The Operational Geography of Great Britain*

This article examines the operational geography of Great Britain in terms of six components: domestic context; student quality, preparation, and training; professional work environment; publications and productivity; conveniences and facilities; and employment. The goal of operational geography is to provide the basis for blending the strengths of different systems of geography which have much to offer one another. This article uses personal experiences and survey data to examine the strengths and weaknesses in Britain as compared to the United States. It finds that Britain has strong national support, a greater emphasis on geographic education, high-quality but narrowly trained undergraduates, and a productive academic faculty. The United States enjoys a more effective graduate curriculum, better funding, and more opportunity for personal advancement.     

North American Geographers and the Pacific Rim: Leaders or Laggards

The ascendance of the Pacific Rim is an indisputable global happening. North American geography, a logical leader in the study of this high profile phenomenon, has lagged behind other disciplines in Rim-focused research. This article argues in favor of a heightened Rim awareness, surveys recent publications, suggests promising Pacific Rim research directions, and proposes how the Association of American Geographers can help promote Rim studies.     

工业区位因素变化与工业地理学研究的新动向

工业生产在国家和地区社会经济发展中的作用表现为阶段性变化,并在工业区位因素和工业空间特征的变化上表现出来。80年代以来,这种变化突出表现为技术因素和社会文化因素对工业生产和工业区位的影响日盆增强以及工业生产组织的国际合作的扩展,这种变化导致了工业地理学研究方法和研究领域的革新拓展。     

Rupture segmentation and assessment of probabilities of seismic potential on the Xiaojiang fault zone

Spatial distribution of sources of strong and large earthquakes on the Xiaojiang fault zone in eastern Yunnan is studied according to historical earthquake data. 7 segments of relatively independent sources or basic units of rupture along the fault zone have been identified preliminarily. On every segment, time intervals between main historical earthquakes are generally characterized by “time-predictable” recurrence behavior with indetermination. A statistic model for the time intervals between earthquakes of the fault zone has been preliminarily established. And a mathematical method has been introduced into this paper to reckon average recurrence interval between earthquakes under the condition of having known the size of the last event at a specific segment. Based on these, ranges of the average recurrence intervals given confidence have been estimated for events of various sizes on the fault zone. Further, the author puts forward a real-time probabilistic model that is suitable to analyze seismic potential for individual segments along a fault zone on which earthquake recurrence intervals have been characterized by quasi-time-predictable behavior, and applies this model to calculate conditional probabilities and probability gains of earthquake recurring on the individual segments of the Xiaojiang fault zone during the period from 1991 to 2005. As a consequence, it has shown that two parts of this fault zone, from south of Dongchuan to Songming and from Chengjiang to Huaning, have relatively high likelihoods for strong or large earthquake recurring in the future. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 322–330, 1993.     

经济学和地理学对区位论发展轨迹的影响

本文从学科发展史的角度,论述了区位论的发展轨迹,区位论与经济学和地理学在研究内容和方法上的异同,以及相互之间的促进关系。     

Internet-based applications for interrogating 50 years of data from the South African national water quality monitoring network

ABSTRACT

National and regional water quality monitoring networks have been operated in South Africa since the early 1970s. These originally had text-based inventories that were convenient for specialists who were familiar with the national networks and knew the locations of their sites of interest. However, within two decades the networks had expanded in geographical extent and variables monitored to such an extent that users needed spatial context in order to locate sites that fitted their information requirements. Mapping applications running on the Internet, such as Google Earth and Leaflet, form the foundation of a system for providing online inventories and summaries of the data available on the water quality database. The interfaces were constructed using available software, mainly ArcInfo and R. A recent concern is a decrease in the collection of water quality data, which is reducing the value of data summaries for water resource management.     

“新经济地理学”与经济地理学的分异与对立

最近几年来,由于经济全球化的趋势,西方经济学家又开始对经济地理学产生兴趣。“新经济地理学”或“地理经济学”应运而生。首先介绍经济学家克鲁格曼的“新经济地理学”理论框架和方法,综述西方地理学家对所谓“新经济地理学”的评价,最后概述经济地理学最近的发展以及地理学家对新经济地理学理解。     

Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment for Tulbagh,South Africa: Part I – Assessment of Seismic Hazard

In this part of our study the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for Tulbagh was performed. The applied procedure is parametric and consists essentially of two steps. The first step is applicable to the area in the vicinity of Tulbagh and requires an estimation of the area-specific parameters, which, in this case, is the mean seismic activity rate, , the Gutenberg-Richter parameter, b, and the maximum regional magnitude, m_max. The second step is applicable to the Tulbagh site, and consists of parameters of distribution of amplitude of the selected ground motion parameter. The current application of the procedure provides an assessment of the PSHA in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration (SA). The procedure permits the combination of both historical and instrumental data. The historical part of the catalogue only contains the strongest events, whereas the complete part can be divided into several subcatalogues, each assumed complete above a specified threshold of magnitude. In the analysis, the uncertainty in the determination of the earthquake was taken into account by incorporation of the concept of `apparent magnitude'. The PSHA technique has been developed specifically for the estimation of seismic hazard at individual sites without the subjective judgement involved in the definition of seismic source zones, when the specific active faults have not been mapped or identified, and where the causes of seismicity are not well understood. The results of the hazard assessment are expressed as probabilities that specified values of PGA will be exceeded during the chosen time intervals, and similarly for the spectral accelerations. A worst case scenario sketches the possibility of a maximum PGA of 0.30g. The results of the hazard assessment can be used as input to a seismic risk assessment.     

书法景观的文化地理浅释

书法地理学作为一门新兴的文化地理学的分支,它的基本理论研究对象之一便是书法景观。从文化地理学的角度出发,探讨了书法景观的概念,书法景观的分类。指出其构成除了自然因素以外,还应包括人文景观中的可视性因素、可悟性因素和氛围。书法景观是自然景观人文景观的统一体。     

浅析数字摄影测量在1∶500地形图测绘中的应用

数字摄影测量,应用计算机技术、数字影像处理、影像匹配、模式识别等理论与方法,以计算机视觉代替人眼的立体观测,其产品与中间数据的记录以及处理的原始资料均是数字的,较之常规的(传统的)数字产品的生产方法,具有自动化程度高、速度快、成果多样化等优点。两次外业和两次内业,是∶地形图数字摄影测量的主要作业流程,第二次外业调绘作为1500数字摄影测量的主要外业工作与常规调绘方法有一定的区别。∶地形图数字摄影测量适合于1500大面积数字化测图。