problem. The Semantic Web Service has shown promise for automatic chaining of Web services. This paper addresses semi‐automatic geospatial service chaining through Semantic Web Services‐based process planning. Process planning includes three phases: process modeling, process model instantiation and workflow execution. Ontologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) planning methods are employed in process planning to help a user dynamically create an executable workflow for earth science applications. In particular, the approach was implemented in a common data and service environment enabled by interoperable standards from OGC and W3C. A case study of the chaining process for wildfire prediction illustrates the applicability of this approach.     

Groupers on the Edge: Shelf Edge Spawning Habitat in and Around Marine Reserves of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico

The northeastern Gulf of Mexico contains some of the most diverse and productive marine habitat in the United States. Much of this habitat, located on the shelf edge in depths of 50 to 120 m, supports spawning for many economically important species, including groupers. Here, we couple acoustic surveys with georeferenced videography to describe the primary spatial and geologic features of spawning aggregation sites for four economically important species: gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), scamp (M. phenax), red grouper (Epinephelus morio), and red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), with notes on fish distribution and abundance and spawning activities. We provide information on movement patterns of reef fish determined using acoustic telemetry. Finally, we discuss the possible coupling of geomorphology with hydrographic features to influence the overall productivity of the region and the importance of spatial fishery management in sustaining that productivity.     

北极黄河站站区虚拟现实建设的方法与实践

中国在北极第一个科学考察站--黄河站的建成,将极大地提高中国极地科考能力。鉴于人们对北极了解得还不多,建立一个虚拟的北极黄河站,使我们足不出户就可以进入虚拟的黄河站进行漫游。本文介绍了虚拟现实建设的几种方法,选择其中一条技术路线并完成北极黄河站站区虚拟现实建设。     

Spatial Pattern and Order in Sunbelt Retailing: Shopping in Phoenix in the Twenty-First Century

Understanding the complexity of store location in sprawling polycentric cities requires exploitation of new spatial analysis methods that can decipher patterns in georeferenced point data. This article shows how the intrametropolitan location of retailing is best understood as a series of interconnected spatial distributions with varying order-based characteristics. A scattered pattern, which initially appears random or chaotic, is a web of differentiated spatial regimes containing wide-ranging order. A variety of clustering and colocation methods are used to uncover spatial patterns of retailing in Phoenix, Arizona. The analysis simultaneously identifies establishment associations and disassociations within and across sectors. Results show that clothing and motor vehicles are the most likely to cluster next to establishments in the same sector. These sectors also have strong intersectoral relationships across retailing. We find limited evidence that the size of establishments significantly increases with distance from sectoral mean centers. Geospatial technologies are increasingly used by individual retailers to locate and manage their facilities. It is important that scholarly analysis of retailing spatial patterns keeps pace, especially as cities grow and land use and land value patterns become more complex.     

Quality assessment for building footprints data on OpenStreetMap

In the past two years, several applications of generating three-dimensional (3D) buildings from OpenStreetMap (OSM) have been made available, for instance, OSM-3D, OSM2World, OSM Building, etc. In these projects, 3D buildings are reconstructed using the buildings’ footprints and information about their attributes, which are documented as tags in OSM. Therefore, the quality of 3D buildings relies strongly on the quality of the building footprints data in OSM. This article is dedicated to a quality assessment of building footprints data in OSM for the German city of Munich, which is one of the most developed cities in OSM. The data are evaluated in terms of completeness, semantic accuracy, position accuracy, and shape accuracy by using building footprints in ATKIS (German Authority Topographic–Cartographic Information System) as reference data. The process contains three steps: finding correspondence between OSM and ATKIS data, calculating parameters of the four quality criteria, and statistical analysis. The results show that OSM footprint data in Munich have a high completeness and semantic accuracy. There is an offset of about four meters on average in terms of position accuracy. With respect to shape, OSM building footprints have a high similarity to those in ATKIS data. However, some architectural details are missing; hence, the OSM footprints can be regarded as a simplified version of those in ATKIS data.