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Vines and olives are two important and widespread traditional agricultural crops that are also connected to the Judeo–Christian–Muslim tradition. The goal of the research was to demonstrate the importance of using cartographical sources to obtain a more accurate and complete view of the past. To this end, the aims were: (1) to reconstruct the former agricultural land-use in three periods, 1873–1874, 1917, and 1943–1945; (2) to analyze the different spatial physical factors that could explain the spatial distribution of traditional agricultural landscapes; (3) to identify the changes which took place between the three reconstructed timestamps. The research employed different cartographic sources and the implemented analyses were conducted using GIS tools and methods. The results show that, in the past, the distribution of vines and olive groves greatly depended on several physical geographic factors (climate, slopes, direction). Nonetheless, human factors such as political instability, cultural and religious beliefs contributed as well. Moreover, this research showed how GIS has advanced historical geography research. Lastly, the research demonstrated that obtaining the most complete view of the past can be achieved by a combination of sources together with the use of GIS tools and methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cartographic products have been produced for thousands of years, cartography as a science has only been established in the early 20th century. Great works of cartography include, for instance, the conic map projections by Ptolemy, the Tabula Rogeriana by Idrisi, the Waldseemüller map, and the Mercator map. Numerous cartographers, predominantly mathematicians, have shaped the theory of map projections throughout the centuries. With the advent of geographic information systems (GIS) in the 1960s and the rapid developments of digital technologies, cartography found itself in the middle of an identity crisis. For some time, it was not clear whether cartography would become obsolete and be replaced by GIS mapping technologies or whether GIS is a novel manifestation of cartography. During this period various misconceptions about the role of maps and mapping as well as uncertainty about the future developments of mapping in general added to this confusion. This contribution elaborates the major characteristics of cartography versus other disciplines, in particular geography and GIS, and takes a look at possible future directions and developments with regard to the theory of cartography as well as novel and future display technologies. Personal observations of the author during his professional life since the early 1980s illustrate these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Topological relations are one of the most important aspects in GIS modeling. The topological relations between crisp spatial objects have been well identified. However, the topological relations between fuzzy spatial objects need more investigation. This paper deals with building a special fuzzy topological space for fuzzy sets. Based on it, a formal definition of simple fuzzy region is given. A 4×4-intersection and furthermore a 5×5-intersection approach are proposed for the formalism of topological relations. Finally 152 topological relations between two simple fuzzy regions are identified based on the 4×4-intersection approach in R 2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In recent years, spatial multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been applied to different types of spatial problems, such as solar power site suitability. MCDA can be used to support the process of identifying suitable regions for solar energy projects. To the best of our knowledge, no study has addressed the problem of site evaluation for solar photovoltaic PV systems in the Riyadh region. Therefore, a spatial MCDA framework is proposed to perform a geospatial analysis of solar energy in the Riyadh region, which includes data collection, spatial analysis, a spatial decision support system and visualization. The methodology that was used to solve the site suitability problem is described. It involved the combination of a Geographical Information System (GIS) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (GIS-AHP). The results show that the most suitable sites are in the north and northwest of the Riyadh region, with an area that represents 16,748 Km2 with an 80% suitability degree. In addition, it was proven that Afif is the largest suitable city. It has high solar radiation, at an average of 2.631687 MWh/m2/year, and low temperatures, at an average of 26.3 °C, as well as having flat areas with a slope under 5°. The results were validated using a sensitivity analysis model and also compared with those for ground-based stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Himalayan region and hilly areas face severe challenges due to landslide occurrences during the rainy seasons in India, and the study area, i.e., the Rudraprayag district, is no exception. However, the landslide related database and research are still inadequate in these landslide-prone areas. The main purpose of this study is: (1) to prepare the multi-temporal landslide inventory map using geospatial platforms in the data-scarce environment; (2) to evaluate the landslide susceptibility map using weights of evidence (WoE) method in the Geographical Information System (GIS) environment at the district level; and (3) to provide a comprehensive understanding of recent developments, gaps, and future directions related to landslide inventory, susceptibility mapping, and risk assessment in the Indian context. Firstly, 293 landslides polygon were manually digitized using the BHUVAN (Indian earth observation visualization) and Google Earth® from 2011 to 2013. Secondly, a total of 14 landslide causative factors viz. geology, geomorphology, soil type, soil depth, slope angle, slope aspect, relative relief, distance to faults, distance to thrusts, distance to lineaments, distance to streams, distance to roads, land use/cover, and altitude zones were selected based on the previous study. Then, the WoE method was applied to assign the weights for each class of causative factors to obtain a landslide susceptibility map. Afterward, the final landslide susceptibility map was divided into five susceptibility classes (very high, high, medium, low, and very low classes). Later, the validation of the landslide susceptibility map was checked against randomly selected landslides using IDRISI SELVA 17.0 software. Our study results show that medium to very high landslide susceptibilities had occurred in the non-forest areas, mainly scrubland, pastureland, and barren land. The results show that medium to very high landslide susceptibilities areas are in the upper catchment areas of the Mandakini river and adjacent to the National Highways (107 and 07). The results also show that landslide susceptibility is high in high relative relief areas and shallow soil, near thrusts and faults, and on southeast, south, and west-facing steep slopes. The WoE method achieved a prediction accuracy of 85.7%, indicating good accuracy of the model. Thus, this landslide susceptibility map could help the local governments in landslide hazard mitigation, land use planning, and landscape protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In central and eastern European countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007, there are strong connections between transport development and sustainable regional development. The needs for transport development in post-socialist countries are so high that it is difficult to finance them, and most governments have to choose between immediate and less urgent needs. The aim of this study was to determine the role played by sustainable transport growth in the improvement of regional cohesion and sustainable regional development with a use of geographical information systems' capabilities. The specific goals of the study were to: (i) determine the impact of EU subsidies on the regional transport development; (ii) identify threats to regional cohesion resulting from under-capitalised regions, (iii) examine geographical information systems' capabilities in periodical regional transport development monitoring. The analyses include evaluation of the regions' involvement in sustainable transport development as well as the presentation of direct and indirect results, such as road system improvement, with the use of GIS capabilities. It is particularly important to develop a system for monitoring the level of EU fund allocation with the use of GIS tools and the capabilities of geographic information systems. Such in-depth analysis would be useful for regional governments and decision-makers in creating and updating long term transport policies as well as monitoring long term regional development strategies. Both sustainable transport development and EU fund allocation can be monitored within the use of GIS tools, and such analyses should supplement the INSPIRE Geoportal scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reported lightning accidents that are available in the DesInventar database—which consist of 549 deaths, 498 injured people, 39 destroyed houses, and 741 damaged houses—were analyzed in terms of their geographical and temporal variation. The average lightning flash densities were calculated using zonal statistics using the geographic information system (GIS), referring to the respective raster maps generated based on Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) data from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Satellite. Hence, the variations of the lightning accidents—monthly and climate season-wise—in response to the lightning flash density were also reported. The calculated average lightning flash density in Sri Lanka is 8.26 flashes km−2 year−1, and the maximum average lightning flash density of 31.33 flashes km−2 year−1 is observed in April in a calendar year. April seems to be more vulnerable to lightning accidents, as the maximum number of deaths (150 deaths) and injuries (147 injuries) were recorded in this month. Most of the high-risk lightning accident regions that were identified in Sri Lanka are well known for agricultural activities, and those activities will eventually create the platform for lightning victims. In Sri Lanka, in a year, 12 people were killed and 11 people were injured, based on the reported accidents from 1974 to 2019. Conversely, a substantial increase in the number of deaths, injuries, and incidents of property damage has been observed in the last two decades (2000–2019). On average, for the period from 2000 to 2019, 18 people were killed and 16 people were injured per year. Furthermore, considering the population of the country, 0.56 people per million per year were killed, and 0.51 people per million per year were injured due to lightning accidents based on the reported accidents from 1974 to 2019. Moreover, for the 2000–2019 period, these estimated values are significantly higher; 0.86 people per million per year were killed, and 0.77 people per million per year were injured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of long-term rainfall trends provides a wealth of information on effective crop planning and water resource management, and a better understanding of climate variability over time. This study reveals the spatial variability of rainfall trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 as an indication of climate change. The exclusivity of the study is the use of rainfall data that provide spatial variability instead of the traditional location-based approach. Henceforth, daily rainfall data available at Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation corrected with stations (CHIRPS) data were used for this study. The geographic information system (GIS) is used to perform spatial data analysis on both vector and raster data. Sen's slope estimator and the Mann–Kendall (M–K) test are used to investigate the trends in annual and seasonal rainfall throughout all districts and climatic zones of Sri Lanka. The most important thing reflected in this study is that there has been a significant increase in annual rainfall from 1989 to 2019 in all climatic zones (wet, dry, intermediate, and Semi-arid) of Sri Lanka. The maximum increase is recorded in the wet zone and the minimum increase is in the semi-arid zone. There could be an increased risk of floods in the southern and western provinces in the future, whereas areas in the eastern and southeastern districts may face severe droughts during the northeastern monsoon. It is advisable to introduce effective drought and flood management and preparedness measures to reduce the respective hazard risk levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islands as peripheral and ultra-peripheral are typically highlighted as ecologically sensitive areas to human activities due to the tremendous biological diversity of beings and the future possibility of habitat loss. In this regard, the comprehension of the land occupation dynamics and trends in the ultra-peripheral territories is crucial to attempt long-lasting regional sustainability, as is the island region's case. Therefore, the present article aims to analyze the trends and dynamics of the land-use changes on the European Archipelagos of the Macaronesia Region over the last three decades, using the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) data. Some of the obtained results show that about 3.4% of the Azores' surface is characterized mainly by discontinuous urban fabric, representing 67% of the total urban fabric of the Azores over the last thirty years. Additionally, in Madeira Archipelago, the land is mainly occupied by forest and semi-natural areas, representing almost three-thirds of the territory. A similar scenario is verified in the Canary Islands, where forests and semi-natural areas represent approximately three-quarters of the territory. Once more, this study shows the relevance of the island areas' unique character, which should be preserved and protected. Therefore, the priorities must be defined and established management strategies that are significant for the well-being of these highly valued areas. Moreover, the study showed that notable changes had occurred in the period 1990–2018 in this landscape. Hence there is a need for appropriate measures to mitigate these negative impacts on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Core samples obtained from scientific drilling could provide large volumes of direct microstructural and compositional data, but generating results via the traditional treatment of such data is often time-consuming and inefficient. Unifying microstructural data within a spatially referenced Geographic Information System (GIS) environment provides an opportunity to readily locate, visualize, correlate, and apply remote sensing techniques to the data. Using 26 core billet samples from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), this study developed GIS-based procedures for: 1. Spatially referenced visualization and storage of various microstructural data from core billets; 2. 3D modeling of billets and thin section positions within each billet, which serve as a digital record after irreversible fragmentation of the physical billets; and 3. Vector feature creation and unsupervised classification of a multi-generation calcite vein network from cathodluminescence (CL) imagery. Building on existing work which is predominantly limited to the 2D space of single thin sections, our results indicate that a GIS can facilitate spatial treatment of data even at centimeter to nanometer scales, but also revealed challenges involving intensive 3D representations and complex matrix transformations required to create geographically translated forms of the within-billet coordinate systems, which are suggested for consideration in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In a world where every municipality is pursuing the goals of more sustainable mobility, bicycles play a fundamental role in getting rid of private cars and travelling by an eco-friendly mode of transport. Additionally, private and shared bikes can be used as a feeder transit system, solving the problem of the first- and last-mile trips. Thanks to GIS (Geographic Information System) software, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of such a sustainable means of transport in future users' modal choice. Methods: Running an accessibility analysis of cycling and rail transport services, the potential mobility demand attracted by these services and the possible multimodality between bicycle and rail transport systems can be assessed. Moreover, thanks to a modal choice model calibrated for high school students, it could be verified if students will be really motivated to adopt this solution for their home-to-school trips. Results: The GIS-based analysis showed that almost half of the active population in the study area might potentially abandon the use of their private car in favour of a bike and its combination with public transport systems; furthermore, the percentage of the students of one high school of Palermo, the Einstein High School, sharply increases from 1.5% up to 10.1%, thanks also to the combination with the rail transport service. Conclusions: The GIS-based methodology shows that multimodal transport can be an effective way to pursue a more sustainable mobility in cities and efficiently connect suburbs with low-frequent public transport services to the main public transport nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progressive encoding and transmission, i.e., a crucial technical foundation of 3D Web Geographic Information Systems (WebGIS), addresses the contradiction between massive 3D building data and limited network transmission capacity. Most progressive encoding algorithms, taking vertices, edges or triangles as encoding units, may break the inherent geometric and topological characteristics of 3D building models. Thus, a novel 3D building model encoding method that can maintain the internal characteristics is proposed, which can be used for high-efficiency progressive transmission. With this method, each building is decomposed into three types of fundamental structures: main structure, independent structure and attached structure. A structural topology graph (STG) was constructed based on the connections among structures. Guided by STG, one or more structures were wrapped as the smallest incremental transmission unit, denoted as transmission node. When requested, the real-time position of viewpoint, orientation and visual importance of nodes are used to pick up expected nodes for responding. The results confirm that the proposed method can better maintain the geometric and topological characteristics while encoding 3D building models. While serving for transmission, the proposed method not only effectively reduces the transmission load, but also provides users with a better consistency experience on the building appearance at different simplification levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, innovative computer technologies and the multiplication of geospatial data acquisition solutions have transformed the geographic information systems (GIS) landscape and opened up new opportunities to close the gap between GIS and the dynamics of geographic phenomena. There is a demand to further develop spatio-temporal conceptual models to comprehensively represent the nature of the evolution of geographic objects. The latter involves a set of considerations like those related to managing changes and object identities, modeling possible causal relations, and integrating multiple interpretations. While conventional literature generally presents these concepts separately and rarely approaches them from a holistic perspective, they are in fact interrelated. Therefore, we believe that the semantics of modeling would be improved by considering these concepts jointly. In this work, we propose to represent these interrelationships in the form of a hierarchical pyramidal framework and to further explore this set of concepts. The objective of this framework is to provide a guideline to orient the design of future generations of GIS data models, enabling them to achieve a better representation of available spatio-temporal data. In addition, this framework aims at providing keys for a new interpretation and classification of spatio-temporal conceptual models. This work can be beneficial for researchers, students, and developers interested in advanced spatio-temporal modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, established the legal basis for the United States government to break up remaining tribally-owned reservation lands in the U.S. by allotting individual parcels to tribal members and selling the remaining "surplus." This research explores the processes involved in mapping these historical allotments and describes a method to automatically generate spatial data of allotments. A custom geographic information systems (GIS) tool was created that takes tabular based allotment land descriptions and digital Public Land Survey (PLSS) databases to automatically generate spatial and attribute data of those land parcels. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota was used as the initial study area to test the mapping technique, which resulted in successfully auto-mapping over 99.1% of allotted lands on the reservation, including the smallest aliquot parcels. This GIS technique can be used to map any tribal lands or reservation with allotment data available, and currently it can be used to map over 120 individual reservations using publicly available data from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of urban stock renewal, as the core area of a city rich in culture, aesthetics, and tourism resources, the assessment of landscape visual sensitivity of historic districts can provide an accurate, objective, and intuitive decision-making basis for the multi-purpose planning of districts. The main purpose of this study was to develop an assessment method based on the geographic information system (GIS) in order to make a visual sensitivity index map on a district scale. To this end, this study uses the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) method, selects the visibility (VSv), the number of potential users (VSu), and remarkableness (VSe) as the main criteria, and constructs a comprehensive assessment model of the visual sensitivity of the historic landscape. The most well-protected Wudadao Historic District in Tianjin (Wudadao) was selected as the study area, and its visual sensitivity was assessed. The assessment results are divided into four levels: areas of high sensitivity, moderate sensitivity, low sensitivity, and very low sensitivity. Results indicate that after the optimization and improvement of the evaluation index for visual sensitivity of a large-scale forest landscape, it is feasible to evaluate the small-scale visual sensitivity of historic districts; the higher the sensitivity level, the more important it is to be protected, and the more cautious it should be in the renewal of districts; the higher the number of potential users, the higher the visual sensitivity level, and so on. Further attention needs to be paid to planning and design to improve visual quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change impacts, such as shoreline retreat, has been promoted at the international, national, and even local levels. However, among scientists, opinions about how to implement it in spatial-planning practices are varied. Science-based environmental factors, human wellbeing, and sustainable development can be strengthened by developing spatial-planning-based ecosystem adaptations (SPBEAs). Therefore, this article aims to assess how the SPBEA model can be developed within an area prone to shoreline retreat. A coastal area of the Sayung subdistrict in Central Java, Indonesia, was selected as a study area because it has experienced a massive shoreline retreat. A multicriteria analysis (MCA) method was employed for developing the model by using the geographic information system (GIS) technique of analysis, divided into three steps: the fishpond zone determination, which involved the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method in the process of model development; the fishpond site determination; SPBEA fishpond site development. The results show that the SPBEA model is the best practice solution for combatting shoreline retreat because of tidal waves and/or sea-level rise. The spatial site management should empower the coastal protection zone and the sustainable fishpond zone by implementing a silvofishery approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the validation of the End Point Rate (EPR) tool for QGIS (EPR4Q), a tool built-in QGIS graphical modeler for calculating the shoreline change with the end point rate method. The EPR4Q tries to fill the gaps in user-friendly and free open-source tools for shoreline analysis in a geographic information system environment since the most used software—Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)—although being a free extension, it is created for commercial software. Additionally, the best free, open-source option to calculate EPR is called Analyzing Moving Boundaries Using R (AMBUR); since it is a robust and powerful tool, the complexity can restrict the accessibility and simple usage. The validation methodology consists of applying the EPR4Q, DSAS, and AMBUR with different types of shorelines found in nature, extracted from the US Geological Survey Open-File. The obtained results of each tool were compared with Pearson's correlation coefficient. The validation results indicate that the EPR4Q tool acquired high correlation values with DSAS and AMBUR, reaching a coefficient of 0.98 to 1.00 on linear, extensive, and non-extensive shorelines, proving that the EPR4Q tool is ready to be freely used by the academic, scientific, engineering, and coastal managers communities worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is spreading across the world and beyond metropolitan areas. Medium-sized cities have also undergone processes of accelerated urban expansion, especially in Latin America, thanks to scant regulation or a complete lack thereof. Thus, understanding urban growth in the past and simulating it in the future has become a tool to raise its visibility and challenge territorial planners. In this work, we use Markov chains, cellular automata, multi-criteria multi-objective evaluation, and the determination of land use/land cover (LULC) to model the urban growth of the city of Temuco, Chile, a paradigmatic case because it has experienced powerful growth, where real estate development pressures coexist with a high natural value and the presence of indigenous communities. The urban scenario is determined for the years 2033 and 2049 based on the spatial patterns between 1985 and 2017, where the model shows the trend of expansion toward the northeast and significant development in the western sector of the city, making them two potential centers of expansion and conflict in the future given the heavy pressure on lands that are indigenous property and have a high natural value, aspects that need to be incorporated into future territorial planning instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities and climate change constitute the contemporary catalyst for natural processes and their impacts, i.e., geo-environmental hazards. Globally, natural catastrophic phenomena and hazards, such as drought, soil erosion, quantitative and qualitative degradation of groundwater, frost, flooding, sea level rise, etc., are intensified by anthropogenic factors. Thus, they present rapid increase in intensity, frequency of occurrence, spatial density, and significant spread of the areas of occurrence. The impact of these phenomena is devastating to human life and to global economies, private holdings, infrastructure, etc., while in a wider context it has a very negative effect on the social, environmental, and economic status of the affected region. Geospatial technologies including Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing—Earth Observation as well as related spatial data analysis tools, models, databases, contribute nowadays significantly in predicting, preventing, researching, addressing, rehabilitating, and managing these phenomena and their effects. This review attempts to mark the most devastating geo-hazards from the view of environmental monitoring, covering the state of the art in the use of geospatial technologies in that respect. It also defines the main challenge of this new era which is nothing more than the fictitious exploitation of the information produced by the environmental monitoring so that the necessary policies are taken in the direction of a sustainable future. The review highlights the potential and increasing added value of geographic information as a means to support environmental monitoring in the face of climate change. The growth in geographic information seems to be rapidly accelerated due to the technological and scientific developments that will continue with exponential progress in the years to come. Nonetheless, as it is also highlighted in this review continuous monitoring of the environment is subject to an interdisciplinary approach and contains an amount of actions that cover both the development of natural phenomena and their catastrophic effects mostly due to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]