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Among various socio-pathological events, the crime is perceived as the most serious issue. Understanding of factors influencing the intensity, structure and dynamic of crime is essential for appropriate targeting of preventive efforts. Due to the complexity of crime, it is necessary to integrate various sources of data which are usually complicated by differences in spatial referencing, scale, temporal referencing, and data semantic. The study demonstrates data integration based on multidimensional modelling using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) for analysis. Data from selected sources (e.g. population, crime, dwelling) were aggregated into 1 km grid with an appropriate temporal interval, transformed into relative indicators describing the local demographic and environmental features, and intensities of selected types of crime. The analysis includes evaluation of pairwise correlation and regression analysis (using backward method). The results in the Ostrava pilot area show the highest explanation of variability in the case of thefts (R2 0.60; important descriptors are several other types of crime but also higher share of retired population and unemployed with basic education), burglaries (R2 0.54, share of young population, long-term unemployed), violent crime and property offences (both R2 0.5). To the opposite, the overall index of crime can be explained by the set of independent factors from only 11%. It supports the idea of the selective influence of explored factors which differently affect particular types of crime. It was confirmed that the spatial distribution of selected types of crime intensity depends on the demographic features. The findings emphasize the role of social factors in crime preventive efforts and the necessity to utilize operative registers of public administration for data integration and monitoring of the current state of social conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport accessibility is an important part of the process of regional transport services analysing as well as construction and optimization of road or railway networks. It is used in both public and individual transport and has its place in optimizing routes or pedestrians and cyclists. Analyses of transport accessibility belong to popular studies using many accessibility metrics. Public transport accessibility differs from evaluation of individual transport mainly due to lack of available data. In general, four main groups of public transport accessibility metrics have been distinguished: access to transit stops, duration of public transit journey, access to destinations and frequencies of connections. Whether we use distance, travel time, spatial distribution of activities or other costs for accessibility, the main source for quantification and frequency analysis are human flows and public and individual transport connections. The paper addresses analysis of public transport accessibility using frequencies of public transport connections in selected time intervals. Both, bus and train connections between all municipalities in the Czech Republic are analysed using developed software TRAM. The frequency analysis for one-hour intervals reflects conditions of public transport accessibility in the Czech Republic and show significant differences of the level of accessibility during a day what can often limit possible commuting to work. The relationships between distances and number of connections are not equal through the country and demonstrate another aspect of regional differences in terms of the level of public transport services. Results of regional differences will be used for gravity modelling of spatial interactions between municipalities. Results are compared with outputs of the Slovak study of inter-urban relationships between towns and cities of Slovakia using public transportation [2] and selected other similar analyses. Transport accessibility modelling is used for further development in transport planning, decision making and space-time distribution of provided services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ticks and tick-borne diseases represent a serious threat to public health. In Europe, the most important tick species is the common tick Ixodes ricinus. It transmits several human diseases including two most important: tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme borreliosis (LB). The Czech Republic belongs to the countries with highest occurrence of both. Geographical distribution of these diseases is highly focal and therefore GIS technologies have a high potential of use in spatial epidemiology of tick-borne diseases. The main aim of our contribution is to introduce the possibilities of GIS utilization in the field of epidemiology using an example of the research project "Ticks and tick-borne diseases in South Bohemia and Bavaria", realized 2009-2011. Various GIS tools and approaches were used in different phases of the project. Multi-criteria evaluation system was used for the design of study plots in field. Epidemiological data (numbers of disease cases) as well as data on tick and pathogen occurrence collected in field and laboratory were imported in the GIS database and visualized using GIS. In the last phase of the project mathematical risk models of tick and tick-borne pathogens distribution were constructed and subsequently visualized in GIS. The models are based on a thorough statistical analysis of various potential explanatory variables, including satellite images, climatic data etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of economic activities currently attracts great interest of researchers. We investigate the spatial distribution of economic activities in Ostrava in the period of 1999-2009. The paper tries to answer three basic questions: how much are the selected industries concentrated, what are temporal changes of the concentration and what factors determine the concentration and localization of firms. The focus is on high-technology related manufacturing industries inspired by the fact that the idea of "high-tech clusters" is often recognised as an important feature and significant factor in many regional policy initiatives. The key feature of spatial distribution of industries is that they tend to concentrate. The spatial concentration is measured by Duranton and Overman's K density function. The highest tendency to clustering was discovered in the sector "Manufacture of computers and electronic components" and this tendency increases over years. It was also proved that proximity to the city centre has a significant impact on the spatial distribution of high-tech companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modal split between individual and public transport is going to be more and more unbalanced in favour of individual car transport almost in all developed countries in the world. The national as well as regional government have to rationalise the level of ordered public transport connections and this may lead to decrease below a minimal level of transport serviceability. VSB-Technical University of Ostrava has prepared a database of public transport connections for needs of Integrated Portal of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic since 2006. This database contains data about public transport connections between all municipalities covering the development during six years in the Czech Republic. Based on this data, national-, regional- and also micro-regional level of transport accessibility can be analysed using several factors. This paper presents the developed software TRAM used for the time-tables evaluation and also describes possible utilisation of such massive data source. The development of level of accessibility for several times during a day is depicted in maps, the possibility of return connection is also considered and hot or cold spots in relation to positive or negative development are localised. This approach of evaluating the public transport serviceability on such local level can be used in many countries to localise areas where the level of public transport accessibility is decreasing or conversely increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]