Estimating spatial efficiency using cyber search,GIS, and spatial optimization: a case study of fire service deployment in Los Angeles County

ABSTRACT

The efficiency of public investments and services has been of interest to geographic researchers for several decades. While in the private sector inefficiency often leads to higher prices, loss of competitiveness, and loss of business, in the public sector inefficiency in service provision does not necessarily lead to immediate changes. In many cases, it is not an entirely easy task to analyze a particular service as appropriate data may be difficult to obtain and hidden in detailed budgets. In this paper, we develop an integrative approach that uses cyber search, Geographic Information System (GIS), and spatial optimization to estimate the spatial efficiency of fire protection services in Los Angeles (LA) County. We develop a cyber-search process to identify current deployment patterns of fire stations across the major urban region of LA County. We compare the results of our search to existing databases. Using spatial optimization, we estimate the level of deployment that is needed to meet desired coverage levels based upon the location of an ideal fire station pattern, and then compare this ideal level of deployment to the existing system as a means of estimating spatial efficiency. GIS is adopted throughout the paper to simulate the demand locations, to conduct location-based spatial analysis, to visualize fire station data, and to map model simulation results. Finally, we show that the existing system in LA County has considerable room for improvement. The methodology presented in this paper is both novel and groundbreaking, and the automated assessments are readily transferable to other counties and jurisdictions.     

省市级基础地理信息框架数据联动更新探究

基于潍坊市寿光基础地理信息数据库建设更新工程与省地理信息公共服务平台框架数据更新工程,探索了省市基础地理信息框架数据联动更新的工作模式,提出了通过建立多比例尺基础框架数据的方式,建立省市基础框架数据库的联系,通过增量更新的模式完成省市两级基础框架数据库联动更新的方法。     

John Turnbull Thomson,Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society: An early New Zealand geographer

John Turnbull Thomson is more known in New Zealand for his work as Chief Surveyor of Otago Province (1856–1876) and first Surveyor General of New Zealand (1877–1879). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London from 1848 until his death in 1884. Thomson was an important and early self‐declared ‘does’ of geographer in New Zealand, prior to the establishment of university geography in 1937. Thomson's contribution included survey and mapping but he also gave public lectures on geography and contributed to debates about glaciation.     

Map-Based Web Tools Supporting Climate Change Adaptation

This article discusses the state of the art in geovisualization supporting climate change adaptation. We reviewed twenty selected map-based Web tools, classified by their content and functionality, and assessed them by visual representations, interactive functions, information type, target audience, and how vulnerability and adaptation to climate change are addressed. Our study concludes that the tools (1) can be classified as data viewers with basic functionality and data explorers offering more sophisticated interactive functions; (2) mostly feature moderate or high richness of data content; and (3) predominantly target expert users.     

基于潜在语义信息的城市功能区识别————广州市浮动车GPS时空数据挖掘

随着中国城市化进程的不断推进和深入,城市内部空间结构正发生不断的变化.城市内部形成的不同功能区标识研究,对城市结构理论以及政策制定,资源配置等方面具有非常重要的意义.这些不同的功能区包括住宅区,工业区,教育区以及办公区等.本文以大数据为依托,重点研究城市功能区的特点和分布状态,选取广州市6个区为样本,以最新道路网络为分割依据把研究样本分为439个区域.对历时一周的海量浮动车(GPS)数据以及兴趣点数据采用时空语义挖掘方法,建立潜在的狄利克雷模型(LDA)以及狄利克雷多项式回归模型(DMR);通过OPTICS聚类方法对不同模型的结果进行聚类,进而利用POI类别密度,居民出行特征等方法进行分区结果识别.同时,参考百度地图的地理信息,将研究得到的广州市功能分区结果与广州市城镇用地现状图,居民日常出行特征进行对比验证分析.研究表明,该方法基本能识别出具明显特征的城市功能区,如成熟居住区,科教文化区,商业娱乐区,开发区等.识别出的广州市不同类型的功能区呈现了以居住区和商业区为主导,其他类型功能区围绕其展开的特点.研究证明,利用大规模,高质量的个体时空数据开展人们移动行为和日常活动组织及社会空间的研究,能从一个新的视角揭示城市功能区的形成及其机制.     

The Pedagogical Benefits of SimCity in Urban Geography Education

This article investigated the pedagogical potential of the SimCity simulation game in an urban geography course. University students used SimCity to build their own cities and applied a wide range of theories to support their urban structures. Moreover, the students critically evaluated the logic and functioning of the SimCity simulation compared to real-world contexts and urban geography principles. The students believed the SimCity activity provided them with opportunities to promote their geographic creativity, resulting in diverse, unique, and interesting cities. The findings demonstrate that the use of SimCity can be an effective tool for geography education.     

Phylogeography of the pelagic fish Seriola lalandi at different scales: confirmation of inter-ocean population structure and evaluation of southern African genetic diversity

The study investigated the global and regional phylogeography of the yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi by examining genetic diversity and population genetic structure of this species at inter-and intra-ocean level and on a regional scale. DNA fragments of two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome b (Cytb) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and one nuclear gene, recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1), were sequenced to investigate the global-scale phylogeography of this species. The population genetic structure within the South Pacific, as well as along the South African coastline, was examined further using six microsatellite markers. Three distinct clades were identified for S. lalandi, which correspond with previously described subspecies of the North-East Pacific, North-West Pacific and the Southern Hemisphere. Within the latter, additional divergence was observed between the South Pacific and the South-East Atlantic regions. Divergence estimates were indicative of a Pacific origin for S. lalandi populations, because of Pleistocene vicariant events. Microsatellite analyses revealed overall significant genetic differentiation between South African and South Pacific samples. This corroborates recent findings on the global phylogeography of the species. No population differentiation was observed within South Africa, indicating high levels of gene flow.     

The digital ‘connected’ earth: open technology for providing location-based services on degraded communication environments

In the current world, it is easy to listen that everybody and everything is connected. Over this connected world, the concept of location-based services has grown in order to provide digital services in everyplace and at every time. Nevertheless, this is not 100% true because the connection is not guaranteed for many people and in many places. These are the Degraded Communications Environments (DCE), environments where the availability of high-speed communications is not guaranteed in at least the 75% of the time. This paper works over the experience of a previous work in developing light protocols that do not need broadband for communication. This work provides an extension of these protocols for the inclusion of mobile devices as elements of the communication process and a set of libraries to allow the development of applications in DCE. The work done has involved the development of two frameworks: an Android framework that makes the incorporation of Android devices easier and a server-based framework that provides the server side for the development of the referred applications. A use case that uses these two frameworks has been developed. Finally, all technology developed is available throw a public Git repository.     

地理探测器在判别滑坡稳定性影响因素中的应用

高山峡谷区是滑坡灾害频发地区,随着气候变化和人类活动加剧,滑坡呈多发、频发态势。本文选择坐落于横断山高山峡谷区的西藏江达县作为研究区,利用野外调查获取的85个滑坡数据,选取坡度、河流密度、地貌类型、降水量、距断层距离、道路密度、地震动峰值加速度、岩性等8个稳定性影响因素,运用地理探测器对滑坡稳定性的影响因素进行了探测。结果表明:（1）按滑坡体体积划分等级,江达县滑坡主要以中、小型滑坡为主;按其稳定性划分,50%以上的滑坡处于稳定状态;按危险等级划分,以Ⅲ级、Ⅳ级为主;江达县滑坡主要沿河流与道路分布,全县地面调查发现85处滑坡全部分布于河流附近,其中71.76%的滑坡分布于道路两侧。（2）江达县滑坡稳定性的主要影响因子为地貌类型、河流密度、道路密度和距断层距离,其贡献率分别为0.501,0.477,0.465,0.332;当影响因子两两相互作用时,因子解释力总是大于单个因子对滑坡稳定性的解释力,即当两种影响因子相互作用时,对于滑坡的失稳具有促进作用。     

虚拟现实技术在城市规划中的应用研究与实践

从虚拟现实的概念出发,分析了虚拟现实的3个特征,论述了虚拟现实技术涉及到的关键技术及虚拟现实技术在城市规划中的应用。最后,我们以小区为研究对象,将3D数据作为数据源,采用VRMap软件平台进行将VR技术应用于城市规划中的研究与试验。