The application of GIS for flood defence in the Anglian Region: developing for the future

The spatio‐temporal relationship between unusual sightings of dead birds and human West Nile virus infections has been observed in many studies and has been proposed as an indicator of an intense amplification cycle between birds and mosquitoes. However, to date, no single study has provided quantitative evidence that the amplification cycle occurs at the local level and that it operates within certain temporal parameters. Here, we use a novel geostatistical and spatial analytic methodology and present the first evidence that the localized unusual space–time correspondence of dead birds models the amplification cycle and that this cycle peaks 15–16 days prior to human onset of West Nile virus infections. During the process of establishing this relationship, we extend the traditional Knox space–time interaction measure to overcome pair‐dependency limitations and use a novel implementation of the kappa non‐chance agreement measure to identify the temporal characteristics of the association of bird deaths to human West Nile infections.     

日本新国土规划与地方规划的相互关系

1998年日本政府制定了第五次国土规划——《21世纪的宏伟蓝图》,该规划是在国际上日益重视环境与人类协调发展的背景下,根据日本后工业化社会的特点制定的。该国土规划制定了国家在21世纪前10～15年发展的方针政策和目标。通过介绍、分析日本第五次国土规划与地方政府规划中的内容及联系,总结出日本国土规划与地方规划的相互关系,旨在对中国国家和地方规划的制定提供可资借鉴的经验。     

Regeneration patterns and drivers of different underutilized lands in the rust belt city of developing country:An empirical case study for Northeast China

Rust belt cities are largely threatened by a waste of urban space at their core;however, in developing countries where land resources are widely used as instruments for macroeconomic stabilization, urban periphery is also at risk of being underutilized due to land hoarding. Such geographic differences entail new knowledge about how, where, and why underutilized lands are regenerated in the city. Furthermore, rapid urban growth imposes development disparity and mixed underutilization issues on ci...     

Internal migration in a rapidly developing country: the case of Peninsular Malaysia

"This paper discusses the patterns and trends in internal territorial mobility in Peninsular Malaysia from 1957 [to] the 1980s, focussing specially on the period of the 1980s." Data are from Peninsular Malaysian Labour Force Migration Sample Surveys.     

Beyond the knowledge-action gap: Challenges of implementing humanitarian policies in Ghana and Uganda

The article deals with challenges of implementing humanitarian policies in Ghana and Uganda by unravelling the roles of various actors and their narratives. In Northern Uganda the discrepancy between articulations and implementations of a humanitarian policy on needs is explored. In Ghana the disconnection between enunciations and policy practices around the ‘right to return’ is studied. Although different, these cases provide complementary insights into policy implementation. Serious differences between agencies’ aims and their implementation outcomes are revealed. Both cases demonstrate that the voices of affected people are muted or ignored in the implementation of humanitarian policies. They highlight the importance of consultations and consensus-making processes, and the need for re-mapping the policies and practices of humanitarian aid.     

Application of the Karst Disturbance Index as a raster-based model in a developing country

Karst landscapes are important assets that provide a source of water, host rare and endangered biota, and serve as sites of significant human historical artifacts. Previous studies have attempted to ascertain the extent of anthropogenic disturbance within karst areas using various standardized methods. A common limitation of these earlier approaches included lack of assessment of spatial variability. This paper recognizes the importance of spatial heterogeneity by using a spatially-explicit calculation of the Karst Disturbance Index (KDI) in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and applying it to a sub-catchment of the Biosfera de la Reserva Selve el Ocote in Chiapas, Mexico. With a raster-based GIS approach, this particular application is the highest resolution spatial representation of the KDI ever undertaken. As the study area is in a developing country, much of the data required for applying the KDI were drawn from remotely sensed data. The final disturbance scores found low to moderate levels of disturbance indicative of lightly populated area. However, this particular study can serve as a benchmark for future applications of the KDI in the study area, as well as in other karst watersheds in developed or developing countries. With the potential of future development looming, land managers can use the zones of pristine-to low-levels of disturbance to begin monitoring programs and justify mitigation and land management decisions.     

定性GIS在时空间行为研究中的应用

定性GIS已经成为地理学混合研究方法的重要组成部分,通过扎根理论并与可视化结合、GIS和民族志整合等途径,对时空间行为研究产生了深远的影响。其通过文本或非文本质性材料与GIS地理特征的整合,形成了时空行为研究中独特的地理环境系统与空间机制分析,一个重要的前沿领域就是地理叙事在时间地理学研究中的应用。时间地理学是研究人类时空行为的重要视角,但由于对个体主观性及行为的社会文化因素的相对忽视等原因,受到了一定的质疑。近年来以GIS为代表的地理空间技术的定性分析与表达,为时间地理学融入质性分析提供了方法论基础。关美宝创建的基于GIS的地理叙事方法,通过借鉴叙事分析的一般方法尤其是三维叙事空间分析,结合时间地理学概念框架,开发了基于GIS平台的计算机辅助叙事分析组件(3D-VQGIS),实现了在GIS内可视化的、循环交互的叙事分析,为定性GIS发展中GIS与叙事分析方法的融合做出了贡献。将地理叙事方法用于时空行为研究,可以为时间地理学方法创造一个更便于理解与解释研究对象日常行为的地理环境,为其融入行为与主体的质性分析提供从数据整合、数据分析到解释与展示的一整套研究方法与具体操作工具。     

An incremental approach for establishing a geographical information system in a developing country: Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A geographical information system (GIS) is used as an important tool in increasing the efficiency of planning and decision making, leading to a more equitable distribution of wealth and welfare. However, scarce financial and technical resources in developing countries require that a flexible approach must be adopted when developing a GIS. In Saudi Arabia, where the planning and funding decisions relating to municipal services are taken centrally by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) and implemented through its regional and local branches and municipalities, the setting up of a GIS is considered essential. An incremental method was chosen for establishing a GIS in the municipal sector by means of several phases. This paper discusses the main steps and strategies for each phase, the level of achievement since the implementation of the Municipal Information System (MIS) in 1983, and current views of the system's future. It was concluded that an incremental implementation of a MIS seems to be a practical and effective solution. However, weaknesses and problems, such as the long period of implementation and a lack of co-ordination between different agencies and offices, must be resolved to ensure ultimate success of such an approach.     

Saline-alkali land in the Yellow River Delta: amelioration zonation based on GIS

Globally, an estimated land area of 9.55×108 ha is affected by salinity and sodicity[1]. In the Yellow River Delta, saline-alkali land covers more than 70% of the total area. Soil salinization is the key factor that influences sustainable agricultural development. Geographic information system (GIS) is a powerful tool for spatial data analysis, which can be used to analyze data from different sources for saline-alkali land monitoring. Based on GIS, zonation of saline-alkali land can provi…     

Critical reflections on practice: the changing roles of three physical geographers carrying out research in a developing country

To date, discussions on positionality and the relationship with research collaborators have been very much in the human geography realm. In this paper, we explore issues of expertise, positionality, collaboration and participation from our perspective as physical geographers working in a developing country context. We trace our journey from identifying ourselves as top-down 'experts' to participatory 'facilitators', and the difficulties and dilemmas encountered during this journey as we coped with the contrasting challenges of academic demands and local necessities. Our experiences highlight the many assumptions we make about doing research in developing countries and the real lack of capacity in these places to undertake typical short-term research projects designed in the developed world. We conclude with a call for a longer term and deeper commitment by physical geographers to the people that we engage with in our research .     

The divergence between acceptability of municipal services and urbanization in developing countries: insights from Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi,Ghana

Abstract

In most developing countries, the provision of municipal services and infrastructure invariably fails to match the pace and demands of urbanization. The outcome is often increased informality due to improper planning, official bureaucratic barriers and perhaps insufficient and shrinking public resources, which then makes leveraging private capital for public service provision imperative. Drawing on in-depth qualitative fieldwork in two Ghanaian cities, this paper aims to extend literature on the divergence between service provision and urbanization in developing countries. More specifically, it attempts to qualify recent macro-level data indicating that access to water, sanitation and electricity services in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi is improving substantively. Contrary to dominant policy narratives circulating in Ghana, we illustrate how the acceptability of key municipal services within urban settings is often inadequate, and how acceptability is tied to spatial and temporal factors. We then identify and examine the reasons underpinning these variations. Through exploring residents’ perceptions of key services, and examining critically the possibility and feasibility of meeting urban service needs through leveraging private resources, this paper contributes to broader academic debates over urban service provision, while also feeding into contemporary policy discussions concerning how to achieve several of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.     

Assessment of land degradation in Mediterranean forests and grazing lands using a landscape unit approach and the normalized difference vegetation index

Land managers need sound, evidence-based information about land degradation patterns and about the effectiveness of their management responses. Obtaining such information is particularly difficult in Mediterranean grazing lands and forests, where a long history of anthropogenic pressure, high topographical and climatic variability, and frequent disturbances combine to create a highly diverse and unstable environment.Our study aimed at designing a methodology to provide land managers in three data-scarce drylands in Spain, Greece, and Cyprus with spatially explicit, up-to-date information on the state of their land, the pressures driving land degradation, and the effectiveness of their management efforts using remotely sensed NDVI data. To translate NDVI values into a land degradation assessment, we analysed the variance of the annual average NDVI within different landscape units, which we identified based on land cover, aspect, and slope steepness parameters. After calibrating and validating the land degradation mapping methodology using field observations, we related the obtained land degradation patterns with spatial information about grazing and wildfire, as well as controlled grazing and afforestation practices.Our methodology proved useful to assess land degradation and management measures in dry, semi-natural ecosystems. It also provided insights into the role of landscape in modulating land degradation. Results indicate that grazing is a significant cause of land degradation even in partially abandoned areas; repeated fires have a negative impact; slope steepness increases the land's sensitivity to grazing; north- and east-facing slopes are less sensitive to fire in the long term than south- and west-facing slopes; and the effectiveness of responses to land degradation is substantially affected by land cover and topography.The methodology presented can be used to overcome the lack of spatially explicit information on the state of the land in drylands of the Mediterranean and beyond, or as a basis for more in-depth studies to plan restoration interventions.     

Towards a framework for delineating sub-districts for primary health care administration in rural Ghana: A case study using GIS

This paper examines the need to carry out primary health care administration, programming and planning beyond the established 110 districts in Ghana. The framework for delimiting the sub-districts is offered by the availability of digital data such as the district boundary, site location, road network and population. Using the specified travel distance from predetermined sites, network analysis generates approximate polygons around the health centres to create functional areas ? the health sub-districts. Additional sites are proposed based on a set of criteria which includes proximity, centrality, population and existing level of infrastructural development in an attempt to improve coverage and bring the total utilization of health facilities closer to 100% in the study area.     

定性地理信息系统在城市社会空间研究中的应用

定性地理信息系统(定性GIS)是西方人文地理学定性研究的重要方法。它集成了定性和空间元素,更全面地阐明空间背景是如何被社会建构的。这种多元要素的整合,可以表达人们生活空间的多样性和复杂性,有助于展示生活路径的三维可视化细节,实现可视化社会空间过程。本文试图梳理西方定性GIS的方法论并探讨其在基于情感表达的个体数据采集分析、基于混合方法的可视化活动空间研究以及基于多重互动视角的社会空间研究中的应用。定性GIS包含微观和宏观层面的多重含义,使得研究者可以从多个有利位置观察问题并参与其中,有助于城市社会空间研究理论创新,为社会空间研究提供可探索空间。最后,从学科建设、方法论拓展、研究成果表达和研究议题选择等方面对中国开展同类研究进行展望。     

A geospatial approach to assessing land change in the built-up landscape of Wa Municipality of Ghana

ABSTRACT

Urban landscapes are changing in response to changes in socio-economic conditions. Land change scientists seek to understand these land dynamics in the coupled human-environment system of urban landscapes. This study assessed land change in the built-up area of Wa Municipality between 1986 and 2016 using Landsat images. We used the Support Vector Machine algorithm for classifying the images. We recorded image classification accuracies of 97%, 95%, 92% and 96% for the 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 classified images, respectively. Our study finds that over the 1986–2016 period, agricultural land and bare land transitioned to build-up land by 9.23% and 3.79%, respectively, as compared to 2.79% for vegetation and 0.05% for water. Our in-municipal level analysis thus shows that urban landscapes could expand more sustainably by targeting other dominant land categories instead of the vegetation cover. The findings in this paper could serve as a spatial model for planning and reducing the unintended socio-ecological impacts of expansion in the built-up area.     

SimLand: a prototype to simulate land conversion through the integrated GIS and CA with AHP-derived transition rules

This paper presents a prototype of a simulation model based on cellular automata (CA), and multicriteria evaluation (MCE) and integrated with GIS. Specifically, a method, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), of MCE is used here to derive behaviour-oriented rules of transition in CA. A ‘tight' integration strategy is adopted, which means that the modules of MCE and CA are written in the C programming language and built within ARC/INFO GIS. Designed to run on a workstation Unix SimL and fully utilizes the graphical user interface (GUI),which allows the modelto be driven by menusand automate the simulation of land conversion in the urban-rural fringe. The combination of three elements, GIS, CA, and MCE, has several advantages: visualization of decision-making, easier access to spatial information, and the more realistic definition of transition rules in CA.     

A GIS evaluation of land use dynamics and forest soil fertility in a watershed in Nepal

Abstract

A geographical information system (GIS) based study was carried out in a densely-populated watershed in Nepal. An evaluation of land use change between 1972 and 1990 indicated that there has been an increase in forest and agricultural land area and a decrease in shrubland and grassland area. GIS techniques were used to produce single and composite fertility index maps, which can be used for problem identification and planning. These maps indicate that forest soil fertility is generally poor in the watershed. GIS was found to be very beneficial in addressing critical resource issues in small watersheds in developing countries.     

国土空间规划中陆海统筹的内在逻辑和深化方向——基于复合系统论视角

陆海统筹是海岸带地区国土空间规划编制的基本原则。在海岸带空间开发与保护中,人地（海）关系、区域空间关系、陆海关系相互交织、相互融合,具有显著的复合系统特征。基于陆海之间物质、能量、信息与要素的流动特征,构建了包含人地（海）关系、区域空间关系、陆海关系的海岸带复合系统,并将陆海统筹的实现转化为海岸带复合系统的协调过程。研究表明：海岸带复合系统协调受复合系统与外界之间和各个子系统之间物质、能量、信息与要素流动过程的影响深刻。因而,海岸带复合系统协调的关键在于系统结构与功能完善、系统空间位置调整和系统输出内容管控三个方面。在此基础上,进一步提出国土空间规划中深化陆海统筹的策略。     

Incorporating fuzzy set methodologies in a DBMS repository for the application domain of GIS

It has been recently recognized that fuzzy set theory provides useful concepts and tools for both the representation and analysis of the uncertainty related to geographical data. Hence the incorporation of fuzzy set methodologies into a DBMS repository for the application domain of GIS should be beneficial and will improve its level of intelligence. Focusing in this area the paper addresses both a representation and a reasoning issue. Specifically, it extends a general spatial data model to deal with the uncertainty of geographical entities, and shows how the standard data interpretation operations available in GIS packages may be extended to support the fuzzy spatial reasoning. Representative geographical operations, suchas the fuzzy overlay, fuzzy distance and fuzzy select, are examined, while several real world examples are given.