An intelligent agent based on virtual geographic environment system

On the basis of previous work, this paper designs an intelligent agent based on virtual geographic environment (VGE) system that is characterized by huge data, rapid computation, multi-user, multi-thread and intelligence and issues challenges to traditional GIS models and algorithms. The new advances in software and hardware technology lay a reliable basis for system design, development and application.     

Implementation of OGC web map service based on web service

OGC Web Map Service is one kind of OGC Portrayal Services belongs to OGC Web Service model and it provides multi-platform interoperability of spatial data set. This paper presents a method for implementing OGC Web Map Service based on Web Service technique and introduces the detailed process.     

Virtual reality and its application to slide annimation of landslide

A few researches adopt virtual reality in landslide. So it is significant to combine the physicsbased deformable method with the process simulation of a sliding landslide, this way the dynamic process of a going landslide can be simulated. The analysis of the dynamic law of landslide provides a foundation to forecast and make it realiable to foretell disasters. After recounting the condition of VR and landsliding body simulation, this paper puts forward simulating landslide by the physics-based deformable method. The method divides landsliding into deformable body and rigid one. The deformation of deformable body can be compute by DDA and FEM, and DDA fits the great deformation and FEM is good for the tiny deformation. This paper shows it is feasible to simulate the landslide animation by this method.     

Authorization administration in a distributed multi-application environment

To meet the authorization administration requirements in a distributed computer network environment, this paper extends the role-based access control model with multiple application dimensions and establishes a new access control model ED-RBAC(Extended Role Based Access Control Model) for the distributed environment. We propose an extendable hierarchical authorization assignment framework and design effective role-registering, role-applying and role-assigning protocol with symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic systems. The model can be used to simplify authorization administration in a distributed environment with multiple applications.     

Land cover dynamics in Garhwal Himalayas — a case study of balkhila sub-watershed

The present paper focuses on land cover dynamics pattern in Balkhila sub-watershed situated in Garhwal Himalayas. This study contributes example from human shaped ecosystem in mountainous regions where fragmentation of natural resources is active. The remote sensing and GIS has been used to understand the land cover dynamics along the topography. The results report that the land cover dynamics is dependent on the aspect due to sun illumination. The altitude and slope are no more a barrier for resource extraction and the human activity zone is shifting towards higher altitudes and slopes. The changes are also defined along the road and settlements.     

An automated seamless mosaicing system of multi-charge coupled devices of panchromatic data

Panchromatic data of pixel resolution 5.8 m obtained from IRS-1C and IRS-1D satellites proved to be very useful for mapping purposes. One of the popular data product is the 70 km swath mosaic which is covered by a combination of 3 CCD line sensors, each with 4096 pixels. Each CCD-line sensor with different imaging times causes geometric problems of mosaicing three strips data together. In this paper, we propose the details of the design elements of system that caters to the need for accurate and automatic multi strip image registration without any second resampling of the data. The systematic geometric correction grid mapping is improved to facilitate accurate mosaicing by automatic image registration task that makes use of the overlap data within image strips and image registration is achieved up to sub-pixel level.     

The GPS Toolbox

The GPS Toolbox is dedicated to highlighting algorithms utilized by GPS engineers and scientists. If you have an interesting algorithm you would like to share with our readers or if you have a topic you would like to see covered in a future column, contact us at gps-toolbox@ngs.noaa.gov. To comment on the algorithms presented here, or to leave a request for an algorithm you may be looking for, visit our Web site (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/gps-toolbox). ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Determination of failure probabilities of flood defence systems with improved dynamic bounds method

In this paper, we describe the computational framework of a novel method for solving the challenging problem of probabilistic finite elements. The method is called Improved Dynamic Bounds (IDB) and was developed recently to improve the efficiency of the dynamic bounds. The IDB is used in finite element numerical models to calculate time-dependent failure analyses of structures. In applications, the IDB can speed up the overall simulation process by several orders of magnitude. In applications controlled by two influential variables (e.g, two-dimensional problem), the computational efficiency is improved by a factor of 769 according to Rajabalinejad (2009). Applications of IDB indicate the method is most efficient for problems where the number of influential variables are limited. This is often the case for geotechnical and coastal flood defence systems. The IDB method is applied in this paper to the 17th Street Flood Wall, a component of the flood defence system (levee infra-structure) that failed during the Hurricane Katrina, to calculate the failure probability of an I-wall.     

Variation in Coronal Activity from Solar Cycle 24 Minimum to Maximum Using Three-Dimensional Reconstructions of the Coronal Electron Density from STEREO/COR1

Three-dimensional electron density distributions in the solar corona are reconstructed for 100 Carrington rotations (CR 2054?–?2153) during 2007/03?–?2014/08 using the spherically symmetric method from polarized white-light observations with the inner coronagraph (COR1) onboard the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). These three-dimensional electron density distributions are validated by comparison with similar density models derived using other methods such as tomography and a magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model as well as using data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO)-C2. Uncertainties in the estimated total mass of the global corona are analyzed based on differences between the density distributions for COR1-A and -B. Long-term variations of coronal activity in terms of the global and hemispheric average electron densities (equivalent to the total coronal mass) reveal a hemispheric asymmetry during the rising phase of Solar Cycle 24, with the northern hemisphere leading the southern hemisphere by a phase shift of 7?–?9 months. Using 14 CR (\(\approx13\)-month) running averages, the amplitudes of the variation in average electron density between Cycle 24 maximum and Cycle 23/24 minimum (called the modulation factors) are found to be in the range of 1.6?–?4.3. These modulation factors are latitudinally dependent, being largest in polar regions and smallest in the equatorial region. These modulation factors also show a hemispheric asymmetry: they are somewhat larger in the southern hemisphere. The wavelet analysis shows that the short-term quasi-periodic oscillations during the rising and maximum phases of Cycle 24 have a dominant period of 7?–?8 months. In addition, it is found that the radial distribution of the mean electron density for streamers at Cycle 24 maximum is only slightly larger (by \(\approx30\%\)) than at cycle minimum.