The chapters in this volume were presented at the July-August 2008 NATO Advanced Study Institute on Unexploded Ordnance Detection and Mitigation. The conference was held at the beautiful Il Ciocco resort near Lucca, in the glorious Tuscany region of northern Italy. For the ninth time we gathered at this idyllic spot to explore and extend the reciprocity between mathematics and engineering. The dynamic interaction between world-renowned scientists from the usually disparate communities of pure mathematicians and applied scientists which occurred at our eight previous ASI's continued at this meeting. The detection and neutralization of unexploded ordnance (UXO) has been of major concern for very many decades; at least since the First World war. UXO continues to be the subject of intensive research in many ?elds of science, incl- ing mathematics, signal processing (mainly radar and sonar) and chemistry. While today's headlines emphasize the mayhem resulting from the placement of imp- vised explosive devices (IEDs), humanitarian landmine clearing continues to draw signi?cant global attention as well. In many countries of the world, landmines threaten the population and hinder reconstruction and fast, ef?cient utilization of large areas of the mined land in the aftermath of military con?icts.

This publication collects the results of a practical experience of survey, through the direct control of satellite images from high to medium resolution, over areas subjected to desertification problems. The problems of the local population are closely tied to the equilibrium in the management of the territory, which is compromised by the difficulties of maintaining traditional methodologies of management. The new survey technologies, based on the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, allow analyzing the details of the present situation and point out the dynamism of the phenomena and the impacts with anthropogenic activities.

Training has been carried out in the Tozeur area, in central Tunisia, where participants had the chance to analyze on the field a series of different aspects. It has also been possible to discuss similar experiences in distant territories and the importance of the physical processes of desertification. During the development of the intensive training on the job, visits to entrepreneurial truths concerning the management of the territory have been carried out. The analyzed area finds in tourism an answer to the necessities of improving the living conditions of the population.

Specialists from twelve nations presented actions of management of the territory, with detailed attention on environmental security and the conditions of the territory. From the observations carried out the fragility of the landscape of the oases has emerged, which are subjected to total anthropogenic management and therefore closely linked to the availability of the specialized workers in the traditional methodologies. It is natural that the management of the lands changesaccording to modern technologies, but, with a too fast pace, this evolution risks to upset the management of the territory. The exchange of information, the ability to map the variations, the dialogue between the parts, will favor the maintenance of the political security in the Mediterranean region. This experience of cooperation and association constitutes a precedent for the development of a system of high education courses to be provided to the local communities for the common wellbeing.

The 8th edition of the International Symposium on Web and Wireless Geograp- cal Information Systems (W2GIS 2008) was held in December 2008, in the vibrant city of Shanghai, China. This annual symposium aims at providing a forum for discussing advances on recent developments and research results in the ?eld of Web and wireless geographical information systems. Promoted from workshop to s- posium in 2005, W2GIS now represents a prestigious event within this dynamic research community. These proceedings contain the papers selected for presen- tion at this international event. For the 2008 edition, we received 38 submissions from 16 countries. All subm- ted papers were related to topics of interest to the symposium. Each paper received three reviews. Based on these reviews, 14 papers were selected for presentation and inclusion in the proceedings. The accepted papers are all of excellent quality and cover topics that range from mobile networks and location-based services, to contextual representation and mapping, to geospatial Web techniques, to object tracking in Web and mobile environments. We wish to thank all authors that contributed to this symposium for the high quality of their papers and presentations. Our sincere thanks go to Springer's LNCS team. We would also like to acknowledge and thank the Program C- mittee members for the quality and timeliness of their reviews. Finally, many thanks to the Steering Committee members for providing continuous support and advice.

As coastal environments around the world face unprecedented natural and anthropogenic threats, advancements in the technologies that support geospatial data acquisition, imaging, and computing have profoundly enhanced monitoring capabilities in coastal studies. Providing systematic treatment of the key developments, Remote Sensing of Coastal Environments brings together renowned scholars to supply a clear presentation of the state-of-the-art in this technically complex arena. Edited by a recipient of the prestigious PECASE award, this book provides unrivaled coverage of the issues unique to coastal environments. It presents the best available data for measuring and monitoring coastal zones and explains how decision makers and resource managers can use this data to address contemporary issues in coastal zone management. The text illustrates the latest developments in active remote sensing, hyperspectral remote sensing, high spatial resolution remote sensing, the integration of remote sensing and in situ data, and covers the effects of land-cover and land-use change on coastal environments. Complete with representative case studies, this authoritative resource provides a timely snapshot of the wide range of remote sensing applications in coastal issues to enhance the understanding of how increasing disturbances to our coastal regions are affecting the ecological dynamics, biological diversity, and ecosystem health of our coastal environments.

Geographic information systems (GIS) have become increasingly important in helping us understand complex social, economic, and natural dynamics where spatial components play a key role. The critical algorithms used in GIS, however, are notoriously difficult to both teach and understand, in part due to the lack of a coherent representation. GIS Algorithms attempts to address this problem by combining rigorous formal language with example case studies and student exercises. Using Python code throughout, Xiao breaks the subject down into three fundamental areas: Geometric Algorithms Spatial Indexing Spatial Analysis and Modelling With its comprehensive coverage of the many algorithms involved, GIS Algorithms is a key new textbook in this complex and critical area of geography.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.1201/9781315146638, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. GIS is used today to better understand and solve urban problems. GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management: A Global Perspective, explores and illustrates the capacity that geo-information and GIS have to inform practitioners and other participants in the processes of the planning and management of urban regions. The first part of the book addresses the concept of sustainable urban development, its different frameworks, the many ways of measuring sustainability, and its value in the urban policy arena. The second part discusses how urban planning can shape our cities, examines various spatial configurations of cities, the spread of activities, and the demands placed on different functions to achieve strategic objective. It further focuses on the recognition that urban dwellers are increasingly under threat from natural hazards and climate change. Written by authors with expertise on the applications of geo-information in urban management, this book showcases the importance of GIS in better understanding current urban challenges and provides new insights on how to apply GIS in urban planning. It illustrates through real world cases the use of GIS in analyzing and evaluating the position of disadvantaged groups and areas in cities and provides clear examples of applied GIS in urban sustainability and urban resilience. The idea of sustainable development is still very much central in the new development agenda of the United Nations, and in that sense, it is of particular importance for students from both the Global South and Global North. Professionals, researchers, and students alike will find this book to be an invaluable resource for understanding and solving problems relating to sustainable urban planning and management.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, W2GIS 2007, held in Cardiff, UK, in November 2007.

The 21 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. The papers provide an up-to-date review of advances in recent development of Web and wireless geographical information systems and address issues like conceptual and logical models for W2GIS, data management and data retrieval methods, geographical search engines and Web services, W2GIS query languages and interfaces, 2D and 3D information visualization, exploratory cartography and interfaces, W2GIS data mining, W2GIS security, W2GIS applications and prototypes, location-based services, semantic geo-spatial Web, mobile and wireless GIS, as well as ubiquitous W2GIS.

GNSS - GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and more is the extension of the scientific bestseller GPS - Theory and Practice to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and includes the Russian GLONASS, the European system Galileo, and additional systems.

The book refers to GNSS in the generic sense to describe the various existing reference systems for coordinates and time, the satellite orbits, the satellite signals, observables, mathematical models for positioning, data processing, and data transformation.

With respect to the individual systems GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and more, primarily the specific reference systems, services, the space and the control segment, as well as satellite signals are described. Furthermore, augmentations by space- and ground-based systems are discussed.

This book is a university-level introductory textbook and is intended to serve as a reference for students as well as for professionals and scientists in the fields of geodesy, surveying engineering, navigation, and related disciplines."

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on GeoSpatial Semantics, GeoS 2007, held in Mexico City, Mexico, in November 2007. The papers are organized in topical sections on models and languages for geo-ontologies, alignment and integration of geo-ontologies, ontology-based spatial information retrieval, formal representation for geospatial data, and integration of semantics into spatial query processing.

Archaeology has been transformed by technology that allows one to see below the surface of the earth. This work illustrates the uses of advanced technology in archaeological investigation. It deals with hand-held instruments that probe the subsurface of the earth to unveil layering and associated sites; underwater exploration and photography of submerged sites and artifacts; and the utilization of imaging from aircraft and spacecraft to reveal the regional setting of archaeological sites and to assist in cultural resource management.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT 2007, held in Melbourne, Australia, in September 2007.

The 27 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 102 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on cultural studies, semantics, similarity, mapping and representation, perception and cognition, reasoning and algorithms, navigation and landmarks, as well as uncertainty and imperfection.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, W2GIS 2006, held in Hong Kong, China in December 2006.

The 24 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from over 130 submissions and cover a wide range of topics from the semantic Web, Web personalization, contextual representation and mapping to querying in mobile environments, mobile networks and recent developments in location-based services and applications. The papers are organized in topical sections on location-based services, W2GIS applications and prototypes, wayfinding, mobile and wireless GIS, W2GIS personalization and agents, data management and data retrieval methods, as well as semantic geo-spatial Web and ubiquitous W2GIS.

In the last few years the scientific community has realized that obtaining a better understanding of interactions between natural systems and the man-made environment across different scales demands more research efforts in remote sensing. An integrated Earth system observatory that merges surface-based, air-borne, space-borne, and even underground sensors with comprehensive and predictive capabilities indicates promise for revolutionizing the study of global water, energy, and carbon cycles as well as land use and land cover changes. The aim of this book is to present a suite of relevant concepts, tools, and methods of integrated multisensor data fusion and machine learning technologies to promote environmental sustainability. The process of machine learning for intelligent feature extraction consists of regular, deep, and fast learning algorithms. The niche for integrating data fusion and machine learning for remote sensing rests upon the creation of a new scientific architecture in remote sensing science that is designed to support numerical as well as symbolic feature extraction managed by several cognitively oriented machine learning tasks at finer scales. By grouping a suite of satellites with similar nature in platform design, data merging may come to help for cloudy pixel reconstruction over the space domain or concatenation of time series images over the time domain, or even both simultaneously. Organized in 5 parts, from Fundamental Principles of Remote Sensing; Feature Extraction for Remote Sensing; Image and Data Fusion for Remote Sensing; Integrated Data Merging, Data Reconstruction, Data Fusion, and Machine Learning; to Remote Sensing for Environmental Decision Analysis, the book will be a useful reference for graduate students, academic scholars, and working professionals who are involved in the study of Earth systems and the environment for a sustainable future. The new knowledge in this book can be applied successfully in many areas of environmental science and engineering.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Geographic Information Science, GIScience 2006. The book presents 26 revised full papers. Among traditional topics addressed are spatial representations and data structures, spatial and temporal reasoning, computational geometry, spatial analysis, and databases. Many papers deal with navigation, interoperability, dynamic modeling, ontology, and semantics. Geosensors, location privacy, social issues and GI research networks rank among the new directions covered.

The first part of the proceedings describes the current capabilities of various satellite experiments which are performing measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, as for example some of the results obtained recently by three experiments onboard the ENVISAT Environment Satellite (ENVISAT), namely, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), the SCanning Imaging Absorption for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). For the analysis of spectra recorded by these instruments it is necessary to make good use of efficient radiative transfer codes. These computer codes need as input, a dataset of high quality spectroscopic parameters which can be generated only through a careful analysis of high quality laboratory measurements. In addition some of the future satellite missions which are under preparation at the European Space Agency (ESA) are briefly described.

These proceedings contain the papers selected for presentation at the 5th edition of the International Workshop on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, held in December 2005, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The aim of the series of annual W2GIS workshops is to provide an up-to-date review of advances on recent devel- ment and research results in the field of web and wireless geographical information systems. It follows the successful 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 editions, held in Kyoto, Singapore, Rome and Seoul, respectively. It now represents a young but rapidly - turing research community. In its 5th year, W2GIS reached new heights of recognition as a quality workshop for the dissemination and discussion on latest research and development achievements in the domain. The number of papers received for this workshop demonstrates the growing interest of the research community. There were 70 submissions from 17 countries, many of them of excellent quality and most of them very related to the t- ics of the workshop. Each paper receives three reviews. Based on these reviews, 25 papers were selected for presentation and inclusion in the proceedings. The accepted papers cover a wide range of topics from the Semantic Web, Web personalization, contextual representation and mapping to querying in mobile environments, to mobile networks and location-based services. We had the privilege of having a distinguished invited talk "The next revolution: Peer-to-Peer discovery on mobile devices" by Ouri Wolfson, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

This volume contains the papers presented at the Conference on Spatial Inf- mationTheory, heldinEllicottville, NewYorkinSeptember 2005.COSIT2005 was the 7th International Conference held under the COSIT name. When - drewFrankandhiscolleaguesorganizedthe?rstCOSITconferenceontheisland of Elba, Italy, in 1993, it represented the maturing of an international research community that had already met four or ?ve times in the United States, Spain, and Italy. Of course, cognitive and computational approaches to space and s- tial phenomena werenot themselves new topics, but a contextof providingth- retical underpinning for geographicinformation systems refocused some of these researchers and brought them up against practical and conceptual challenges. A second international symposium under the COSIT name, held in Semmering, Austria in 1995, established COSIT as a biennial conference series that cont- ued at Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania, USA (1997), Stade, Germany (1999), Morro Bay, California, USA (2001) and Ittingen, Switzerland (2003). A prod- tive partnership with Springer s Lecture Notes in Computer Science has ensured that the papers from every COSIT meeting have been widely disseminated, and the COSIT community has contributed signi?cantly to the development of G- graphic Information Science, Geoinformatics and Spatial Information Theory in general."

2 TheaimoftheannualW GIS workshop is to provide an up-to-date review of advances on recent development of Web and wireless geographical information systems, and new challenges and opportunities for researchers, developers and 2 users in the GIS community. The main topic of the W GIS workshop is theor- ical and technical issues of Web and wireless geographical information systems. This workshop followed the successful 2001, 2002 and 2003 editions, held in - oto, Singapore and Rome, respectively. The 2004 edition was held in Goyang, Korea. 2 In its 4th year, W GIS reached new heights of recognition as a quality wo- shopforthedisseminationanddiscussionofnewwaysofaccessingandanalyzing geospatial information. This year, 39 papers were submitted from 15 countries, and 20 papers were accepted from 11 countries. Similarly, the Program C- mittee consisted of 39 members from 16 countries. We had the privilege of having three distinguished invited talks: "Eliciting User Preferences in Web Urban Spaces," Yanwu Yang and Christophe Cla- munt, Naval Academy Research Institute, France; "Discovering Regional Inf- mation from Web: Localness and Landmark Computation," Katsumi Tanaka, Department of Social Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto U- versity, Japan; and "Towards Knowing, Always and Everywhere, Where - erything Is, Precisely," Christian S. Jensen, Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University, Denmark.

GIS (geographic information system) is a totally cool technology that has been called "geography on steroids." GIS is what lets you see the schools in your neighborhood or tells you where the nearest McDonald's is. "GIS For Dummies" tells you all about mapping terminology and digital mapping, how to locate geographic features and analyze patterns such as streets and waterways, and how to generate travel directions, customer location lists, and much more with GIS.

Whether you're in charge of creating GIS applications for your business or you simply love maps, you'll find "GIS For Dummies" is packed with information. For example, you can: Learn all the hardware and software necessary to collect, analyze, and manipulate GIS dataExplore the difference between 2D and 3D maps, create a map, or manage multiple mapsAnalyze patterns that appear in maps and interpret the resultsMeasure distance in absolute, comparative, and functional waysRecognize how spatial factors relate to geographic dataDiscover how GIS is used in business, the military, city planning, emergency services, land management, and moreFind out how GIS can help you find out where flooding may occurDetermine what your organization needs, do appropriate analyses, and actually plan and design a GIS system

You'll find dozens of applications for GIS queries and analyses, and even learn to create animated GIS output. Whether your goal is to implement a GIS or just have fun, "GIS For Dummies" will get you there

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

This section gives a description of notions used throughout this study. Current achievements in developing action-centered ontologies are also discussed. 2.1 Ontologies In the context of information extraction and retrieval, different kinds of ontologies can be distinguished [15]: * Top-level ontologies describe very general concepts like space and time, not depending on a particular domain, * Domain ontologies and task ontologies describe the vocabulary related to a generic domain or kind of task, detailing the terms used in the top-level ontology, * Application ontologies describe the concepts that depend on the particular domain and task within a specific activity. Several investigations have been conducted to bring actions (tasks) to bear on - tologies. Among them are Chandrasekaran et al. [6] and Mizoguchi et al. [23] in the fields of AI and Knowledge Engineering. For the geospatial domain, Kuhn [21] and Raubal and Kuhn [26] have attempted to support human actions in ontologies for transportation. Acknowledging the importance of human actions in the geographic domain, a research workshop was held in 2002, bringing together experts from diff- ent disciplines to share the knowledge and work on this issue [1]. Camara [5], one of the workshop participants, has proposed that action-driven spatial ontologies are formed via category theory, for the case of emergency action plans.

Ideal for both undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of geography, forestry, ecology, geographic information science, remote sensing, and photogrammetric engineering, LiDAR Remote Sensing and Applications expertly joins LiDAR principles, data processing basics, applications, and hands-on practices in one comprehensive source. The LiDAR data within this book is collected from 27 areas in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Ghana, and Haiti and includes 183 figures created to introduce the concepts, methods, and applications in a clear context. It provides 11 step-by-step projects predominately based on Esri's ArcGIS software to support seamless integration of LiDAR products and other GIS data. The first six projects are for basic LiDAR data visualization and processing and the other five cover more advanced topics: from mapping gaps in mangrove forests in Everglades National Park, Florida to generating trend surfaces for rock layers in Raplee Ridge, Utah. Features Offers a comprehensive overview of LiDAR technology with numerous applications in geography, forestry and earth science Gives necessary theoretical foundations from all pertinent subject matter areas Uses case studies and best practices to point readers to tools and resources Provides a synthesis of ongoing research in the area of LiDAR remote sensing technology Includes carefully selected illustrations and data from the authors' research projects Before every project in the book, a link is provided for users to download data

Technology can be more than just practicalit can also be fun. And fun is exactly what youll have when you try geocaching. It's a high-tech treasure-seeking game that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Because geocaching combines the outdoors, puzzles, and adventure, everyonefrom kids to kayakers, and retirees to rock climberscan easily become involved. You'll join a rapidly expanding worldwide network of people who hide containers of prizes in the wilderness, suburbs, and even in the middle of cities, then provide clues for others to discover them.

Borrowing from the classic pursuits of orienteering and letterboxing, geocaching can be as easy as a walk in the park or as challenging as scuba diving to a hundred feet. You don't need to be an expert in electronics, navigation, or even hiking to start. With this book, youll soon understand GPS technology, know how to find your way about, and be able to prepare for your next hike-and-seek adventure!

COSIT,theseriesofConferencesonSpatialInformationTheory,hasbeenaround for more than ten years. Its hallmarks are a fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue between computational and human perspectives on spatio-temporal information and a thorough review process that selects the best papers while giving all - thors detailed feedback on how to develop their work. A clear pro?le of the COSIT community has emerged from the series of conference proceedings, all published as Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, and from the per- nent web site at http://www. cosit. info, containing links to the conference web sites and proceedings, a history and program of the series, an impact study, interviews with participants, and pictures. The proceedings of this sixth conference provide ample evidence that COSIT is healthy and maturing, while retaining its youth. Out of the 61 submissions, the program committee selected 26 papers for presentation, in discussions based on at least three double-blind reviews and one or more meta-review from PC members for each paper. Classical COSIT themes, such as spatial reasoning (about distances and directions, regions and shapes) or vagueness are being f- ther re?ned; topics like way?nding and landmarks are boosted by new synergies betweencognitiveandcomputationalapproaches;andthestudyofontologiesfor space and time, a subject since the ?rst COSIT, is gaining more depth.

Geosphere-biosphere interaction of certain elements and compounds is a major factor in global environmental change. This guide to the role of geographical monitoring in ecosystem modelling contains papers presented at the International Geographical Union Seminar on monitoring geosystems.

In cognitive science, mental representations of spatial knowledge are metaphorically referred to as cognitive maps. However, investigations in cognitive psychology reveal that the cognitive map metaphor is inadequate and that more suitable conceptions of human spatial knowledge processing are needed.This book addresses mental processing of knowledge about geographic space from an AI point of view by presenting an experimental computational modeling approach. Results about human memory and visual mental imagery from cognitive psychology are combined with AI techniques of spatial and diagrammatic knowledge processing. The author develops the diagrammatic reasoning architecture MIRAGE as a comprehensive conception of human geographic knowledge processing.