One of the main concerns of physical planning is the proper designation of suitable sites for feasible and sustainable land use. A main importance of such issue is that it withdraws attention to the necessity of adopt...One of the main concerns of physical planning is the proper designation of suitable sites for feasible and sustainable land use. A main importance of such issue is that it withdraws attention to the necessity of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the zoning and site selection problem. Egypt has a top priority objective to develop Sinai Peninsula and to create new sustainable and attracting communities that should ensure a stable, economic and sustainable environment in vast desert zones. Due to the difficulty in solving a zoning problem in a desert, the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) was to explore the desert potentials in the region. Five sub-models were created for five themes using Spatial Multicriteria Analysis (SMCA) and used as inputs to the final suitability model. These themes are: land resources, land stability, accessibility, cost of construction and land protection. A GIS-based model was designed following a sustainable development approach. Economic, social and environmental factors were introduced in the model to identify and map land suitable zones for urban development using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The suitability index map for urban development was produced by weighted overlay of the five sub-models themes. The most suitable zones for urban development in Sinai Peninsula amounted to 5327 square kilometers representing 17% of total area, whereas high suitable zones reached 40% indicating a high suitability of Sinai Peninsula lands for residing new urban communities.展开更多
Wind power is a safe form of renewable energy and is one of the most promising alternative energy sources. Worldwide, the wind power industry has been rapidly growing recently. It is crucial that the locating of new p...Wind power is a safe form of renewable energy and is one of the most promising alternative energy sources. Worldwide, the wind power industry has been rapidly growing recently. It is crucial that the locating of new projects must address both environmental and social concerns. The Red Sea shoreline in Egypt provides excellent wind power potential sites for the Red Sea Governorate. In this study, appropriate zones for wind power farms were mapped using remotely sensed data and a GIS-based model namely Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE). This model incorporated several criteria, two sets of factors and a set of constraints. First, resource factors included wind speed, elevation zones used to derive the wind power density. Second, economic factors included distances from urban areas, roads and power-lines. Third, land constraints were excluded from the evaluation. The land constraints set included land slope angles, shoreline, urban areas, protectorates airports and ecologically sensitive and historical areas. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to assign the criteria relative weights. The weighted criteria and constraints maps were combined in the MCE model. The model identified the zones with potential wind power energy. Such zones were found to exist along the northern parts of the Red Sea shoreline. Some of which are unsuitable due to their location within a sensitive eco-system, high slopes and/or a nearby airport. By excluding such land constrains, the model identified the most appropriate zones satisfying all assigned suitability conditions for wind farms. Ideal zones amount to 706 sq. km with suitability values ranging from 83% to 100% and highly suitable zones amount to 3781 sq. km having suitability values ranging from 66% to 83%.展开更多
Cairo city, being the Egypt’s industrial and cultural center, has a problem of rapid urban sprawl. The city has an extremely high population density which is continuously increasing through informal settlements that ...Cairo city, being the Egypt’s industrial and cultural center, has a problem of rapid urban sprawl. The city has an extremely high population density which is continuously increasing through informal settlements that grow by sprawling due to migration from the Nile Delta villages and the high population growth rates. The present study attempts to understand, detect and quantify the spatial pattern of Cairo’s urban sprawl using Shannon’s entropy and multi-temporal Landsat TM and ETM images acquired for the period from 1984 to 2013. Supervised classification was applied to extract the built-up areas and to measure the changes in the urban land-use class among the city wards. Shannon’s entropy was applied to model the city’s urban sprawl, trend and spatial change. The entropy values for the city’s electoral wards were modeled and used in an interpolation function to create an entropy surface (index) for each acquired temporal image. Such index indicates the spatial pattern of the urban sprawl and provides a visual comparison of the entropy phenomenon in such wards. Results indicate that Shannon’s entropy index increased from (1.4615) in year 1984 to (2.1023) in year 2013, indicating more dispersed urban growth, a sign of urban sprawl. The maximum entropy values are found in the eastern wards namely El Nozha, Awal Nasr District, Thany Nasr-District, El Salam, El Marg and El Bassatein. A regression analysis was carried for the population growth rate and the built-up areas. Findings help in understanding the sprawl patterns and dynamics among Cairo’s electoral wards and provide a visual comparison. The applied methodology provides explanations and facilitates tracing and measuring the urban sprawl which is needed by decision makers and city planners of mega cities.展开更多
Spatial mapping of potential zones for wind energy is crucial for sustainable regional planning. The Suez Canal Region, Egypt, is currently a focus for national government and international investments for developing ...Spatial mapping of potential zones for wind energy is crucial for sustainable regional planning. The Suez Canal Region, Egypt, is currently a focus for national government and international investments for developing the logistic area. The Suez Governorate region is known of its high wind speed along the Gulf of Suez coast. This paper aims at estimating and mapping the potential zones for harnessing wind energy in such region. The method utilizes satellite data and spatial multi-criteria evaluation. Landsat 8 OLI satellite image was used to derive the land-use/land-cover map. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) was used in modeling the wind power density map using the region’s annual average wind speed data. Decision criteria including the climatic conditions, topography, infrastructure and land-cover maps were standardized, weighted and aggregated using weighted linear combination to identify the potential wind energy zones. The results reveal that the highest potential zones for wind energy reach a maximum value of 650 Watt/m2 and a mean of 310 watt/m2 and are located in the south-eastern part of the Suez Governorate Region along the Gulf of Suez. Findings indicate a high potential for harnessing wind energy in the region. The resultant maps can be used as guidelines for regional planning and zoning of renewable energy resources.展开更多
文摘One of the main concerns of physical planning is the proper designation of suitable sites for feasible and sustainable land use. A main importance of such issue is that it withdraws attention to the necessity of adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the zoning and site selection problem. Egypt has a top priority objective to develop Sinai Peninsula and to create new sustainable and attracting communities that should ensure a stable, economic and sustainable environment in vast desert zones. Due to the difficulty in solving a zoning problem in a desert, the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) was to explore the desert potentials in the region. Five sub-models were created for five themes using Spatial Multicriteria Analysis (SMCA) and used as inputs to the final suitability model. These themes are: land resources, land stability, accessibility, cost of construction and land protection. A GIS-based model was designed following a sustainable development approach. Economic, social and environmental factors were introduced in the model to identify and map land suitable zones for urban development using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The suitability index map for urban development was produced by weighted overlay of the five sub-models themes. The most suitable zones for urban development in Sinai Peninsula amounted to 5327 square kilometers representing 17% of total area, whereas high suitable zones reached 40% indicating a high suitability of Sinai Peninsula lands for residing new urban communities.
文摘Wind power is a safe form of renewable energy and is one of the most promising alternative energy sources. Worldwide, the wind power industry has been rapidly growing recently. It is crucial that the locating of new projects must address both environmental and social concerns. The Red Sea shoreline in Egypt provides excellent wind power potential sites for the Red Sea Governorate. In this study, appropriate zones for wind power farms were mapped using remotely sensed data and a GIS-based model namely Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE). This model incorporated several criteria, two sets of factors and a set of constraints. First, resource factors included wind speed, elevation zones used to derive the wind power density. Second, economic factors included distances from urban areas, roads and power-lines. Third, land constraints were excluded from the evaluation. The land constraints set included land slope angles, shoreline, urban areas, protectorates airports and ecologically sensitive and historical areas. The Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to assign the criteria relative weights. The weighted criteria and constraints maps were combined in the MCE model. The model identified the zones with potential wind power energy. Such zones were found to exist along the northern parts of the Red Sea shoreline. Some of which are unsuitable due to their location within a sensitive eco-system, high slopes and/or a nearby airport. By excluding such land constrains, the model identified the most appropriate zones satisfying all assigned suitability conditions for wind farms. Ideal zones amount to 706 sq. km with suitability values ranging from 83% to 100% and highly suitable zones amount to 3781 sq. km having suitability values ranging from 66% to 83%.
文摘Cairo city, being the Egypt’s industrial and cultural center, has a problem of rapid urban sprawl. The city has an extremely high population density which is continuously increasing through informal settlements that grow by sprawling due to migration from the Nile Delta villages and the high population growth rates. The present study attempts to understand, detect and quantify the spatial pattern of Cairo’s urban sprawl using Shannon’s entropy and multi-temporal Landsat TM and ETM images acquired for the period from 1984 to 2013. Supervised classification was applied to extract the built-up areas and to measure the changes in the urban land-use class among the city wards. Shannon’s entropy was applied to model the city’s urban sprawl, trend and spatial change. The entropy values for the city’s electoral wards were modeled and used in an interpolation function to create an entropy surface (index) for each acquired temporal image. Such index indicates the spatial pattern of the urban sprawl and provides a visual comparison of the entropy phenomenon in such wards. Results indicate that Shannon’s entropy index increased from (1.4615) in year 1984 to (2.1023) in year 2013, indicating more dispersed urban growth, a sign of urban sprawl. The maximum entropy values are found in the eastern wards namely El Nozha, Awal Nasr District, Thany Nasr-District, El Salam, El Marg and El Bassatein. A regression analysis was carried for the population growth rate and the built-up areas. Findings help in understanding the sprawl patterns and dynamics among Cairo’s electoral wards and provide a visual comparison. The applied methodology provides explanations and facilitates tracing and measuring the urban sprawl which is needed by decision makers and city planners of mega cities.
文摘Spatial mapping of potential zones for wind energy is crucial for sustainable regional planning. The Suez Canal Region, Egypt, is currently a focus for national government and international investments for developing the logistic area. The Suez Governorate region is known of its high wind speed along the Gulf of Suez coast. This paper aims at estimating and mapping the potential zones for harnessing wind energy in such region. The method utilizes satellite data and spatial multi-criteria evaluation. Landsat 8 OLI satellite image was used to derive the land-use/land-cover map. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) was used in modeling the wind power density map using the region’s annual average wind speed data. Decision criteria including the climatic conditions, topography, infrastructure and land-cover maps were standardized, weighted and aggregated using weighted linear combination to identify the potential wind energy zones. The results reveal that the highest potential zones for wind energy reach a maximum value of 650 Watt/m2 and a mean of 310 watt/m2 and are located in the south-eastern part of the Suez Governorate Region along the Gulf of Suez. Findings indicate a high potential for harnessing wind energy in the region. The resultant maps can be used as guidelines for regional planning and zoning of renewable energy resources.
