This brief provides an overview of state-of-the-art sensing technologies relevant to the problem of precision irrigation, an emerging field within the domain of precision agriculture. Applications of wireless sensor networks, satellite data and geographic information systems in the domain are covered. This brief presents the basic concepts of the technologies and emphasizes the practical aspects that enable the implementation of intelligent irrigation systems. The authors target a broad audience interested in this theme and organize the content in five chapters, each concerned with a specific technology needed to address the problem of optimal crop irrigation. Professionals and researchers will find the text a thorough survey with practical applications.

Although the development of remote sensing techniques focuses greatly on construction of new sensors with higher spatial and spectral resolution, it is advisable to also use data of older sensors (especially, the LANDSAT-mission) when the historical mapping of land use/land cover and monitoring of their dynamics are needed. Using data from LANDSAT missions as well as from Terra (ASTER) Sensors, the authors shows in his book maps of historical land cover changes with a focus on agricultural irrigation projects.

The kernel of this study was whether, how and to what extent applying the various remotely sensed data that were used here, would be an effective approach to classify the historical and current land use/land cover, to monitor the dynamics of land use/land cover during the last four decades, to map the development of the irrigation areas, and to classify the major strategic winter- and summer-irrigated agricultural crops in the study area of the Euphrates River Basin.

For the seventh consecutive year, the AGILE promotes the publication of a book collecting high-level scientific papers from unpublished fundamental scientific research in the field of Geographic Information Science. As the agenda for Europe 2020 is currently being set, this book demonstrates how geographic information science is at the heart of Europe. The contributions open perspectives for innovative services that will strengthen our European economy, and which will inform citizens about their environment while preserving their privacy. The latest challenges of spatial data infrastructures are addressed, such as the connection with the Web vocabularies or the representation of genealogy. User generated data (through social networks or through interactive cameras and software) is also an important breakthrough in our domain. A trend to deal more and more with time, events, ancient data, a nd activities is noticeable this year as well. This volume collects the 23 best full papers presented during the 16th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science, held between 14 and 17 May 2013 in Leuven, Belgium.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Geographic Information Science, GIScience 2014, held in Vienna, Austria in September 2014. The 23 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections such as information visualization, spatial analysis, user-generated content, semantic models, wayfinding and navigation, spatial algorithms, and spatial relations.

The aquatic coastal zone is one of the most challenging targets for environmental remote sensing. Properties such as bottom reflectance, spectrally diverse suspended sediments and phytoplankton communities, diverse benthic communities, and transient events that affect surface reflectance (coastal blooms, runoff, etc.) all combine to produce an optical complexity not seen in terrestrial or open ocean systems. Despite this complexity, remote sensing is proving to be an invaluable tool for "Case 2" waters. This book presents recent advances in coastal remote sensing with an emphasis on applied science and management. Case studies of the operational use of remote sensing in ecosystem studies, monitoring, and interfacing remote sensing/science/management are presented. Spectral signatures of phytoplankton and suspended sediments are discussed in detail with accompanying discussion of why blue water (Case 1) algorithms cannot be applied to Case 2 waters. Audience This book is targeted for scientists and managers interested in using remote sensing in the study or management of aquatic coastal environments. With only limited discussion of optics and theory presented in the book, such researchers might benefit from the detailed presentations of aquatic spectral signatures, and to operational management issues. While not specifically written for remote sensing scientists, it will prove to be a useful reference for this community for the current status of aquatic coastal remote sensing.

For the sixth consecutive year, the AGILE conference promoted the publication a book collecting high-level scientific contributions from unpublished fundamental scientific research.
The papers published in the AGILE 2012 LNG&C volume contribute substantially to Geographical Information Science developments and to the success of the 15th AGILE conference (Avignon, France, 24-27April, 2012) under the title 'Bridging the Geographic Information Sciences'. This year's conference emphasizes that geoinformation science, geomatics and spatial analysis are fields in which different disciplines, epistemologies and scientific cultures meet.
Indeed, the scientific articles published in this volume cover a wide diversity of GIScience related themes, including: Spatio-temporal Data Modelling and Visualisation; Spatial Data Infrastructures; Geo Web Services and Geo Semantic Web; Modelling and Management of Uncertainty; Spatio-temporal Data Quality and Metadata; Mobility of Persons, Objects and Systems, Transports and Flows; Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics, and Geo Information Retrieval; Modelling and Spatial Analysis of Urban Dynamics, Urban GIS; GIS and Spatial Analysis for Global Change Modelling, Impact on Space; and Geographic Information Science: links with other disciplines and people.

This SpringerBrief provides a general overview of the role of satellite applications for disaster mitigation, warning, planning, recovery and response. It covers both the overall role and perspective of the emergency management community as well as the various space applications that support their work. Key insights are provided as to how satellite telecommunications, remote sensing, navigation systems, GIS, and the emerging domain of social media are utilized in the context of emergency management needs and requirements. These systems are now critical in addressing major man-made and natural disasters. International policy and treaties are covered along with various case studies from around the world. These case studies indicate vital lessons that have been learned about how to use space systems more effectively in addressing the so-called "Disaster Cycle." This book is appropriate for practicing emergency managers, Emergency Management (EM) courses, as well as for those involved in various space applications and developing new satellite technologies.

This book was compiled from contributions given at the 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, May 4-8, 2009, Berlin (IAA - International Academy of Astronautics). From the 15 sessions for oral presentations and two poster sessions, 52 contributions were selected which are representative for the new developments and trends in the area of small satellites for Earth observation. They re ect the potentials of a diversity of missions and related technologies. This may be based on national projects or international co-operations, single satellites of constellations, pico-, nano-, micro- or mini-satellites, developed by companies, research institutions or agencies. The main focus is on new missions to monitor our Earth's resources (Part I), and the environment in which our Earth is emb- ded (Part II). Part III deals with distributed space systems, a unique feature of small satellites and in most cases impractical to do with large satellites. Here we concentrate on constellations of satellites with focus on future missions relying on co-operating satellites. For all the new developments and projects we need well e- cated specialists coming from the universities. Many universities included already the development and implementation of small satellites in their curriculum. The u- versity satellites chapter (Part IV) shows the high quality which is already reached by some of the universities worldwide.

This title analyzes distributed Earth observation missions from different perspectives. In particular, the issues arising when the payloads are distributed on different satellites are considered from both the theoretical and practical points of view. Moreover, the problems of designing, measuring, and controlling relative trajectories are thoroughly presented in relation to theory and applicable technologies. Then, the technological challenges to design satellites able to support such missions are tackled. An ample and detailed description of missions and studies complements the book subject.

The Workshop Proceedings reflect problems of advanced geo-information science as far as they are specifically concerned with the maritime environment at large. The Proceedings incorporate papers presented by leading scientists researching in the considered professional area and by practitioners engaged in GIS and GIS applications development. They pay close attention to the problems of scientific and technological innovations and the ensuing opportunities to make seas safer and cleaner. Furthermore, they periodically measure the ground covered and new challenges with respect to economic and shipping trends as related to Artificial Intelligence; GIS ontologies; GIS data integration and modelling; Underwater acoustics; GIS data fusion; GIS and corporate information systems; GIS and real-time monitoring systems; GIS algorithms and computational issues; Novel and emerging marine GIS research areas; Monitoring of maritime terrorist threat; Maritime and environmental GIS; Navigation-based and maritime transportation GIS; Human factors in maritime GIS; Coastal and environmental GIS.

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.

Computing increasingly happens somewhere, with that geographic location important to the computational process itself. Many new and evolving spatial technologies, such as geosensor networks and smartphones, embody this trend. Conventional approaches to spatial computing are centralized, and do not account for the inherently decentralized nature of "computing somewhere": the limited, local knowledge of individual system components, and the interaction between those components at different locations. On the other hand, despite being an established topic in distributed systems, decentralized computing is not concerned with geographical constraints to the generation and movement of information. In this context, of (centralized) spatial computing and decentralized (non-spatial) computing, the key question becomes: "What makes decentralized spatial computing special?" In Part I of the book the author covers the foundational concepts, structures, and design techniques for decentralized computing with spatial and spatiotemporal information. In Part II he applies those concepts and techniques to the development of algorithms for decentralized spatial computing, stepping through a suite of increasingly sophisticated algorithms: from algorithms with minimal spatial information about their neighborhoods; to algorithms with access to more detailed spatial information, such as direction, distance, or coordinate location; to truly spatiotemporal algorithms that monitor environments that are dynamic, even using networks that are mobile or volatile. Finally, in Part III the author shows how decentralized spatial and spatiotemporal algorithms designed using the techniques explored in Part II can be simulated and tested. In particular, he investigates empirically the important properties of a decentralized spatial algorithm: its computational efficiency and its robustness to unavoidable uncertainty. Part III concludes with a survey of the opportunities for connecting decentralized spatial computing to ongoing research and emerging hot topics in related fields, such as biologically inspired computing, geovisualization, and stream computing. The book is written for students and researchers of computer science and geographic information science. Throughout the book the author's style is characterized by a focus on the broader message, explaining the process of decentralized spatial algorithm design rather than the technical details. Each chapter ends with review questions designed to test the reader's understanding of the material and to point to further work or research. The book includes short appendices on discrete mathematics and SQL. Simulation models written in NetLogo and associated source code for all the algorithms presented in the book can be found on the author's accompanying website.

People and the Environment: Approaches for Linking Household and Community Surveys to Remote Sensing and GIS appeals to a wide range of natural, social, and spatial scientists with interests in conducting population and environment research and thereby characterizing (a) land use and land cover dynamics through remote sensing, (b) demographic and socio-economic variables through household and community surveys, and (c) local site and situation through resource endowments, geographical accessibility, and connections of people to place through GIS. Case studies are used to examine theories and practices useful in linking people and the environment. We also describe land use and land cover dynamics and the associated social, biophysical, and geographical drivers of change articulated through human-environment interactions.

The book comprises innovative research presented at the 14th Conference of the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE), held in 2011 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The scientific papers cover a large variety of fundamental research topics as well as applied research in Geoinformation Science including measuring spatiotemporal phenomena, quality and semantics, spatiotemporal analysis, modeling and decision support as well as spatial information infrastructures. The book is aimed at researchers, practitioners and students who work in various fields and disciplines related to Geoinformation Science and technology.

This book constitutes the refereed conference proceedings of the 12th International Symposium, W2GIS 2013, held in Banff, Canada, in April 2013. The 11 revised full papers and 5 short papers presented were carefully selected from 28 submissions. The program covers a wide range of topics including Spatial Semantics and Databases, Location-based Services and Applications, Trajectory Representation and Sensor Web, Spatial Analysis and Systems and Map Generation and Modeling.

Mining Spatio-Temporal Information Systems, an edited volume is composed of chapters from leading experts in the field of Spatial-Temporal Information Systems and addresses the many issues in support of modeling, creation, querying, visualizing and mining. Mining Spatio-Temporal Information Systems is intended to bring together a coherent body of recent knowledge relating to STIS data modeling, design, implementation and STIS in knowledge discovery. In particular, the reader is exposed to the latest techniques for the practical design of STIS, essential for complex query processing. Mining Spatio-Temporal Information Systems is structured to meet the needs of practitioners and researchers in industry and graduate-level students in Computer Science.

The thesis is an original and novel contribution to land use/land cover change analysis using methods of geosimulation and agent-based modeling. The author implements several traditional methodologies of land use change by means of remote sensing and GIS techniques. An Agent-Based Model was developed in order to simulate land use change in the Tehran metropolitan area, comparing the outcomes of each particular methodology. All methods are compared, and advantages and disadvantages discussed.

Terrestrial mass movements (i.e. cliff collapses, soil creeps, mudflows, landslides etc.) are severe forms of natural disasters mostly occurring in mountainous terrain, which is subjected to specific geological, geomorphological and climatological conditions, as well as to human activities. It is a challenging task to accurately define the position, type and activity of mass movements for the purpose of creating inventory records and potential vulnerability maps. Remote sensing techniques, in combination with Geographic Information System tools, allow state-of-the-art investigation of the degree of potential mass movements and modeling surface processes for hazard and risk mapping. Similarly, through statistical prediction models, future mass-movement-prone areas can be identified and damages can to a certain extent be minimized. Issues of scale and selection of morphological attributes for the scientific analysis of mass movements call for new developments in data modeling and spatio-temporal GIS analysis.
The book is a product of a cooperation between the editors and several contributing authors, addressing current issues and recent developments in GI technology and mass movements research. Its fundamental treatment of this technology includes data modeling, topography, geology, geomorphology, remote sensing, artificial neural networks, binomial regression, fuzzy logic, spatial statistics and analysis, and scientific visualization. Both theoretical and practical issues are addressed.

This book complements the growing body of literature exploring the relationships between arts and cartography . It is distinct from the previous ones by its main focus: The multiple ways of representing a database. In the context of the exponential increase of the volume of geospatial data available, addressing this issue becomes critical and has not yet received much attention. Furthermore, the content of the database - environmental issues in the city - gives a strong social and political texture to the project. The expected audience for this book are academic as well as students interested in the relationships between art and cartography, place and technology, power and representations. This book could serve as an inspiration for local groups and communities dealing with environmental injustice all over the world. Finally, at a local scale, this book could become a major reference for individuals, communities and institutions interested in environmental issues in the city of Montreal.

Geomatics, the handling and processing of information and data about the Earth, is one geoscience discipline that has seen major changes in the last decade, as mapping and observation systems become ever more sensitive and sophisticated. This book is a unique and in-depth survey of the field, which has a central role to play in tackling a host of environmental issues faced by society. Covering all three strands of geomatics - applications, information technology and surveying - the chapters cover the history and background of the subject, the technology employed both to collect and disseminate data, and the varied applications to which geomatics can be put, including urban planning, assessment of biodiversity, disaster management and land administration. Relevant professionals, as well as students in a variety of disciplines such as geography and surveying, will find this book required reading.
This rapidly developing field uses increasingly complex and accurate systems. Today, technology enables us to capture geo-data in full 3D as well as to disseminate it via the Web at the speed of light. We are able to continuously image the world from space at resolutions of up to 50 cm. Airborne LiDAR (laser surveying) sensors can be combined with digital camera technology to produce geometrically correct images of the Earth's surface, while integrating these with large-scale topographic maps and terrestrial as well as aerial images to produce 3D cityscapes that computer users can explore from their desktops.

A state-of-the-art view of recent developments in the use of artificial neural networks for analysing remotely sensed satellite data. Neural networks, as a new form of computational paradigm, appear well suited to many of the tasks involved in this image analysis. This book demonstrates a wide range of uses of neural networks for remote sensing applications and reports the views of a large number of European experts brought together as part of a concerted action supported by the European Commission.

As corroborated by the never-sagging and even increasing interest within the last decade, the intuitive attraction of "True 3D" in geodata presentation is well worth covering its current status and recent developments in a compendium like the present one. It covers most aspects of (auto-) stereoscopic representation techniques of both topographic and thematic geodata, be they haptic or not. Theory is treated as well as are many fields of concrete applications. Displays for big audiences and special single-user applications are presented, well-established technologies like classical manual fabrication of landscape reliefs contrast with cutting-edge developments

Methods and Materials for Remote Sensing: Infrared Photo-Detectors, Radiometers and Arrays presents the basic principles and the guidelines for the design of IR and microwave radiometers intended for the detection of weak electromagnetic signals in a noisy background. Significant attention is paid in this book to the discussion of the origin of the noises and consideration of the physical factors limiting the sensitivity of photo sensors. The physico-chemical properties of narrow-band semiconductors, which are the basic photosensitive materials for the microwave and IR radiometry, are discussed. Also described are the methods for growing the single crystals, epitaxial films and arrays from solid solutions of these compounds for the application in photosensitive detectors. The main goal of Methods and Materials for Remote Sensing: Infrared Photo-Detectors, Radiometers and Arrays is to present the entire material from the unifying physical viewpoint, which will be helpful for the designers of photo-detecting devices, and professionals contributing in various areas of remote sensing.

This book, entitled Advances in Spatial Data Handling, is a compendium of papers resulting from the International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling (SDH), held in Ottawa, Canada, July 9-12, 2002. The SDH conference series has been organised as one of the main activities of the International Geographical Union (IGU) since it was first started in Zurich in 1984. In the late 1990's the IGU Commission of Geographic Information Systems was discontinued and a study group was formed to succeed it in 1997. Much like the IGU Commission, the objectives of the Study Group are to create a network of people and research centres addressing geographical information science and to facilitate exchange of information. The International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, which is the most important activity of the IGU Study Group, has, throughout its 18 year history been highly regarded as one of the most important GIS conferences in the world.