Teaching Topographic Map Skills and Geomorphology Concepts with Google Earth in a One-Computer Classroom

Teaching high-school geomorphological concepts and topographic map reading entails many challenges. This research reports the applicability and effectiveness of Google Earth in teaching topographic map skills and geomorphological concepts, by a single teacher, in a one-computer classroom. Compared to learning via a conventional instructional method, students learning with Google Earth do not have different geomorphological concepts development because both settings enable students to learn with similar static representation. However, students learning with Google Earth improve topographic map skills significantly compared to the conventional instructional method. This is because of the 3D landscape visualization and prior knowledge connections available with Google Earth.     

Defining Appalachia: Public Policy and Regional Dynamics in Appalachia's Low-income Counties, 1965-2000

Abstract

The extant literature on place location learning resolves in varying degrees that place location knowledge (PLK) is deficient in the United States and abroad. This is particularly true for younger school-attending age groups. This study has three main aims: to investigate the validity of that claim in regard to secondary-level students in Dublin by testing their PLK; to assess what characteristics of tested place locations render some sites more visible in students' eyes than others; and to investigate statistically what traits of the respondents shape their PLK. The implications of these findings on geographic education and future research are also discussed.     

基于AutoCAD的Google Earth图像信息提取及应用

Google Earth图像以精度高、信息丰富和免费使用等特点,正逐步给人们的工作和生活带来方便。如何将Google Earth图像制作成地图、提取感兴趣的信息,是人们普遍关心的问题。以成都理工大学为例,探讨了利用Google Earth图像,结合AutoCAD强大的图形编辑功能,进行信息提取及应用的过程,主要内容包括:图像获取、图像尺寸校正、图像数字化、图形整饰、信息提取及应用等。针对如何提取Google Earth图像上被阴影遮挡的图形信息,提出了图像量测与地面丈量相结合的解决办法。实践证明,这种方法实现了低成本、高精度和高效益,解决了人们日常用图的需要。最后指出了这种方法的适用领域,并且分析了Google Earth产品的优缺点及应用前景。     

Fitzgerald: A Return to the Neighborhood and Its Contemporary Structural and Geographical Contexts

William Bunge's Fitzgerald: Portrait of a Revolution, initially published in 1971, is an enthralling verbal and visual account of the historical and geographical development of a one-square-mile neighborhood in Detroit. The original analysis of the Fitzgerald neighborhood was based on intensive field-based research conducted in a theoretical context of race and racism. The research reported here maintains that context but updates Fitzgerald's account of the neighborhood's built environment through a spatial analysis that uses parcel-by-parcel data generated in Google Earth and Google Street View instead of data collected in the field. Current spatial patterns of deterioration in the built environment are similar to those described in Fitzgerald, but positive sites are also apparent and often colocated with negative ones.     

A GeoAgent‐based framework for knowledge‐oriented representation: Embracing social rules in GIS

While current Geographic Information Systems (GISs) can represent observational spatial data well, they have limited capabilities in representing some non‐observational social elements and goal‐driven behaviours that can be important factors in a wide range of geographic issues. Such social components may include laws, regulations, polices, plans, culture, and customs, as well as their relations and interactions with the geographic environment at different scales. Getting beyond traditional data‐centred approaches, this research presents a knowledge‐oriented strategy in order to address these issues within a GIS context. We incorporate two major conceptual elements. First, extending from conventional agent notions and their geographic applications, geographic agents (GeoAgents) are considered as a basic representation component to specifically address social rules and goal‐driven behaviours that impact the Earth and environmental systems. Second, in order to incorporate GeoAgents with current space–time representation, a new conceptual representation framework, called ‘fields, objects, time, GeoAgents, and relations’ (FOTAR), is introduced to address the cross‐scale processes of both social and natural interactions. A Java‐based prototype, GeoAgent‐based Knowledge System (GeoAgentKS), is described to implement this framework by integrating agent technologies with multiple data and knowledge representation techniques, such as expert systems, concept maps, mathematical models, and geospatial databases. The application of this prototype in a case study is also presented, investigating scale‐dependent human–environment interactions under different emergency situations for community water systems in Central Pennsylvania, USA. In this case study, a systematic set of methodologies of knowledge acquisition, representation, and confirmation for constructing GeoAgents' knowledge bases by using expert systems were explored to formalize high‐level knowledge and social behaviours in the FOTAR‐based representations. The results show that the proposed conceptual representation framework is achievable at both implementation and application levels, and the prototype tool is demonstrated to be valuable in facilitating knowledge sharing, policymaking, municipal management, and decision‐making, especially for real‐world emergency management.     

全球离散格网:回顾与展望(英文)

全球离散格网是数字球体表达的基本数据模型,它提供了一种栅格化表达地球弯曲表面的方法,催生了数字地球。该文回顾全球离散格网与数字地球的发展史,评析了以谷歌地球为代表的第一代数字地球的技术实现。在为科学界及社会公众提供地表与近地表信息交流方面,数字地球的有效性面临挑战,第一代数字地球在很多方面存在不足,其中最显著的缺陷是不能基于社会与环境过程模型模拟地球的将来状态。展望未来,简要分析了下一代数字地球应具有的基本特征。     

Field Trips as Valuable Learning Experiences in Geography Courses

Abstract

Field trips have been acknowledged as valuable learning experiences in geography. This article uses Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model to discuss how students learn and how field trips can help enhance learning. Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory as a guide in the design of field trips helps ensure that field trips contribute to internalizing relevant geographical theory and concepts. Three types of field trips are presented: an informal survey of a neighborhood, a more formal scavenger hunt, and a virtual field trip using Google Earth.

Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

—Kolb (1984)     

巴丹吉林沙漠高大沙山地貌的线条美

巴丹吉林沙漠是中国第二大流动沙漠,被列入世界自然遗产提名地名录,具有独特的美学价值,但目前尚缺乏沙漠美学价值的系统论述.本文基于野外考察、影像和文献资料,将美学原理与风沙地貌学理论结合,探讨巴丹吉林沙漠高大沙山地貌的美学价值,侧重其独特的线条美.将高大沙山地貌的线条分为直线、曲线和交织线条,分别解析其美学的表现形式和所...     

Preliminary mapping of high-resolution rural population distribution based on imagery from Google Earth: A case study in the Lake Tai basin, eastern China

There is a large rural population in China. Throughout the country, sewage from rural households is mostly discharged with minimal treatment. Knowledge of rural population distribution is essential to study the rural households’ impacts on their surrounding environment. However, high-resolution spatial datasets on rural population distribution are rarely available in China. This study explores the feasibility of using the image from Google Earth to derive a high-resolution map on rural population distribution for a town in the Lake Tai basin of eastern China. Study results show that texture analysis in conjunction with other processing procedures can extract man-made building features from the image reasonably, which can then serve as the basis for the preliminary mapping of rural population distribution in the study region. This may prove to be a promising alternative for deriving spatial datasets on rural population distribution in many parts of the world.     

基于Google Earth Engine(GEE)和作物模型快速评估低温冷害对大豆生产的影响（英文）

Frequent chilling injury has serious impacts on national food security and in northeastern China heavily affects grain yields. Timely and accurate measures are desirable for assessing associated large-scale impacts and are prerequisites to disaster reduction. Therefore, we propose a novel means to efficiently assess the impacts of chilling injury on soybean. Specific chilling injury events were diagnosed in 1989, 1995, 2003, 2009, and 2018 in Oroqen community. In total, 512 combinations scenarios were established using the localized CROPGRO-Soybean model. Furthermore, we determined the maximum wide dynamic vegetation index(WDRVI) and corresponding date of critical windows of the early and late growing seasons using the GEE(Google Earth Engine) platform, then constructed 1600 cold vulnerability models on CDD(Cold Degree Days), the simulated LAI(Leaf Area Index) and yields from the CROPGRO-Soybean model. Finally, we calculated pixel yields losses according to the corresponding vulnerability models. The findings show that simulated historical yield losses in 1989, 1995, 2003 and 2009 were measured at 9.6%, 29.8%, 50.5%, and 15.7%, respectively, closely(all errors are within one standard deviation) reflecting actual losses(6.4%, 39.2%, 47.7%, and 13.2%, respectively). The above proposed method was applied to evaluate the yield loss for 2018 at the pixel scale. Specifically, a sentinel-2 A image was used for 10-m high precision yield mapping, and the estimated losses were found to characterize the actual yield losses from 2018 cold events. The results highlight that the proposed method can efficiently and accurately assess the effects of chilling injury on soybean crops.     

试论地貌学的新进展和趋势

地貌变化有内在的规律,对环境保育、资源利用和自然灾害防治有重要影响。作为交叉学科和地理学的重要分支学科,地貌学具有重要理论价值和实际意义。过去10多年来,随着遥感、地理信息技术和沉积物定年、地球物理和地球化学探测以及数值模拟等新技术和新方法的应用,地貌学家的研究视野和深度不断扩大与加深,在构造地貌、气候地貌和人类活动与地貌过程等传统领域有很多新进展,揭示了不同地貌单元的变化规律和机理,极大地推动了地貌学的发展。在新时代,除了继续加强传统地貌单元的深入研究外,地貌学的发展应与全球环境变化和未来地球等重大科学问题(计划)紧密结合;地貌学家要关心人类活动对地貌过程的影响及适应,并利用新技术开展地貌过程的定量重建和数值模拟。同时加强地理学专业学生的地质学基础学习、发展定量地貌学和行星地貌学、系统开展人类活动对地貌过程的影响和适应研究,是提升中国地貌学水平的途径,也可为推动国际地貌学发展做出贡献。     

可持续性评价的 ImPACTS等式

可持续发展要求必须在一个地球的约束下,最大限度地满足人类的发展需求。通过分析生态足迹与人类社会发展的关系,从可更新和不可更新资源利用效益角度来看,在发展的可持续性上发达国家比发展中国家在利用地球容纳环境和社会期望方面具有明显的优势。同时,气候变暖的事实说明,人类对不可更新化石燃料的开采和利用速率已经超过地球上生态系统吸收CO₂的能力。各国要取得社会发展并使之具有可持续性,应该在地球的可持续性尺度范围内增加自己的全球足迹份额,而不是简单的减少足迹。以中国的南水北调、北粮南运,粮食安全及世界石油消费利用为例说明了社会资源在缓解和减轻环境影响方面的作用。在剖析经典的IPAT等式及其变种等式ImPACT分析框架的基础上,提出了一个新的可持续性评价研究框架--ImPACTS等式,并讨论了新等式的政策含义。在ImPACTS等式中,新增项S代表社会资源的状态 (社会发展状态),m代表管理,用来强调人类采用协调的方式来解决超过可持续性尺度这一问题的重要性,I因此变成了集成的影响评价--对环境的影响和社会发展的损益评价。     

Transhumance as a driving force of landscape change in the marginal grabens of northern Ethiopia

Transhumance between the Afar lowlands and Tigray escarpments has been a common practice in northern Ethiopia. However, the impact of transhumance on landscape changes in the marginal grabens has not been significantly researched. Hence, this study aims to understand the process of transhumance and the linkages between social and biophysical aspects of the graben landscapes of northern Ethiopia. Google Earth (2010?2016) and Landsat Imageries (1995?2015) were used to analyse the spatio‐temporal landscape changes. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was applied to measure the change in vegetation cover. Interview and Focus Group Discussions were used to collect perceptions of communities on transhumance and landscape change. The findings reveal that transhumance caused conflicts between the lowlanders and highlanders, which in turn led to displacement of communities. Consequently, the NDVI value of the abandoned settlement increased over time. Conversely, the analysis of Google Earth Imageries and NDVI values show that vegetation cover of the new settlement has decreased. Moreover, the NDVI values of the transhumance areas showed little increase due to the establishments of exclosures in the escarpments. The findings of this study can, therefore, be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at solving transhumance‐induced conflicts, displacement of communities and conservation of natural resources.     

Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Force Analysis of Vegetation Variation in Altay Prefecture based on Google Earth Engine

Quantitative evaluation and driving mechanism analysis of vegetation dynamics are essential for promoting regional sustainable development. In the past 20 years, the ecological environment in Altay Prefecture has changed significantly due to global warming. Meanwhile, with increasing human activities, the spatiotemporal pattern and driving forces of vegetation variation in the area are uncertain and difficult to accurately assess. Hence, we quantified the vegetation growth by using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) on the Google Earth Engine (GEE). Then, the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation from 2000 to 2019 were analyzed at the pixel scale. Finally, significance threshold segmentation was performed using meteorological data based on the correlation analysis results, and the contributions of climate change and human activities to vegetation variation were quantified. The results demonstrated that the vegetation coverage in Altay Prefecture is mainly concentrated in the north. The vegetation areas representing significant restoration and degradation from 2000 to 2019 accounted for 24.08% and 1.24% of Altay Prefecture, respectively. Moreover, spatial correlation analysis showed that the areas with significant correlations between NDVI and temperature, precipitation and sunlight hours accounted for 3.3%, 6.9% and 20.3% of Altay Prefecture, respectively. In the significant restoration area, 18.94% was dominated by multiple factors, while 3.4% was dominated by human activities, and 1.74% was dominated by climate change. Within the significant degradation area, abnormal degradation and climate change controlled 1.07% and 0.17%, respectively. This study revealed the dynamic changes of vegetation and their driving mechanisms in Altay Prefecture, and can provide scientific support for further research on life community mechanism theory and key remediation technology of mountain-water-forest-farmland-lake-grass in Altay Prefecture.     

基于知识图谱和综合征的科学环境知识挖掘——以民勤荒漠化为例

科学环境知识是实现区域土地可持续利用和管理的依据。民勤作为典型的荒漠化区域,对其荒漠化的发展过程及机制等科学环境知识的认识有助于指导干旱区土地荒漠化的防治。因此基于知识图谱方法,结合传统的文献综述方法,挖掘民勤科学环境知识并运用综合征框架进行知识组织管理。研究发现,常兆丰等、肖笃宁等、颉耀文等、康绍忠等、孙丹峰等、冯起等几个较成熟的团队在民勤进行了大量且较为成熟可信的研究,是本文获取科学环境知识的基础;民勤土地荒漠化研究主要集中于土地利用/覆被、荒漠化监测、景观格局变化,水资源利用及监测,荒漠植被演化和保护,环境变化及沙尘暴以及气候和人类活动的驱动5个相互联系耦合的热点方面;近60 a民勤土地荒漠化主要分为1949-1998年和1998-2010年主要的两个阶段,1949-1998年呈现耕地增长和荒漠化加剧的恶性循环过程,1998-2010年呈现荒漠化减弱以及地下水位下降的减缓,但仍表现为耕地的增长和自然植被的减少过程;并以民勤荒漠化的发展过程及机制为基础建立了综合征框架--民勤土地荒漠化是一个人类和自然综合作用下,土地利用/覆被、水资源、植被以及区域环境之间相互联系、相互影响的过程;科学环境知识综合征框架的挖掘集成可为后期系统建模与情景分析提供支持,为后续政策响应和措施制订提供参考。     

Landscape Mapping Using GIS and Google Earth Data

The process of laboratory compilation of the natural landscape chorological map of one of the uluses (administrative districts) of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is presented at a scale of 1:2 500 000. The GIS tools were used to reference thematic cartographic documents to the topographic base of the ulus containing contour lines, elevations and the main river network. The final river network is drawn on the basis of other data sources. A significant role in the subsequent map compilation stages was played by data from the Google Earth website: 2D and 3D images were used to identify floodplains. Units of glacial landforms of foothill areas and the main types of geological and geomorphological units of the ulus were determined using both published data sources and the Google Earth imagery. The map of natural vegetation has been compiled having regard to the humidity conditions and the vertical zonation of the climate and soils. The digital map layers in GIS were gradually combined into the synthetic natural landscape map of the ulus, and the identified natural landscape units were also incorporated into the regional classification of the landscapes of Siberia. It is established that the hierarchical system of natural landscapes of the ulus differentiates three levels of classification: high (the landscapes are differentiated with respect to their geographical location into the landscapes of lowlands and high mountains), intermediate (the differentiation of the landscapes with respect to the genesis and topography dissection in a relevant climatic zone) and low (the natural landscapes are determined by a combination of vegetation covering the type of soil that developed on a given geological substrate).     

基于Google earth的城市人口密度研究——以广东清远为例

引入Google Earth软件,讨论了一种快速、免费、便捷的研究城市人口密度的方法,该思路与方法在缺乏基础资料(如城市地形图、研究区域人口等数据)时能够作为一种有效的分析手段。文中通过获取各类地物信息,将土地利用、道路、建筑物等因素与人口密度建立起对应关系,绘制出研究区域的人口密度分布图,并对人口密度进行分析。此外,根据城市人口分布现状,提出人口引导控制区概念,为城市规划建设、环境保护等提供参考。     

Forum on the Anthropocene

Geographers have been thinking and teaching about human interactions with the environment for centuries. Whether the phrase used to describe this area of scholarship is man‐land, man and nature, people‐environment, nature‐society, human dimensions of global change, or the Anthropocene, these studies are deeply rooted under the umbrella of geography. Scholars in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and creative arts have embraced the concept of the Anthropocene, and often employ it as a vernacular term with no implied connection to a so‐called golden spike, or stratigraphic layer of sediment or rock that would mark an official transition from one slice of geologic time to the next. This collection of essays explores ways in which the Anthropocene may be a helpful framework to organize geographical teaching and scholarship about ways in which people have interacted with and transformed planet Earth. The term Anthropocene was coined in the realm of Earth System science, but the authors who contributed to this Forum relate the idea to topics such as novel ecosystems and species assemblages, conservation, commodification of nature, global capitalism, and ways in which our species, Homo sapiens, has markedly transformed the Earth for at least thousands of years. The Forum also engages with the fact that the Anthropocene as a proposed new epoch of the geologic time scale may not make sense at the spatial and temporal scales at which geographers view the world. Geographers have an opportunity to address myriad unanswered questions about the Anthropocene.     

黑河流域中游沙漠风能环境与风沙地貌

在黑河流域中游,沙漠分布在绿洲附近或绿洲之间。近年来,由于气候变化和人类活动的影响,该地区的生态与环境恶化。目前,虽然对该地区的生态与环境等问题进行了大量的研究,但关于绿洲及沙漠风能环境的研究较少。本文利用自动气象站的风资料、环境减灾卫星影像（HJ-1A/B）和Google Earth高清影像,对黑河流域中游沙漠的风能环境与风沙地貌进行探讨。结果表明：黑河流域中游沙漠的北部为高风能环境（>400）,中部为中风能环境（200～400）,南部为低风能环境（<200）;合成输沙势方向总体为东南方向,但在不同区域有所差异;方向变率在北部和中部属于中等变率,南部属于低变率。内陆河流域下游的冲积-洪积物是该地区沙漠形成的物质基础。风能环境与风况对风沙地貌沙丘的形成起着重要作用,但沙源供应对沙丘形态特征的作用不可忽略,在相同的风况下,新月形沙丘（链）、格状沙丘和金字塔沙丘可能共同存在,造成这种格局的主要原因在于沙源的供应程度,按新月形沙丘（链）—格状沙丘—金字塔沙丘顺序,沙源供应逐渐增加。研究区的沙丘类型包括新月形沙丘链、格状沙丘、灌丛沙丘、沙垄、金字塔沙丘、线形沙丘等。     

景观生态学教学的短期户外观摩：云南大学的实践

景观生态学研究的社会认知度在不断提高,教学研讨却相当滞后。介绍云南大学的景观生态学教学实践和经验,以期抛砖引玉。云南大学的景观生态学教学始于1987年,至今在本科、硕士、博士3个层次上开展不同深度的授课。为期1～2天的短期户外观摩,是课堂教学的组成部分,分3个步骤：（1）行前利用Google Earth网络资源演示预设线路和地点的景观结构和生态过程,激发学生的求知欲望;（2）围绕河流-湖泊污染扩散、越冬红嘴鸥觅食-安全日迁移两种生态流实施户外观摩教学,使学生在现实景观里理解和识别景观基底-廊道-斑块、源汇景观转换、景观边界及边缘效应等书本知识;（3）强化总结讨论,促使户外观摩印象的理论升华。