It is only since recent years that the importance of the effects of outdoor lighting on the night-time environment and on the physical and mental health of humans is recognized on a wider scale. The related issue of light pollution is a particularly complex one, with potential conflicts of interest between the utilities, environmentalists, astronomers, the lighting industry and various government departments. Energy politics are always a sensitive issue, and light pollution is no exception to this rule.

The effects of light pollution on flora, fauna -including humans and their widely varying night-time activities- are often subtle and need extensive field studies to be quantified in a sensible manner.

The present conference, initiated by Commission 50 of the International Astronomical Union, is an attempt to bring together the astronomical community, the lighting industry, end-users, the utilities, and public authorities for a discussion and an exchange of ideas and information that will create goodwill among these groups and will thus contribute to making the global efforts to reduce pollution more efficient and effective.

Radio frequency pollution was also discussed in the context of radio astronomy and its efforts to create radio-quiet zones in collaboration with the government authorities that allocate frequency bands to the various users -mainly the telecommunications industry- and to protect the major planned and present radio observatories of the world.
The 3-day conference was attended by more than 130 representatives from 12 countries of all the above-mentioned groups, and a wide range of topics was discussed.

Some of the highlights were:
The presentation of the 1st world atlas of artificial night sky brightness (Cinzano et al.); the article by the International Darksky Association on their world-wide efforts to curb light pollution (Alvarez del Castillo et al.); the laws controlling light pollution implemented in Spain (Diaz et al.) and Chile (Sanhueza et al.), an overview of the work on radio frequency protection of sites (Cohen et al.) and the excellent introduction to the topic from the Chilean point of view (Daud).

Related topics in the book are light pollution education, aircraft contrails, space advertising (with an added document provided by the relevant UN commission), and an experiment on involving the population of an entire country in measuring sky brightness, by using the internet and the media.

The text is aimed at professionals from a wide range of disciplines related to lighting and its effects on the night-time environment in the broadest sense of the word. Lay persons interested in this emerging multi-disciplinary field can also find much of interest in this book.

Homeland security and context In the Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism (GDOT) (Cutter et al. 2003), the first book after 9/11 to address homeland security and geography, we developed several thematic research agendas and explored intersections between geographic research and the importance of context, both geographical and political, in relationship to the concepts of terrorism and security. It is good to see that a great deal of new thought and research continues to flow from that initial research agenda, as illustrated by many of the papers of this new book, entitled Geospatial Technologies and Homeland Security: Research Frontiers and Future Challenges. Context is relevant not only to understanding homeland security issues broadly, but also to the conduct of research on geospatial technologies. It is impossible to understand the implications of a homeland security strategy, let alone hope to make predictions, conduct meaningful modeling and research, or assess the value and dangers of geospatial technologies, without consideration of overarching political, social, economic, and geographic contexts within which these questions are posed.

The Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) was established in early 1998 to promote academic teaching and research on GIS at the European level. Since then, the annual AGILE c- ference has gradually become the leading GIScience conference in Europe and provides a multidisciplinary forum for scientific knowledge prod- tion and dissemination. GIScience addresses the understanding and automatic processing of geospatial information in its full breadth. While geo-objects can be represented either as vector data or in raster formats these representations have also guided the research in different disciplines, with GIS researchers concentrating on vector data while research in photogrammetry and c- puter vision focused on (geospatial) raster data. Although there have - ways been small but fine sessions addressing photogrammetry and image analysis at past AGILE conferences, these topics typically played only a minor role. Thus to broaden the domain of topics the AGILE 2009 con- rence it is jointly organized with a Workshop of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), dedicated to High Re- lution Satellite Imagery, organized by Prof. Christian Heipke of the Le- niz Universitat Hannover. This collocation provides opportunities to explore commonalities - tween research communities and to ease exchange between participants to develop or deepen mutual understanding. We hope that this approach enables researchers from the different communities to identify common - terests and research methods and thus provides a basis for possible future cooperations."

This volume presents peer-reviewed papers from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Atmospheric Boundary Layers held in April 2006. The papers are divided into thematic sessions: nature and theory of turbulent boundary layers; boundary-layer flows: modeling and applications to environmental security; nature, theory and modeling of boundary-layer flows; air flows within and above urban and other complex canopies: air-sea-ice interaction.

As editors of this volume we would like to express our gratitude to the contributing authors who have delivered these highly relevant and inspiring chapters and to the international scientific committee for their help in the review and editing. Special thanks go to our colleagues Mandy van de Sande, Marlyn Aretz, and Leo van Veghel, who were great in organising the conference and took care of everything that made it a pleasant and comfortable event. Eindhoven, July 2004 Jos van Leeuwen and Harry Timmermans Conference Chairs x DDSS 2004 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Alan Bridges, UK Kees Dorst, NL Aleksander Asanowicz, PL Luca Caneparo, IT Aloys Borgers, NL Mark Clayton, USA Anders Ekholm, SE Mark Gross, USA Andy Brown, UK Michael Batty, UK Anthony Yeh, HK Milton Tan, SG Ardeshir Mahdavi, AT Mitsuo Morozumi, JP Atsuyuki Okabe, JP Nancy Cheng, USA Bauke de Vries, NL Omer Akin, USA Bob Martens, AT Philip Steadman, UK Dirk Donath, DE Pierre Leclercq, BE Frances Brazier, NL Ray Wyatt, AU Gilles Halin, FR Richard Klosterman, USA Guilermo Vasquez de Velasco, USA Rivka Oxman, IL Hannu Penttila, FI Robert Woodbury, CA Henri Achten, NL Sevil Sariyildiz, NL Jin-Yeu Tsou, HK Sheng-Fen Chien, TW Joachim Kieferle, DE Stefania Bandini, IT Johan Verbeke, BE Tay-Sheng Jeng, TW John Stillwell, UK Theo Arentze, NL Jose Duarte, PT Thomas Kvan, HK Jose Kos, BR Wassim Jabi, USA INTRODUCTION The International Conference on Design & Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning is organised bi-annually by the Eindhoven"

1 2 Michel M. VERSTRAETE and Martin BENISTON 1 Space Applications Institute, EC Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy 2 Department of Geography, University of Fribourg, Switzerland This volume contains the proceedings ofthe workshop entitled "Satellite Remote Sensing and Climate Simulations: Synergies and Limitations" that took place in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, September 20-24, 1999. This international scientific conference aimed at addressing the current and pot- tial role of satellite remote sensing in climate modeling, with a particular focus on land surface processes and atmospheric aerosol characterization. Global and regional circulation models incorporate our knowledge ofthe dynamics ofthe Earth's atmosphere. They are used to predict the evolution of the weather and climate. Mathematically, this system is represented by a set ofpartial differential equations whose solution requires initial and bo- dary conditions. Limitations in the accuracy and geographical distribution of these constraints, and intrinsic mathematical sensitivity to these conditions do not allow the identification of a unique solution (prediction). Additional observations on the climate system are thus used to constrain the forecasts of the mathematical model to remain close to the observed state ofthe system.

This book provides extensive insight on remote sensing of coastal waters from aircraft and space-based platforms. The primary focus of the book is optical remote sensing using passive instruments, to measure and analyze the coastal aquatic environment. The authors have gathered information from a variety of sources, to help non-specialists grasp new techniques and technology, to quickly produce useful data

This book approaches the realisation of digital terrain and landscape data through clear and practical examples. From data provision and the creation of revealing analyses to realistic depictions for presentation purposes, the reader is led through the world of digital 3-D graphics. The authors deep knowledge of the scientific fundamentals and many years of experience in 3-D visualization enable them to lead the reader through a complex subject and shed light on previously murky virtual landscapes.

This book presents decade-long advances in atmospheric research in the Mackenzie River Basin in northern Canada, which encompasses environments representative of most cold areas on Earth. Collaborative efforts have yielded knowledge entirely transferable to other high latitude regions in America, Europe and Asia. This book complements the first volume coming from the GEWEX project, dealing with the region's atmospheric dynamics.

This book describes the interdisciplinary work of USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) and its influence on methodological and development policies in the US. This book describes FEWS NET's systems, methods and presents several illustrative case studies that will demonstrate the integration of both physical and social science disciplines in its work. The aim of this book is to bring the work of USAID's Famine Early warning System Network into the public domain.

This handbook presents the foundations of modern rural analysis. The first part of the book presents a comprehensive description of the elements of rural analysis, providing the basis for a synthetic view of rural landscapes in the second part. Included is a comprehensive description and explanation of the rural landscapes from throughout the world, which leads to a complete management scheme for rural landscapes.

This volume contains selected essays of Manfred M. Fischer in the field of spatial analysis from the perspective of GeoComputation. The volume is structured in four parts, from broad issues in spatial analysis and the role of GIS to computational intelligence technologies such as neural networks. The third part provides the theoretical framework required for adaptive pattern classifiers in remote sensing environments. The final section outlines the latest in neural spatial interaction modeling.

The capabilities of modern technology are rapidly increasing, spurred on to a large extent by the tremendous advances in communications and computing. Automated vehicles and global wireless connections are some examples of these advances. In order to take advantage of such enhanced capabilities, our need to model and manipulate our knowledge of the geophysical world, using compatible representations, is also rapidly increasing. In response to this one fundamental issue of great concern in modern geographical research is how to most effectively capture the physical world around us in systems like geographical information systems (GIS). Making this task even more challenging is the fact that uncertainty plays a pervasive role in the representation, analysis and use of geospatial information. The types of uncertainty that appear in geospatial information systems are not the just simple randomness of observation, as in weather data, but are manifested in many other forms including imprecision, incompleteness and granularization. Describing the uncertainty of the boundaries of deserts and mountains clearly require different tools than those provided by probability theory. The multiplicity of modalities of uncertainty appearing in GIS requires a variety of formalisms to model these uncertainties. In light of this it is natural that fuzzy set theory has become a topic of intensive interest in many areas of geographical research and applications This volume, Fuzzy Modeling with Spatial Information for Geographic Problems, provides many stimulating examples of advances in geographical research based on approaches using fuzzy sets and related technologies.

The Introduction to Bayesian Statistics (2nd Edition) presents Bayes theorem, the estimation of unknown parameters, the determination of confidence regions and the derivation of tests of hypotheses for the unknown parameters, in a manner that is simple, intuitive and easy to comprehend. The methods are applied to linear models, in models for a robust estimation, for prediction and filtering and in models for estimating variance components and covariance components. Regularization of inverse problems and pattern recognition are also covered while Bayesian networks serve for reaching decisions in systems with uncertainties. If analytical solutions cannot be derived, numerical algorithms are presented such as the Monte Carlo integration and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods.

In the wake of the so-called information technology revolution, many stakeholders from the public and private sectors (including citizens) have indeed grown accustomed to the promise and usability of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) for data access, use, and sharing. Analyzing the obstacles as well as the processes and mechanisms of integration and implementation, Spatial Data Infrastructures in Context: North and South investigates the technological and the non-technological aspects of the widespread adoption of spatial data infrastructures. Supporting theoretical issues with empirical studies, the editors pay particular attention to the non-technological aspects of organizational, financial, and legal issues including owner rights, liability, copyrights, and compatibility with precedent and supercedent laws. The authors also highlight the importance of understanding the local environment and circumstances in the process of tailoring the approaches to the conditions that characterize societies of different cultural, institutional, and economic settings. Designed to improve the accessibility, interoperability, and affordability of spatial data, the book focuses on the increasing challenges associated with integrating individuals and organizations into a network to support (1) public authorities and administrations at various levels, (2) thematic user communities, (3) enterprises, and (4) citizen-oriented society as a whole. It addresses the implementation and development of spatial data infrastructures for a wide range of themes, applicable technical standards and protocols, and specific organizational issues unique to data policy. Highlighting the potential for profound changes to the access, use, and exchange of spatial data for citizens, organizations, and geographically related applications, and therefore to the role and interaction of the stakeholders from the public and private sectors, this timely contribution provides new insights into improving our understanding of the increasing relevance, applicability, and value of spatial data infrastructures.

In the recent years, space-based observation methods have led to a subst- tially improved understanding of Earth system. Geodesy and geophysics are contributing to this development by measuring the temporal and spatial va- ations of the Earth's shape, gravity ?eld, and magnetic ?eld, as well as at- sphere density. In the frame of the GermanR&D programmeGEOTECHNO- LOGIEN, researchprojectshavebeen launchedin2002relatedto the satellite missions CHAMP, GRACE and ESA's planned mission GOCE, to comp- mentary terrestrial and airborne sensor systems and to consistent and stable high-precision global reference systems for satellite and other techniques. In the initial 3-year phase of the research programme (2002-2004), new gravity ?eld models have been computed from CHAMP and GRACE data which outperform previous models in accuracy by up to two orders of m- nitude for the long and medium wavelengths. A special highlight is the - termination of seasonal gravity variations caused by changes in continental water masses. For GOCE, to be launched in 2006, new gravity ?eld analysis methods are under development and integrated into the ESA processing s- tem. 200,000 GPS radio occultation pro?les, observed by CHAMP, have been processed on an operational basis. They represent new and excellent inf- mation on atmospheric refractivity, temperature and water vapor. These new developments require geodetic space techniques (such as VLBI, SLR, LLR, GPS) to be combined and synchronized as if being one global instrument.

Although designed primarily for desktop mapping and analysis, Geographic Information Systems have, for some years, been coupled to other allied technologies. This coupling or integration has occurred for some time due to the limitations in commercially available systems. It has occurred in several areas including visualisation (virtual reality), simulation (pedestrian, urban modelling), data storage and management (distributed or Internet GIS) and decision support. The chapters of the book, written by an international group of experts examine several of these discrete areas, focussing on the use of GIS and the technology it has been allied to. "

This book provides an account of recent developments in light scattering media optics. Leading researchers focus on both the theoretical and experimental results in the area. In particular, light scattering by ice crystals, soil particles and biological particles is considered. This volume first discusses single light scattering, followed by multiple light scattering and finally examines possible applications in combustion and marine research.

From environmental management to land planning and geo-marketing, the number of application domains that may greatly benefit from using data enriched with spatio-temporal features is expanding very rapidly. This book shows that a conceptual design approach for spatio-temporal databases is both feasible and easy to apprehend. While providing a firm basis through extensive discussion of traditional data modeling concepts, the major focus of the book is on modeling spatial and temporal information.

Eugene Sharkov, of the Space Research Institute in Moscow, has here put together the most comprehensive description of the physical findings of an investigation into the spatio-temporal characteristics of the gravity of breaking waves. He's also described the foam activity in the open sea using methods and instruments of optical and microwave remote sensing. Numerous practical applications and illustrations are provided from air-borne, ship-borne and laboratory up-to-date experiments.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of how aerosols form in the atmosphere through in situ processes as well as via transport from the surface (dust storms, seas spray, biogenic emissions, forest fires etc.). Such an analysis has been followed by the consideration of both observation data (various field observational experiments) and numerical modeling results to assess climate impacts of aerosols bearing in mind that these impacts are the most significant uncertainty in studying natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change.

Juval Portugali The notion of complex artificial environments (CAE) refers to theories of c- plexity and self-organization, as well as to artifacts in general, and to artificial - vironments, such as cities, in particular. The link between the two, however, is not trivial. For one thing, the theories of complexity and self-organization originated in the "hard" science and by reference to natural phenomena in physics and bi- ogy. The study of artifacts, per contra, has traditionally been the business of the "soft" disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The notion of "complex artificial environments" thus implies the supposition that the theories of compl- ity and self-organization, together with the mathematical formalisms and meth- ologies developed for their study, apply beyond the domain of nature. Such a s- st position raises a whole set of questions relating to the nature of 21 century cities and urbanism, to philosophical issues regarding the natural versus the artificial, to the methodological legitimacy of interdisciplinary transfer of theories and me- odologies and to the implications that entail the use of sophisticated, state-of-t- art artifacts such as virtual reality (VR) cities and environments. The three-day workshop on the study of complex artificial environments that took place on the island of San Servolo, Venice, during April 1-3, 2004, was a gathering of scholars engaged in the study of the various aspects of CAE.

The definitive guide to bringing accuracy to measurement, updated and supplemented Adjustment Computations is the classic textbook for spatial information analysis and adjustment computations, providing clear, easy-to-understand instruction backed by real-world practicality. From the basic terms and fundamentals of errors to specific adjustment computations and spatial information analysis, this book covers the methodologies and tools that bring accuracy to surveying, GNSS, GIS, and other spatial technologies. Broad in scope yet rich in detail, the discussion avoids overly-complex theory in favor of practical techniques for students and professionals. This new sixth edition has been updated to align with the latest developments in this rapidly expanding field, and includes new video lessons and updated problems, including worked problems in STATS, MATRIX, ADJUST, and MathCAD. All measurement produces some amount of error; whether from human mistakes, instrumentation inaccuracy, or environmental features, these errors must be accounted and adjusted for when accuracy is critical. This book describes how errors are identified, analyzed, measured, and corrected, with a focus on least squares adjustment the most rigorous methodology available. * Apply industry-standard methodologies to error analysis and adjustment * Translate your skills to the real-world with instruction focused on the practical * Master the fundamentals as well as specific computations and analysis * Strengthen your understanding of critical topics on the Fundamentals in Surveying Licensing Exam As spatial technologies expand in both use and capability, so does our need for professionals who understand how to check and adjust for errors in spatial data. Conceptual knowledge is one thing, but practical skills are what counts when accuracy is at stake; Adjustment Computations provides the real-world training you need to identify, analyze, and correct for potentially crucial errors.

This volume contains the extended papers selected for presentation at the ninth edition of the International Symposium on Web & Wireless Geographical Information Systems 2 (WGIS 2009) hosted by the National Centre for Geocomputation in NUI Maynooth 2 (Ireland). WGIS 2009 was the ninth in a series of successful events beginning with Kyoto 2001, and alternating locations between East Asia and Europe. We invited s- missions that provided an up-to-date review of advances in theoretical, technical, and 2 practical issues of W GIS and Intelligent GeoMedia. Reports on ongoing implemen- tions and real-world applications research were particularly welcome at this symposium. 2 Now in its ninth year, the scope of W GIS has expanded to include continuing - vances in wireless and Internet technologies that generate ever increasing interest in the diffusion, usage, and processing of geo-referenced data of all types - geomedia. Spatially aware wireless and Internet devices offer new ways of accessing and anal- ing geo-spatial information in both real-world and virtual spaces. Consequently, new challenges and opportunities are provided that expand the traditional GIS research scope into the realm of intelligent media - including geomedia with context-aware behaviors for self-adaptive use and delivery. Our common aim is research-based innovation that increases the ease of creating, delivering, and using geomedia across different platforms and application domains that continue to have dramatic effect on today's society.

First established in 1993 with a conference in Elba, Italy, COSIT (the International C- ference on Spatial Information Theory) is widely acknowledged as one of the most - portant conferences for the field of spatial information theory. This conference series brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines for intensive scientific - changes centered on spatial information theory. COSIT submissions typically address research questions drawn from cognitive, perceptual, and environmental psychology, geography, spatial information science, computer science, artificial intelligence, cog- tive science, engineering, cognitive anthropology, linguistics, ontology, architecture, planning, and environmental design. Some of the topical areas include, for example, the cognitive structure of spatial knowledge; events and processes in geographic space; incomplete or imprecise spatial knowledge; languages of spatial relations; navigation by organisms and robots; ontology of space; communication of spatial information; and the social and cultural organization of space to name a few. This volume contains the papers presented at the 9th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT 2009, held in Aber Wrac'h, France, September 21-25, 2009. For COSIT 2009, 70 full paper submissions were received. These papers were carefully reviewed by an international Program Committee based on relevance to the conference, intellectual quality, scientific significance, novelty, relation to previously published literature, and clarity of presentation. After reviewing was completed, 30 papers were selected for presentation at the conference and appear in this volume. This number of papers reflects the high quality of submissions to COSIT this year.