Discovering Spatial Patterns in Origin‐Destination Mobility Data

Mobility and spatial interaction data have become increasingly available due to the wide adoption of location‐aware technologies. Examples of mobility data include human daily activities, vehicle trajectories, and animal movements, among others. In this article we focus on a special type of mobility data, i.e. origin‐destination pairs, and present a new approach to the discovery and understanding of spatio‐temporal patterns in the movements. Specifically, to extract information from complex connections among a large number of point locations, the approach involves two steps: (1) spatial clustering of massive GPS points to recognize potentially meaningful places; and (2) extraction and mapping of the flow measures of clusters to understand the spatial distribution and temporal trends of movements. We present a case study with a large dataset of taxi trajectories in Shenzhen, China to demonstrate and evaluate the methodology. The contribution of the research is two‐fold. First, it presents a new methodology for detecting location patterns and spatial structures embedded in origin‐destination movements. Second, the approach is scalable to large data sets and can summarize massive data to facilitate pattern extraction and understanding.     

地理大数据挖掘研究进展与挑战

大数据时代,全面涵盖人类活动与地理环境信息的地理大数据为更全面认识“人-地”关系提供了新的机遇。数据挖掘是地理大数据产生“大价值”的关键。与传统目的性采样数据(或“小数据”)相比,地理大数据具有更细的时空粒度、更广的时空范围、更丰富的人地关系信息、更高的时空有偏性及更低的时空精度。地理大数据的独特性使得地理大数据挖掘面临新的挑战。本文首先对地理大数据挖掘与空间数据挖掘的区别与联系进行分析;然后,对当前地理大数据挖掘方法、应用及软件的研究进展进行回顾和总结;最后,对地理大数据挖掘面临的挑战和发展趋势进行了展望。通过对地理大数据挖掘研究进展进行系统的分析,有望为地理大数据挖掘理论与方法的完善提供一定的参考和借鉴。     

社交网络时空大数据聚类挖掘有效选择分析

来自社交网络的时空大数据具有海量和高动态的特性,有效选择时空数据进行聚焦挖掘分析至关重要。以微博位置签到数据为例,首先,对时空大数据空间聚类挖掘的有效选择问题进行了研究,针对社交网络时空数据不确定性问题,提出了时空大数据针对聚类挖掘的有效选择方法。聚类挖掘有效选择方法提出从空间、时间或属性等维度对时空大数据进行分割。然后,对分割得到的数据集进行空间探索分析(exploratory spatial data analysis,ESDA),得到具有聚类挖掘潜力的数据集。最后,以武汉市微博位置签到数据进行商圈热点探测为例,对提出的社交网络时空大数据聚类挖掘有效选择方法进行验证。结果表明,有效选择方法可以得到挖掘效率和精准性更高的时空数据集。     

城市街区和签到数据结合的个性化城市兴趣区域推荐方法

利用社交媒体用户的历史签到数据分析用户空间活动偏好实现用户兴趣区域推荐,在城市商业规划中起着重要作用,也为了解人们的城市生活和需求提供帮助。已有方法获得的ROI具有模糊性和多样性,无法给ROI赋予准确的地理描述信息,对用户来说可解释性不强。因此,本文提出了一种结合城市街区和签到数据的个性化兴趣区域推荐方法(CBCD),引入城市街区概念解决ROI边界模糊问题。首先,通过城市道路网生成城市街区,并将大规模签到数据映射到城市街区转换为区域签到;然后,基于区域签到对用户空间活动偏好和类别偏好分别进行个性化建模;最后,融合空间和类别活动偏好,向用户推荐其可能感兴趣的区域。在真实的数据集上进行试验,结果表明该方法具有较高的推荐精度,对用户感兴趣城市街区的挖掘和推荐具有一定的价值。     

Towards semantic‐aware multiple‐aspect trajectory similarity measuring

The large amount of semantically rich mobility data becoming available in the era of big data has led to a need for new trajectory similarity measures. In the context of multiple‐aspect trajectories, where mobility data are enriched with several semantic dimensions, current state‐of‐the‐art approaches present some limitations concerning the relationships between attributes and their semantics. Existing works are either too strict, requiring a match on all attributes, or too flexible, considering all attributes as independent. In this article we propose MUITAS, a novel similarity measure for a new type of trajectory data with heterogeneous semantic dimensions, which takes into account the semantic relationship between attributes, thus filling the gap of the current trajectory similarity methods. We evaluate MUITAS over two real datasets of multiple‐aspect social media and GPS trajectories. With precision at recall and clustering techniques, we show that MUITAS is the most robust measure for multiple‐aspect trajectories.     

Assessment of Land Surface Subsidence Due to Underground Metal Mining Using Integrated Spaceborne Repeat-Pass Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) Technique and Ground Based Observations

Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) is a novel remote sensing technique to measure earth surface deformation. It is capable of obtaining dense information related to the deformation of a large area efficiently, economically and effectively. Therefore, DInSAR is a promising technology for monitoring the earth surface deformation related to some natural hazardous events, such as earthquake, volcano eruption, land subsidence, landslide. In present study, Conventional DInSAR technique have been applied to a mineral rich zone, coming under the Khetri copper belt, a part of Northern Aravali range of hillocks in India, predominant with mining activities since late 1960’s to address the possibility of deformation phenomena due to hard rock underground metal mining. Four interferometric SAR data sets of Radarsat-2 was used for the study area to address the subsidence/uplift phenomena. Further, results obtained from conventional DInSAR technique using Radarsat-2 data sets compared with results obtained from ground based observation technique for its validity. In both the techniques, deformation results obtained in terms of average subsidence rate in mm (quarterly basis) of points under study within mining zone of Mine-A has well agreed to each other. Further, it has been observed that average subsidence rate in mm (quarterly basis) obtained from space based observation and ground based observation are 5.6 and 6.67, respectively over the points under study in mining zone of Mine-A.     

时序空间关联规则挖掘及其应用研究

空间关联规则挖掘是空间数据挖掘的重要内容,文中给出了时序空间关联规则挖掘的相关概念、原理及实现（算法）,研究了时序空间关联规则挖掘数据集的构造方法,提出通过空间实体关联关系和时间项转置方法将处于不同时刻的、相互独立的空间数据集进行重构,生成隐含了时序空间关联特征的挖掘数据集,进而可应用关联规则挖掘算法获取时序空间关联知识,初步进行了时序空间关联规则挖掘的应用研究。     

Applying VGI to collaborative research in the humanities: the case of ARTL@S

ABSTRACT

Using Artl@s as an example of a project that relies on volunteered geographic information (VGI), this article examines the specific challenges that exist, beyond those frequently discussed in general VGI systems (e.g., participants’ motivation and data quality control) in regard to sharing research data in humanities: (1) most data from the humanities is qualitative and collected from multiple data sources which are often inconsistent and unmappable; (2) data is usually interconnected with multiple relationships among different tables which creates challenges for both mapping and query functionality; (3) data is both geographical and historical. Consequently addresses that no longer exist have to be geolocated and visualized on historical basemaps and spaces must be represented diachronically; (4) the design of web map application needs to balance both sophisticated research requirements and a user-friendly interface; (5) finally contributors expect their data to be cited or acknowledged when used in other studies and users need metadata and citation information in order to reuse and repurpose datasets.

In this article, we discuss how Artl@s, a project which developed a georeferenced historical database of exhibition catalogues, addresses these challenges. Artl@s provides a case study for VGI adoption by digital humanities scholars for research data sharing, as it offers features, such as flexible batch data contribution, interrelated spatial query, automatic geolocalization of historical addresses, and data citation mechanisms.     

Expanding Display Size and Resolution for Viewing Geospatial Data: A User Study with Multiple-Monitor High-Resolution Displays

Multiple-monitor configurations provide attainable, low-cost ways to create large, high-resolution displays. Increased screen space is particularly useful for viewing and interpreting rich, complex geospatial datasets, as both context and amount of detail can be simultaneously increased. To explore the utility of increasing display size and resolution for viewing geospatial data, this experiment required 57 subjects to perform map and image reading tasks using raster and vector data on one of three different monitor configurations: one (1280 × 1024 pixels), four (2560 × 2048 pixels), and nine (3840 × 3072 pixels). A computer program captured subject performance by recording answers, mouse-click locations, viewing areas, tool usage, and elapsed time. A post-experiment questionnaire obtained additional qualitative feedback about subjects' testing experiences. Overall, subjects performed more efficiently on the larger display configurations, as evidenced by a reduction in completion time and in virtual navigation (mouse clicks) used to finish the test. Tool usage also differed among monitor conditions, with navigation tools dominating on the single monitor and selection tools (tools used to provide answers) dominating on the nine-monitor display. Although overall results indicated the effectiveness of larger displays, task-level analyses showed that performance varied considerably from task to task.     

Detecting patterns of climate change in long-term forecasts of marine environmental parameters

ABSTRACT

Forecasting environmental parameters in the distant future requires complex modelling and large computational resources. Due to the sensitivity and complexity of forecast models, long-term parameter forecasts (e.g. up to 2100) are uncommon and only produced by a few organisations, in heterogeneous formats and based on different assumptions of greenhouse gases emissions. However, data mining techniques can be used to coerce the data to a uniform time and spatial representation, which facilitates their use in many applications. In this paper, streams of big data coming from AquaMaps and NASA collections of 126 long-term forecasts of nine types of environmental parameters are processed through a cloud computing platform in order to (i) standardise and harmonise the data representations, (ii) produce intermediate scenarios and new informative parameters, and (iii) align all sets on a common time and spatial resolution. Time series cross-correlation applied to these aligned datasets reveals patterns of climate change and similarities between parameter trends in 10 marine areas. Our results highlight that (i) the Mediterranean Sea may have a standalone ‘response’ to climate change with respect to other areas, (ii) the Poles are most representative of global forecasted change, and (iii) the trends are generally alarming for most oceans.     

地表覆盖遥感产品更新完善的研究动向

近年来,多尺度地表覆盖遥感产品的不断涌现,为环境变化研究、地球系统模拟、地理国(世)情监测和可持续发展规划等提供了重要科学数据。为更好地满足广大用户日益增长的应用需求,应对地表覆盖遥感产品进行持续更新完善,保持其时效性、增强时序性、丰富多样性。针对大面积地表覆盖遥感产品更新完善所面临的主要问题,介绍和评述了国内外有关研究动向,包括影像与众源信息相结合的更新、数据类型细化与完善、地表覆盖真实性验证,并作了简要展望。     

Inferring trip purposes and uncovering travel patterns from taxi trajectory data

Global positioning system-enabled vehicles provide an efficient way to obtain large quantities of movement data for individuals. However, the raw data usually lack activity information, which is highly valuable for a range of applications and services. This study provides a novel and practical framework for inferring the trip purposes of taxi passengers such that the semantics of taxi trajectory data can be enriched. The probability of points of interest to be visited is modeled by Bayes’ rules, which take both spatial and temporal constraints into consideration. Combining this approach with Monte Carlo simulations, we conduct a study on Shanghai taxi trajectory data. Our results closely approximate the residents’ travel survey data in Shanghai. Furthermore, we reveal the spatiotemporal characteristics of nine daily activity types based on inference results, including their temporal regularities, spatial dynamics, and distributions of trip lengths and directions. In the era of big data, we encounter the dilemma of “trajectory data rich but activity information poor” when investigating human movements from various data sources. This study presents a promising step toward mining abundant activity information from individuals’ trajectories.     

Assessing reference dataset representativeness through confidence metrics based on information density

Land cover maps obtained from classification of remotely sensed imagery provide valuable information in numerous environmental monitoring and modeling tasks. However, many uncertainties and errors can directly or indirectly affect the quality of derived maps. This work focuses on one key aspect of the supervised classification process of remotely sensed imagery: the quality of the reference dataset used to develop a classifier. More specifically, the representative power of the reference dataset is assessed by contrasting it with the full dataset (e.g. entire image) needing classification. Our method is applicable in several ways: training or testing datasets (extracted from the reference dataset) can be compared with the full dataset. The proposed method moves beyond spatial sampling schemes (e.g. grid, cluster) and operates in the multidimensional feature space (e.g. spectral bands) and uses spatial statistics to compare information density of data to be classified with data used in the reference process. The working hypothesis is that higher information density, not in general but with respect to the entire classified image, expresses higher confidence in obtained results. Presented experiments establish a close link between confidence metrics and classification accuracy for a variety of image classifiers namely maximum likelihood, decision tree, Backpropagation Neural Network and Support Vector Machine. A sensitivity analysis demonstrates that spatially-continuous reference datasets (e.g. a square window) have the potential to provide similar classification confidence as typically-used spatially-random datasets. This is an important finding considering the higher acquisition costs for randomly distributed datasets. Furthermore, the method produces confidence maps that allow spatially-explicit comparison of confidence metrics within a given image for identification of over- and under-represented image portions. The current method is presented for individual image classification but, with sufficient evaluation from the remote sensing community it has the potential to become a standard for reference dataset reporting and thus allowing users to assess representativeness of reference datasets in a consistent manner across different classification tasks.     

Using GIS to improve public health emergency response in rural areas during the COVID-19 crisis: A case study of South Carolina,US

Geographic information systems (GIS) have become essential tools in the public health domain, especially when it comes to monitoring and surveillance of disease. The purpose of this article is to describe and explore the benefits of using GIS to improve public health emergency response during a global pandemic and, in particular, how to effectively optimize the allocation of public health resources in a rural setting using a data-driven approach that considers the multifactorial demand for new COVID-19 testing sites. Herein, the authors present their interprofessional project as an example of such efforts to inform applications for practice. The team developed a GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis model for use by decision-makers and public health experts in similar future planning and response scenarios. Focus is placed on rural characteristics (e.g., accessibility), vulnerable populations, and daily changing conditions (e.g., COVID-19 daily case fluctuations) that create additional challenges for public health agencies and policymakers.     

基于MRF随机场的多光谱遥感影像最优化分级聚类

有限混合模型FM的分级聚类已广泛应用于不同领域,然而,由于它的计算复杂度与观测数据量平方成正比,致使在遥感影像方面应用受到了限制。另外,多光谱图像能提供空间和光谱两类信息详细的数据,但是,大多数多光谱图像聚类方法是基于像素的聚类,仅使用了其光谱信息而忽视了空间信息。本文定义一个相对混合密度函数,通过引入一个q-参数来调节各成分密度对其混合分布的贡献,提出一种广义有限混合模型GFM．设计一种新的适用于多光谱遥感影像的GFM分级聚类算法。该算法把MRF随机场和GFM模型结合在了一起,分类数通过PLIC准则自动确定。最后,利用仿真结果验证该算法的有效性,同时通过与K均值聚类、FM分级聚类以及SVMM分级聚类的比较说明本文算法的优越性。     

优化先验模型参数的矿区多轨InSAR三维形变监测

监测煤矿开采导致的地表三维形变对于矿区地质灾害防控和开采沉陷机理研究至关重要。针对单轨道InSAR和先验模型融合解算矿山三维形变存在精度不高、时间分辨率差的问题,本文提出了一种通过优化先验模型参数的矿区多轨InSAR三维形变解算方法。首先,利用Weibull模型同步4个轨道LOS向形变位移,以此削弱不同轨道之间时间异步对三维形变解算精度的影响,并采用加权最小二乘求解矿区垂直向和东西向形变;然后,根据垂直向和东西向形变优化矿区开采先验模型参数;最后,解算南北向形变位移。利用覆盖大同矿区的TerraSAR-X数据和3个轨道Sentinel-1 InSAR数据集对本文方法进行验证。研究结果表明,与地面GPS监测点相比,本文方法可以获得相对精确的三维形变结果,垂直向RMSE、东西向RMSE和南北向RMSE约为1.1、1.4和2.1 cm。     

Integration of hyperspectral and LiDAR data for mapping small water bodies

Inland water bodies are globally threatened by environmental degradation and climate change. On the other hand, new water bodies can be designed during landscape restoration (e.g. after coal mining). Effective management of new water resources requires continuous monitoring; in situ surveys are, however, extremely time-demanding. Remote sensing has been widely used for identifying water bodies. However, the use of optical imagery is constrained by accuracy problems related to the difficulty in distinguishing water features from other surfaces with low albedo, such as tree shadows. This is especially true when mapping water bodies of different sizes. To address these problems, we evaluated the potential of integrating hyperspectral data with LiDAR (hereinafter “integrative approach”). The study area consisted of several spoil heaps containing heterogeneous water bodies with a high variability of shape and size. We utilized object-based classification (Support Vector Machine) based on: (i) hyperspectral data; (ii) LiDAR variables; (iii) integration of both datasets. Besides, we classified hyperspectral data using pixel-based approaches (K-mean, spectral angle mapper). Individual approaches (hyperspectral data, LiDAR data and integrative approach) resulted in 2–22.4 % underestimation of the water surface area (i.e, omission error) and 0.4–1.5 % overestimation (i.e., commission error).The integrative approach yielded an improved discrimination of open water surface compared to other approaches (omission error of 2 % and commission error of 0.4 %). We also evaluated the success of detecting individual ponds; the integrative approach was the only one capable of detecting the water bodies with both omission and commission errors below 10 %. Finally, the assessment of misclassification reasons showed a successful elimination of shadows in the integrative approach. Our findings demonstrate that the integration of hyperspectral and LiDAR data can greatly improve the identification of small water bodies and can be applied in practice to support mapping of restoration process.     

Clustering based on eigenspace transformation – CBEST for efficient classification

Large remote sensing datasets, that either cover large areas or have high spatial resolution, are often a burden of information mining for scientific studies. Here, we present an approach that conducts clustering after gray-level vector reduction. In this manner, the speed of clustering can be considerably improved. The approach features applying eigenspace transformation to the dataset followed by compressing the data in the eigenspace and storing them in coded matrices and vectors. The clustering process takes the advantage of the reduced size of the compressed data and thus reduces computational complexity. We name this approach Clustering Based on Eigen-space Transformation (CBEST). In our experiment with a subscene of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, CBEST was found to be able to improve speed considerably over conventional K-means as the volume of data to be clustered increases. We assessed information loss and several other factors. In addition, we evaluated the effectiveness of CBEST in mapping land cover/use with the same image that was acquired over Guangzhou City, South China and an AVIRIS hyperspectral image over Cappocanoe County, Indiana. Using reference data we assessed the accuracies for both CBEST and conventional K-means and we found that the CBEST was not negatively affected by information loss during compression in practice. We discussed potential applications of the fast clustering algorithm in dealing with large datasets in remote sensing studies.