He journeyed farther than his near contemporary Marco Polo, though Muslim scholar Ibn Battuta (1304-c. 1377) is barely remembered at all compared to that legendary traveler. But Battuta's story is just as fascinating, as this 1829 translation of his diaries, by British Orientalist REV. SAMUEL LEE (1783 -1852), demonstrates. Embarking upon what would eventually be a 27-year pilgrimage, Battuta traveled through East Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and beyond, bringing him to most of the 14th-century Islamic world. Rife with beautiful descriptions of the exotic peoples he met and landscapes he saw, this little--known classic of medieval literature will enthrall scholars of Islamic history and armchair travelers alike.

As the need for geographical data rapidly expands in the 21st century, so too do applications of small-format aerial photography for a wide range of scientific, commercial and governmental purposes. Small-format Aerial Photography (SFAP) presents basic and advanced principles and techniques with an emphasis on digital cameras. Unmanned platforms are described in considerable detail, including kites, helium and hot-air blimps, model airplanes, and paragliders. Several case studies, primarily drawn from the geosciences, are presented to demonstrate how SFAP is actually used in various applications. Many of these integrate SFAP with ground-based investigations as well as conventional large-format aerial photography, satellite imagery, and other kinds of geographic information.

Taking the Qinghai-Tibet Railway as an example, this book introduces intelligent processing for Global Positioning Data (GPS) data. Combining theory with practical applications, it provides essential insights into the Chinese Qinghai-Tibet Railway and novel methods of data processing for GPS satellite positioning, making it a valuable resource for all those working with train control systems, train positioning systems, satellite positioning, and intelligent data processing. As satellite positioning guarantees the safe and efficient operation of train control systems, it focuses on how to best process the GPS data collected, including methods for error detection, reduction and information fusion.

This is the second volume in a two-part series on frontiers in regional research. It identifies methodological advances as well as trends and future developments in regional systems modelling and open science. Building on recent methodological and modelling advances, as well as on extensive policy-analysis experience, top international regional scientists identify and evaluate emerging new conceptual and methodological trends and directions in regional research. Topics such as dynamic interindustry modelling, computable general equilibrium models, exploratory spatial data analysis, geographic information science, spatial econometrics and other advanced methods are the central focus of this book. The volume provides insights into the latest developments in object orientation, open source, and workflow systems, all in support of open science. It will appeal to a wide readership, from regional scientists and economists to geographers, quantitatively oriented regional planners and other related disciplines. It offers a source of relevant information for academic researchers and policy analysts in government, and is also suitable for advanced teaching courses on regional and spatial science, economics and political science.

The book presents a collection of accepted papers from the 3DGeoinfo 2015 international conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from October 28 - 30, 2015. All papers underwent double-blind review by experts from around the globe. The conference brought together pioneering international researchers and practitioners to facilitate the dialogue on emerging topics in the field of 3D geo-information. The focus areas include: - Data Collection and Modeling: advanced approaches for 3D data collection, reconstruction and methods for representation- Data Management: topological, geometrical and network models for maintenance of 3D geoinformation- Data Analysis and Visualization: frameworks for representing 3D spatial relationships, 3D spatial analysis and algorithms for navigation, interpolation, advanced VR, AR and MR visualisation, as well as 3D visualization on mobile devices- 3D Applications: city models, Cadastre, LBS, etc.

Climb a mountain and experience the landscape. Try to grasp its holistic nature. Do not climb alone, but with others and share your experience. Be sure the ways of seeing the landscape will be very different. We experience the landscape with all senses as a complex, dynamic and hierarchically structured whole. The landscape is tangible out there and simultaneously a mental reality. Several perspectives are obvious because of language, culture and background. Many disciplines developed to study the landscape focussing on specific interest groups and applications. Gradually the holistic way of seeing became lost. This book explores the different perspectives on the landscape in relation to its holistic nature. We start from its multiple linguistic meanings and a comprehensive overview of the development of landscape research from its geographical origins to the wide variety of today's specialised disciplines and interest groups. Understanding the different perspectives on the landscapes and bringing them together is essential in transdisciplinary approaches where the landscape is the integrating concept.

This book, written by an international team of prominent authors, gathers the latest developments in mobile technologies for the acquisition, management, analysis and sharing of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in the context of Earth observation. It is divided into three parts, the first of which presents case studies on the implementation of VGI for Earth observation, discusses the characteristics of volunteers' engagement in relation with their expertise and motivation, analyzes the tasks they are called upon to perform, and examines the available tools for developing VGI. In turn, the second part introduces readers to essential methods, techniques and algorithms used to develop mobile information systems based on VGI for distinct Earth observation tasks, while the last part focuses on the drawbacks and limitations of VGI with regard to the above-mentioned tasks and proposes innovative methods and techniques to help overcome them. Given its breadth of coverage, the book offers a comprehensive, practice-oriented reference guide for researchers and practitioners in the field of geo-information management.

This contributed volume applies spatial and space-time econometric methods to spatial interaction modeling. The first part of the book addresses general cutting-edge methodological questions in spatial econometric interaction modeling, which concern aspects such as coefficient interpretation, constrained estimation, and scale effects. The second part deals with technical solutions to particular estimation issues, such as intraregional flows, Bayesian PPML and VAR estimation. The final part presents a number of empirical applications, ranging from interregional tourism competition and domestic trade to space-time migration modeling and residential relocation.

Japan's population is shrinking. Based on current trends, it will decline by an average of half a million people per year for the next forty years. The country is also getting older and the ratio of dependants to active workers is expected to approach 1:1 by around 2030. These two interdependent processes will bring great changes to Japan in the coming decades. In the twenty-first century, a historic turnaround in global demographic trends will occur. Europe and East Asia are especially vulnerable to demographic shrinkage. Germany is already shrinking, as is Russia. South Korea will begin to shrink soon and, importantly, so will China from around 2035. Overall, this is good news, but it brings with it worldwide changes to ways of living and working. Japan's rural areas have been shrinking for decades. Entire villages have vanished; some have even been "sold." Thousands of municipalities have been judged "non-viable" and merged. Thousands more private and public enterprises have collapsed, leaving colossal debts, while hundreds of thousands of older people live miserable lives in neighbourless communities. Rural shrinkage has been the unseen corollary of Japan's extraordinarily dynamic twentieth century urban expansion; indeed, Japan's postwar economic miracle has been achieved at the expense of rural retreat. Potentially disastrous is the negative-sum game that national depopulation triggers, as one community's gain becomes another's loss. Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century reveals how communities are responding positively to these emerging circumstances, delivering a message of hope and vitality to shrinking regions worldwide. Setting Japan alongside Europe, and with an epilogue describing the T hoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown of 11 March 2011, the book offers policy makers and practitioners up to date advice for community revival born of extensive collaborative fieldwork across the whole Japanese archipelago. Japan's Shrinking Regions in the 21st Century brings together the work of 18 international scholars to present the first comprehensive study of regional shrinkage under Japan's national depopulation. Interspersed throughout with numerous illustrations, the book reveals a richly textured examination of shrinkage at the local level, from which emerges the overall story of Japan's depopulation and its place within the trajectory of world development. This will be an important source for all social science collections, as well as for researchers, policy makers, students, and practitioners with interests in regional development, demography, East Asia, and post-industrial change.

By considering three case study regions in Mexico during the Colonial era, Climate and Society in Colonial Mexico: A Study in Vulnerability examines the complex interrelationship between climate and society and its contemporary implications. Provides unique insights on climate and society by capitalizing on Mexico's rich colonial archives Offers a unique approach by combining geographical and historic perspectives in order to comprehend contemporary concerns over climate change Considers three case study regions in Mexico with very different cultural, economic, and environmental characteristics

The natural disasters are the killer agents which can/can't be predicted even though we have modern technology. Every year, in one place or another, disasters striking which is devastating the area and surroundings, leading to ecological disruption besides huge loss of life and property. India is vulnerable to cyclones, landslides/avalanches, earthquakes, floods, droughts, forest fires, epidemics, etc. The 5700-km long coast of India, with its dense population is vulnerable to cyclones/low depressions, tsunamis, etc. The 2400-km long rugged Himalayan terrain is vulnerable to landslides, avalanches and earthquakes. India is not only vulnerable to natural disasters, it is also experiencing industrial accidents. The Bhopal Gas tragedy is one of the major man-made disasters in the world. The state of Andhra Pradesh has 970-km long coastline with two major rivers, etc. The conference is conducted in Visakhapatnam, is famous for industries and tourism. Recently, several industrial accidents took place, besides major natural disasters like Hud-Hud, etc. Disaster management shall be implemented from the grass root level in vulnerable areas to improve the capacity building, so as to minimize the losses. The capacity building coupled with technology results in reduction of loss of life and property.

A full colour map, based on a digitised map of the city of Oxford in 1876, with its medieval past overlain and important buildings picked out. Oxford is synonymous with its university but deserves to be known as a city in its own right as well. What the map shows is a city of different parts: areas where the base map of 1876 might still be used today, and parts which are now quite unrecognisable. This second edition of a map first issued in 2015 has been updated and revised to reflect further the editor's recent research. The opportunity has been taken to update the gazetteer of buildings and sites of interest and it is now printed in full colour throughout. The map's cover has a short introduction to the city's history, and on the reverse an illustrated and comprehensive gazetteer of Oxford's main sites of interest, from medieval monasteries to Oxford castle and the working class and industrial areas that lay just beyond the 'dreaming spires' of the city centre.

This book focuses on fluxes of energy, carbon dioxide and matter in and above a Central European spruce forest. The transition from a forest affected by acid rain into a heterogeneous forest occurred as a result of wind throw, bark beetles and climate change. Scientific results obtained over the last 20 years at the FLUXNET site DE-Bay (Waldstein-Weidenbrunnen) are shown together with methods developed at the site, including the application of footprint models for data-quality analysis, the coupling between the trunk space and the atmosphere, the importance of the Damkoehler number for trace gas studies, and the turbulent conditions at a forest edge. In addition to the many experimental studies, the book also applies model studies such as higher-order closure models, Large-Eddy Simulations, and runoff models for the catchment and compares them with the experimental data. Moreover, by highlighting processes in the atmosphere it offers insights into the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. It is of interest to ecologists, micrometeorologists and ecosystem modelers.

With the emphasis on small enterprises, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of what is happening across Europe in terms of sustainable development objectives and sustainability in the context of tourism supply. Each contribution in this edited collection addresses specific aspects of tourism enterprise activity within the overall context of policy and practice aimed at improving environmental performance. A series of broader issues are examined such as EU environmental policy and initiatives as they relate to tourism, social issues such as equity and employment, and transport, followed by detailed examples of specific case studies. Well-informed and based on current research this book is informative and invaluable to any one studying tourism and hospitality today, particularly those involved directly or indirectly in the fields of policy, planning and development.

Wood was essential to the survival of the Venetian Republic. To build its great naval and merchant ships, maintain its extensive levee system, construct buildings, fuel industries, and heat homes, Venice needed access to large quantities of oak and beech timber. The island city itself was devoid of any forests, so the state turned to its mainland holdings for this vital resource. "A Forest on the Sea" explores the history of this enterprise and Venice's efforts to extend state control over its natural resources.

Karl Appuhn explains how Venice went from an isolated city completely dependent on foreign suppliers for wood to a regional state with a sophisticated system of administering and preserving forests. Intent on conserving this invaluable resource, Venice employed specialized experts to manage its forests. The state bureaucracy supervised this work, developing a philosophy about the environment--namely, a mutual dependence between humans and the natural world--that was far ahead of its time. Its efforts kept many large forest preserves under state protection, some of which still stand today.

"A Forest on the Sea" offers a completely novel perspective on how Renaissance Europeans thought about the natural world. It sheds new light on how cultural conceptions about nature influenced political policies for resource conservation and land management in Venice.

This two-volume set examines the process of integration of rural society and the establishment of the modern state in China. It attempts to transcend general policy claims by analysing China's rural governance within the state's integration of rural society over the course of the twentieth century. Drawing on contemporary examples of state integration while observing the particular background of the Chinese context, this set systematically examines the entire process of the rural reconstruction of China over the course of the 100 years since the period of the late Qing Dynasty, while analysing the special characteristics of each period as well as current societal trends in the Chinese countryside. The first volume explores state penetration of the countryside and the transformation of the rural population from the point of view of politics, labour and resources, administration, and institutional integration. The second volume examines contemporary state integration via the economic activities of traditional rural societies, alongside fiscal, cultural, social, and technological integration. The conclusion summarizes three characteristics that are evident in the process of rural integration and the establishment of the modern state in China. The two volume set will be essential reading for scholars and students in Chinese Studies, Political Science, Rural Studies, and those who are interested in the rural reconstruction of China in general.

Weighing the World is a revealing behind-the-scenes look at the scientific events leading to modern map making written by one of the world's master surveyors. Edwin Danson, using a similar approach to his earlier best seller, "Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the Most Important Border in America" (Wiley, 2000) takes us on a journey telling the story of this experiment that has not been written about in over two hundred years. National jealousies, commercial and political rivalry were the underlying causes for many of the eighteenth century's wars but war also provided the stimulus for much commercial effort and scientific innovation. Armies equipped with the latest weaponry marched about the countryside, led by generals with only the vaguest of maps at their disposal. At the start of the century there were no maps, anywhere in the world. While there were plenty of atlases and sketch maps of countries, regions and districts, with few exceptions they were imperfect renditions in nature. No one knew, with any certainty the shape of the earth or what lay beneath its surface. Was it hollow or was it solid? Were the Andes the highest mountain on the Earth or was it the peak of Tenerife? Was the Earth a perfect sphere or was it slightly squashed as Sir Isaac Newton prophesized? Just how did you accurately measure the planet? The answers to these and other questions about the nature of the Earth, answers we now take for granted, were complete mysteries. Danson presents the stories of the scientists and scholars that had to scale the Andes, cut through tropical forests and how they handled the hardships they faced in the attempt to revolutionize our understanding of the planet.