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Various ice bodies are an important source of paleoenvironmental data, and their study improves the understanding of present and future environmental conditions. Their changes are an important indicator of climate change. This special issue of Acta geographica Slovenica draws attention to the changing and disappearing cryosphere across the globe, with an emphasis on the southeastern Alps, and the necessity to conduct research in this field before the ice disappears forever. This paper briefly summarizes the current body of knowledge on glaciers, permafrost, cave ice, lake and river ice, and snow in the southeastern Alps, and it presents the contribution of Acta geographica Slovenica to this research and the main highlights of all five papers included in this special issue.

In several European countries, land use changes can be analysed on the basis of the Franciscan Cadastre. Present land use data is defined on the basis of orthophotos, but the historical data is available only at a parcel level. Therefore, a question arose as to how reliable results about land use changes can be. The main aim of the paper was to analyse land use dynamics with the Franciscan Cadastre and to test the compatibility of detailed and parcel level of modern data. The study was carried out by calculating land use structure and landscape metrics for a part of the Pannonian low-hills area in Slovenia. We have observed that the calculation of the land use type structure mostly provided similar results regardless of the level of detail. On the other hand, the results of landscape metrics analysis were highly affected by the level of detail. The analysis at the parcel level showed that the forest area expanded, and fields and vineyards areas diminished. In general, today’s landscape is made of less patches, but they are larger and of more irregular shapes. We can conclude that a comparison of modern data and historical data based on Franciscan Cadastre must include generalisation to a parcel level.

This paper assesses the effects of agricultural payments on changes in farmland bird diversity in Slovenia. Diversity was measured by Shannon index, while the impacts were estimated with the first-difference estimator on panel data for municipalities with and without special protection areas for birds. The effects of agricultural payments on farmland biodiversity require that the balance of financial instruments be taken into account when the agricultural policy is being drafted. The effects of payments in municipalities with and without special protection areas indicate the need to consider the landscape perspective and adapt schemes to landscape type while preparing the national agricultural policy.

One of the methods of water resource management is to construct small retention ponds. Within the framework of the “Possible ecological control of flood hazard in the hilly regions of Hungary and Slovenia“ project the management of small ponds and their impact on flood prevention were studied in selected catchments. Data on pond management were gathered from interviews with pond owners. In a pilot study, we conducted an inventarisation and classification of all retention ponds. Primarily they were constructed for more specific use: fishing, irrigation, watering livestock. These functions have been gradually replaced by leisure-time activities, aesthetics, and tourism. Spring, stream and rainfall-fed ponds prevail in the pilot area and reduce the flood risk. Due to the increased variability of precipitation patterns ponds are also becoming an important measure to limit drought consequences at a local level.

Field mapping is an accurate but also time consuming method of detailed mapping of habitat types. Levels of habitat types are usually hierarchically nested at several levels. Our main research question therefore is: ‘How detailed can be modelling of habitat types with decision trees and digital data in karst landscape?’ Similar to studies in other (non-karst) environments we explored the basic properties of the habitats in Dinaric Karst study region (Classical Karst in Southwest Slovenia) and tested modelling of habitat types at three different levels of detail. To seek for the best set of predictor variables we used Rapid-Eye satellite images, airborne images and digital elevation model. We prepared more than 60 explanatory variables and divided habitat polygons into training and testing samples to validate the results. The results proved that modelling with decision trees in Dinaric Karst landscape does not result in high accuracy at high detailed levels. Due to the presence of mine fields in the large area of Dinaric Karst (e.g. in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) the field mapping in this area is difficult therefore the findings from this study can be used for further development of mapping through remote sensing.

Researchers analyse land use status and its rates of change and try to define the most appropriate structure that suits the environmental characteristics. The article focuses on an analysis of the naturalness level of land use in three hilly regions in north-eastern Slovenia (Slovenske Gorice, Haloze, and Goricko) with the help of geoinformation tools. Land use structure is one of the best indicators of human presence in the landscape. The aim was to expose those parts of catchments that can be regarded as less natural or more natural. We divided the catchments into hydrogeographical areas and analysed them by calculating the urbanity index. The least natural areas in 2018 were located in Slovenske Gorice Hills and the most natural were those in Haloze. The urbanity index diminished between 2002 and 2018 for all the areas except two. The main reason for a higher average of naturalness level is overgrowth – changing agricultural areas into areas with bushes and trees. Natural disasters, e.g. floods and intensive erosion can be mitigated with suitable land use. // Raziskovalci analizirajo stanje rabe tal in trende spreminjanja ter skusajo ugotoviti, kaksna struktura je okoljsko najbolj sprejemljiva. V prispevku smo se osredotocili na analizo rabe tal treh gricevnatih obmocij severovzhodne Slovenije (Slovenske gorice, Haloze in Goricko) z vidika stopnje naravnosti s pomocjo geoinformacijskih metod. Raba tal je namrec eden najbolj nazornih pokazateljev clovekovega delovanja v pokrajini. Dolociti smo želeli posamezna obmocja porecij, ki jih lahko oznacimo za bolj naravna, in obmocja, ki so manj naravna. Porecja smo razdelili na hidrogeografska obmocja in jih analizirali glede na indeks urbanosti. Glede na izracunane indekse so bila v povprecju leta 2018 najmanj naravna obmocja v Slovenskih goricah, najbolj pa v Halozah. Indeks urbanosti se je od leta 2002 do 2018 sicer povsod zmanjsal, razen na dveh obmocjih. Vzrok za povecanje stopnje naravnosti v povprecju gre predvsem na racun zarascanja oziroma spreminjanja nekoc kmetijskih zemljisc v zemljisca v zarascanju. Z ustrezno rabo tal lahko omilimo naravne nesrece, na primer pojav poplav in povecane erozije.

Geographers have produced four landscape typologies of Slovenia to date. The best-established typology is the one from 1996, which relies on natural landscape elements and divides Slovenia into nine landscape types. Great landscape diversity in a small territory is the main geographical feature of Slovenia, and it also has an important impact on its economic and other activities. The population increasingly perceives it as an element of identity. The importance of landscape diversity is also highlighted in certain EU documents.

Geographers have produced many regionalizations of Slovenia to date. The most widely used geographical regionalization is based on a 1996 landscape typology and divides Slovenia into 48 regions and 4 macroregions. The average size of a region is 422 km2. According to the EU classification of territorial units (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS), Slovenia is divided into 2 NUTS 2 regions and 12 NUTS 3 regions and after that into 212 municipalities. The average size of a NUTS 3 region is 1689 km2, and the average size of a municipality is 96 km2. However, the division that continues to be most deeply rooted among Slovenians is the division into the former Austro-Hungarian provinces.

Slovenia is one of the youngest countries in the world. It has been independent since 1991, but at the same time, it is strongly dependent on its geography. Most of its natural, economic, and cultural features result from its location in the center of Europe, where completely different geographical units intersect. It is exposed to South Slavic influences via the karstified plateaus and intermediate lowlands of the Dinaric Alps to the southeast, Hungarian influences from the continental Pannonian Basin to the northeast, Romance influences from the warm Mediterranean to the southwest, and Germanic influences via the steep mountains and deep valleys of the Alps to the northwest. Because most of the territory of what is now Slovenia belonged to Germanic states for over a thousand years, Germanic influences have left the most traces in the Slovenian cultural landscapes and among its residents. Due to its great landscape diversity and despite its smallness, Slovenia is well known for being a European landscape hotspot, and among other things the young country is increasingly using this geographical fact to strengthen its identity.

After the independence of Slovenia and Croatia in 1991, the former internal Yugoslav border between the two countries became an international border (today a Schengen border), of which over two-fifths follows rivers (the Drava, Sotla, Kolpa, Dragonja, and others). Rivers are natural geographical dividers whose shifting courses hamper permanent administrative demarcation, especially in flat areas exposed to frequent flooding and meandering. Thus, rivers as borders may cause problems because they are not static. Moreover, they are very dynamic and tend to change their courses; for example, one country may claim that the “old” course is the border and the other that the “new” course is the border. Practically, all rivers and streams on the Slovenian–Croatian border are such examples. Applied geography and geospatial technologies, especially geographic information systems, have played an important role in the preparation of geographical bases for the arbitration procedure to determine the Slovenian–Croatian border. The final decision, which was announced on June 29, 2017 by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, will affect the lives of many people along the border. To analyze the dynamics of changing river courses along the Slovenian–Croatian border, we used geographic information systems and multitemporal analysis of cartographic and other pictorial sources: historical maps, historical aerial images, satellite images, and precise digital elevation models (LiDAR).

Pokrajina v visoki locljivosti ('The Landscape in High Resolution') is the fourteenth volume in the series GIS v Sloveniji (GIS in Slovenia). The goal of this volume is to present the wide variety of research findings on geographical information systems in Slovenia in recent years. Powerful geoinformatic tools and precise digital data facilitate research on processes and phenomena with a high level of accuracy. This makes it possible to affirm that the landscape and its components are being analyzed in high resolution. The volume clearly presents project outputs and research results in areas such as seismology, geomorphology, natural hazards, environmental protection, geography, surveying, archaeology, transport, agriculture, remote sensing, and others. Readers will discover new features regarding the applicability of geographical information systems and will learn about interesting findings in many area

This article presents central settlements in Slovenia and their main characteristics in 2016. We defined central settlements based on services of general interest and the population of an individual settlement, and developed the analysis further by using competitiveness indicators. We defined 360 central settlements at six levels of centrality, among which the significance of Ljubljana as a national center of international importance and the significance of intermunicipal, local, and rural centers are increasing. The significance of certain regional centers at the second and third levels of centrality is decreasing. The level of services of general interest supplied to Slovenian territory is relatively appropriate, but it should be improved by promoting competitiveness, especially in centers of national and regional importance.

Based on digital data on relief, rock, and vegetation, the most significant elements of the internal structure of Slovenian landscapes, and their external appearance, a geographic information system was used to calculate landscape diversity of Slovenia. Areas with high landscape diversity are landscape hotspots, and areas with low landscape diversity are landscape coldspots. One-tenth of Slovenia with the highest landscape diversity was defined as landscape hotspots, and one-tenth of Slovenia with the lowest landscape diversity was defined as landscape coldspots. Most landscape hotspots are located in the Alpine part of Slovenia (more than two-thirds of their total area), and most landscape coldspots in the Dinaric part of Slovenia (almost half of their total area).

The proposed European Union indicators for defining areas less suitable for agriculture in Slovenia are not entirely appropriate because taking them into account would omit some distinctly and clearly unsuitable areas–for example, Suha krajina (Dry Carniola) and Bela krajina (White Carniola)–and farmers would be unjustifiably financially harmed. In such a case, every European Union member state has the right to propose an additional indicator to reduce such discrepancies. With regard to actual natural conditions, in Slovenia especially some karst landscapes would be unjustifiably omitted, and so we have proposed a karst indicator as an additional criterion based on the distribution of karst (i.e., carbonate) rocks. Through spatial coverage of karst rocks and soils, we determined whether more reasonable and less strict application of European criteria regarding soil could be satisfactory for better results in defining areas less suitable for agriculture in Slovenia.

Choosing appropriate measurement sites for further investigation is one of the crucial points in determining the UHI intensity. To obtain comparable values among different cities we should use measurements obtained in similar circumstances. In the context of the deployment of an urban climate network, this guideline contains recommendations for meteorological measurement and data processing for data users who are not professionals in the field of climate measurement in urban environments. This paper presents a classification of urban measuring sites, lists steps for choosing representative stations, and provides standardized methods developed for urban climate stations and network design. Finally, these standardized approaches and guidelines are useful for making recommendations for the future deployment of urban climate networks. The final parts include the new communication and data transmission techniques for urban observation networks.

Ljubljana made the first climate mapping of the city in 2000, putting the differences in terms of UHI effects between the inner part of the city and the surrounding areas are quite evident. An efficient planning of city infrastructure takes into account increasing average temperatures in a city, and therefore provides solution to reduce and monitor the effect of its urban heat island. The chapter presents the urban heat island in the Ljubljana region, temperature modelling based on satellite data and UHI project pilot actions in the Ljubljana city.

Planning the locations in areas with various types of land use is complicated and important work. It requires extensive knowledge of natural and social conditions and, also, the presentation of results in illustrative and understandable manner. This article defines the most suitable uninhabited areas for potential settlement in the Kočevje municipality with respect to natural and social factors. Geographical information systems were used for the analysis. Načrtovanje raznih dejavnosti v prostoru je zahtevno in odgovorno. Terja dobro poznavanje naravnih in družbenih razmer, poleg tega pa morajo biti rezultati v procesu načrtovanja podani čim bolj nazorno. V prispevku smo na primeru občine Kočevje skušali določiti najbolj primerne nepozidane površine za morebitno širjenje poselitve z vidika naravnih in družbenih dejavnikov. Pri tem smo uporabili metode geografskih informacijskih sistemov.

This paper examines whether satellite images can be used to see a green wave in the small but geographically diverse territory of Slovenia. We used the phenological products of the MODIS satellite system to analyze and calculate the correlations between the onset, decrease, and duration of greenness on one hand, and the elevation and distance from the sea on the other. A statistically reliable significant correlation was primarily determined between onset of green- ness increase (onset of the vegetation period) and elevation. The other correlations did not attain such a high significance. The results of the analysis using remote data sensing were confirmed by analysis of phenological data from the Slovenian Environment Agency, which collects data on leafing out and yellowing of beeches (Fagus sylvatica), which are the most widespread species in Slovenia. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the origi- nal publication, including its DOI. (DOI: 10.1117/1.JRS.8.083669)