Remote sensing and geographic information systems techniques in studies on treeline ecotone dynamics

We performed a meta-analysis on over 100 studies applying remote sensing(RS)and geographic information systems(GIS)to understand treeline dynamics.A literature search was performed in multiple online databases,including Web of Knowledge(Thomson Reuters),Scopus(Elsevier),BASE(Bielefeld Academic Search Engine),CAB Direct,and Google Scholar using treeline-related queries.We found that RS and GIS use has steadily increased in treeline studies since 2000.Spatialresolution RS and satellite imaging techniques varied from low-resolution MODIS,moderate-resolution Landsat,to high-resolution WorldView and aerial orthophotos.Most papers published in the 1990s used low to moderate resolution sensors such as Landsat Multispectral Scanner and Thematic Mapper,or SPOT PAN(Panchromatic)and MX(Multispectral)RS images.Subsequently,we observed a rise in high-resolution satellite sensors such as ALOS,GeoEye,IKONOS,and WorldView for mapping current and potential treelines.Furthermore,we noticed a shift in emphasis of treeline studies over time:earlier reports focused on mapping treeline positions,whereas RS and GIS are now used to determine the factors that control treeline variation.

The Demographic Impact on Credit Scores＂ Evidence From Statistical Methods and Geographic Information Systems （GIS） Mapping

Average credit scores for people in the United States （US） differ from state to state. Some states have high, and some states have low average credit scores. Since lenders and employers use credit scores to make loan and employment decisions, people living in states where average credit scores are high should experience the benefits of living where credit scores tend to allow more favorable loan and employment decisions. Although credit scores are the direct result of credit histories, credit histories may be impacted by demographic factors. If the demographic factors that impact credit histories are identified, ways to improve credit scores are likely to be discovered and available to people and state government policymakers. This study looks for demographic factors to indirectly explain the average credit scores for people living in each state of the US. The methodology includes statistical analyses and geographic information systems （GIS） mapping. Statistical analyses provide evidence to suggest that state average credit scores are explained by the demographic factors of education, family, income, and health. GIS mapping reveals clusters of states with similar demographics and credit scores.

Application of Geographic Information Systems to Analyses and Modeling of Hydrocarbons Anomaly in Yakla,North Tarim Basin,Xinjiang,China

Yakla area is a very important and typical region in North Tarim, because it is the region that leads to a breakthrough in North Tarim oil/gas exploring. Therefore, a lot of exploration work has been already carried out in the area aiming at assessing the hydrocarbon anomaly and some techniques for anomaly delineation are being suggested. Yakla covers about 312 km 2 and lies 20 km south to Luntai Kuche road and displays as a long rectangular, with the length of 24 km in ENE and the width of 13 km in WSW. The surface is desert covered with saline akali, sand ribbon and sand dune. Samples collected from Yakla were analyzed for their hydrocarbon mass fractions and the spatial distribution of the concentrations of selected hydrocarbons C 1, C 2, C 3, i C 4, n C 4, i C 5, n C 5 and UF365 were estimated from these data sets. Multivariate statistical techniques including Kriging, moving average, factor analyses, cluster analyses and furrier filtering are used. The statistical techniques, spatial data analysis and transformation capabilities of geographic information systems, combined with geophysical and geological data, helped the authors to identify the hydrocarbon anomaly in Yakla.

Identification of landing sites for rescue helicopters in mountains with use of Geographic Information Systems

Helicopters are often used in mountain rescue both for rescuers moving in the area of accidents and for evacuating victims, but in steep or forested terrain finding a landing place can be problematic. The main aim of this research is to use Digital Elevation Model(DEM) and cartographic database analysis to select locations that can be used as landing site for the rescue helicopters. Methods were based on GIS analysis;both raster and vector data were used for identifying touchdown points for rescue helicopters. Based on DEM data, locations with a low slope gradient were identified;topographic vector data were used for identifying unforested sites. Then buffer zones for buildings and power lines were excluded, and it was checked whether the areas had any topographic features that prevented helicopter landings. The findings were verified on an orthophotomap. In result, GIS analyses have selected 1232 polygons that fulfilled initial criteria. Their verification on orthophotomap has shown that only 55% of them could be potentially used as landing site. Landing sites can be found mainly on side ridges of mountain ranges and in valley beds, when those on ridges are most important in this research. The greatest difficulties and methodological challenges are posed by: identification of sites having a shape which prevents landing, the obsolescence of data due to environment dynamics, the presence of features that are not shown on maps but prevent helicopter landings. A map of landing sites is a very useful tool to conduct rescue operations, but each use of a given landing site requires both in-field and numerical verification. The analysis demonstrated that GIS toolsare useful in pre-planning of rescue missions, and also showed that such data must be kept up-to-date and in-field verification is needed continuously, the more so as it plays an important role in ensuring the safety of rescuers and victims.

Application of Geographic Information Systems in Groundwater Prospecting: A Case Study of Garissa County, Kenya

Groundwater prospecting in Kenya has been haphazard and expensive due to lack of information on the appropriate areas for hydrogeological exploration and drilling of boreholes. Drilling in areas without prior knowledge about their groundwater potential has been leading to the drilling of numerous dry boreholes. In this study, we explored the use of Geographic Information System as a pre-analysis tool to identify zones with groundwater potential for Garissa Country. Factors that contributed to groundwater occurrence were identified as landcover, soil type and rock formation. The groundwater potential zones were generated by analysing thematic data of the three factors and integrating the musing Weighted Index Overlay Analysis (WIOA) method. The groundwater potential zones were validated by comparing the predicted potentials with actual yields of existing boreholes drilled within those areas. Results indicate that, whereas the model correctly predicted areas with low or no groundwater potential, it performed sparingly well when predicting areas with good groundwater potential. The study conclusively identified areas where groundwater prospecting should not be attempted and other alternative methods of surface water provision should be explored.

Malaria Control Mechanisms for Effective Healthcare Delivery in Ghana: The Use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

Malaria is a major health problem facing many tropical countries, including Ghana. The use of modern mechanisms to study environmental factors in malaria occurrence is imperative in malaria control efforts. The aim of this research is to investigate how malaria occurrence is influenced by environmental factors and how Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be used as a mechanism for improving malaria control in healthcare delivery in Ghana. Environmental factors, elevation, daily temperature and daily rainfall were plotted against prevalence of M and S forms of mosquitoes using ArcGIS 10.1. Prevalence of Anopheles gambiae M was the highest at elevations of 0 m to 200 m and that of S was the highest at elevations between 200 m and 500 m. Prevalence of M was the highest at temperatures between 26.1&degC - 27.6&degC whilst that of S was the highest at temperatures of between 24.5&degC and 26.0&degC. Prevalence of M was the highest at rainfall between 10 mm and 35 mm and S was the highest at rainfall between 26 mm and 36 mm and beyond. M form was positively correlated with temperature and negatively with elevation and humidity. The S form was negatively associated with temperature and positively with elevation and rainfall. GIS models can combine with environmental data to estimate vector prevalence under environmental conditions and therefore its use is recommended in Ghana.

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Targeted National Recruitment of Community-Dwelling Caregivers Managing Dementia-Related Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms: A Recruitment Approach for a Randomized Clinical Trial

Over 16 million caregivers of people living with dementia require support in a range of issues, including self-care, disease education, and guidance for how to manage behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Non-pharmacological interventions are needed to address these areas, and online applications have been shown to be safe and effective. To ensure the efficacy of such interventions, racially, ethnically, geographically, and socioeconomically diverse participants must be recruited to increase the generalizability of study outcomes. This protocol paper describes a recruitment plan using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reach a representative sample of caregivers across the United States for a national Phase III clinical study. Using publicly available census data from the American Community Survey (ACS), combined with location data for local aging resources such as Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), recruitment will be derived from data analysis conducted in ESRI ArcGIS v10.7.1. Datasets including age, gender, income, and education will be assessed nationally at the county and census tract spatial scale in a nine-step process to develop recruitment priority areas containing high concentrations of eligible participants living in the community. Overall, the current protocol will demonstrate the value of GIS in tailoring targeted outreach strategies to recruit community-dwelling populations through local resource institutions. This novel approach may have far-reaching implications in future recruitment initiatives and help to secure racially/ethnically diverse samples.

Contribution of Geographic Information Systems for the Management of Water Resources： Case of Groundwater Resources of the Plain of Mascara （Algeria）

The plain of Mascara includes groundwater resources, heavily exploited for the needs of the population, industry and agriculture. However, this resource is under threat from the point of view of quality and quantity. The degradation of water quality comes from water discharges untreated （domestic and/or industrial） and from the irrational use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. The decrease in reserves is due to the effects of intensive exploitation. Several studies on the water resources of the plain generated a mass of very important data. In most cases, these data are disparate at different institutions managers （water resources, environment, etc.）, and are found recorded in paper documents, difficult to exploit. For this reason, it would be essential to use reliable new techniques, namely the GIS （geographic information systems）. The implementation of the GIS of the plain of Mascara （with extension to all the sub-basin of Wadi Fekan） must permit to organize the data and transform it into information. Integration, crossing and superposition of the data with other variables may contribute to spatial analysis and generate very important thematic maps. The GIS constitutes a very effective decision aid tool for the management, exploitation, preservation and protection of water resources. The exploitation possibilities of GIS are multiple, direct or indirect. We give an example as the coupling with a groundwater flow model that may be the subject of additional work.

Safety Evaluation Method of Evacuation Routes in Areas in Case of Earthquake Disasters Using Ant Optimization Algorithm and Geographic Information Systems

The present study aims to propose the method for the quantitative evaluation of safety concerning evacuation routes in case of earthquake disasters in urban areas using ACO （Ant Colony Optimization） algorithm and GIS （Geographic Information Systems）. Regarding the safety evaluation method, firstly, the similarity in safety was focused on while taking into consideration road blockage probability, and after classifying roads by means of the hierarchical cluster analysis, the congestion rates of evacuation routes using ACO simulations were estimated. Based on these results, the multiple evacuation routes extracted were visualized on digital maps by means of GIS, and its safety was evaluated. Furthermore, the selection of safe evacuation routes between evacuation sites, for cases when the possibility of large-scale evacuation after an earthquake disaster is high, is made possible. As the safety evaluation method is based on public information, by obtaining the same geographic information as the present study, it is effective in other areas regardless of whether the information is of the past and future. Therefore, in addition to spatial reproducibility, the safety evaluation method also has high temporal reproducibility. Because safety evaluations are conducted on evacuation routes based on quantified data, highly safe evacuation routes that are selected have been quantitatively evaluated, and thus serve as an effective indicator when selecting evacuation routes.

Governance of Marine Protected Areas： An Approach Using Public Participation Geographic Information Systems--The MARGov Project

The MARGov Project consisted in strengthening the interaction among the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park stakeholders, and to collaboratively construct, with social and institutional actors, a governance model for the Marine Park, located in the municipality of Sesimbra （Portugal）. To pursue this goal, a PPGIS （public participation geographic information system） was developed, allowing the interaction, discussion and public participation of the stakeholders and actors involved. This PPGIS emerged as a crowdsourcing tool, with the purpose of assisting the georeferenced contributes from the local users of the Marine Park, regarding several relevant subjects, such as pollution, economic activities, opportunities and threats to the Marine Park, providing visual, analytical, and demonstrative qualities.

Combining Geographic Information Systems for Transportation and Mixed Integer Linear Programming in Facility Location-Allocation Problems

In this study, we aimed to assess the solution quality for location-allocation problems from facilities generated by the software TransCAD®?, a Geographic Information System for Transportation (GIS-T). Such facilities were obtained after using two routines together: Facility Location and Transportation Problem, when compared with optimal solutions from exact mathematical models, based on Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP), developed externally for the GIS. The models were applied to three simulations: the first one proposes opening factories and customer allocation in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil;the second involves a wholesaler and a study of location and allocation of distribution centres for retail customers;and the third one involves the location of day-care centers and allocation of demand (0 - 3 years old children). The results showed that when considering facility capacity, the MILP optimising model presents results up to 37% better than the GIS and proposes different locations to open new facilities.

Prototype Geographic Information Systems Mapping of Crop Products Featured Local

Local featured program in Indonesia cannot be separated entirely from commodity strategic bases. Until in 2006, agricultural development formulation showed indicative targets for featured crops commodity production. The problem of food security is forming of farmer’s independence to protect local resources in efficiently and optimally, so these resources can be more utilized. It can be achieved by assist of information technologies and communication in forming of Geographic Information System (GIS) to support consistency of food security in Indonesia. This research designs prototype geographic information system in order to conduct the accurate mapping and to know the local featured crops production in Indonesia. This level is conducted for documentation and mapping of agricultural products which is the local featured production. This documentation requires the usage of potential physical, economic, social and cultural environment by the utilization of information technology and communication, which have the ability of relevancy and accessibility of reliable information.

Basic theory and key technologies for marine geographic information system

Marine geographic information system （MGIS） has great ability to deal with the spatio-temporal problems and has potential superiority when it is applied to oceanography. Using the feature extraction of oceanic phenomena as a case study, the functions of the MGIS are analyzed, and thus the position of MGIS in the oceanography is defined. Comparing the requirement of MGIS with that of the traditional GIS which has been developed in the terrestrial applications in the past four decades, the frame for the functions of MGIS is constructed. According to the established MGIS, some key technologies are discussed in detail with emphasis on the specialities which can distinguish the MGIS from the traditional GIS.

Spatial variations of aluminum species in drinking water supplies in Xi'an studied applying geographic information system

This article aimed to investigate the variation of aluminum species and the effects of coagulant type and water quality on aluminum speciation in drinking water. Statistical analysis showed that the concentration of total aluminum （AlT） of drinking water in Xi＇ an ranged from 0.051 to 0.417 mg/L and the concentration of A1T in about 24.7% studied samples was higher than the currently recommended value （0.2 mg/L）. The areas fed by surface water plants had a larger portion （39.4%） of samples over the recommended value. In drinking water treated by alum coagulant, the average concentration of monomeric aluminum （Ala） was higher than that in water treated by poly aluminum chlorine （PACl） and poly aluminum ferric chloride （PAFC）. The average concentrations of polynuclear aluminum （Alb） and colloidal/suspended aluminum （Ale） in the drinking water treated by alum were lower than those in water treated by PACl and PAFC. There was a notable decrease in AlT along with the delivery pipeline away from the plants, with an average decline of about 36 μg/（L-km）. Besides coagulant type, water quality also could affect aluminum speciation. In drinking water without orthophosphate, the concentrations of Ala and AlT were positively correlated with pH; while, in drinking water with orthophospbate, the concentrations of Ala and AlT were negatively correlated with pH. The addition of orthophosphate salts in the drinking water treatment process would be an effective method for aluminum control in pH range 6.5-8.2.

THE MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES USING GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

Based on the combination of Geographical information system(GIS)with the research ofToponymy,some foundational problems of the Geographical Name Information System(GINS)are discussed in this paper.The present situation of Toponymical research is anal-ysed and the necessity of introducing the GIS tools to the research of Toponymy is demon-strated.The conceptual model of the GNIS and the structure of Geographical name Database(GND)are discussed.The basic functions of the GNIS software for management and re-search of geographical name are suggested.Some issues are stated such as the applicationand potential of the combination of GIS with CAD in the management and research of To-ponymy,the combination of GNIS with other spatial information system and sharing the in-formation with each other,the research and development of GNIS, etc.

Role of remote sensing, geographic bioinformatics system and bioinformatics in kala-azar epidemiology

Visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar is a potent parasitic infection causing death of thousands of people each year. Medicinal compounds currently available for the treatment of kala-azar have serious side effects and decreased efficacy owing to the emergence of resistant strains. The type of immune reaction is also to be considered in patients infected with Leishmania donovani （L. donovani）. For complete eradication of this disease, a high level modern research is currently being applied both at the molecular level as well as at the field level. The computational approaches like remote sensing, geographic information system （GIS） and bioinformatics are the key resources for the detection and distribution of vectors, patterns, ecological and environmental factors and genomic and proteomic analysis. Novel approaches like GIS and bioinformatics have been more appropriately utilized in determining the cause of visearal leishmaniasis and in designing strategies for preventing the disease from spreading from one region to another.

Geographical Information System-Based Assessment of Ecological Security in Changbai Mountain Region

Ecological security defined as the creation of a condition where the physical surroundings of a community provide for the needs of its inhabitants without diminishing its natural stock,which is important for regional security and social stability.In recent years,land use patterns in the Changbai Mountain region have changed significantly with intensive human activities,and consequently led to increasing problems in regional ecological security.Based on the Pressure-State-Impact-Response(PSIR) model and the mathematical method of catastrophe progression supported by geographical information system(GIS),the ecological security situation of the study area under land use and cover change(LUCC) was evaluated.The results indicated that the ecological security in Changbai Mountain region varied nonlinearly,which got better from 1990 to 2000 but became worse from 2000 to 2007,the ecological security levels in Changbai Mountain region were mainly medium and medium to low during the past 17 years,with higher values of Ecological Security Index(ESI) in the central region and lower values in the east and west,the ecological security situation was more serious in the settlements and river valleys,where the LUCC was most remarkable.

Development of a Web-Based Geographic Information System for Mass Land Valuation: A Case Study of Westlands Constituency, Nairobi County

The development of a web-based Geographic Information System for mass property valuation was the main focus of this research. The developed web GIS allows effective dissemination, extraction and analysis of mass land valuation information over the Internet. It also allows for automation of the mass property valuation process by compiling a centralized mass valuation roll database. The Westlands Constituency, one of the administrative regions of the Nairobi City County was used as a case study. The research focused on automation of the mass property valuation roll by creating a centralized database that is accessible by all users on the web-based GIS portal. This was done by customizing and integrating a web-based GIS system based on open source QuantumGIS, GeoServer and PostgreSQL/PostGIS as a relational database. Leaflets APIs were used for the development of an interactive and friendly geographic user interface. The developed system enables users to view and interact with the spatial data. This improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the decision making process and data sharing for mass property valuation and optimal property taxation purposes.

The application of Yangtze Estuary Tidal Wetlands Geographic Information System

Yangtze Estuary Tidal Wetlands Geographic Information System (YETWGIS) is a comprehensive software system for environmental management and decision of Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands. Based on MapObjects components technology, Data Mining technology, mathematical modeling method and Visual Basic language, this software system has many functions such as displaying, editing, querying and searching, spatial statistics and analysis, thematic map compiling, and environmental quality evaluation. This paper firstly outlined the system structure, key techniques, and achieving methods of YETWGIS, and then, described the core modules (the thematic map compiling module and environmental quality evaluation model module) in detail. In addition, based on information entropy model, it thoroughly discussed the methods of environmental quality evaluation and indicators' weight calculation. Finally, by using YETWGIS, this paper analyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of Heavy Metal and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) of the Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands in 2002, and evaluated the environmental quality of the Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands in 2003.

Spatial and Dynamic Analysis of Regional Sustainable Development Using Geographic Information System and Relative Carrying Capacity of Resources

Relative carrying capacity of resources is an index to measure sustainable development through carrying capacity. Case studies of eleven cities in Zhejiang (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan, Taizhou and Lishui) illustrated regional sustainable development approach. In this study, to provide insight into spatial and dynamic analysis of region sustainable development, we calculated the relative carrying capacity of land resources and economical resources and synthetical carrying capacity of resources in different cities in Zhejiang, and geographic information system was carried out. The results showed that all cities but Hangzhou and Ningbo were ecologically sustainable, and relative carrying capacity of land resources in northern and eastern Zhejiang was larger than those in southern and western Zhejiang. The sampling years of Wenzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo contribution rates of land resource to synthetic carrying capacity were grouped into three stages, and there were two milestones trends and changes in 1996 and 2004, respectively. This study demonstrated that geographic information system and relative carrying capacity of resources are effective for assessment of region sustainable development, and provide policy guidelines for decision-making.