Discover the geographic approach to conservation land management and landscape conservation. Geographic information system (GIS) technology offers a comprehensive tool for conservation professionals. A modern GIS gives users a real-time look at their data, locations, and their relationships. When applied to conservation, it reveals dependencies and challenges across multiple environments. Through maps and apps, conservation professionals can observe the field, analyze and organize their data, and collaborate with other organizations and the public on addressing threats and opportunities found. Preserving Our Planet: GIS for Conservation explores a collection of real-life stories about conservation organizations successfully using GIS to meet challenges to biodiversity preservation in our rapidly changing world. The book also includes a section on next steps that provides ideas, strategies, tools, and actions to help you jump-start your own use of GIS for conservation. A collection of online resources, including additional stories, videos, new ideas and concepts, and downloadable tools and content, complements this book. Edited by David Gadsden, director of conservation solutions at Esri, and Matt Artz, an Esri content strategist.

Written by an expert in the development of GPS systems with digital maps and navigation, Programming GPS and OpenStreetMap Applications with Java: The RealObject Application Framework provides a concrete paradigm for object-oriented modeling and programming. It presents a thorough introduction to the use of available global positioning data for the development of applications involving digital maps.

The author first describes the different formats of GPS data and digital maps and shows how to use recorded GPS traces to replay and display this data on a digital map. Then, he works through in detail the processing steps of obtaining dedicated data from OpenStreetMaps and how to extract a network for a simple navigation application. For each topic covered GPS data, OpenStreetMaps, and navigation Java code is developed that can easily be adapted to the readers needs and locality.

Finally, all components are put together in a sample computer-game application modeled on the well-known board game, Scotland Yard. The computer game is intended to be a basis from which readers can develop and customize their own application for their desired geographical area. The developed application can be "published" on the Internet and made available for interactive multiplayer competition.

This book provides a fun and interesting way to learn distributed programming with Java and real-world data. Open-source software is available on a companion website at www.roaf.de

Now, more than ever, professionals can benefit from the power of location data, maps, and analytics in healthcare. Health professionals see the importance of the who, what, when, and where of data analytics. The "where" adds a crucial element because good healthcare begins locally and understanding the impacts of place leads to better health. Health professionals recognize the insights gained from visualizing and analyzing location data. Maps, dashboards, apps, and charts can serve as location analytic tools to quantify problems, make predictions, improve operations, assess infrastructure, and make better decisions overall. GIS Jump Start for Health Professionals is a concise workbook that introduces location analytics available in geographic information systems (GIS) to health professionals, medical students, residents, fellows, nursing students, medical researchers, and others interested in health IT and informatics, health-care administration, and health policy. GIS Jump Start for Health Professionals provides hands-on tutorials that introduce the ArcGIS tools and shows how to use web-based data, storytelling apps, and much more. The book includes concepts and short video lectures to improve learning outcomes. Focused lessons get health professionals up and running quickly and experiencing first hand the value of location data, maps, and analytics. Written by Kristen S. Kurland, an award-winning professor at Carnegie Mellon University and co-creator of the GIS Tutorial series, this book can be used as a short course or incorporated into another course. It is also valuable to self-learners who want location technology experience.

This book covers the basics of processing and spectral analysis of monovariate discrete-time signals. The approach is practical, the aim being to acquaint the reader with the indications for and drawbacks of the various methods and to highlight possible misuses. The book is rich in original ideas, visualized in new and illuminating ways, and is structured so that parts can be skipped without loss of continuity. Many examples are included, based on synthetic data and real measurements from the fields of physics, biology, medicine, macroeconomics etc., and a complete set of MATLAB exercises requiring no previous experience of programming is provided. Prior advanced mathematical skills are not needed in order to understand the contents: a good command of basic mathematical analysis is sufficient. Where more advanced mathematical tools are necessary, they are included in an Appendix and presented in an easy-to-follow way. With this book, digital signal processing leaves the domain of engineering to address the needs of scientists and scholars in traditionally less quantitative disciplines, now facing increasing amounts of data.

Based on detailed research funded across two continents and involving universities in Argentina, Spain and the UK, this book sets out an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to assessing both environmental and social risks in a given territorial area. Using data from a number of Ibero-American nations, the study combines environmental, socio-economic and geographic factors to construct a set of spatial and technical indicators that measure the social vulnerability and industrial hazardousness of a defined area. Aggregating these indicators in a geographic information system (GIS) allows researchers to assess the potential risk to which a certain area and its population are subject as a result of the environmental deterioration caused by co-located industrial activity.

This book provides an overview of the latest developments in the fast growing field of tangible user interfaces. It presents a new type of modeling environment where the users interact with geospatial data and simulations using 3D physical landscape model coupled with 3D rendering engine. Multiple users can modify the physical model, while it is being scanned, providing input for geospatial analysis and simulations. The results are then visualized by projecting images or animations back on the physical model while photorealistic renderings of human views are displayed on a computer screen or in a virtual reality headset. New techniques and software which couple the hardware set-up with open source GRASS GIS and Blender rendering engine, make the system instantly applicable to a wide range of applications in geoscience education, landscape design, computer games, stakeholder engagement, and many others. This second edition introduces a new more powerful version of the tangible modeling environment with multiple types of interaction, including polymeric sand molding, placement of markers, and delineation of areas using colored felt patches. Chapters on coupling tangible interaction with 3D rendering engine and immersive virtual environment, and a case study integrating the tools presented throughout this book, demonstrate the second generation of the system - Immersive Tangible Landscape - that enhances the modeling and design process through interactive rendering of modeled landscape. This book explains main components of Immersive Tangible Landscape System, and provides the basic workflows for running the applications. The fundamentals of the system are followed by series of example applications in geomorphometry, hydrology, coastal and fluvial flooding, fire spread, landscape and park design, solar energy, trail planning, and others. Graduate and undergraduate students and educators in geospatial science, earth science, landscape architecture, computer graphics and games, natural resources and many others disciplines, will find this book useful as a reference or secondary textbook. Researchers who want to build and further develop the system will most likely be the core audience, but also anybody interested in geospatial modeling applications (hazard risk management, hydrology, solar energy, coastal and fluvial flooding, fire spread, landscape and park design) will want to purchase this book.

The book provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of map construction algorithms, which use tracking data in the form of trajectories to generate vector maps. The most common trajectory type is GPS-based trajectories. It introduces three emerging algorithmic categories, outlines their general algorithmic ideas, and discusses three representative algorithms in greater detail. To quantify map construction algorithms, the authors include specific datasets and evaluation measures. The datasets, source code of map construction algorithms and evaluation measures are publicly available on http://www.mapconstruction.org. The web site serves as a repository for map construction data and algorithms and researchers can contribute by uploading their own code and benchmark data. Map Construction Algorithms is an excellent resource for professionals working in computational geometry, spatial databases, and GIS. Advanced-level students studying computer science, geography and mathematics will also find this book a useful tool.

The popularity of geography as an academic discipline is partly explained by its relevance to the real world. Spatial analysis uses geographic information and statistical methods for the study of specific applications, ranging from business location analysis to the measurement of inner city deprivation, and when used in conjunction with GIS, visual representations and "what if" scenarios can be created. An increasing number of public and private sector organisations now regard spatial analysis as a valuable problem-solving tool.

Applied GIS and Spatial Analysis focuses on the use of quantitative methods and GIS in applied contexts, demonstrating the wide range of techniques that are used to deal with problems at different spatial scales. It provides readers with a range of global applications from local/national government and business, and is structured to convey the public-private focus of the material.

Arranged in four main parts, Applied GIS and Spatial Analysis covers:

• Geobusiness, which considers applications in the private sector.
• Social Deprivation, a set of chapters commissioned by various local authorities helping to expose different aspects of social problems, especially deprivation and crime.
• Transport and Location, relating to transport networks and location problems.
• National Spatial Planning, which looks at large-scale national social and economic problems, largely funded by government departments.

This book is unique as it concentrates on commercially-sponsored applications of GIS and quantitative geography research methodologies that are undertaken by professional quantitative geographers. Internationally renowned editors and contributors from academic and business consultancies present spatial analysis techniques and the actual process of problem solving, to illustrate the applied nature of contemporary quantitative geography. A wealth of case studies enriches the chapters and exemplifies the practical application of GIS, statistical models, location-allocation models, and networks of flow models.

Applied Spatial Modelling and GIS is essential reading for postgraduates and researchers of Quantitative Geography, GIS, Spatial Modelling and Retail Geography. It is also highly recommended for upper-level undergraduate and MSc students taking modules in GIS and Quantitative Geography, and will be a valuable source of reference for practitioners involved in the use of GIS for private and public sector planning.

This book provides a thoughtful and rigorous guide to coverage modeling, reviewing essential models, solution approaches, and related applications. Since the early developments of the Location Set Covering Problem and the Maximal Covering Location Problem, models based upon some form of coverage have been extended and applied in a number of areas, helping to improve services offered to citizens of large cities and regions. Examples include trauma care services, transit systems design, cell tower location, and many others. The book not only describes the strengths and weaknesses of currently available models, but also presents details on major developments, including solution procedures and applications, making it well suited both as a reference text and a textbook for graduate level courses.

Glaciers and ice sheets have been melting significantly during recent decades, posing environmental threats at local, regional and global scales. Changes in glaciers are one of the clearest indicators of alterations in regional climate, since they are governed by changes in accumulation (from snowfall) and ablation (by melting of ice). Glacier changes have been measured for the last century by traditional field measurements, resulting in long time series for a few glaciers. Remote sensing data and methods, and geographic information systems, provide the means to allow glacier changes to be monitored at a global scale, to be analysed rapidly and to store the results and present information to both scientific and popular audiences in a way which was not possible before the digital revolution. Remote sensing of glaciers began with terrestrial and aerial photography during the middle of the 20th century, but today the discipline embraces a large variety of data types from laser scanner data to very high resolution satellite imagery, which can be applied to the mapping of glacier changes in terms of area, surface zonation or thickness. This book highlights the history of the remote sensing of glaciers, the physics of glaciers and remote sensing of them, and focuses particularly on modern data and methods used by remote sensing specialists and glaciologists. The book presents examples of glacier research carried out, for example in the Alps, Norway, Iceland, Caucasus, Patagonia, Rocky Mountains, Pakistan, Antarctica, New Zealand, and Svalbard.
This book is of interest to specialists and students working in the field of remote sensing, glaciology, physical geography, geology and climate change.

In June/July 2008 the Institute for Geoinformation and Cartography at the Vienna University of Technology organized a scientific colloquium in this city, where 15 well-known scientists presented their ideas on research for the upcoming decade. This book contains papers prepared by the participants as well as by other researchers. The eighteen papers in this book reflect the opinion of a core group of Geoinformation scientists about future research topics. Dealing with these topics poses multiple research questions for the coming years

In recent years 3D geo-information has become an important research area due to the increased complexity of tasks in many geo-scientific applications, such as sustainable urban planning and development, civil engineering, risk and disaster management and environmental monitoring. Moreover, a paradigm of cross-application merging and integrating of 3D data is observed. The problems and challenges facing today's 3D software, generally application-oriented, focus almost exclusively on 3D data transportability issues - the ability to use data originally developed in one modelling/visualisation system in other and vice versa. Tools for elaborated 3D analysis, simulation and prediction are either missing or, when available, dedicated to specific tasks. In order to respond to this increased demand, a new type of system has to be developed. A fully developed 3D geo-information system should be able to manage 3D geometry and topology, to integrate 3D geometry and thematic information, to analyze both spatial and topological relationships, and to present the data in a suitable form. In addition to the simple geometry types like point line and polygon, a large variety of parametric representations, freeform curves and surfaces or sweep shapes have to be supported. Approaches for seamless conversion between 3D raster and 3D vector representations should be available, they should allow analysis of a representation most suitable for a specific application.

Spatial dimensions need to be properly captured if modeling and engineering techniques are to be successfully applied in addressing environmental problems. The links between the geographical information systems (GIS) that capture this data, simulation modeling, and engineering offer tremendous possibilities for building versatile support systems for managing the environment. GIS, Environmental Modeling and Engineering focuses on using GIS and external models to solve real environmental problems, promoting the critical thinking needed for the effective applications of these systems and their analytical outputs. Divided into three major sections, this textbook first concentrates on defining GIS, identifying how data is structured, and explaining common functionality. The text examines GIS from a technological perspective, exploring the evolution of its scientific basis and its synergies with other technologies within a geocomputational paradigm. The next section explores modeling from a neutral scientific perspective in its role of simulating phenomena, as well as from a more specific perspective in its role within environmental science and engineering. The third and largest section looks at how GIS and simulation modeling are joined. It provides case studies and covers issues such as interoperability, data quality, model validity, space-time dynamics, and decision-support systems. This volume provides seniors and postgraduate students with a structured, coherent text that goes beyond introductory subject matter by enabling readers to think critically about the data acquisition process and the results they get from the technology.

Soil quality is threatened by many human-induced activities, but can also be improved by good land management. In the relatively short history of mankind on earth, the landscape and soils of the world have been drastically modified from their "natural " state. Landscapes altered by man's activities are termed "Anthroscapes" which are inextricably linked to culture and history. The challenges for today's scientists are to devise and implement sustainable land management strategies in order to preserve the land for the benefit of future generations. This book is a valuable compendium of the research experiences so far gained in studies of the context and concept of the "Anthroscape" and highlights the potential future contributions of such research to sustainable development.

This is the first book to provide sociologists, criminologists, political scientists, and other social scientists with the methodological logic and techniques for doing spatial analysis in their chosen fields of inquiry.

The book contains a wealth of examples as to why these techniques are worth doing, over and above conventional statistical techniques using SPSS or other statistical packages.

GIS is a methodological and conceptual approach that allows for the linking together of spatial data, or data that is based on a physical space, with non-spatial data, which can be thought of as any data that contains no direct reference to physical locations.

Do more with your GIS and understand the foundation of spatial analysis: geographic patterns and relationships. A geographic information system (GIS) enables so much more than mapping. A GIS inherently enables spatial analysis that can give you a better understanding of your geographic data. GIS analysis reveals answers to questions like: Where is it? Where's the most and least? How much is where? What's inside? What's nearby? What's changed But how do you get started? The second edition of The Esri Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1 shows how and more. With easier to read maps and text, The Esri Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1, second edition, dives beneath the surface of mapping, beyond displaying data to using it to reveal geographic insights. Learn the basic concepts of spatial analysis and GIS. Build on that understanding with essential map-building skills to unveil and display patterns and relationships. The Esri Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1, second edition, also includes a guide to online lessons that reinforce the concepts and demonstrate GIS application. Written for both new and experienced GIS users using an easy to follow format, the second edition of The Esri Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1 helps you build a foundation of the basic tasks needed to handle a wide range of analysis applications and prepares you for more advanced GIS skills.

Adjustment Models in 3D Geomatics and Computational Geophysics: With MATLAB Examples, Volume Four introduces a complete package of theoretical and practical subjects in adjustment computations relating to Geomatics and geophysical applications, particularly photogrammetry, surveying, remote sensing, GIS, cartography, and geodesy. Supported by illustrating figures and solved examples with MATLAB codes, the book provides clear methods for processing 3D data for accurate and reliable results. Problems cover free net adjustment, adjustment with constraints, blunder detection, RANSAC, robust estimation, error propagation, 3D co-registration, image pose determination, and more.

"If we are to solve many of the problems facing us–in the cities, in the wild areas of the earth, in the atmosphere, and the oceans–we shall need the help of skilled users of GIS technology. If readers can master what is in this volume, they will be well started on this enterprise."
–From the Foreword by Jack Dangermond
President of ESRI

Praise for previous editions:

"One of only a small number of texts devoted to the technology of GIS that are truly introductory in nature. . . . Very readable and of moderate length. Those who are real novices to GIS will find this one attractive."
–Computers and Geosciences

"Well-rendered and very clear line drawings . . . well written, with a well-balanced blend of technical/theoretical concepts and more applied facts of GIS."
–Professional Geographer

Geographic Information Systems provides a practical, theory-driven overview of GIS that is supported with clear coverage of basic techniques. This treatment enables readers to understand the broad aspects of GIS without focusing on a specific software or discipline, such as engineering or geography. New features of this Third Edition include: up-to-date information on standardization efforts aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas and data; technical content that is up to date with current hardware, software, database design, and analytical techniques; and comprehensive cost/benefit guidelines for choosing and evaluating a GIS, including coverage of organizational and technical issues.

Complete with extensive references and links to online resources, Geographic Information Systems, Third Edition, is an exceptional resource for students of GIS, planning, land use, natural resources, civil and environmental engineering, real estate, and wildlife biology.

Ring lasers are commonly used as gyroscopes for aircraft navigation and attitude control. The largest ring lasers are sensitive enough that they can be used for high resolution inertial rotation sensing of the Earth in order to detect tiny perturbations to the Earth's rotation caused by earthquakes or global mass transport. This book describes the latest advances in the development of large ring lasers for applications in geodesy and geophysics using the most sensitive and stable devices available. Chapters cover our current knowledge of the physics of the laser gyroscope, how to acquire and analyse data from ring lasers, and what the potential applications are in the geosciences. It is a valuable reference for those working with ring lasers or using the data for applications in geodesy and geophysics; as well as researchers in laser physics, photonics and navigation.

Environmental applications have long been a core use of GIS. However, the effectiveness of GIS-based methods depends on the decision-making frameworks and contexts within which they are employed. GIS for Environmental Decision-Making takes an interdisciplinary look at the capacities of GIS to integrate, analyze, and display data on which decisions must be based. It provides a broad prospective on the current state of GIS for environmental decision-making and emphasizes the importance of matters related to data, analysis, and modeling tools, as well as stakeholder participation.

The book is divided into three sections, which effectively relate to three key aspects of the decision-making process as supported by GIS: data required, tools being developed, and aspects of participation. The first section stresses the ability to integrate data from different sources as a defining characteristic of GIS and illustrates the benefits that this can bring in the context of deriving land-use and other information. The second section discusses a range of issues concerning the use of GIS for suitability mapping and strategic planning exercises, through illustrative examples. The last section of the book focuses on the use of GIS-based techniques to facilitate public participation in decision-making processes. In particular, it provides an overview of developments in this area, concentrating on how GIS, modeling, and 3D landscape visualization techniques are gradually achieving closer integration.

Given the complex challenges presented by global environmental change, GIS for Environmental Decision-Making provides a clear illustration of how the use of GIS can make significant contributions to trans-disciplinary initiatives to address environmental problems.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Data for Decision-Making. Tools to Support Decision-Making. Participation in Decision-Making.

The book is a collection of the lectures delivered during the 7th International Summer School on Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ISSAOS) titled "Integrated Ground-Based Observing Systems Applications for Climate, Meteorology, and Civil Protection". Its aim is to contribute to the scientific understanding of basic concepts and applications of integrated ground-based observing systems. The first part describes the most common instrumentations showing their strengths and limitations. Furthermore, strategic plans for the deployment of an observation site are discussed along with an overview of techniques for integrating heterogeneous data. The second part introduces cutting-edge applications, including assimilation in numerical weather prediction, climate benchmarking, air quality monitoring and meteo/hydrological warnings.

This book contributes to the transformative and revolutionary use of small, unmanned vehicle systems for three-dimensional geospatial data acquisition and mapping, which is considered to be a paradigm shift in the science and technology of geomatics. The book presents a systematic and comprehensive approach for the use of small mobile unmanned systems for robotic geomatics research and applications. Emphasis is placed on aerial unmanned mapping systems as aerial data collection provides better perspective and coverage of an area, and offers the ability for targeted coverage.

To date, no one volume in the Innovations in GIS series has been given over to solely highlighting the use of up-to-date GIS-based techniques in a range of socio-economic applications. In this monograph we redress this gap. A short introductory chapter on the fundamental principles of GIS is followed by an examination of recent innovative research in the areas of crime applications, planning, urban and rural policy, and the use of GIS to examine various aspects of socio-economic policy.

Socio-Economic Applications of Geographic Information Science is the ninth book in the Innovations in GIS series, based on contributions at the 2001 GIS Research UK conference, which continues to include innovative papers that are at the cutting edge of GIS research in the UK and beyond, and maintains a valued position in the conference calendar.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203301072