Geospatial modelling for goral habitat evaluation

This study attempts to evaluate the habitat suitability of Chilla Sanctuary of Rajaji National Park for goral(Nemorhaedus goral) spread over 25859 sq km area. The IRS-1B false colour imagery, Survey of India topographical maps and ground observations were used to generate the spatial information on the extent of forest cover, waterholes, slope, settlements and the road network in and around the Sanctuary. The geospatial modelling was attempted using Arc/Info geographic information system (GIS). While proximity to waterholes, open forests with intermittent grasslands and steep slopes (30 degree or more) were considered as favourable conditions, the proximity to roads/settlements and flat terrain was taken as unfavourable condition. The results of this study showed that about 14 per cent area of the Sanctuary is highly to moderately suitable for goral. An additional 5 per cent area becomes available to goralif gujjars (tribals living inside sanctuary) are settled outside the sanctuary. Besides highlighting the endangered condition of the habitat for goral, this study demonstrates potential of remote sensing and GIS techniques for wildlife habitat suitability evaluation.     

Multidimensional and quantitative interlinking approach for Linked Geospatial Data

ABSTRACT

Linked Data is known as one of the best solutions for multisource and heterogeneous web data integration and discovery in this era of Big Data. However, data interlinking, which is the most valuable contribution of Linked Data, remains incomplete and inaccurate. This study proposes a multidimensional and quantitative interlinking approach for Linked Data in the geospatial domain. According to the characteristics and roles of geospatial data in data discovery, eight elementary data characteristics are adopted as data interlinking types. These elementary characteristics are further combined to form compound and overall data interlinking types. Each data interlinking type possesses one specific predicate to indicate the actual relationship of Linked Data and uses data similarity to represent the correlation degree quantitatively. Therefore, geospatial data interlinking can be expressed by a directed edge associated with a relation predicate and a similarity value. The approach transforms existing simple and qualitative geospatial data interlinking into complete and quantitative interlinking and promotes the establishment of high-quality and trusted Linked Geospatial Data. The approach is applied to build data intra-links in the Chinese National Earth System Scientific Data Sharing Network (NSTI-GEO) and data -links in NSTI-GEO with the Chinese Meteorological Data Network and National Population and Health Scientific Data Sharing Platform.     

印度地理信息产业发展基础与现状研究

主要从地理信息资源生产管理体制、空间基础设施建设、产业政策3个方面分析了印度地理信息产业发展基础,并对当前印度地理信息产业规模、市场、企业、人才培养以及发展潜力等方面的现状进行了研究,对比我国分析了当前印度地理信息产业发展的优势和存在的制约。     

Geospatial modeling of biological richness in Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary of Orissa,India

The paper presents a geospatial modeling approach for the assessment of biological richness in Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary in Orissa located in the northern tip of the Eastern Ghats in India. Indian Remote Sensing satellite data of Resourcesat-1 LISS III and field sampling were used to model biological richness at 1:50,000 scale. It was found that the sanctuary is dominated by Sal mixed dry deciduous forest. The vegetation map prepared through visual interpretation of satellite imagery was subjected to landscape analysis and assessment of biotic disturbance using SPLAM software. The disturbance index together with species richness, ecosystem uniqueness, terrain complexity and total importance value was modeled to access the biological richness in the sanctuary. A total of 3.9 per cent area was found to posses very high plant richness followed by high (21.2%), medium (42.1%) and low (32.8%) in the sanctuary. The study demonstrated the geospatial technology in conjunction with landscape analysis, ground inventory and geospatial modeling seizes good potential for rapid assessment of biological richness. The fringe areas of the sanctuary having disturbance more because most of the small villages which are relocated from sanctuary, settled in those areas.     

Geospatial multiple logistic regression approach for habitat characterization of scarce plant population: A case study of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pittosporum eriocarpum</Emphasis> Royle (an endemic species of Uttarakhand,India)

Increasing concern for biodiversity conservation at species level resulted in the development of cost effective tools for getting information at larger scale. Modeling distribution of species using remote sensing and geographic information has already proved its potentials to get such information with less effort. Pittosporum eriocarpum Royle is an endemic and threatened tree species of Uttarakhand, yet till now its regional distribution is poorly known. This study using geospatial modelling tools indentified several localities of potential occurrence of this species in the Mussoorie hills and Doon valley, and also provides information on its habitat specificity. The main objective of the study is to predict the suitable habitats for endangered plant species in Himalayan region using logistic regression model where availability of sufficient data on species presenceabsence is a major limitation for larger areas.     

Geospatial Application in the Study of Beach Placer along the Coast of Gulf of Mannar,India

Abstract

Geospatial analysis of marine mineral placer deposits along the Gulf of Mannar is attempted. This study develops a method for the spatial anlaysis of data using geographical information system (GIS). Specifically, creating attribute data base structure, data encoding, data interpolation, and view shed analysis are attempted to delineate the opaque and garnet occurrences in the beach sediments. Data integration including the creation of digital files using TNT Mips software is performed. The interpolation of the spaced data is achieved by inverse distance weighed interpolation to define the zone of heavy mineral enrichment. This study has established the digital elevation model (DEM) capability to identify the potential beach placer zones in the study area.     

A Geospatial Approach to Understand the Dynamics of Shifting Cultivation in Champhai District of Mizoram,North-East India

The dynamics of crop-fallow rotation cycles of shifting cultivation has been poorly understood in northeastern part of the country although it is one of the major land use systems in the hilly states of this region. The present study was conducted to understand the dynamics of shifting cultivation through the use of Landsat time-series data from 1999 to 2016 in Champhai district of Mizoram. We mapped the current jhum fields and abandoned areas of each imagery of the study period and performed a post classification comparison to assess the crop-fallow rotation cycle/jhum cycle. The chrono-sequential change of slash and burn area over the past 17 years showed a decreasing trend with the greater part of the shifting cultivation area being occupied by 2nd year crop fields, covering 48.81% of total jhum land. On average, 114.46 km² area were annually slashed for current jhum, out of which 33.41% continued with current jhum 2nd year cropping and only 3.27% of jhumias continued with 3rd year cropping. The shifting cultivation patches were mostly confined to moderately steep slopes (15°–30°). East facing aspect was mostly preferred and North facing aspect was least preferred. During the study period, 10 years jhum cycle covered the maximum area followed by 9 years and 11 years jhum cycle. The end result of this study proved that the prevalent jhum cycle in Champhai district is 8–11 years with a fallow period of 6–9 years.     

An artificial neural network based approach for urban growth zonation in Dehradun city,India

For regulating urban growth, it is imperative to produce urban growth zonation maps, in which future urbanizable areas along with their urban growth potential are delineated. As, these maps provide a rational and scientific basis for taking future decisions regarding the growth of the city. The conventional approach for generating urban growth zonation maps is subjective in nature. To reduce this subjectivity, an artificial neural network (ANN) approach has been proposed for generating urban growth zonation maps. The database required for ANN-based urban growth zonation has been compiled from remote sensing data and other existing maps. GIS is used for handling of this spatial data. A comparison of the ANN- and conventional approach-derived zonation maps was also done. The study demonstrated the potential of ANN for urban growth zonation of an area, which may provide a valuable input to the urban planning authorities for regulating urban growth     

加拿大地理信息产业发展基础与现状研究

从地理信息管理、空间基础设施、地理信息产业发展情况等方面介绍了加拿大地理信息产业发展的现状,并分析加拿大地理信息产业发展的特点,提出促进我国地理信息产业健康快速发展的对策、建议。     

政务地理空间大数据研究进展综述

近年来,地理空间大数据引起了产学研及政府部门的高度关注,甚至引发了许多变革。面向电子政务的地理空间大数据技术为政府信息管理和决策提供了新的手段。本文在阐述政务地理空间大数据的内涵及特点的基础上,重点梳理了政务地理空间大数据处理的关键技术,包括政务地理空间大数据整合、存储与管理、挖掘与分析、可视化以及决策支持服务技术,最后分析了当前和未来政务地理空间大数据所面临的机遇和挑战。     

Landsat image enhancement and analysis approach for geological studies of central part of Goa,India

With the advent of multispectral scanners and the availability of digital data, information extraction through remote sensing has become one of the viable tools for studying natural resources. Normally thick vegetation and soil cover are common obstacles while geologically studying an area remotely. The study area, Goa, is largely covered by settlements, private mines, and dense vegetation. This makes it difficult to decipher lithology, structures and to find their extension by ground surveying. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study a variety of image enhancement and analysis techniques to delineate geological features, lineaments, and several landuse features. The information gathered from land use features and vegetation cover is also utilized in delineating lithology and lineaments. Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) data both in the visual and digital form have been used for the analysis. Various photographic techniques such as Bas-relief, combined printing of positive and negative for different bands, color composites, and digital image processing techniques like ratioing, principal component analysis and ratioing of the first two principal components have been applied for geological information extraction. This paper examines comparative utility of enhancement techniques in studying geological aspects. It is found that the ratio image of PCI and PC2 gives most significant and detailed information with maximum contrast and sharp boundaries. Bas-relief images are excellent for identifying geomorphic features and lineaments.     

Corridor analysis in Rajaji-Corbett elephant reserve — A Remote sensing and GIS approach

This paper deals with corridor analysis in Rajaji-Corbett Elephant Reserve in the Shivaliks of Uttaranchal state. Efforts were made to detect changes in the state of forest covervis- à -vis the status of corridors during the three periods i.e. 1967. 1986 and 1998 using remote sensing and GIS. TheERDAS Imagine digital image processing andArcView GIS software packages were used for this purpose. Temporal satellite imagery and ground observations in the Rajaji-Corbett Elephant Reserve revealed forest loss, degradation and disturbances in the corridor areas, hindering elephant movement and restricting them to forests islands. Motichur-Chilla corridor, despite being a highly favoured habitat for the elephants was found to be highly threatened followed by Kotdwar and Ramnagar corridors. Construction of wide bridges across Kunao-Chilla Canal, recreation of corridors through reforestation, reduction of all kinds of pressures in the corridor areas and providing higher protection to corridors are recommended.     

Geoinformatics based approach for estimating the sediment yield of the mountainous watersheds in Kashmir Himalaya,India

Sedimentation of water bodies is governed by the erosional processes occurring at the watershed level. In this research, a method is proposed for assessing the sediment yield of the mountainous watersheds surrounding the Wular lake in Kashmir Himalaya, using geoinformatics and geostatistics. This method is empirical and semi-quantitative in approach and takes into account the weightage-based influence of the parameters governing the watershed sediment yield. The results of this study reveal that out of the six surrounding watersheds of the Wular Lake, Madhumati watershed with the highest sediment yield index, SYI (39.78) drains maximum sediments into the Lake followed by Arin (39.27), Ferozpur (34.30), Wular II (32.53), Wular I (24.65) and Gundar (23.43) in the event of a same intensity storm. The proposed method is reasonably a better approach in the data-scarce Himalayan region and shall be a useful tool for watershed management in other regions with similar geographic setting.     

云南省地理信息产业发展现状与对策研究

在分析云南省地理信息产业发展现状和面临新形势的基础上,提出了云南省地理信息产业发展思路、优先发展领域和支持与服务措施。     

Morphotectonic analysis in Anandpur Sahib area,Punjab (India) using remote sensing and gis approach

Anandpur Sahib area of Rupnagar district (Punjab) was investigated using an integrated multi-disciplinary approach of geomorphological, structural, drainage and morphotectonic analysis through satellite data and GIS. Most commonly used geomorphic indices viz., channel sinuosity, drainage basin asymmetry, basin elongation ratio, mountain front sinuosity and valley floor to valley width ratio index have been used to identify the geomorphic indicators of active tectonics in the area. Existence of fluvial anomalies viz., abrupt changes in flow direction, flow against gradient, beheaded streams and river terraces reflect the strong structural control on the fluvial features. Asymmetric nature of drainage basin, elongated nature of the sub-watersheds, straight to curvilinear mountain fronts and narrow incised valley floors further substantiate the role of active tectonics in the region.