Assessing spatial and attribute errors in large national datasets for population distribution models: a case study of Philadelphia county schools

Geospatial technologies and digital data have developed and disseminated rapidly in conjunction with increasing computing efficiency and Internet availability. The ability to store and transmit large datasets has encouraged the development of national infrastructure datasets in geospatial formats. National datasets are used by numerous agencies for analysis and modeling purposes because these datasets are standardized and considered to be of acceptable accuracy for national scale applications. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory a population model has been developed that incorporates national schools data as one of the model inputs. This paper evaluates spatial and attribute inaccuracies present within two national school datasets, Tele Atlas North America and National Center of Education Statistics (NCES). Schools are an important component of the population model, because they are spatially dense clusters of vulnerable populations. It is therefore essential to validate the quality of school input data. Schools were also chosen since a validated schools dataset was produced in geospatial format for Philadelphia County; thereby enabling a comparison between a local dataset and the national datasets. Analyses found the national datasets are not standardized and incomplete, containing 76 to 90 percent of existing schools. The temporal accuracy of updating annual enrollment values resulted in 89 percent inaccuracy for 2003. Spatial rectification was required for 87 percent of NCES points, of which 58 percent of the errors were attributed to the geocoding process. Lastly, it was found that by combining the two national datasets, the resultant dataset provided a more useful and accurate solution.     

National and transnational borderlanders’ attitudes towards the security fence between Israel and the Palestinian Authority

The subject of the security fence between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank has become a major issue in Israel and in the world in the last several years. The main aim of this research is to reveal the attitudes and thoughts about the fence held by local residents living in settlements (borderlanders) in the proximity of a part of the security fence that has already been completed. The research concentrates on the western-Israeli side of the fence, as it aspires to delve into and understand the meaning and implications of the security fence on matters such as personal security, safety of property and freedom of movement, the possibility of maintaining social and economic ties between the two sides and feelings about living in the area in the future. Underlying this research is the transformation occurring in the border area as a result of its closure by construction of the security fence, after many years in which it was open partially. This process has many diverse consequences, some of them contradictory, on the two populations residing near the border in Israel: the majority Jewish population (the national borderlanders), and the minority Arab population (the transnational borderlanders).     

生态区评价研究的兴起与发展——以美国森林生态系统管理评价(FEMAT)研究为例

生态区评价是近年来出现在美国的一种新型区域生态系统管理方法的理论与实践科学研究,起始于美国总统森林会议(1993)后成立的森林生态系统管理评价组(FEMAT),目标是实现地区生态系统的科学管理.本文评介了生态区评价首项案例--美国西北太平洋沿岸区原始森林及其他各类森林经营管理方案的生态、经济、社会影响综合评价的科学与方法实践意义.指出FEMAT的生态区评价:1)迈出了生态区评价历史上坚实的第一步,实现了区域土地利用规划与生态系统管理方案从以行政疆域为准划分向以生态区域为准划定边界的转变;2)方案优化过程充分考虑区域生态、经济、社会的历史、现状与未来趋势等各方面,将科学、政策、管理融为一体,使之易于在实践中贯彻;3)促进了不同政府机构和利益团体间为实现资源开发与生态保育双重目标而共同协作.     

Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: Bohol, the Philippines

The karst landscape in the interior of the Philippines' Bohol Province represents one of the world's premier kegelkarst (cone karst) environments. Government efforts to protect some of this karst, exemplified by the establishment of the Rajah Sikatuna National Park and the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument, have proven to be significant catalysts of social conflict. In Bohol there is a long history of traditional land tenure, which has recently been supplanted by a Westernized model. Protected area establishment is a response to deforestation, agricultural exploitation and uncontrolled quarrying. However, the imposition of protective legislation to prevent further degradation has disenfranchized and marginalized many local farmers and residents. The conflict between the obligation of the State to ensure environmental protection and the perceived property rights of landowners and farmers has provoked an escalation in civil unrest and armed conflict.     

中国国家自然地图集Internet版的设计和研制

本文系统阐述了国家自然地图集Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ版的设计和研制过程中的若干问题,包括系统的概念设计、系统开发中的ＷｅｂＧＩＳ技术和策略,系统的主要功能和特色,以及系统维护和更新方案等。本系统从概念设计来看分为服务器端软件模块、浏览器端软件模块、国家自然地图集数据库支持等几个部分。系统开发中采取的ＷｅｂＧＩＳ技术和策略有:兼顾服务器端和客户端的综合型ＷｅｂＧＩＳ策略,基于Ｊａｖａ Ａｐｐｌｅｔ的 ＷｅｂＧＩＳ浏览器开发技术,基于Ｍａｐ Ｏｂｊｅｃｔ(ＭＯ)的ＷｅｂＧＩＳ服务器开发技术等３个方面。在系统的主要功能特色方面,本文从以下５个方面进行了论述:科学有序的内容结构、清晰精练并带导航的界面、富有特色的信息查询功能、多重表达的地图可视化效果、一定的空间信息分析和制图功能。在系统维护和更新方案上,本文从网络技术、数据更新、功能开发３个方面介绍了计划,并对今后的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Estimation of surface latent heat fluxes from IRS-P4/MSMR satellite data

The brightness temperatures of the Microwave sensor MSMR (Multichannel Scanning Microwave Radiometer) launched in May 1999 onboard Indian Oceansat-1 IRS-P4 are used to develop a direct retrieval method for latent heat flux by multivariate regression technique. The MSMR measures the microwave radiances at 8 channels at frequencies of 6.6, 10.7, 18 and 21 GHz at both vertical and horizontal polarizations. It is found that the surface LHF (Latent Heat Flux) is sensitive to all the channels. The coefficients were derived using the National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data of three months: July, September, November of 1999. The NCEP daily analyzed latent heat fluxes and brightness temperatures observed by MSMR were used to derive the coefficients. Validity of the derived coefficients was checked within situ observations over the Indian Ocean and with NCEP analyzed LHF for global points. The LHF derived directly from the MSMR brightness temperature (Tb) yielded an accuracy of 35 watt/m². LHF was also computed by applying bulk formula using the geophysical parameters extracted from MSMR. In this case the errors were higher apparently due to the errors involved in derivation of the geophysical parameters.     

我国国家重力网的系统转换

本文分析了我国１９５７年国家重力网的精度和问题，探讨了国家重力网的系统转换模式，利用现有的新旧重力网的重合点实际数据进行了回归分析、方差分析和系统误差检验，结果表明在“５７网”与“８５网”之间，除了—１３．５８ｍｇａｌ的平均基准差之外，并不存在其它明显的系统误差，特别是看不出有尺度系统差的影响，也不存在差值随纬度变化的任何规律。因此认为将“５７网”系统转换成“８５网”系统时，可以不必加“尺度系统差改正”，更不用考虑“非线性系统差改正”，建议一律只加一项“基准系统差改正”，其数值应该采用—１３．５８ｍｇａｌ。     

中国沿海地区国民收入预测的新组合模型

着重讨论一种基于灰色ＧＭ（１，１）模型及国民收入决定函数模型而建立的新组合模型。该模型建模方法简单，组合性强，并且在各模型的拟合精度提高。该模型汲取了灰色ＧＭ（１，１）模型模拟国民收入变化趋势的优点和国民收入决定函数模型模拟国民收入波动的优点，使组合模型不但在趋势上符合国民收入的发展，而且也给出了在波动方面的比较一致的模拟。     

Quantitative assessment of future development of cooper/silver resources in the Kootenai National Forest,Idaho/Montana: Part I—Estimation of the copper and silver endowments

Faced with an ever-increasing diversity of demand for the use of public lands, managers and planners are turning more often to a multiple-use approach to meet those demands. This approach requires the uses to be mutually compatible and to utilize the more valuable attributes or resource values of the land. Therefore, it is imperative that planners be provided with all available information on attribute and resource values in a timely fashion and in a format that facilitates a comparative evaluation.The Kootenai National Forest administration enlisted the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines to perform a quantitative assessment of future copper/silver production potential within the forest from sediment-hosted copper deposits in the Revett Formation that are similar to those being mined at the Troy Mine near Spar Lake. The U.S. Geological Survey employed a quantitative assessment technique that compared the favorable host terrane in the Kootenai area with worldwide examples of known sediment-hosted copper deposits. The assessment produced probabilistic estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits that may be present in the area and of the copper and silver endowment that might be contained in them.Results of the assessment suggest that the copper/silver deposit potential is highest in the southwestern one-third of the forest. In this area there is an estimated 50 percent probability of at least 50 additional deposits occurring mostly within approximately 260,000 acres where the Revett Formation is thought to be present in the subsurface at depths of less than 1,500 meters. A Monte Carlo type simulation using data on the grade and tonnage characteristics of other known silver-rich, sediment-hosted copper deposits predicts a 50 percent probability that these undiscovered deposits will contain at least 19 million tonnes of copper and 100,000 tonnes of silver. Combined with endowments estimated for identified, but not thoroughly explored deposits, and deposits that might also occur in the remaining area of the forest, the endowment potential increases to 23 million tonnes of copper and 190,000 tonnes of silver.     

The study of the undiscovered mineral resources of the Tongass National Forest and adjacent lands,Southeastern Alaska

The quantitative probabilistic assessment of the undiscovered mineral resources of the 17.1-million-acre Tongass National Forest (the largest in the United States) and its adjacent lands is a nonaggregated, mineral-resource-tract-oriented assessment designed for land-planning purposes. As such, it includes the renewed use of gross-in-place values (GIPV's) in dollars of the estimated amounts of metal contained in the undiscovered resources as a measure for land-use planning.Southeastern Alaska is geologically complex and contains a wide variety of known mineral deposits, some of which have produced important amounts of metals during the past 100 years. Regional geological, economic geological, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral exploration history information for the region was integrated to define 124 tracts likely to contain undiscovered mineral resources. Some tracts were judged to contain more than one type of mineral deposit. Each type of deposit may contain one or more metallic elements of economic interest. For tracts where information was sufficient, the minimum number of as-yet-undiscovered deposits of each type was estimated at probability levels of 0.95, 0.90, 0.50, 0.10, and 0.05.The undiscovered mineral resources of the individual tracts were estimated using the U.S. Geological Survey's MARK3 mineral-resource endowment simulator; those estimates were used to calculate GIPV's for the individual tracts. Those GIPV's were aggregated to estimate the value of the undiscovered mineral resources of southeastern Alaska. The aggregated GIPV of the estimates is $40.9 billion.Analysis of this study indicates that (1) there is only a crude positive correlation between the size of individual tracts and their mean GIPV's: and (2) the number of mineral-deposit types in a tract does not dominate the GIPV's of the tracts, but the inferred presence of synorogenic-synvolcanic nickel-copper, porphyry copper skarn-related, iron skarn, and porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits does. The influence of this study on the U.S. Forest Service planning process is yet to be determined.