A GIS-based method for flooded area calculation and damage evaluation

1 IntroductionFlooding simulation and damage evaluation has attracted attention in environmental disaster research fields for many years. Since the 1990s, especially in recent years, using geographic information systems (GIS) technology and its powerful functions of spatial analysis and visualization to simulate and display flooded area and to evaluate disaster damage has become a research hotspot. Most of the papers involved in this field are from hydraulic and hydrologic point of view and b…     

GIS-based method of delimitating trade area for retail chains

Delimitating trade area with accuracy is a major concern for retail and service companies who want to adapt their marketing strategy to be competitive in today's highly competitive chain industry. A collection of methods have been proposed to delimitating trade area, but either some are too simple or the necessary data are not available. In this article, a geographic information system-based method for precisely delimitating trade area is proposed. It is based on the fact that the social and economic activities are actualized along the street networks. The trade area can be delineated in terms of time distance with high precision taking the practical traffic situations into account. In addition, centered on this method of delimitating trade area, a wide array of functions can be extended to support both operational day-to-day and long-term strategic decision making for retailers.     

城市居住用地防灾适宜度评价的OWA方法

城市居住用地的安全受到多种灾害威胁,防灾决策的主要问题之一是开发基于GIS的多准则评价 (MCE)方法。文章介绍了在基于GIS的次序权重平均法 (OWA)中,依据重要性等级计算次序权重和应用层次分析程序 (AHP)构建比较矩阵计算准则权重的方法;通过OWA评价方法与布尔决策和权重线性叠加 (WLC)等多准则评价方法的比较,分析了不同方法的决策风险和指标等级重要次序的影响,并以唐山市为例,建立了各灾害因子的适宜度评价准则,计算了唐山市居住用地的防灾适宜度,对唐山市居住用地的合理开发提出了几点建议。     

A GIS-based fire spread simulator integrating a simplified physical wildland fire model and a wind field model

??This article discusses the integration of two models, namely, the Physical Forest Fire Spread (PhFFS) and the High Definition Wind Model (HDWM), into a Geographical Information System-based interface. The resulting tool automates data acquisition, preprocesses spatial data, launches the aforementioned models and displays the corresponding results in a unique environment. Our implementation uses the Python language and Esri’s ArcPy library to extend the functionality of ArcMap 10.4. The PhFFS is a simplified 2D physical wildland fire spread model based on conservation equations, with convection and radiation as heat transfer mechanisms. It also includes some 3D effects. The HDWM arises from an asymptotic approximation of the Navier–Stokes equations, and provides a 3D wind velocity field in an air layer above the terrain surface. Both models can be run in standalone or coupled mode. Finally, the simulation of a real fire in Galicia (Spain) confirms that the tool developed is efficient and fully operational.     

A three-step floating catchment area method for analyzing spatial access to health services

Gravity-based spatial access models have been widely used to estimate spatial access to healthcare services in an attempt to capture the interaction of various factors. However, these models are inadequate in informing health resource allocation work due to their inappropriate assumption of healthcare demand. For the purpose of effective healthcare resource planning, this article proposes a three-step floating catchment area (3SFCA) method to minimize the healthcare-demand overestimation problem. Specifically, a spatial impedance-based competition scheme is incorporated into the enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method to account for a reasonable model of healthcare supply and demand. A case study of spatial access to primary care physicians along the Austin–San Antonio corridor area in central Texas showed that the proposed method effectively minimizes the overestimation of healthcare demand and reflects a more balanced geographic pattern of spatial access than E2SFCA. In addition, by using an adjusted spatial access index, the 3SFCA method indicates strong potential for identifying health professional shortage areas. The study concludes that 3SFCA is a promising method to provide health professionals and decision makers with useful healthcare accessibility information.     

Uncertainty modeling and analysis of surface area calculation based on a regular grid digital elevation model (DEM)

In the field of digital terrain analysis (DTA), the principle and method of uncertainty in surface area calculation (SAC) have not been deeply developed and need to be further studied. This paper considers the uncertainty of data sources from the digital elevation model (DEM) and SAC in DTA to perform the following investigations: (a) truncation error (TE) modeling and analysis, (b) modeling and analysis of SAC propagation error (PE) by using Monte-Carlo simulation techniques and spatial autocorrelation error to simulate DEM uncertainty. The simulation experiments show that (a) without the introduction of the DEM error, higher DEM resolution and lower terrain complexity lead to smaller TE and absolute error (AE); (b) with the introduction of the DEM error, the DEM resolution and terrain complexity influence the AE and standard deviation (SD) of the SAC, but the trends by which the two values change may be not consistent; and (c) the spatial distribution of the introduced random error determines the size and degree of the deviation between the calculated result and the true value of the surface area. This study provides insights regarding the principle and method of uncertainty in SACs in geographic information science (GIScience) and provides guidance to quantify SAC uncertainty.     

沙区聚落模式及人居环境质量评价研究——以宁夏盐池县北部风沙区为例

选取沙化严重但近期沙化防治效果显著的宁夏盐池县北部风沙区为案例,基于SPOT 5遥感影像将沙区聚落按居民点与周边土地的空间关系分成11种类型,并抽象成3个基本模式(放射状、环状、放射+环状)。同时,构建由3大支撑系统的30项指标组成的聚落人居评价指标体系,对11种类型聚落中的典型案例进行人居环境质量评价。结果表明:环状模式聚落的人居环境质量最高,其中又以单环状聚落最优;复杂半放射+半环状聚落次之;放射状聚落相对最差,其中又以居民点与沙地直接接触的有耕地放射状最差。最后,分析了各等级聚落的优势与不足,并结合沙区实际情况提出复杂半放射+半环状聚落中有耕地半放射+半环状的聚落为沙区聚落相对适宜人居的聚落类型。     

大连市城市内部居住环境评价的空间结构——基于面源模型的分析

以大连市为例 ,首先利用ARC/INFO软件将研究地区划分成 162个元胞作为评价的基本空间单元 ,建立了居住环境评价的面源模型。其次利用MDS方法确定了评价因子、列联表法验证了居民属性与居住环境评价之间的相互独立程度、因子分析方法探讨了居住环境评价结构的平行性。最后应用GIS对居住环境评价空间分异现象进行了分析。     

环渤海地区城市居住环境满意度评价及影响因素分析

以环渤海地区为案例区,综合运用多层线性模型、GIS空间分析和多元线性回归分析模型,基于居民主观感受数据,对研究区域内43个城市的居住环境进行评价,并探讨城市客观特征对主观评价结果的影响。研究表明：①环渤海地区城市之间的居住环境评价差别明显,辽宁省城市的评价结果整体较优,河北省城市的评价结果整体较差;②环境健康性是居住环境评价得分较低城市的共同短板;③城市规模、人口密度、经济发展水平与居住环境的满意度均呈负相关,中小城市的居住环境满意度普遍高于大城市,临海城市的居民对所在城市的满意度评价更高;④在城市居住环境的可提升要素中,治理雾霾是当前最迫切的任务。     

环渤海地区城市人居环境质量评估及影响因素

城市人居环境是城市居民生活质量和满意度的重要内容。本文以环渤海地区44个城市为例,从人居硬环境和软环境两方面评价人居环境指数,运用描述统计和GIS制图方法,分析环渤海地区城市人居环境综合质量空间差异及其影响因素,研究发现：①人居环境综合指数存在显著空间差异,沿海城市的人居环境质量明显高于内陆城市;在省级行政单元中,辽宁省人居环境综合指数最高,天津最低。②环渤海地区城市人居环境指数与经济发展水平和城镇化水平不存在显著的正相关关系,但与人口规模存在显著的负相关关系,表明仅提升经济发展水平和城市化率并不能提升城市人居环境质量,但合理控制城市人口规模则可有助于提升城市人居环境质量。     

A fast,free-form rubber-sheet algorithm for contiguous area cartograms

This article presents a fast, free-form rubber-sheet (Carto3F) algorithm for the construction of contiguous area cartograms. Rubber-sheet algorithms are influential and popular because of their conceptual simplicity. Existing rubber-sheet algorithms, however, tend to be algorithmically inefficient and computationally slow. More critically, they cannot completely preserve topology. Carto3F specifically improves rubber-sheet algorithms in these two aspects. First, with a spatial structure of quadtree and a mathematical condition for topological equivalence, Carto3F can prevent topological errors and guarantees topological integrity. Second, Carto3F is designed with efficiency as a priority. Its efficiency is primarily gained through using the auxiliary quadtree to reduce the number of points to be transformed. Furthermore, Carto3F allows parallel computation and can fully take advantage of the increasingly common multi-core, multi-thread processors. Based on the mathematical analysis, Carto3F also mitigates the effect of force cancellation that is inherent in rubber-sheet algorithms. On a computer equipped with a 2.4-GHz quad-core CPU, Carto3F can produce quality population cartograms of the United States, China, and the world within 1 second, 18 seconds, and 8 minutes, respectively. Quantitative measures show that Carto3F outperforms the optimized rubber-sheet algorithm and the diffusion algorithm in both transformation effectiveness and computational efficiency.     

A new method for comprehensive division of mountainous area: taking Huaihua City as an example

1 IntroductionAs human society has entered the 21st century, knowledge-based economy and "Digital Earth" project are paid much attention to. Studies on regional sustainable development come into the manipulating stage. Thus, traditional division needs to be reconsidered[1]. In new era, division work should be both in conformity with rationality of eco-environment, and be beneficial to socio-economic development, i.e., eco-economic comprehensive division should be taken into account[2,3]. As …     

A new method for comprehensive division of mountainous area: taking Huaihua City as an example

This paper summarizes principles and measures of comprehensive division of mountainous areas, as well as clarifies meaning, structure, function and path established for the map and file information visibility system (MFIVS). And then, taking Huaihua City of Hunan Province as an example, and based on the MFIVS means, concrete attempts on regionalization are carried out. The result is relatively objective and accurate, which illuminates that the method is a comprehensive one with the characteristics of concision, applicability and effectiveness.     

A building label placement method for 3D visualizations based on candidate label evaluation and selection

Adding building labels greatly improves the recognizability of buildings and the readability of three-dimensional (3D) city scenes. However, building label placement is much more complex in 3D scenes than in two-dimensional (2D) maps. The annotation effect is influenced by the attributes of the 3D label, building visibility, and the spatial relationship between the building and viewpoint. In this context, automatically generating building labels for 3D scenes during interactions requires highly complex computations. By contrast, evaluating candidate labels and then selecting the suitable label for each building can be effectively implemented. This paper introduces an approach for labeling buildings in 3D scenes based on evaluations of label candidates. The proposed method predefines a candidate label set for each building. These candidates are then evaluated in terms of their attributes and the relationship between the labels and viewpoint at runtime. The best candidate label, or a situational alternative for each building, is then placed in order of comprehensive label priority to avoid annotation conflicts. A series of experiments demonstrate that this method effectively enhances the correlation of labels and buildings, improves interactive efficiency, and realizes a viable global label layout.     

Developing a comprehensive evaluation method for Interconnected River System Network assessment: A case study in Tangxun Lake group

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The Interconnected River System Network (IRSN) plays a crucial role in water resource allocation, water ecological restoration and water quality improvement. It...     

基于主客观生活质量评价的农村发展差异分析——以北京山区经济薄弱村为例

从居民生活质量角度评价区域发展程度长期以来备受关注。本文以北京山区经济薄弱村为例,在抽样农户调查基础上,基于小康监测体系中的生活质量指标体系,采用因子分析法构建的主观评价体系,分别测算了村级客观、主观生活质量指数,运用聚类法与差异贡献率法,开展北京山区经济薄弱村居民主客观生活质量的对比评价及影响因素分析。研究表明:1客观指数上,99.29%的村庄低于北京农村的平均水平,村间差异显著,高指数村庄主要分布在地势平坦的近郊区;2主观指数上,具有一定地域趋同性,离城区越近主观满意度越低;3综合来看,深山区与近郊区的村庄自身存在较大的主—客观差异,18.95%的村庄综合生活质量较差,文化娱乐、信息教育、生态环保等生活品质是限制居民生活质量的主要因素;4差异扶贫、提升人口综合素质、扶持生活质量高维度相关产业发展以及开展扶贫动态监测与开发规划,是进一步改善居民生活质量、提升区域发展水平的主要驱动力。主客观生活质量评价能够深入反映区域发展与居民生活质量间的关系,可作为区域综合发展决策的重要辅助方法。     

基于“三生”视角的乡村功能分区及调控——以长株潭地区为例

随着城镇化的快速推进,中国社会经济发展进入转型期,乡村功能发展的多元化和空间分异特征日益明显。以长株潭地区23个县市区为研究地域单元,构建乡村功能评价指标体系及评价模型,揭示长株潭地区“生产—生活—生态”功能分异特征并进行功能分区与调控路径研究。结果表明：① 长株潭地区乡村“三生”功能空间分异特征明显,耕地资源丰富的醴陵市、浏阳市等地区生产功能较强,基础设施较为完善的荷塘区、岳塘区等地区生活功能较强,生态环境较好的茶陵县等地区生态功能较强。② 基于评价结果将研究区共划分为东部平原生产区、中部丘陵生活区、南部山地生态区、中部丘陵生态生活区和北部丘陵生态生产区5种类型功能区,其中东部平原生产区、中部丘陵生活区、南部山地生态区为长株潭地区的三生功能优势发展区,基于“优化主导优势功能、提升中等功能、改善弱势功能”的原则,提出各功能分区的调控路径与发展策略,从而为长株潭地区乡村功能转型发展与主导功能的识别及确定提供理论依据。     

Soil and bedrock distribution estimated from gully form and frequency: A GIS-based decision-tree model for Lebanon

Torrential rainfall and relatively sparse vegetation in the Mediterranean region result in the development of gully systems and land degradation, notably on lands with specific types of soil and bedrock. This paper proposes a decision-tree model to predict the distribution of soil and bedrock susceptible to gully erosion (white Rendzinas and marly rocks) from the form and frequency of gullies. The study area is located in Lebanon and the model is linked to GIS. V-fold cross-validation of the pruned model indicates that gully features including cross-section size and shape, network frequency, types of meandering, and catchment area can explain 80% of variance in soil/rock properties. The overall accuracy of the soil/rock map was estimated to be ca. 87%. The proposed model is relatively simple, and may also be applied to other areas. It is particularly useful when information about soil and rock obtained from conventional field surveys is limited.     

自然灾害的灰色关联灾情评估模型及应用研究

关联度是事物之间、因素之间关联性的量度。本文基于计算自然灾害损失评价指标的参考序列U0和其比较序列Ui之间的关联度这一思路,建立灰色关联灾情评估模型,并以新疆“96.7”洪水灾害灾情评估为例进行实例分析,计算得出了新疆“96.7”洪水灾害中部分地州市灾害等级的归属及其等级序列。结果表明：应用灰色关联灾情评估模型进行自然灾害灾度等级划分,既避免了人为的主观任意性,又能够很好地与实际相吻和。因而,灰色关联灾情评估模型是一种科学、实用的灾度评价方法。     

资源环境承载能力预警城市化地区专项评价——以京津冀地区为例

资源环境承载能力预警评价中,除基础评价外,还需针对城市化地区存在的特殊问题开展专项评价。但现有相关研究大多较为复杂、难以操作,且较少考虑目前中国城市化地区之间存在的发展水平差异,难以满足实际应用需求。本文根据近年来中国城市化地区资源环境凸显的主要问题,从城市人居环境入手,选取城市黑臭水体和PM2.5超标天数2个要素设计城市水气环境黑灰指数,作为城市化地区专项评价的主要指标;同时考虑到优化开发区域和重点开发区域的主体功能导向差异,以京津冀城市化地区为例开展试评价分析,结果显示：京津冀城市化地区的104个区县中,47个区县为重警,46个中警,仅11个为轻警,整体形势不容乐观。其中,重警区县主要集中在京广高铁沿线,与地区主要交通线路分布及钢铁工业聚集格局一致;轻警区县主要分布在北部的张承地区及东部沿海,工业相对较少,且地理位置有利于污染物迅速扩散。城市化地区专项评价作为基础评价的补充,能更清晰地反映现阶段影响城市人居环境的主要制约因子以及不同发展水平地区间的差异,评价结果可为城市化地区开展国土空间规划、城镇发展战略研究和产业结构调整等提供科学依据。