Using Contents Addressable Filestore for rapid access to a large cartographic data set†

Abstract

The need for rapid access to large amounts of data is one of the central problems in the field of geographical information systems. This paper describes the use of a hardware solution to this problem, in the particular case of selecting digitized boundary data from a very large file. The hardware is International Computers'(ICL's) award winning Contents Addressable Filestore (CAFS) which is a special unit fitted to ICL disc drives allowing the fast selection of records from large files. By reformatting the boundary data, it was possible to perform searches using CAFS. A command-driven package was written to allow users to select the boundaries for any named zone or zones, display them on a graphics terminal and write them out in a format suitable for input to the GIMMS package. This package was tested on a file containing the boundaries of all the wards of Great Britain. After reformatting, this file was 6 Mbytes in size, but by means of CAFS could be searched interactively with response times of the order of 5-10 seconds.     

The variation of soil erodibility with slope position in a cultivated canadian prairie landscape

This study examined the variation in soil erodibility along hillslopes in a Prairie landscape. The soil loss produced by simulated rainfall on undisturbed soils was used as an index of relative soil erodibility. Relative erodibility, and several soil properties, were measured at the summit, shoulder, midslope footslope and toeslope of 11 slope transects in an area of cultivated grassland soils on hummocky glacial till. The variation of erodibility with slope position was statistically significant, and slope position explained about 40 per cent of the variation in the erodibility measurements. Erodibility was 14 per cent higher on the shoulder and midslope, and 21 per cent lower on the toeslope, than on the summit and footslope. Local variation in erodibility along slopes was considered to be an important control on patterns of soil erosion in the landscape. The variation of erodibility along the slopes reflected soil property trends. The greatest erodibility was associated with upper slope positions where soils tended to be shallow, coarse, poorly leached and low in organic matter, while lower erodibility was found at lower slope positions with deep, organic-rich and leached soils. Of the individual soil properties considered, silt and sand content were the most highly correlated with erodibility. The results, together with results from other studies, also suggest that net erosion and erodibility are positively related.     

Use of soil horizons for assessing soil degradation and reconstructing chronology of degradation processes: the case of Mwisanga Catchment, Kondoa, central Tanzania

This paper analyses the use of soil horizons for mapping soil degradation intensity and reconstructing chronology of degradation processes. Through “Pedogenetic Baseline Approach”, the catchment was classified into two categories: the erosional and depositional zones. The eroded soils were reconstructed even in those areas where there had been total soil stripping. Profiles of the undegraded soil provided a reference mark (particularly the argillic B horizon of Lixisols). One specific criterion for determining the degree of soil degradation of a given map unit in the erosional zone was based on whether A or B horizons or both had been eroded. Another criterion for classifying the units in the depositional zone was based on relating the quality of the buried soil with the overlying young soil developed from the colluvium/alluvium. Hence, the study underscores the importance of being able to reconstruct soil properties of pre-eroded soil profiles with the view to determining erosion units. This will eventually help in developing appropriate land use and conservation strategies.