Investigating the Promotion Possibility of No-Hunting Areas to the Protected Areas- a Case Study

Protected areas are established to conserve unique features and biodiversity of the nature. Accordingly, wherever has one of the natural, ecological and/or cultural values it should be considered a protected area. Kave-Deh No-hunting Area is located on extremely east of Tehran Province in an area of 94,961 ha. Due to rich and diverse land cover, distinctive wildlife species, and unique monuments the area was selected as a case study to examine the possibility of its promotion to the protected area using Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) Method. For this purpose, the relevant criteria were identified by Delphi method. After finalization of the most important criteria by Delphi panelists, the map layers were prepared at the scale of 1:100000, in the environment of GIS Software. Afterwards, the map layers were divided into factors and constraints of which factors were standardized by S-shaped membership functions of fuzzy logic. The dimensionless factor maps were weighted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method in the environment of Expert Choice Software. Subsequently, a mathematical equation was extracted to conduct the land suitability analysis. The Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) Method was applied to overlay the map layers and obtain the final ‘nature conservation’ land use map. The final land suitability map showed that 34,687 ha of whole study area (equal to 37 %) have the potentiality for promotion to the protected area.     

Modeling Site Suitability for Oil Palm Plantations in Southern Thailand

This study developed a methodology for land evaluation, using a multifactor evaluation in GIS. The Analytical Hierarchical Processing (AHP) and the Pairwise Comparison Method were employed for factor ranking and weighting. The Pairwise Comparison Method required experience in rating relative preferences. An experimental design approach was applied to address this requirement. Proposed models were analyzed and extensively tested against ground reference data and the overall accuracy of the method was compared with the results from a conventional method adopted by the Department of Agriculture, Thailand. The results indicated that the new method is an improvement over the previous one in terms of accuracy in the suitability ranking. It can be employed to assist in the prediction and modeling of oil palm land suitability.     

“一带一路”倡议下老挝沙湾区土地适宜性评价

为了对老挝沙湾区土地适宜性进行评价,本文选择了地形、土壤、水利、区位和生态5类13项指标,建立了老挝沙湾区土地适宜性评价指标体系;将层次分析法(AHP)与GIS技术相结合,对老挝沙湾区农业用地、林业用地和建设用地进行适宜性评价。研究结果表明:宜农用地占土地面积的30.16%,主要分布在海拔较低、坡度较小的沙湾拿吉大平原以及湄公河沿岸;宜林用地占土地总面积的60.07%,主要分布在东部和北部山区;宜建用地占土地总面积的4.62%,主要分布在平原地区,湄公河沿岸,以及交通较发达地区;不适宜用地占总面积的2.32%,主要分布在甘蒙省西北部以及东部。研究方法和研究结果可以为老挝沙湾拿吉省土地利用规划和相关研究提供科学依据与支持,同时为老挝今后的土地资源开发奠定基础。     

Geospatial Approach in Assessing Agro-Climatic Suitability of Soybean in Rainfed Agro-Ecosystem

The present study demonstrated the methodology to assess agro-climatic suitability of the soybean crop through integration of crop suitability based on FAO framework of land evaluation and biophysical (water limited) yield potential in the rainfed agro-ecosystem. A long term climatic database (1980–2003) was prepared to compute decadal rainfall and temperature variations of 13 IMD stations in part of Madhya Pradesh state. The climatic database was used in soil water balance software–BUDGET to compute crop specific length of growing period (LGP) and biophysical production potential such as water limited crop yield potential of each soil types for soybean crop. Water limited crop yield potential of soils were found to be varied from 33 to 100 and LGP ranged from 65 to 180 days in the area. FAO based land suitability was analyzed in association with the water limited yield potential for better appraisal of land potential and assess their suitability in rainfed area. FAO based land suitability indicated 2.45 % area as highly suitable and 57.49 % area as moderately suitable. However, integration of water limited crop yield potential with FAO based land suitability lead to agro-climatic suitability analysis indicated 17.60 % and 40.03 % area, respectively as highly suitable and moderately suitable. FAO based land evaluation showed 88.13 % of plains as moderately suitable whereas agro-climatic suitability indicated only 47.79 %. Agro-climatic suitability analysis revealed undulating plateau and undulating plains as most suitable for soybean crop.     

Site Suitability Analysis for Urban Development Using GIS Based Multicriteria Evaluation Technique

Identification of suitable site for urban development in hilly areas is one of the critical issues of planning. Site suitability analysis has become inevitable for delineating appropriate site for various developmental initiatives, especially in the undulating terrain of the hills. The study illustrates the use of geographic information system (GIS) and multicriteria evaluation (MCE) technique for selection of suitable sites for urban development in Mussoorie municipal area, Dehradun district, Uttarakhand. For this purpose Toposheet and IKONOS satellite data were used to generate various thematic layers using ArcGIS software. Criteria using five parameters, i.e. slope, road proximity, land use/land cover, land values and geological formation were used for site suitability analysis following land evaluation. The generated thematic maps of these criteria were standardized using pairwise comparison matrix known as analytical hierarchy process (AHP). A weight for each criterion was generated by comparing them with each other according to their importance. With the help of these weights and criteria, final site suitability map was prepared.     

一种土地使用模糊空间决策方法

基于空间土地信息 ,提出了一种用地负荷预测的模糊空间决策方案 ,建立了土地利用模糊空间规则和隶属函数 ,并考虑决策的多因素影响 ,采用了多目标决策方法用于土地规划 ,并给出了土地利用决策的实际案例和计算结果 ,表明方法的有效性     

微机土地资源评价信息系统的建立及其应用研究

本文介绍了一种利用遥感图像数据及土地资源野外调查数据,在IBM—PC/XT微机上,建立区域性土地资源评价信息系统的方法。该系统可对土地资源进行高效、快速的周期性评价和自动制图。 系统采用网格方法对多边形图像进行特征编码及数字化输入,利用模糊数学的原理和方法,建立了土地资源适宜性评价的模糊动态聚类评价模式,并用模糊模型识别评价模式进行土地资源的质量评价。根据上述评价模式,系统可进行多层数字图像之间的逻辑图像运算,从而实现了土地资源评价过程的自动化。     

土地适宜性评价的模糊神经网络模型

基于神经网络来构造模糊系统，建立了土地适宜性评价的模糊神经网络模型；根据神经网络误差反向修正的原理，设计和推导了该模型的学习算法。实验结果表明，该模型应用于土地适宜性评价具有高效、客观、准确等优点。     

Evaluation of Land Suitability for Urban Land‐Use Planning: Case Study Dhaka City

The aim of this research is evaluation of land suitability for urban land‐use planning. Four factors and fourteen criteria were selected for suitability analysis and land‐use planning. Factors and criteria were defined based on literature survey, experts’ opinions, local contexts and availability of data. GIS‐based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used as a Multi‐criteria Decision Making model. The study was conducted on a selected area of Dhaka city, which is one of the fastest growing mega‐cities of the world. The research result shows that highly suitable area (13%) should be used for urban residential zone; moderately suitable area (35%) should be designated as mixed use zone; low suitable area (42%) should be reserved for agricultural use and open spaces; and not suitable area (10%) should be protected from any types of activities except agriculture. The research approached an urban land‐use planning at a regional scale.     

Land quality index assessment for agricultural purpose using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)

In this study, an attempt has been made to apply Remote Sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) to determine land quality for agriculture purpose using analytic hierarchy process technique. In this study, various thematic layers were used like organic matter content, soil texture, soil depth, soil pH, soil P, soil K, geomorphology, run-off potential, slope and land use/land cover to assess the land quality index of the study area for the agriculture purpose which were generated in the RS and GIS environment. The study area can be divided into four zones, viz. high quality, moderately quality, marginally quality and low quality according to their suitability of land quality for agriculture purpose. It was found that about 39.09, 31.24, 20.41 and 9.26% of the study area falls under high quality zone, moderately quality, marginally quality and low quality zone, respectively, for agricultural purpose.     

甘孜州九龙县水土流失评价研究

本文以九龙县为研究区,根据沟壑密度、坡度、植被盖度、土地利用类型和高程5个因子,结合ARC-GIS空间分析功能和MATLAB数学建模编程的功能,应用GA-BP模型(遗传算法优化BP神经网络)对研究区的水土流失进行非线性智能定量评价,并与层次分析法的结果对比分析,阐述了GA-BP模型的优越性。本次研究可以为九龙县水土流失预防和治理提供有益的参考。     

A comparison of alternative criteria for defining fuzzy boundaries on fuzzy categorical maps

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Identification of rainwater harvesting sites using SCS-CN methodology,remote sensing and Geographical Information System techniques

This study presents a method to identify potential sites for soil and water conservation techniques for the demarcation of suitable sites for artificial recharge of groundwater aquifers, in the study area. The run-off derived by the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number method is a function of run-off potential which can be expressed in terms of run-off coefficient. The augmentation of water resource is proposed by the construction of rainwater harvesting structures like check dam, percolation pond, farm pond and gully check dam. The site suitability for different water harvesting structures is determined by considering spatially varying parameters like slope, infiltration, run-off potential, landuse/land cover, stream order, soil texture, land capability class, hydrological soil group and micro-watershed area. The determined suitable site has been validated with existing recharge structures of the study area. Accuracy assessment of the suitable sites for recharge structures potential maps of the Bindra watershed is 82.60%.     

Land suitability studies for major crops in Pavagada taluk,Karnataka using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district in Karnataka is one of the most backward taluks receiving less than 500 mm annual rainfall. The maximum area of the taluk is under monocropping, reasons for the same were not documented well. The present study was carried out using remote sensing data along with field survey and laboratory analysis for assessing the potentials and limitations of soil. Using the basic information on soil, climate and topography based on the matching exercise between the growth and production requirements of the crop, suitability of soils for groundnut, paddy and finger millet was assessed as per FAO land evaluation. The soil suitability maps were prepared using Arc GIS software. About 48 per cent of the total area was moderate to marginally suitable and 13 per cent of the area was not suitable for both groundnut and finger millet. Lowland areas covering 12 per cent of the area was highly suitable, 15 per cent was moderate to marginally suitable and 20 per cent was not suitable for paddy cultivation.     

An approach for establishing correspondence between OpenStreetMap and reference datasets for land use and land cover mapping

OpenStreetMap (OSM) provides free source data for land use and land cover (LULC) mapping of many regions globally. Earlier work has used just manual and subjective approaches to establish correspondence between paired OSM and reference datasets, an essential step for LULC mapping. This study proposes an approach to establish correspondence via three steps: (1) convert line feature(s) into polygon feature(s); (2) merge multiple polygon feature(s) into a single layer; and (3) establish correspondence and reclassify OSM and/or reference datasets. Study areas in Sheffield, London, Rome, and Paris were used for testing, and two measures (overall accuracy, OA and kappa index) were used for evaluation. Experiments were designed to verify this approach, with each pair of OSM and reference datasets initially compared after reclassification. Correspondence from one study area was then applied to another for further validation. Results show that OA was between 70 and 90% and the kappa index varied between 0.6 and 0.8. Evaluation also indicates that the correspondence obtained from one study area is applicable to another, and we illustrate the effectiveness of this approach.     

基于GIS的东营市土地适宜性评价研究

依据土地适宜性评价原则,以山东省东营市土地适宜性评价为例,探讨了运用GIS技术对用地的自然、社会属性进行综合评价的数量化方法,结合当地实际情况,选取了土壤类型、地下水位、全氮、全磷、土壤盐分五个评价因子,各因子的适宜度的确定和各单元因素适宜性的评价,对评价结果进行了分析,提出了土地改良应用的合理化建议。将GIS引入到土地适宜性的空间评价中评价方法更科学,使评价结果能更好地为土地利用和规划服务。     

Measuring the relationships between landscape aesthetics suitability and spatial patterns of urbanized lands: an informed modelling framework for developing urban growth scenarios

This study develops an informed modelling approach that follows a bottom-up planning strategy to define plausible urban growth scenarios. In this case, landscape aesthetics suitability of the area was first generated using multi-criteria evaluation method. Then, a buffer zone of 1 km was considered to extract the average values of aesthetics suitability scores surrounding urban patches with medium physical size (10–30 hectares). The averaged values were considered as the dependent variable. In the next step, landscape metrics of these urban patches, as explanatory variables, were also computed to measure compositional and configuration-based attributes of urban clusters. Bivariate associations (Pearson correlation analysis) and statistical relationships (linear regression algorithm) between landscape metrics and their associated aesthetics values were measured and modelled. According to the results, both composition and configuration values are significantly correlated to the dependent variable in which configuration-based attributes depicted a stronger explanatory power.     

Assessment of land degradation hazards,etah district,uttar pradesh using landsat data

To understand the nature of land degradation and factors responsible for it, investigations were carried out in Etah district with an area of 4.45 lakh hectares. For identification of soil/land degradation problems, multidate Landsat, TM spectral bands and FCC were used. It is observed that salt-affected soils are sharply depicted by light and dark gray mixed tone on band 3, while they are not clear on band 4. Flood plain and waterlogged soils are clearly observed on band 4. Band 6 (10.3 – 12.5 µm) helps in separation of broad zones of coarse and fine-textured soils, active flood plain of rivers, and eroded and gullied lands. The confusion between coarse-textured droughty soils and salt-affected areas in TM FCC (2, 3, 4) could be eliminated by use of band-6 data in combination with FCC. For delineation of problematic areas, two approaches were followed viz. (i) physiographic approach, and (ii) direct approach. In the physiographic approach landscape map associated with image characteristics was prepared. Further the image interpretation units were interpreted for land degradation hazards. With this approach physiography and soil relationship and the degradation problems vis-a-vis soil units could be established and ameliorative measures as per soil condition can be suggested. In direct approach, the problematic areas as per predetermined key were demarcated. Out of 4.45 lakh ha of the area, 1.99 lakh ha is affected by various soil degradation problems, like droughty soils, flooding hazard and salinity and alkalinity which cover 22.1%, 50.0% and 27.9%, respectively. To study the distribution of a salt-affected lands, major physiographic boundaries were superimposed over the land degradation map prepared by direct approach. It is observed that 81.5% of the salt-affected areas lie in the old alluvial plain while 18.5% is in recent flood plain.     

Spatial modelling of site suitability assessment for hospitals using geographical information system-based multicriteria approach at Qazvin city,Iran

Due to the population growth and continuous migration of people from rural areas to urban areas, it is important to identify the suitable locations for future development in order to find suitable sites for various kinds of facilities such as schools, hospital and fire stations for new and existing urban areas. Site suitability modelling is a complex process involving various kinds of objectives and issues. Such a complex process includes spatial analysis, use of several decision support tools such as high-spatial resolution remotely sensed data, geographical information system (GIS) and multi criteria analysis (MCA) such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and in some cases, prediction techniques like cellular automata (CA) or artificial neural networks (ANN). This paper presents a comparison between the results of AHP and the ordinary least square (OLS) evaluation model, based on various criteria, to select suitable sites for new hospitals in Qazvin city, Iran. Based on the obtained results, proximity to populated areas (0.3) and distance to air polluted areas (0.23–0.26) were the two highest important criteria with high weight value. The results show that these two techniques not only have similarity in size (in m²) for each suitability class but they also have similarity in spatial distribution of each class in the entire study area. Based on calculations of both techniques, 1–2%, 25%, 40–43%, 16–20% and 14% of study areas are assigned as ‘not suitable', ‘less suitable', ‘moderately suitable', ‘suitable' and ‘most suitable' areas for construction of new hospitals. Results revealed that a 75% similarity was found in the distribution of suitability classes in Qazvin city using both techniques. Nineteen per cent (19%) of the study area are assigned as ‘suitable' and ‘most suitable' by both methods, so these areas can be considered as safe or secure areas for clinical purposes. Moreover, almost all (99.8%) suitable areas are located in district 3, because of its higher population, less numbers of existing hospitals and large numbers of barren land plots of acceptable size.