This book examines how Geographic Information Technologies (GIT) are being implemented to improve our understanding of a variety of hazard and disaster situations. The volume is a compilation of recent research using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and other technologies such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to examine urban hazard and disaster issues. The goal is to improve and advance the use of such technologies during four classic phases of hazard and disaster research: response, recovery, preparation and mitigation. The focus is on urban areas, broadly defined in order to encompass rapidly growing and densely populated areas.

The material presented is multidisciplinary, with contributions from scholars in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America, and is presented in five key sections:

• sea level rise and flood analysis
• earthquakes and tsunamis and international applications
• hurricane response/recovery
• metropolitan case studies
• evacuation studies

This volume contributes to our understanding of extreme events in urban environments with the use of GIT and expanding its role at the local, regional, state and federal levels. The book is a valuable reference for academic researchers and professionals and practitioners working in hazard management and mitigation.

An Interregional Expert Meeting on the Use of Satellite Imaging RADAR and Thematic Mapping in Natural Resources Development, organized by the Economic and Social Develop ment Center of the German Foundation for International Development - DSE - in co-operation with the United Nations Department of Technical Co-operation for Develop ment - DTCD - was held in Berlin (West) from 21 November to 4 December 1984. As a result of this meeting, the participants made the following recommendations: A. REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS AND AVAILABILITY OF DATA 1. Acquisition Platforms and their Continuity The participants expressed concern over the insecurity which clouds the future of orbital remote sensing platforms - the U. S. Landsat series should be continued, if at all possible. The planned initial ten-year operational lifetime of SPOT is en couraging and received support. ESA/ERS 1, Japanl J-ERS 1 and Canada's RADARSAT programmes should be given full imple mentation commitment, as soon as possible, and plans should be developed for system continuity. The participants noted that development of national and regional remote sensing programmes in developing nations, and establishment and upgrading of appropriate ground receiving stations for these systems depends critically on the prospect of platform continuity. vii SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING FOR RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT 2. Future Developments (a) Future developments in microwave remote sensing from space should be encouraged so as to circumvent, among others, the problem of cloud cover and to facilitate extension of application areas."

CEOS was established under the auspices of the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations in 1984 in response to a recommendation from a panel of experts in remote sensing within the Working Group on Growth, Technology and Employment (CEOS, 2009). The panel recognized the collective value of the world's Earth remote sensing capabilities and the advantages that would be gained by the coordination of civil Earth observing satellite missions. By cooperating in mission planning and the development of compatible data products, applications, services and policies, the national space programs would maximize the bene?ts of their individual inve- ments and be able to better address the environmental challenges of the entire international community. CEOS was to serve as the focal point for this inter- tional coordination and to provide the forum for the change of policy and technical information. The members of CEOS are governmental organizations that are international or national in nature and are responsible for a civil space-borne Earth observation program that is currently in operation or in an advanced stage of system devel- ment. CEOS also has established Associate Members that are similar governmental organizations with a civil space-segment activity in an early stage of system dev- opment or those with a signi?cant ground-segment activity that supports CEOS objectives. Associate Members may also be existing satellite coordination group and scienti?c or governmental bodies that are international in nature and have a signi?cant programmatic activity that likewise is aligned with the goals of CEOS.

"Remote Sensing"provides information on how remote sensing relates to the natural resources inventory, management, and monitoring, as well as environmental concerns. It explains the role of this new technology in current global challenges. "Remote Sensing" will discuss remotely sensed data application payloads and platforms, along with the methodologies involving image processing techniques as applied to remotely sensed data. This title provides information on image classification techniques and image registration, data integration, and data fusion techniques. How this technology applies to natural resources and environmental concerns will also be discussed.

GIS for Science, Volume 3: Maps for Saving the Planet, highlights real-world examples of scientists creating maps about saving life on Earth and preserving biodiversity. With Earth and the natural world at risk from various forces, geographic information system (GIS) mapping is essential for driving scientifically conscious decision-making about how to protect life on Earth. In volume 3 of GIS for Science, explore a collection of maps from scientists working to save the planet through documenting and protecting its biodiversity. In this volume, learn how GIS and data mapping are used in tandem with global satellite observation forestry marine policy artificial intelligence conservation biology, and environmental education to help preserve and chronicle life on Earth. This volume also spotlights important global action initiatives incorporating conservation, including Half-Earth, 30 x 30, AI for Earth, the Blue Nature Alliance, and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The stories presented in this third volume are ideal for the professional scientist and conservationist and anyone interested in the intersection of technology and the conservation of nature. The book's contributors include scientists who are applying geographic data gathered from the full spectrum of remote sensing and on-site technologies. The maps and data are brought to life using ArcGIS (R) software and other spatial data science tools that support research, collaboration, spatial analysis, and science communication across many locations and within diverse communities. The stories shared in this book and its companion website present inspirational ideas so that GIS users and scientists can work toward preserving biodiversity and saving planet Earth before time runs out.

This book contains papers presented at the first Open Source Geospatial Research Symposium held in Nantes City, France, 8-10 July, 2009. It brings together insights and ideas in the fields of Geospatial Information and Geoinformatics. It demonstrates the scientific community dynamism related to open source and free software as well as in defining new concepts, standards or tools.

Satelli te oceanography, as the term is used in this book, is a generic term that means application of the technology of aerospace electromagnetic remote sensing to the study of the oceans. The key words here are "application of technology **. to the study of the oceans." The goal is to learn more about our planet's hydrosphere. As such, remote sensing technology is another tool in the oceanographer's sea bag, just like a bathythermograph or a plankton net. But is a whole book necessary if remote sensing is just another tool? While it is true that no one has written a whole book on plankton nets, volumes have been written about what is found in those nets. Today's state-of-the-art measurements from spacecraft or aircraft first must be interpreted in terms of their physics; then the interpretations must be understood in terms of oceanic processes. This is not materially different from the analogy to Ii plankton net; marine biolo gists still argue about what didn't get caught in the net.

This thesis presents a groundbraking methodology for the radar international community. The detection approach introduced, namely perturbation analysis, is completey novel showing a remarkable capability of thinking outside the box. Perturbation analysis is able to push forward the performance limits of current algorithms, allowing the detection of targets smaller than the resolution cell and highly embedded in clutter. The methodology itself is extraordinary flexibe and has already been used in two other large projects, funded by the ESA (European Space Agency): M-POL for maritime surveillance, and DRAGON-2 for land classification with particular attention to forests. This book is a perfectly organised piece of work where every detail and perspective is taken into account in order to provide a comprehensive vision of the problems and solutions.

consequences of broken symmetry -here parity-is studied. In this model, turbulence is dominated by a hierarchy of helical (corkscrew) structures. The authors stress the unique features of such pseudo-scalar cascades as well as the extreme nature of the resulting (intermittent) fluctuations. Intermittent turbulent cascades was also the theme of a paper by us in which we show that universality classes exist for continuous cascades (in which an infinite number of cascade steps occur over a finite range of scales). This result is the multiplicative analogue of the familiar central limit theorem for the addition of random variables. Finally, an interesting paper by Pasmanter investigates the scaling associated with anomolous diffusion in a chaotic tidal basin model involving a small number of degrees of freedom. Although the statistical literature is replete with techniques for dealing with those random processes characterized by both exponentially decaying (non-scaling) autocorrelations and exponentially decaying probability distributions, there is a real paucity of literature appropriate for geophysical fields exhibiting either scaling over wide ranges (e. g. algebraic autocorrelations) or extreme fluctuations (e. g. algebraic probabilities, divergence of high order statistical moments). In fact, about the only relevant technique that is regularly used -fourier analysis (energy spectra) -permits only an estimate of a single (power law) exponent. If the fields were mono-fractal (characterized by a single fractal dimension) this would be sufficient, however their generally multifractal character calls for the development of new techniques.

Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Principles and Applications discusses the fundamental principles of atmospheric remote sensing and their applications in different research domains. Furthermore, the book covers the basic concepts of satellite remote sensing of the atmosphere, followed by Ionospheric remote sensing tools like Global Positioning System (GPS) and Very Low Frequency (VLF) wave. Sections emphasize the applications of atmospheric remote study in Ionospheric perturbation, fire detection, aerosol characteristics over land, ocean and Himalayan regions. In addition, the application of atmospheric remote sensing in disaster management like dust storms, cyclones, smoke plume, aerosol-cloud interaction, and their impact on climate change are discussed. This book is a valuable reference for students, researchers and professionals working in atmospheric science, remote sensing, and related disciplines.

This book is a result of a career spent developing and applying computer techniques for the geosciences. The need for a geoscience modeling reference became apparent during participation in several workshops and conferences on the subject in the last three years. For organizing these, and for the lively discussions that ensued and inevitably contributed to the contents, I thank Keith Turner, Brian Kelk, George Pflug and Johnathan Raper. The total number of colleagues who contributed in various ways over the preceding years to the concepts and techniques presented is beyond count. The book is dedicated to all of them. Compilation of the book would have been impossible without assistance from a number of colleagues who contributed directly. In particular, Ed Rychkun, Joe Ringwald, Dave Elliott, Tom Fisher and Richard Saccany reviewed parts of the text and contributed valuable comment. Mohan Srivastava reviewed and contributed to some of the geostatistical presentations. Mark Stoakes, Peter Dettlaff and Simon Wigzell assisted with computer processing of the many application examples. Anar Khanji and Randal Crombe assisted in preparation of the text and computer images. Klaus Lamers assisted with printing. The US Geological Survey, the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Dave Elliott and others provided data for the application examples. My sincere thanks to all of them.

This book provides a state-of-the art overview of satellite archaeology and it is an invaluable volume for archaeologists, scientists, and managers interested in using satellite Earth Observation (EO) to improve the traditional approach for archaeological investigation, protection and management of Cultural Heritage.

The recent increasing development of EO techniques and the tremendous advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have resulted primarily in Cultural Heritage applications. The book focuses on new challenging prospects for the use of EO in archaeology not only for probing the subsurface to unveil sites and artifacts, but also for the management and valorization as well as for the monitoring and preservation of cultural resources. The book provides a first-class understanding of this revolutionary scenario which was unthinkable several years ago.

The book offers: (i) an excellent collection of outstanding articles focusing on satellite data processing, analysis and interpretation for archaeological applications, (ii) impressive case studies, (iii) striking examples of the high potential of the integration of multi-temporal, multi-scale, multi-sensors techniques.

Each chapter is composed as an authoritative contribution to help the reader grasp the value of its content. The authors are renowned experts from the international scientific community.

"Audience" This book will be of interest to scientists in remote sensing applied to archeology, geoarcheology, paleo-environment, paleo-climate and cultural heritage.

"

Ten years ago, de Loor and co-workers at TNO, The Netherlands, were the first to report bottom topography patterns in real aperture radar (RAR) images of the southern North Sea. At that time, this was a real puzzle. The skin depth of microwaves for sea water is only of the order of centimeters while the sea bottom is about 20 meters below the surface. Electromagnetic radiation therefore cannot probe the bottom directly. Similar phenomena were found in radar imagery from SEASAT and SIR-AlB synthetic aperture radars (SAR's) of Nantucket Shoals, the English Channel and many other coastal areas. Since then theory and ocean field experiments (Le., Phelps Bank, Georgia Straits, SARSEX, TOWARD, FASINEX, etc.) have advanced our understanding considerably. We now know that these surface signatures are the results of surface currents, perturbed by the bottom topography, which refract the propagation and modulate the energy of (short) surface waves so as to cause microwave backscatter power variations. Hence, any large scale ocean features containing nonuniform surface currents (i.e. internal waves, eddies, fronts, etc.) will cause similar manifestations in the radar imagery by means of current-wave-microwave interactions. Observations confirm this.

This book focuses on visualization modules of GI software and systems, and tries to answer the specific question "How commonly is stereoscopic visualization supported in GI systems?." To achieve this, first whether such support exits or not in mainstream GI software is documented. The study is further detailed to assess which type of stereoscopic operations and viewing methods are supported. Motivated by improving efficiency of stereoscopic visualizations in cartographic do-main, within this survey, it is also examined whether these systems and software offer level of detail management support for stereoscopic data-sets. Findings from the study meant as a guide to researchers and practitioners to assess the cur-rent state of True 3D support in cartography and GI Systems.

One of major challenges facing Earth's science in the next decade and beyondis the development of an accurate long term observational data set to study global change. To accomplish this, a wide range of observations will be required to provide both new measurements, not previously achievable and measurements with a greater degreee of accuracy and resolution than the ones which are presently and currently available. Among the parameters that are currently retrieved from satellite vertical sounding observations, temperature and moisture profiles are the most important for the description of the thermodynamic state of the medium. Other parameters, like those describing the cloud fields, the surface state or the conditions close to the surface are also key parameters for meteorology and climatology. A new generation of high spectral atmospheric sounders in the infrared has recently been designed to provide both new and more accurate data about the atmosphere, land and oceans for application to climate studies. Among the important observations that these instruments should contribute to the climate data set are day and night global measurements of: atmospheric temperature profiles; relative humidity profiles; cloud field parameters; total ozone burden of the atmosphere; distribution of minor atmospehric gases (methane, carbonmonoxide and nitrous oxide).

J. -E. DUBOIS and N. GERSHON The first volume of this series, "The Information Revolution: Impact on Science and Technology", emphasized the importance of data sharing and fast communication and the advantages l!)f current hypertext developments in creating new and flexible data access. Volume II, "Modeling Complex Data for Creating Information", dealt, in particular, with the specific constraints of science and technology data including imprecision and uncertainty. It also provided representation and handling tools and object oriented programming technology for developing data systems. The papers presented in this third volume are concerned with the very specific information problems of the technical and competitive industrial world. Here, production and selling rely on creative design, information processing, special up-to date data search, knowledge comprehension and fast action, all essential for decision making steps. The following topics are discussed in this volume: * Cognition and Recognition in Design * Knowledge Based Systems (KBS) Evaluation * Modeling Tools for Knowledge Discovery * Standards and CAD (Computer Aided Design) Aspects of Industrial Exchange and Specifications * Information Seeking Strategies of Selective Access to Intelligent Information * Special Information Resources: Complex Databases Most of these topics, inspired by the symposium on "Communication and Computer Aided Systems" held during the 14th International CODATA Conference, deal with systemic components used by various up-to-date industries in development strategies.

Geographical Information Systems are becoming increasingly important to geologists, geographers, and urban and environmental planners, amongst others. Although there is an increasing number of such systems available on the market, many questions of a theoretical nature need to be addressed, because of the inherently large amounts of data and the lack of appropriate models and languages. Also, there is a need for flexible and efficient usage of GIS, thus permitting their application in a broad range of new areas, such as navigation systems for transport and the automotive industry. ESPRIT Working Groups provide a structure that enables researchers to meet, interact and share research results, thus providing a platform for ad dressing fertile research areas with significant industrial promise. This par ticular volume is the result of a workshop organised by the "Basic GOODS" Working Group. The challenge has been to define richer and more powerful data definition and manipulation languages, and also to develop new and efficient algorithms. The challenge has been met, as presented in this volume, and the Working Group has succeeded in laying a good foundation for future research and eventual applications. We look forward to seeing the results of the recently launched "AMUSING" project, which will build on this foundation."

J.-E DUBOIS and N. GERSHON As with Volume 1 in this series, this book was inspired by the Symposium on "Communications and Computer Aided Systems" held at the 14th International CODATA Conference in September 1994 in Chambery, France. This book was conceived and influenced by the discussions at the Symposium and most of the contributions were written following the Conference. Whereas the first volume dealt with the numerous challenges facing the information revolution, especially its communication aspects, this one provides an insight into the recent tools provided by computer science for handling the complex aspects of scientific and technological data. This volume, "Modeling Complex Data for Creating Information," is concerned with real and virtual objects often involved with data handling processes encountered frequently in modeling physical phenomena and systems behavior. Topics concerning modeling complex data for creating information include: * Object oriented approach for structuring data and knowledge * Imprecision and uncertainty in information systems * Fractal modeling and shape and surface processing * Symmetry applications for molecular data The choice of these topics reflects recent developments in information systems technologies. One example is object oriented technology. Recently, research, development and applications have been using object-oriented modeling for computer handling of data and data management. Object oriented technology offers increasingly easy-to-use software applications and operating systems. As a result, science and technology research and applications can now provide more flexible and effective services.

Experts report the state of the art in the study of global climate change using remote sensing techniques. Topics covered include the principles of remote sensing, the management of data, data requirements in climatology, the principles of modelling, the input of data into models, and the application of remote sensing to the atmosphere, ice and snow, seas and land.
The book is highly topical given the current great public and scientific awareness of possible man-made changes to the climate. It is essential reading for anyone new to the field, and invaluable as a reference work to those already working in it.

Historical GIS is an emerging field that uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to research the geographies of the past. Ian Gregory and Paul Ell present the first study comprehensively to define this emerging field, exploring all aspects of using GIS in historical research. A GIS is a form of database in which every item of data is linked to a spatial location. This technology offers unparalleled opportunities to add insight and rejuvenate historical research through the ability to identify and use the geographical characteristics of data. Historical GIS introduces the basic concepts and tools underpinning GIS technology, describing and critically assessing the visualisation, analytical and e-Science methodologies that it enables and examining key scholarship where GIS has been used to enhance research debates. The result is a clear agenda charting how GIS will develop as one of the most important approaches to scholarship in historical geography.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide an enhanced environment for spatial data processing. The ability of geographic information systems to handle and analyse spatially referenced data may be seen as a major characteristic which distinguishes GIS from information systems developed to serve the needs of business data processing as well as from CAD systems or other systems whose primary objective is map production. This book, which contains contributions from a wide-ranging group of international scholars, demonstrates the progress which has been achieved so far at the interface of GIS technology and spatial analysis and planning. The various contributions bring together theoretical and conceptual, technical and applied issues. Topics covered include the design and use of GIS and spatial models, AI tools for spatial modelling in GIS, spatial statistical analysis and GIS, GIS and dynamic modelling, GIS in urban planning and policy making, information systems for policy evaluation, and spatial decision support systems.

An in-depth description of the theory and mathematical models behind the application of the global positioning system in geodesy and geodynamics. The contributions by leading experts in the field ensure a continuous flow of ideas and developments. The mathematical models for GPS measurements are developed in the first half of the book, and these are followed by GPS solutions for geodetic applications on local, regional and global scales.

The book is based on an international workshop on High Precision Navigation. The reader will find a wealth of information on - satellite navigation systems and their geodetic applications, especially using GPS - laser and radar techniques - image processing and image sequence analysis - autonomous vehicle guidance systems - inertial navigation systems - integration of different sensor systems.

During the period April 25th to May 10th, 1984 the 3rd Course of the International School of Advanced Geodesy entitled "Optimization and Design of Geodetic Networks" took place in Erice. The main subject of the course is clear from the title and consisted mainly of that particular branch of network analysis, which results from applying general concepts of mathematical optimization to the design of geodetic networks. As al ways when dealing with optimization problems, there is an a-priori choice of the risk (or gain) function which should be minimized (or maximized) according to the specific interest of the "designer," which might be either of a scientific or of an economic nature or even of both. These aspects have been reviewed in an intro ductory lecture in which the particular needs arising in a geodetic context and their analytical representations are examined. Subsequently the main body of the optimization problem, which has been conven tionally divided into zero, first, second and third order design problems, is presented. The zero order design deals with the estimability problem, in other words with the definition of which parameters are estimable from a given set of observa tions. The problem results from the fact that coordinates of points are not univocally determined from the observations of relative quantities such as angles and distances, whence a problem of the optimal choice of a reference system, the so-called "datum problem" arises."

Globalisation has not led to the 'death of geography'. Intensified relations between communities in different parts of the world have only highlighted the need for understanding and managing phenomena on a variety of geographic scales. From global warming to credit crunch, and from epidemics to terrorism, causes and solutions are sought on local, regional, national as well as inter-continental levels. With the advent of Geospatial Technology, scholars, policymakers and entrepreneurs have valuable tools in hand to proceed.

This book offers the first systematic account of the science behind this mental and technological revolution. Tracing the adoption and dissemination of Geospatial Technology in a range of disciplines, it examines the impact this technology has had, and is likely to have, on the explanation of spatial behaviour, phenomena and processes. At the same time, stressing innovative usage, it explores scientific contributions to technology advancement.