Geospatial technology is a useful tool when identifying land corridors for transportation networks. The primary transit corridor between Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV is Interstate-15, approximately a four-hour au...Geospatial technology is a useful tool when identifying land corridors for transportation networks. The primary transit corridor between Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV is Interstate-15, approximately a four-hour automobile trip without traffic. Virgin Trains USA LLC proposes an alternative means of travel by constructing a high-speed railway along Interstate-15 connecting Las Vegas and Victorville, CA. This study uses least-cost path analysis to propose an optimized alternative corridor for Virgin Trains’ proposed high-speed railway through a system facilitated road and rail accessibility analysis. Previous research using least-cost path and accessibility methodologies evaluated the results of proposed high-speed railway corridors and the system facilitated accessibility changes by visually inspecting deviations from a planned corridor using single or multiple cost criteria as inputs for a weighted cost surface. However, robust analyses of previous least-cost path studies’ corridors are lacking. This proof-in-concept study proposes a less costly corridor through least-cost path analysis and measures the social impact on the stakeholders of a high-speed railway transportation system through system facilitated accessibility. This study’s proposed alternative corridor is 31% shorter than Virgin Trains’ planned corridor and system facilitated accessibility to Las Vegas, NV is increased in 99.74% of Los Angeles County’s census tracts. These results support this study’s position that geospatial technology can support transportation planning in a comprehensive method that considers the transportation corridor and benefits its stakeholders.展开更多
The protecting requirements and functional connectivity of species in isolated habitat patches are crucial factors of eco-network planning.This study aimed to improve the method of eco-network planning for species con...The protecting requirements and functional connectivity of species in isolated habitat patches are crucial factors of eco-network planning.This study aimed to improve the method of eco-network planning for species conservation.Ecoprofiling was used to group the species by similar behavior types,namely,choice of ecosystem,area requirement,and short distance dispersal abilities.A least-cost model was used to simulate the optimal corridor location to maintain functional connectivity.A combination of ecoprofile and least-cost model was hired to develop an eco-network that promoted species conservation.A case study was also conducted in Beijing,China.In addition to the required ecosystem,habitat area is an important parameter for habitat extraction.Habitat area can remove noise habitat patches because of lacking area.Short-distance dispersal can be used to identify corridor requirements and avoid unnecessary building requirements.Species with various dispersal abilities exhibit significant differences in terms of corridor length and location requirement.Habitat isolation is the main threat for weakly mobile species,and habitat loss is the major risk of mobile species protection.Different species groups also exhibit distinct landscape pattern demands for an eco-network,and the eco-network planning based on specific species can not protect other species.We proposed that a combination of ecoprofile and least-cost model improved the efficiency of species conservation by eco-network planning.展开更多
文摘Geospatial technology is a useful tool when identifying land corridors for transportation networks. The primary transit corridor between Los Angeles, CA and Las Vegas, NV is Interstate-15, approximately a four-hour automobile trip without traffic. Virgin Trains USA LLC proposes an alternative means of travel by constructing a high-speed railway along Interstate-15 connecting Las Vegas and Victorville, CA. This study uses least-cost path analysis to propose an optimized alternative corridor for Virgin Trains’ proposed high-speed railway through a system facilitated road and rail accessibility analysis. Previous research using least-cost path and accessibility methodologies evaluated the results of proposed high-speed railway corridors and the system facilitated accessibility changes by visually inspecting deviations from a planned corridor using single or multiple cost criteria as inputs for a weighted cost surface. However, robust analyses of previous least-cost path studies’ corridors are lacking. This proof-in-concept study proposes a less costly corridor through least-cost path analysis and measures the social impact on the stakeholders of a high-speed railway transportation system through system facilitated accessibility. This study’s proposed alternative corridor is 31% shorter than Virgin Trains’ planned corridor and system facilitated accessibility to Las Vegas, NV is increased in 99.74% of Los Angeles County’s census tracts. These results support this study’s position that geospatial technology can support transportation planning in a comprehensive method that considers the transportation corridor and benefits its stakeholders.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41271198)
文摘The protecting requirements and functional connectivity of species in isolated habitat patches are crucial factors of eco-network planning.This study aimed to improve the method of eco-network planning for species conservation.Ecoprofiling was used to group the species by similar behavior types,namely,choice of ecosystem,area requirement,and short distance dispersal abilities.A least-cost model was used to simulate the optimal corridor location to maintain functional connectivity.A combination of ecoprofile and least-cost model was hired to develop an eco-network that promoted species conservation.A case study was also conducted in Beijing,China.In addition to the required ecosystem,habitat area is an important parameter for habitat extraction.Habitat area can remove noise habitat patches because of lacking area.Short-distance dispersal can be used to identify corridor requirements and avoid unnecessary building requirements.Species with various dispersal abilities exhibit significant differences in terms of corridor length and location requirement.Habitat isolation is the main threat for weakly mobile species,and habitat loss is the major risk of mobile species protection.Different species groups also exhibit distinct landscape pattern demands for an eco-network,and the eco-network planning based on specific species can not protect other species.We proposed that a combination of ecoprofile and least-cost model improved the efficiency of species conservation by eco-network planning.
