A GIS-based method for defining snow zones: application to the western United States

This study maps the geographic extent of intermittent and seasonal snow cover in the western United States using thresholds of 2000–2010 average snow persistence derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer snow cover area data from 1 January to 3 July. Results show seasonal snow covers 13% of the region, and intermittent snow covers 25%. The lower elevation boundaries of intermittent and seasonal snow zones increase from north-west to south-east. Intermittent snow is primarily found where average winter land surface temperatures are above freezing, whereas seasonal snow is primarily where winter temperatures are below freezing. However, temperatures at the boundary between intermittent and seasonal snow exhibit high regional variability, with average winter seasonal snow zone temperatures above freezing in west coast mountain ranges. Snow cover extent at peak accumulation is most variable at the upper elevations of the intermittent snow zone, highlighting the sensitivity of this snow zone boundary to climate conditions.     

An analysis of changes in the urban landscape composition and configuration in the Sancaktepe District of Istanbul Metropolitan City,Turkey using landscape metrics and satellite data

Changes in landscape composition and configuration patterns of Sancaktepe Municipal District in the Asian side of Istanbul Metropolitan City of Turkey were analysed using landscape metrics. Class-level and landscape-level metrics were calculated from the land cover/land use data using Patch Analyst, an extension in the Arc View GIS. The land cover/land use data were derived from classified satellite images of Landsat Thematic Mapper of 2002 and 2009 for Sancaktepe District. There was evidence of increase in agglomeration process of built-up patches as indicated by the increases in mean patch size, decrease in total edge and number of patches between 2002 and 2009. The urban expansion pattern experienced overall was not fragmented but concentrated due to infilling around existing patches. Changes in Area-Weighted Mean Shape Index and Area-Weighted Patch Fractal Dimension Index indicated that the physical shapes within built-up, forest and bareland areas were relatively complex and irregular. A conclusion is made in this study that spatial metrics are useful tools to describe the urban landscape composition and configuration in its various aspects and certain decisions whether to approve a specific development in urban planning could, for example, be based on some measures of urban growth form or pattern in terms of uniformity and irregularity, attributable to the dynamic processes of agglomeration and fragmentation of land cover/land use patches caused by urban expansion.     

Soil characterization based on land cover heterogeneity over a tropical landscape: an integrated approach using earth observation data-sets

Soil is a vital part of the natural environment and is always responding to changes in environmental factors, along with the influences of anthropogenic factors and land use changes. The long-term change in soil properties will result in change in soil health and fertility, and hence the soil productivity. Hence, the main aim of this paper focuses on the analysis of land use/land cover (LULC) change pattern in spatial and temporal perspective and to present its impact on soil properties in the Merawu catchment over the period of 18?years. Post classification change detection was performed to quantify the decadal changes in historical LULC over the periods of 1991, 2001 and 2009. The pixel to pixel comparison method was used to detect the LULC of the area. The key LULC types were selected for investigation of soil properties. Soil samples were analysed in situ to measure the physicochemical soil properties. The results of this study show remarkable changes in LULC in the period of 18?years. The effect of land cover change on soil properties, soil compaction and soil strength was found to be significant at a level of <0.05.     

Remote sensing-derived national land cover land use maps: a comparison for Malawi

Reliable land cover land use (LCLU) information, and change over time, is important for Green House Gas (GHG) reporting for climate change documentation. Four different organizations have independently created LCLU maps from 2010 satellite imagery for Malawi for GHG reporting. This analysis compares the procedures and results for those four activities. Four different classification methods were employed; traditional visual interpretation, segmentation and visual labelling, digital clustering with visual identification and supervised signature extraction with application of a decision rule followed by analyst editing. One effort did not report classification accuracy and the other three had very similar and excellent overall thematic accuracies ranging from 85 to 89%. However, despite these high thematic accuracies there were very significant differences in results. National percentages for forest ranged from 18.2 to 28.7% and cropland from 40.5 to 53.7%. These significant differences are concerns for both remote-sensing scientists and decision-makers in Malawi.     

Land quality index assessment for agricultural purpose using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)

In this study, an attempt has been made to apply Remote Sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) to determine land quality for agriculture purpose using analytic hierarchy process technique. In this study, various thematic layers were used like organic matter content, soil texture, soil depth, soil pH, soil P, soil K, geomorphology, run-off potential, slope and land use/land cover to assess the land quality index of the study area for the agriculture purpose which were generated in the RS and GIS environment. The study area can be divided into four zones, viz. high quality, moderately quality, marginally quality and low quality according to their suitability of land quality for agriculture purpose. It was found that about 39.09, 31.24, 20.41 and 9.26% of the study area falls under high quality zone, moderately quality, marginally quality and low quality zone, respectively, for agricultural purpose.     

Exploring land use policy scenarios with the use of a cellular automata-based model: urban sprawl containment and sustainable development in Thessaloniki

This study addresses the issue of urban sprawl through the application of a cellular automata (CA)-based model in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The model integrates a multiple regression model at the regional level with a CA model at the local level. New urban land is allocated in a disaggregated field of land units (cells) taking into account a wide range of data. Particular emphasis is placed on the way zoning regulations and land availability data are inserted into the model, so that alternative land use policy scenarios could be examined. Thessaloniki, a typical Mediterranean city, is used as a case study. The model is used to compare two scenarios of urban growth up to year 2030; the first one assuming a continuation of existing trends, whereas the second one assuming the enactment of various land use zoning regulations in order to contain urban sprawl.     

工程建设项目的多测整合对策研究

以广州市开展联合测绘的改革成效为基础,进一步探索研究工程建设项目审批服务全链条中的测绘服务事项,重点关注优化测绘服务流程、统一测绘技术标准规范、强化对测绘成果的共享互认以及完善测绘行业管理制度等内容,通过优化测绘服务体系为审批制度改革"加速",为优化营商环境"助力",为全国各地全面推出"多测合一"改革提供可复制推广的经...     

新疆植被变化特征及其对降水的响应分析

针对植被对降水响应分析的多为年际尺度且多用气候影响因子分析的问题,本文提出了一种年际与季节性相结合的时间尺度、气候与土壤因子并重的空间相关性分析法.该方法从降水的季节性规律、植被的物候期角度研究植被的年际、季节性空间变化特征,实现了不同时间尺度、空间尺度上植被变化对降水过程的响应情况的分析研究.研究表明:从季节和年际尺...     

第三次全国国土调查质量控制技术探讨

如何做好第三次全国国土调查(以下简称"三调")的质量控制,保证三调数据成果质量,成为该项工作能否圆满完成的关键所在.笔者根据从事三调工作积累的经验,介绍了实施三调工作的技术路线,提出了市县级"五位一体"的三调质量控制流程,并详细阐述了三调工作全过程质量控制的检查要点和方法.从基础层面保障三调质量管理工作有序高效,确保三...     

面向土地利用调查的时空数据库构建技术

为了满足"一调""二调"等不同时期土地利用变化数据管理与分析的需要,文章在分析时态数据库构建中存在的问题的基础上,引入变更事件、重建事件和多基态,建立了基于事件组的多基态修正模型,实现了"一调""二调"土地利用数据一体化存储;针对"一调""二调"空间数据不一致的几何重建和语义转换问题,提出通过重建事件表实现重建前后要素归档及查询;同时,针对土地利用数据管理的现状以及数据形态,提出了土地利用变更增量提取、时态拓扑关系构建的方法,实现了土地利用时空数据库的构建。最后,以武汉市汉南区数据为例开发了原型系统,实验结果表明本文提出的模型、方法具有较强的实用性。