GIS-BASED ANALYSIS OF URBAN LAND-USE CHANGES——A Case Study of Haizhu District of Guangzhou City,China

This paper describes a GIS-based sp atial analysis method that combines qualitative analysis and quantita-tive analysis to characterize land-use patterns and predict the trend of future land-use changes in Haizhu Di strict of Guangzhou City,China.Spatial tech nique is introduced to manage land-u se data and derive information of lan d-use changes.Through the case study for t he selected area,it is demonstrated that the method and technique introd uced in the paper can be effectively utilized fo r the analysis of urban land-use chan ges.Based upon this analysis,the paper also pro-vides discussions and recommendati on on urban land-use planning,urban planning and land management.Both l and-use maps of Haizhu District of Guangzhou in 1995and 1997and the remote sensin g images of 1999are utilized in the cu r-rent research.It is convenient to ge t various statistic data and to combi ne attribute data with spatial data s o as to analyze land-use changes in a geographic con text,which is especially suitable f or the need of urban construction dep artment,ur-ban management department and urban planning department.

Suitability evaluation and spatial capacity analysis for complex topography construction land area in southwest China:a case study of Tongzi county in Guizhou province

In the background of a new round reform and western development strategy, making suitability evaluation of construction land complex topography area in southwest China scientifically and accurately has an important guiding significance on the construction of local urban and rural development. We selected economic factor of construction, safety factor of construction, factor of the present situation of land use and ecological protection factor in Tongzi county as evaluation indexes, and ascertained the weight of each elastic indicator using the analytic hierarchy process method. By the support of GIS and RS technology, we combined the single-factor qualitative classification with the multi-factor weighted overlay analysis to make comprehensive suitability evaluation of construction land on the whole study area. And five different types of construction land were divided, namely, ‘excellent', ‘very good', ‘good', ‘moderate' and ‘poor'. The result shows that the area of ‘excellent' construction land is 30.47 km^2(0.95%), 101.46 km^2(3.16%) of ‘very good', 550.34 km^2(17.16%) of ‘good', and 664.69 km^2(20.72%) and 1 860.65 km^2(58.01%) of ‘moderate' and ‘poor', respectively. The land space bearing capacity is a population of 791 600, and the remaining population capacity is 170 900 persons.

Remote sensing monitoring of the recent rapid increase in cultivation activities and its effects on desertification in the Mu Us Desert, China

The recent ecological improvement in the Mu Us Desert of China, largely attributed to large-scale afforestation projects, has created new opportunities for cultivation activities. However, the subsequent rapid increase in reclamation on desertification land and its impact on desertification have raised concerns. In this study, we first extracted data on cultivated land and desertification land in 1975,1990, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 through the human-computer interaction visual interpretation method. By overlaying the cultivated land dynamics and desertification land, we subsequently explored the effect of cultivation activities on desertification in the Mu Us Desert during the six periods from 1975 to 2020(1975–1990, 1990–2000, 2000–2005, 2005–2010, 2010–2015, and 2015–2020). The results showed that cultivated land in the Mu Us Desert showed a fluctuating and increasing trend from 3769.26 km~2 in 1975 to 4865.73 km~2 in 2020, with 2010 as the turning point for the recent rapid increase. The main contributors included the large and regular patches distributed in Yuyang District and Shenmu of Shaanxi Province, and relatively smaller patches concentrated in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The increased cultivated land from the reclamation on desertification land was dominated by moderate and severe desertification lands, and the decreased cultivated land that was transferred into desertification land as abandoned cultivated land was dominated by slight and moderate desertification lands. The effect of cultivation activities on desertification reversal(average area proportion of 10.61% for reversed desertification land) was greater than that of the development of desertification(average area proportion of 5.82% for developed desertification land). Nevertheless, compared to reversed desertification land,both the significant increase of developed desertification land during the periods of 2000–2005 and 2005–2010 and the insignificant decrease during the periods of 2005–2010, 2010–2015, and 2015–2020 implied a potential remobilization risk. Therefore, this study provides a significant theoretical reference for the formulation of ecological restoration projects and regional macroeconomic development policies by considering the influence of cultivation activities, to ensure the overall environmental stability and sustainability in desertification land where reclamation and abandonment activities have taken place.

Determination of groundwater potential distribution in Kulfo-Hare watershed through integration of GIS, remote sensing, and AHP in Southern Ethiopia

Identification of groundwater potential areas(GPA)is important in regions facing surface water scarcity,as it assists in effective planning and utilization of groundwater for various purposes.This study employs the methods of remote sensing(RS),geographic information system(GIS)model,and analytical hierarchy process(AHP),multi-criteria decision analysis(MCDA)to locate and map the prospective groundwater areas in the Kulfo-Hare watershed.Seven significant groundwater influencing factors were selected for the determination of groundwater potential in the area:Geology,land use/land cover(LULC),soil,rainfall,slope,drainage density,and lineament density.By applying a five-class classification scheme(very low,low,moderate,high,and very high),the GIS models were used to define the distribution of groundwater potential areas in terms of area coverage(km^(2)),percentage and mapping.The results show that the groundwater potential(GWP)distribution in the research region is as follows:9.7%(6035.9 ha)classified as very high GWP,29.6%(18606 ha)classified as high,24.5%(15245 ha)classified as moderate,18.1%(11431 ha)as low and 18.1%(11492 ha)very low GWP,on the basis of the weighted overlay evaluation.Although a few regions are identifies as extremely low GWP,most of the study area is characterized by very high to moderate GWP.These findings provide valuable insight for sustainable groundwater planning by the government bodies,decision-makers,and private sectors.

Evaluation of land suitability for Moringa oleifera tree cultivation by using Geospatial technology:The case of Dhidhessa Catchment,Abay Basin,Ethiopia

Land suitability analysis of Moringa oleifera tree cultivation is important to enhance its product,as the demand forthis tree for medicinal values and food sources is increasing worldwide.Therefore,this study aimed to assess suitableland for Moringa oleifera tree cultivation by using the integration of multi-criteria evaluation with geospatialtechnologies in the Dhidhessa catchment,western Ethiopia.Five parameters,namely:slope,land use and landcover(LULC),soil texture,land surface temperature,and rainfall data,were used in this study.The land suitabilityevaluation of Moringa oleifera is classified into three classes as highly suitable,moderately suitable,and notsuitable.The results revealed that,about 344.4 km2(12.2%)of the area is categorized into highly suitable,and2343.7 km2(83%)is moderately suitable for Moringa tree,whereas,137.2 km2(4.9%)is categorized as notsuitable for Moringa oleifera tree cultivation.Hence,based on the finding of the study,we suggested that farmers andother stakeholders can cultivate Moringa oleifera trees in the Dhidhessa catchment.

Evaluation of Eco-Environmental Stability Based on GIS in Tibet, China

By making an evaluation index system and using Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP) to determine the evaluation factor's weights, this paper builds the valuation model ofEco-environmental stability of Tibet and uses the overlay function of raster-GIS (geographicinformation systems) to make a result map and finds the distribution characteristics ofEco-environmental stability of Tibet based on the analysis of result map. The study shows that theEco-environmental stability of Tibet is almost good andthe unstable region which is only 9. 78% ofthe total area of Tibet is distributed in the middle and low reaches of Yarlung river. To protectthe Eco-environmental of the unstable area from farther degenerating, the government should pay moreattention on the Eco-environmental construction work on this area.

GIS-BASED STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EARTHQUAKES AND ACTIVE FAULTS IN SHANGHAI AND ITS ADJACENT OFFSHORE REGION, EAST CHINA

The relation between earthquakes and active faults in Shanghai and its adjacent offshore region is quantitatively evaluated using GIS-based buffer and overlay analysis techniques. Statistics on the distance from the epicenter of an earthquake to its nearest active fault suggest that most earthquakes in the study area occurred within 10 to 20 km of major active faults. The strikes of active faults have significant influences on the occurrence of earthquakes. The NE-NNE-striked faults are less active than NW-NNW- or EW-striked faults. Along the NW-NNW- or EW-striked faults, the frequency of earthquakes is much higher than that along NE-NNE-striked faults. The time of fault activity has some degree of influence on the earthquakes. The newer the faults, the higher the frequency of earthquakes within the zone of the faults.

Mapping of groundwater potential zones in the drought-prone areas of south Madagascar using geospatial techniques

The southern regions of Madagascar have the country’s lowest water supply coverage and are highly vulnerable to drought.Access to potable drinking water is a major challenge for the local population.Chronic droughts lead to annual emergency appeals to save the lives of acute malnourished children.UNICEF’s response consisting in providing potable drinking water through the drilling of boreholes has been challenged by the complex hydrogeology,the low yield of boreholes and high-level salinity of water,the lack of reliable groundwater data and the weak capacity of the drilling sector.These constraints result in a high rate of drilling failure.To improve drilling success and provide more potable drinking water to local communities,it is vital to undertake reliable groundwater investigation.UNICEF Madagascar and the European Union delegation in Madagascar collaborated on the use of satellite imagery to improve sector knowledge and access to safe and clean water for local communities in southern Madagascar.The methodology relies on produce thematic layers of groundwater potential areas.Later,these thematic layers were overlaid with ground-based hydrogeological data to map the groundwater potential zones(GWP) and identify the most suitable sites for borehole siting and drilling.Findings of this study are very encouraging,and the integrated approach used has proven its applicability in mapping groundwater potential areas in the eight drought-affected areas of south Madagascar.The groundwater potential zone map is being used by UNICEF and partners to plan water supply projects and identify the best sites for positioning new boreholes and reduce the likelihood of drilling failure.Additionally,the project developed a database of groundwater resources,which will improve knowledge of the regional hydrogeological context and strengthen the capacity of the water sector.Lessons learnt from this study show that an integration of the groundwater potential zone map with demographics and water demand information will help identifying priority areas for detailed studies.Moreover,a capacity building activity is required for knowledge/technology transfer to the Ministry of Energy,Water and Hydrocarbons(MEEH),allowing the possibility of scaling-up this integrated approach to the rest of Madagascar.Finally,strengthening the capacity of the MEEH and refining this approach as suggested above will certainly help in the pursuit to improve equitable access to safe and clean water for households located in the drought-affected areas of southern Madagascar,allowing them to be more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Research on the Relationship between New Risk Factors and Traditional Risk Factors and Its Interaction with Natural Disasters： A Case Study between Population Urbanization and Natural Disasters in County-Level Administrative Units in China

Traditional risk factors fall into four categories： natural disasters, public health, accidents during production and social security. The four types of risks are called as public safety issues by the government of China. New risk factors are the ones that are connected to human discoveries and more attention to them, which is called locking risk. What is more, such risk factors will continue to emerge with the development of human society. Currently, traditional risk factors have not been eliminated, while new risks have emerged gradually. There are countless relations between new risks and global climatic changes. Therefore, figuring out the relationship between new risks, global climatic changes as well as natural disasters is of great importance. This study takes China as an example. The population data at county level in China in 1991, 2000 and 2009 （including rural population, urban population and total population of three） were selected. By calculating the urbanization rate of the population, the rate of urbanization at county level in China in three years was drawn. And it is superimposed with the disaster zoning in China to analyze the correlation between population changes and natural disasters and reveal the magnitude of disaster effects caused by population urbanization. It can provide the basis for the disaster chain risk assessment under the gnidanee of the regional law of China＇s natural disaster chain and lay the foundation for the study of the relationship between new risk factors and traditional risk factors. So, risks governance can be perfectly combined with developing the green economy during the development of human society, and ultimately, the goal of harmony between human and nature can be achieved.

Assessing and Mapping Land Suitability Units for Maize (Zea mays L) Production Using Integrated DEMATEL-ANP Model and GIS in the Foumbot Agricultural Basin (Cameroon Western Highlands)

Land suitability assessment (LSA) is an essential step in the process of determining environmental limits for sustainable crop production. Up to date, studies on LSA for crop production in Cameroon have been based on empirical methods which are limited as they consider similar singnificance levels for all evaluation criteria and do not consider the interrelationships of criteria in the best-fit models. In the present study a qualitative land suitability evaluation by an integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach and geographic information system (GIS) was tested to assess and map suitable land units for maize (Zea mays L) production in Cameroon Western highland. Eight environmental criteria identified as the most relevant for maize production in the area of interest (AOI) saw their thematic maps prepared using ArcGIS 10.8. The relationship between criteria was considered by the DEMATEL method. The criteria were weighted using the ANP method. Thereafter, the land suitability map was obtained using the weighted overlay analysis (WOA) in ArcGIS. The results obtained indicated that slope has the highest specific weight and consequently the greatest influence on land suitability for maize production in the locality. The land suitability map generated showed that Foumbot’s agricultural land suitability for maize production varies from very high to marginally suitable (99% of the surface area). Specifically, 11% (8056 ha) is very highly suitable, 29% (21,119 ha) is highly suitable, 38% (27,405 ha) are moderately suitable and 20% (14,422 ha) are marginally suitable. The remaining 1% that falls under non suitable class represents 606 ha and is located on the steep slopes around the Mount Mbappit. The kappa analysis reveals a total overall accuracy of 78.67% and a kappa value of 0.7256 with an asymptotic error of 0.058 which is good. Then the model used in this research is highly recommended for future land evaluation works in Cameroon and similar ecosystems around the world.

Research on the Relationship between Active Faults and Earthquakes in the Junction Area of the China North-South Seismic Belt and Central Orogenic Belt Based on GIS

Research on the relationship between faults and seismicity in the junction area of China's north-south seismic belt and central orogenic belt based on the Geography Information System (GIS) has been done.For each of the 16 faults in this area,we build a 25km buffer zone and use overlay analysis to investigate the seismicity and its characteristics on each fault.The results unveil the main seismic faults as follows:the western segment of the northern-edge of the west Qinling fault,the southwestern segment of the Lixian-Luojiabao fault,the southeastern segment of the Lintan-Dangchang fault,the southwestern segment of the Wenxian fault,the Huya fault,and the Xueshan fault.The most active faults are the Huya and Xueshan faults,then the Tazang fault,the Lixian-Luojiabao fault and the northern piedmont of the Guanggaishan-Dieshan fault.The research zone can be divided into four areas according to focal depth,which gets deeper from north to south.The profile of focal depth indicates the geometry and mechanical property of faults,and further reveals the movement model of eastward extrusion of the Tibetan plateau and southeastward escape of masses,thus providing basis for the protection against earthquakes and hazard mitigation in this area.

Key issues in the strategic environmental assessment of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

The middle reaches of the Yangtze River were the key areas of central China emphasized in many strategic plans.It was also an important ecological and fragile area,because there are many wetlands,lakes,rivers and soil erosion area.And it linked the ecological fragile upper reaches of the Yangtze River with the most developed Yangtze River Delta in China.It is urgent to figure out the key industries,key areas and key ecological and environmental problems for the strategic environmental assessment of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.The important regions consisted of the economic key region,the planning key region,the ecological key region,and the fragile ecological region.The key industries consisted of the ones contributed to economic growth,or affecting the environment,or preferred by the local government.Besides,the ecological and environmental problems involved the water environment,the atmosphere environment,and the ecological environment.The key regions were identified through word frequency statistics of many plans by ROST Word Parser.And it was spatially overlaid by ArcGIS9.2.The key industries were calculated based on the economic statistics data,the environmental pollution census and the word frequency statistics.Based on SCI-EXPANDED,CPCI-S,CCR-EXPANDED,IC database and Chinese CNKI periodical database,the ecological and environmental problems of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were analyzed by Citespace software according to the keywords and abstract of every paper.The results show that the important regions of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River concentrated in the central urban region,along the river and lake,surrounding mountains,and the wetland.The equipment manufacturing,chemical industry,mining industry,energy supply industry,food industry,textile and garment industry were the key industries need to be focused on.The urgent ecological and environmental problems in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were the water environment pollution,water ecosystem,heavy metal pollution,soil and wetlands destruction,organic pollution and biodiversity decrease issues..

THE STATISTIC RELATION BETWEEN LIGHTNING AND CINRAD DOPPLER RADAR ECHOES IN CENTRAL GUANGDONG

Based on the CINRAD Doppler radar data in Guangzhou and the lightning data in 2004 by power suppliers of Guangdong, statistical study is done by overlaying lightning＇s position on radar＇s echo. The result shows the followings. The concentrated period in which more negative lightning occurred at the middle levels （2 - 14 km）, where radar echo was moderate （12 - 45 dBz）, rather than at the low levels with the weakest echoes or at high levels with the strongest echoes. At levels 3 - 11 km, where the radar echo was between 10 dBz and 35 dBz, the area of negative lightning was much larger in central Guangdong than in the rest of the province. At levels 0.5 - 7 krn where the radar echoes were between 44 dBz and 51 dBz, the probability for a point to have negative lightning varies from 0.4 to 0.7.

Land suitability analysis for maize production using geospatial technologies in the Didessa watershed,Ethiopia

Physical land suitability assessment is a prerequisite for enhancing yield production and enables the agricultural communities to use the right place for the right crops.Maize is one of stable one food crops of Ethiopia and cultivated in three agroecological zones:highland,midland and lowlands.Despite these facts,maize yield is very low due to a lack of knowledge and information gaps on land suitability.Physical land suitability for maize cultivation is essential to minimize the problem of food security.The present study aims to identify the potential land suitability for maize production in the Didessa watershed,Western Ethiopia using Multi-Criteria Evaluation(MCE)and geospatial technologies.Land use land cover(LULC)change,climate,topography,soil,and infrastructure facilities were considered for maize land suitability assessment.The MCE based pairwise comparison matrix was applied to estimate land suitability for maize crop cultivation.The results showed that,about 977.7 km^(2)(14.1%)is highly suitable,4794.9 km^(2)(69.1%)is moderately suitable while 1118.8 km^(2)(16.1%),and 51.5 km^(2)(0.7%)of the study area were categorized under marginally and not suitable for maize production,respectively.This research provides crucial information for decision making organs and the farming community to utilize potential areas for maize cultivation.