Crowdsourcing urban form and function

Urban form and function have been studied extensively in urban planning and geographical information science. However, gaining a greater understanding of how they merge to define the urban morphology remains a substantial scientific challenge. Toward this goal, this paper addresses the opportunities presented by the emergence of crowdsourced data to gain novel insights into form and function in urban spaces. We are focusing in particular on information harvested from social media and other open-source and volunteered datasets (e.g. trajectory and OpenStreetMap data). These data provide a first-hand account of form and function from the people who define urban space through their activities. This novel bottom-up approach to study these concepts complements traditional urban studies to provide a new lens for studying urban activity. By synthesizing recent advancements in the analysis of open-source data, we provide a new typology for characterizing the role of crowdsourcing in the study of urban morphology. We illustrate this new perspective by showing how social media, trajectory, and traffic data can be analyzed to capture the evolving nature of a city’s form and function. While these crowd contributions may be explicit or implicit in nature, they are giving rise to an emerging research agenda for monitoring, analyzing, and modeling form and function for urban design and analysis.     

A UML‐based Representation of Spatio‐Temporal Evolution in Road Network Data

Geographic features change over time, this change being the result of some kind of event. Most database systems used in GIS are relational in nature, capturing change by exhaustively storing all versions of data, or updates replace previous versions. This stems from the inherent difficulty of modelling geographic objects and associated data in relational tables, and this is compounded when the necessary time dimension is introduced to represent how these objects evolve. This article describes an object‐oriented (OO) spatio‐temporal conceptual data model called the Feature Evolution Model (FEM), which can be used for the development of a spatio‐temporal database management system (STDBMS). Object versioning techniques developed in the fields of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and engineering design are utilized in the design. The model is defined using the Unified Modelling Language (UML), and exploits the expressiveness of OO technology by representing both geographic entities and events as objects. Further, the model overcomes the limitations inherent in relational approaches in representing aggregation of objects to form more complex, compound objects. A management object called the evolved feature maintains a temporally ordered list of references to features thus representing their evolution. The model is demonstrated by its application to road network data.     

The 1919–1920 eruption of Mauna Iki,Kilauea: chronology,geologic mapping,and magma transport mechanisms

Utilizing historical accounts, field mapping, and photogeology, this paper presents a chronology of, and an analysis of magma transport during, the December 1919 to August 1920 satellitic shield eruption of Mauna Iki on the SW rift zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii. The eruption can be divided into four stages based on the nature of the eruptive activity. Stage 1 consisted of the shallow injection of a dike from the summit region to the eventual eruption site 10 km downrift. During stage 2, a low ridge of pahoehoe formed in the vent area; later a large a'a flow broke out of this ridge and flowed 8.5 km SW at an average flow front velocity of 0.5 km/day. The eruption continued until mid-August producing almost exclusively pahoehoe, first as gas-rich overflows from a lava pond (stage 3), and later as denser tube-fed lava (stage 4) that reached almost 8 km from the vent at an average flow-front velocity of 0.1 km/day. Magma transport during the Mauna Iki eruption is examined using three criteria: (1) eruption characteristics and volumetric flow rates; (2) changes in the surface height of the Halemaumau lava lake; and (3) tilt measurements made at the summit of Kilauea. We find good correlation between Halemaumau lake activity and the eruptive stages. Additionally, the E-W component of summit tilt tended to mimic the lake activity. The N-S component, however, did not. Multiple storage zones in the shallow summit region probably accounted for the decoupling of E-W and N-S tilt components. Analysis of these criteria shows that at different times during the eruption, magma was either emplaced into the volcano without eruption, hydraulically drained from Halemaumau to Mauna Iki, or fed at steady-state conditions from summit storage to Mauna Iki. Volume calculations indicate that the supply rate to Kilauea during the eruption was around 3 m³/s, similar to that calculated during the Mauna Ulu and Kupaianaha shield-building eruptions, and consistent with previously determined values of long-term supply to Kilauea.     

Processes controlling acid attenuation in the unsaturated zone of a Triassic sandstone aquifer (U.K.), in the absence of carbonate minerals

Continuous core samples were taken through the unsaturated zone at three sites on the outcrop of Permo-Triassic sandstone in the British West Midlands. Sample sites were chosen for lack of recent, direct anthropogenic disturbance, and for differing vegetation: heathland, birch woodland and conifer forest. Interstitial water was extracted and analyzed for 32 major and trace elements. Solid phases were analyzed for exchangeable cations and mineralogy. The rate of recharge calculated using a Cl mass balance method was three times greater below heathland than below afforested sites owing to higher evapotranspiration rates in the woodlands.Carbonate minerals were absent from the unsaturated zone at each site. Soil solutions were acidic and soils at the woodland sites were more acidic (pH 4.0) than those at the heathland site (pH 4.5). Acidic interstitial water solutions were found to up to 5.0 m depth in the unsaturated zone and are partially neutralized by two aluminosilicate mineral reactions in the unsaturated zone: cation exchange and K-feldspar dissolution. The rate at which these acid neutralizing reactions act to neutralize acidity is revealed by the rate of depletion of base cations from the unsaturated zone in recharge solutions; K⁺ (dissolution), Ca⁺² + Mg⁺² (cation exchange). The total base cation depletion rate was greatest below heathland; this can be attributed mainly to the greater rate of SO₄ assimilation by the woodland biome.     

The dynamics of offshore gravity platforms: Some insights afforded by a two degree of freedom model

This paper presents some findings of an investigation into the dynamic behaviour of offshore gravity platforms excited by waves. Results obtained from a finite element model are presented in the form of dynamic magnification factor curves for two structures typical of current concrete platform designs. In order to facilitate interpretation of these results a simple two degree of freedom model is developed and the equivalent results presented. These are found to be very similar to those obtained from the more detailed idealization, and it is therefore concluded that the principal mechanisms involved in the dynamic behaviour of offshore gravity structures are adequately represented in the simple model. Several useful insights into this behaviour are then achieved by closer examination of the two degree of freedom configuration.     

XTE J1550–564: a superluminal ejection during the September 1998 outburst

In 1998 September, the X-ray transient XTE J1550–564 underwent amajor outburst in soft and hard X-rays, followed by a radio flare. Australian Long Baseline Array imagesobtained shortly after the peak in the radio flare showed evolving structure.The components observed have an apparent separation velocity of >2c.     

The failure of Teton Dam

This paper reviews the events leading to the failure of Teton Dam in Idaho on June 5, 1976 and the investigations, conducted over a period of about eight years, to determine the cause of the failure. Conclusions are presented regarding the probable trigger mechanisms which initiated the failure, the mechanics of failure and the significant lessons concerning earth dam design and construction resulting from the investigations.     

Ross Gelbspan,The Heat is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth's Threatened Climate

Earth, Moon, and Planets -     

Sea-bed characterisation and classification from the power spectra of side-scan sonar data

This work is concerned with the automatic characterisation and classification of the sea-bed for side-scan sonar trace power-spectra.A parametric model of side-scan sonar trace power-spectra is developed from the equation for the magnitude frequency response of a Butterworth filter. The model's parameters are optimised to give a least squares fit with observed spectra. Three of the optimised parameters are used to define features.