地球空间信息学的机遇

从地球空间信息产业和地球空间信息技术发展的前景两个侧面阐述了美国劳工部把地球空间技术与纳米技术、生物技术一起确定为新出现的和正在飞速发展中的三大最重要的技术的原因 ,并分别从时空信息获取、加工、管理和服务 4个方面对地球空间信息未来的技术发展作了简要的叙述     

SAN技术在基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的应用

分析了基础地理信息数据库建设中对存储备份系统的需求和当前存储系统的组成及特点 ,提出了存储局域网在基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的应用方案 ,并介绍了其在陕西省基础地理信息数据库系统建设中的实现情况     

基于三角网的"种子法"多边形生成

将传统上广泛使用的“种子法”和“矢量求交法”的思想相结合 ,提出了一种基于约束Delaunay三角网结构的多边形生成算法。详细描述了该方法的基本思想 ,在实验基础上分析了算法的特点。     

基于OpenGIS规范的地理信息系统组件的内核及功能设计

提出了符合OpenGIS规范的二维地理信息系统组件软件MapManager的设计思想 ,介绍了MapManager的设计过程 ,并对其不足和进一步研究方向进行了讨论。     

Influence of groundwater level change on vegetation coverage and their spatial variation in arid regions

Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km2 of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application of geo-statistics. Results showed that the variance curve of the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage displays an exponential model. Analysis of sampling data in 2003 indicates that the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage change similarly in space in this area. The Sangong River Basin is composed of upper oasis, middle ecotone and lower sand dune. In oasis and ecotone, influenced by irrigation of the adjoining oasis, groundwater level has been raised and soil water content also increased compared with sand dune nearby, vegetation developed well. But in the lower reaches of the Sangong River Basin, because of descending of groundwater level, soil water content decreased and vegetation degenerated. From oasis to abandoned land and desert grassland, vegetation coverage and groundwater level changed greatly with significant difference respectively in spatial variation. Distinct but similar spatial variability exists among the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the study area, namely, the vegetation coverage decreasing (increasing) as the groundwater depth increases (decreases). This illustrates the great dependence of vegetation coverage on groundwater depth in arid regions and further implies that among the great number of factors affecting vegetation coverage in arid regions, groundwater depth turns out to be the most determinant one.     

Research on spatial calculating analysis model of landuse change

The spatial calculating analysis model is based on GIS overlay. It will compartmentalize the land in research district into three spatial types: unchanged parts, converted parts and increased parts. By this method we can evaluate the numerical model and dynamic degree model for calculating land-use change rates. Furthermore, the paper raises the possibility of revising the calculating analysis model of spatial information in order to predicate more precisely the dynamic changing level of all types of land uses. In the most concrete terms, the model is used mainly to understand changed area and changed rates (increasing or decreasing) of different land types from microcosmic angle and establish spatial distribution and spatio-temporal principles of the changing urban lands. And we will try to find out why the situation can take place by combining social and economic situations. The result indicates the calculating analysis model of spatial information can derive more accurate procedure of spatial transference and increase of all kinds of land from microcosmic angle. By this model and technology we can conduct the research of land-use spatio-temporal structure evolution more systematically and more deeply, and can obtain a satisfactory result. The result will benefit the rational planning and management of urban land use of developed coastal areas in China in the future.     

Geography Education: The Glass Is Half Full and It's Getting Fuller

This article examines the recent progress of geography education as an academic subfield of geography and as an area of activity in K–12 education. Challenges to both endeavors are described. A restructuring of geography education's research program that focuses on spatial thinking and reasoning and merges applied and theoretical research is proposed.     

Effects of spatially structured vegetation patterns on hillslope erosion in a semiarid Mediterranean environment: a simulation study

A general trend of decreasing soil loss rates with increasing vegetation cover fraction is widely accepted. Field observations and experimental work, however, show that the form of the cover‐erosion function can vary considerably, in particular for low cover conditions that prevail on arid and semiarid hillslopes. In this paper the structured spatial distribution of the vegetation cover and associated soil attributes is proposed as one of the possible causes of variation in cover–erosion relationships, in particular in dryland environments where patchy vegetation covers are common. A simulation approach was used to test the hypothesis that hillslope discharge and soil loss could be affected by variation in the spatial correlation structure of coupled vegetation cover and soil patterns alone. The Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) was parameterized and verified for a small catchment with discontinuous vegetation cover at Rambla Honda, SE Spain. Using the same parameter sets LISEM was subsequently used to simulate water and sediment fluxes on 1 ha hypothetical hillslopes with simulated spatial distributions of vegetation and soil parameters. Storms of constant rainfall intensity in the range of 30–70 mm h^?1 and 10–30 min duration were applied. To quantify the effect of the spatial correlation structure of the vegetation and soil patterns, predicted discharge and soil loss rates from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were compared with those from hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. The results showed that the spatial organization of bare and vegetated surfaces alone can have a substantial impact on predicted storm discharge and erosion. In general, water and sediment yields from hillslopes with spatially structured distributions of vegetation and soil parameters were greater than from identical hillslopes with spatially uniform distributions. Within a storm the effect of spatially structured vegetation and soil patterns was observed to be highly dynamic, and to depend on rainfall intensity and slope gradient. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of vegetation patterns in structuring runoff and sediment fluxes in drylands

The dynamics of vegetation‐driven spatial heterogeneity (VDSH) and its function in structuring runoff and sediment fluxes have received increased attention from both geomorphological and ecological perspectives, particularly in arid regions with sparse vegetation cover. This paper reviews the recent findings in this area obtained from field evidence and numerical simulation experiments, and outlines their implications for soil erosion assessment. VDSH is often observed at two scales, individual plant clumps and stands of clumps. At the patch scale, the local outcomes of vegetated patches on soil erodibility and hydraulic soil properties are well established. They involve greater water storage capacity as well as increased organic carbon and nutrient inputs. These effects operate together with an enhanced capacity for the interception of water and windborne resources, and an increased biological activity that accelerates breakdown of plant litter and nutrient turnover rates. This suite of relationships, which often involve positive feedback mechanisms, creates vegetated patches that are increasingly different from nearby bare ground areas. By this way a mosaic builds up with bare ground and vegetated patches coupled together, respectively, as sources and sinks of water, sediments and nutrients. At the stand scale within‐storm temporal variability of rainfall intensity controls reinfiltration of overland flow and its decay with slope length. At moderate rainfall intensity, this factor interacts with the spatial structure of VDSH and the mechanism of overland flow generation. Reinfiltration is greater in small‐grained VDSH and topsoil saturation excess overland flow. Available information shows that VDSH structures of sources and sinks of water and sediments evolve dynamically with hillslope fluxes and tune their spatial configurations to them. Rainfall simulation experiments in large plots show that coarsening VDSH leads to significantly greater erosion rates even under heavy rainfall intensity because of the flow concentration and its velocity increase. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in the spatial scale of Beijing UHI and urban development

The seasonal and interannual variations of Beijing urban heat island (UHI) are investigated in this paper using the temperature data from 1960 to 2000 at 20 meteorological stations in the Beijing region, and then the relationship between the intensity and spatial scale of UHI and Beijing urbanization indices is analyzed and discussed. Main conclusions are the followings. First, Beijing UHI shows obvious seasonal variations, and it is strongest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer. The seasonal variation of the UHI mainly occurs in the urban area. The UHI intensity at the center of Beijing is more than 0.8℃ in winter, and only 0.5℃ in summer. Second, the intensity of Beijing HUI exhibits a clear interannual warming trend with its mean growth rate (MGR) being 0.3088℃/10 a. The MGR of HUI is largest in winter, next in spring and autumn, and least in summer, and the urban temperature increase makes a major contribution to the growth of HUI intensity. Third, since the Reform and Opening, the urbanization indices have grown several ten times or even one hundred times, the intensity of HUI has increased dramatically, and its spatial scale also expanded distinctively along with the expansion of urban architectural complexes. Fourth, the interannual variation of urbanization indices is very similar with that of HUI intensity, and their linear correlation coefficients are significant at a more than 0.001 confidence level.