Use of an inside buffer method to extract the extent of urban areas from DMSP/OLS nighttime light data in North China

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)/Operational Linescan System (OLS) nighttime imagery provides a valuable data source for mapping urban areas. However, the spatial extents of large cities are often overestimated because of the effect of over-glow from nighttime light if a fixed thresholding technique is used. In the work reported here, an inside buffer method was developed to solve this issue. The method is based on the fact that the area overestimated is proportional to the extent of the lit area if a fixed threshold is used to extract urban areas in a region/county. Using this method, the extents of urban areas in North China were extracted and validated by interpretations from Landsat Thematic Mapper images. The results showed that the lit areas had a significant linear relationship with the urban areas for 120 representative cities in North China in 2000, with an R² value of over 0.95. This demonstrates that the inside buffer method can be used to extract urban areas. The validation results showed that the inside buffer model developed in 2000 can be directly used to extract the extent of urban areas using more recent nighttime light imagery. This is of great value for the timely updating of urban area databases in large regions or countries.     

Influence of urban expansion on the urban heat island effect in Shanghai

The urban heat island (UHI) effect resulting from rapid urbanization is attracting increasing attention among the global scientific community. This research analyzed the relationship between urban expansion and the UHI effect utilizing an integrated approach, including urban land interpretation and retrieving land surface temperature based on remote sensing, and spatial overlay analysis for revealing the relationship for different time periods between 1984 and 2014 in Shanghai, China. The results show that (1) the spatiotemporal changes in UHI are consistent with the expansion of urban land, and rapid urban expansion leads to an expansion of the UHI, in particular along roadways. (2) The mode of urban expansion is an important factor influencing the UHI effect. Urban sprawl (urban expansion in the edge-expansion way) is a form of typical expansion that leads to the rapid increase in the UHI. When the urban compactness ratio is less than 0.15, a compact design can effectively control the expansion rate of the UHI and mitigate its range of influence and intensity. However, when the urban compactness ratio is greater than 0.15, the urban design has a marked influence on the UHI ratio index: a more compact form produces a stronger UHI effect. So, finding an equilibrium between urban compactness ratio and urban expansion rate is good for effective urban management and planning.     

Emerging Chinese Cities: Implications for Global Urban Studies

Chinese cities are emerging in multiple senses: They have created new physical spaces to accommodate the fast urbanization of the country but have also developed new properties and characteristics along with urban transformation. The novelty created by emerging cities in China is not easily covered by Western urban theory. This article examines the dynamism of Chinese urban transformation, especially political economic changes vis-à-vis so-called neoliberalism, and spatial outcomes as diverse and contrasting spaces of formality and informality. Finally, this article speculates on implications for global urban studies.     

Visualising 30 Years of Population Density Change in Australia’s Major Capital Cities

ABSTRACT

This study uses a novel spatial approach to compare population density change across cities and over time. It examines spatio-temporal change in Australia’s five most populated capital cities from 1981 to 2011, and documents the established and emerging patterns of population distribution. The settlement patterns of Australian cities have changed substantially in the last 30 years. From the doughnut cities of the 1980s, programs of consolidation, renewal and densification have changed and concentrated population in our cities. Australian cities in the 1980s were characterised by sparsely populated, low density centres with growth concentrated to the suburban fringes. ‘Smart Growth’ and the ‘New Urbanism’ movements in the 1990s advocated higher dwelling density living and the inner cities re-emerged, inner areas were redeveloped, and the population distribution shifted towards increased inner city population densities. Policies aimed at re-populating the inner city dominated and the resultant changes are now visible in Australia’s five most populated capital cities. While this pattern has been reported in a number of studies, questions remain regarding the extent of these changes and how to analyse and visualise them across urban space. This paper reports on a spatial method which addresses the limitations of changing statistical boundaries to identify the changing patterns in Australian cities over time and space.     

Measuring Urban Streetscapes for Livability: A Review of Approaches

Increasing interest in urban livability demands that geographers and planners more precisely define what constitutes a livable streetscape, a fundamental building block of urban places. Widespread examination of streetscape livability will require precise and efficient measurements of (1) physical characteristics at the spatial scale of individual streetscapes and (2) indicators of experiential quality based on revealed behavior or stated preference. This article reviews approaches to collecting both types of measurements, showing that innovative methods using geographic information systems (GIS), Internet-enabled surveys, and even social media could be useful complements to traditional qualitative methods for collecting streetscape measurements.     

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.     

北京百年地质调查的传承与发展——《北京市区域地质志》修编

北京是中国地质调查的"摇篮",1913年成立地质调查所。1916年开始北京西山地质调查,1920年出版第一部地质调查专著《北京西山地质志》,民国时期"燕山运动"的提出和"北京猿人"的发现为影响世界的地质调查成果。解放后,北京率先实现1∶5万区域地质调查的全覆盖,1991年出版《北京市区域地质志》。2013—2015年修编第二版《北京市区域地质志》,为了突出北京的城市地质特色,增加"城市地质"篇章和"北京市基岩地质图",为京津冀协同发展服务。今后,北京的地质调查将以天安门为中心部署展开,建立8个监测预警预报系统,实现从地质找矿为中心向地质环境调查为中心转变,从资源调查向多参数调查转变,从平面地质调查向三维地质调查转变。     

Experimental Measurements of Solitary Wave Attenuation Over Shallow and Intermediate Submerged Canopy

Attenuations of solitary wave over a patch of submerged canopy are experimentally investigated. The submerged canopy is modeled by a group of circular cylinder array. The decay coefficients of different wave heights in two water depths along the wave flume are measured for six canopy models, including two canopy heights and three styles of arrangements. The relationships among the decay coefficient, and the dimensionless wave height, submergence ratio, relative height and arrangement of the canopy are experimentally studied. 2D PIV technique is employed to measure the representative flow field inside the canopy. A four-deck flow structure is proposed for wave flow field over shallow submerged canopy. The characteristics of shear flow inside the aligned canopy region are discussed.     

波浪在珊瑚岸礁礁坪上传播变形的数值研究

波浪的传播变形对珊瑚岛礁附近的营养物质输送以及近岸珊瑚沙运动都起着关键的作用,同时也是礁盘顶部建筑物在设计和施工过程中需要重点考虑的因素,因此,对波浪在礁坪上的传播变形进行研究具有重要意义。利用FUNWAVE 2.0数值模型模拟了不规则波浪在不同形状岸礁上的传播变形过程,讨论了礁前斜坡坡度以及珊瑚底面粗糙程度对波浪在礁坪上传播变形的影响。结果显示,随着礁坡斜率增大,不对称度参数绝对值的增长趋势逐渐变缓,波浪在光滑礁坪上的不对称度绝对值要略大于粗糙底面上的值,而不同地形下计算得到的波浪偏度参数则基本相同。说明礁坡坡度对波浪的不对称度特征具有显著影响,礁坪粗糙度的影响则相对较小,而上述因素对波浪偏度的影响则完全可以忽略。给出了考虑这两个影响因素的礁坪区域内波浪偏度和不对称度经验公式。     

基于多源遥感影像的长春市城市建成区提取

夜光遥感影像记录的城市灯光与人类活动密切相关,已广泛应用于城市信息提取。珞珈一号作为新一代夜光遥感数据源,比以往的夜光数据具有更高的空间分辨率和光谱分辨率,可以更清晰地表达城市建成区范围和内部结构。本文利用珞珈一号夜光遥感影像,通过人类居住指数（human settlement index, HSI）、植被覆盖和建筑共同校正的城市夜光指数（vegetation and build adjusted nighttime light urban index, VBANUI）及支持向量机（support vector machine, SVM）监督分类3种方法对长春市城市建成区进行提取,并与利用NPP/VIIRS（suomi national polar-orbiting partnership/visible infrared imaging radiometer suite）夜光遥感影像、采用同样方法得到的结果对比。结果显示：本文提出的VBANUI提高了传统植被覆盖校正的城市夜光指数（vegetation adjusted nighttime light urban index, VANUI）的提取精度,使用珞珈一号夜光遥感影像通过VBANUI提取的城市建成区结果最优,其Kappa系数为0.80,总体分类精度为90.74%;使用珞珈一号和NPP/VIIRS夜光遥感影像通过HSI按最佳阈值提取城市建成区的Kappa系数分别为0.75和0.72,总体分类精度分别为88.27%和86.54%;复合数据的SVM监督分类法中Landsat-NDBI、Landsat-NDBI-VIIRS、Landsat-NDBI-LJ和Landsat-NDBI-LJlog的Kappa系数分别为0.602、0.627、0.643和0.681,总体分类精度分别为81.11%、81.52%、82.25%和84.48%。研究结果表明：3种提取方法下,均为使用珞珈一号夜光遥感影像的结果优于使用NPP/VIIRS夜光遥感影像的结果,证明相比于NPP/VIIRS夜光遥感影像,珞珈一号夜光遥感影像更适用于城市尺度的建成区范围提取。