GIS as new tools and approach in state planning and monitoring: the experience of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Malaysian planning methodology has changed over the years as emphasis has shifted from producing plan, which described a state of affairs expected of some future date, to one which acknowledged the continuous and cyclical nature of planning. Thus planning should be based on the identification of needs and goals, the formulation and evaluation of alternative courses of action and monitoring of adopted programmes. Using examples from current Geographical Information Systems (GIS) implementation projects, this paper will discuss GIS development and application for planning and monitoring of development in one of the Malaysian states, Negeri Sembilan. The development include a well-integrated and comprehensive database which is part of the important elements that could determine the ultimate success of GIS application in plan making. A distinctive feature of the Negeri Sembilan GIS (GIS9) that was developed for this purpose is that it is capable of operating on two distinct levels of planning – the state and district level. It is used to assist decision-making, taking into account among other things, the current scenarios of the proposed development, physical constraint and future impacts. The monitoring system that has been developed for both the state and district levels make it possible to evaluate the success of plan implementation. While the adopted data sharing framework is seen as a strong basis for extension of GIS development as well as integration and coordination in all state and local agencies involved in ensuring the success of the implementation of state development plan. The implementation of GIS9 has also contributed to raising recognition of the importance of vertical integration of the developed and maintained datasets at regional and local levels. This paper will discuss the approach and overall strategies employed in the preparation of GIS9 database and development plans monitoring system for the Negeri Sembilan State

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Integrated planning of water and land-use

The role of water in spatial planning has received increasing attention in recent years. It was, for example, one of the leading motives in the preparation of the latest National Spatial Planning Note for The Netherlands. For the preparation of such spatial plans, and to support the associated policy analysis, there is a need to fully identify and characterize the interactions between the water sector and spatial planning and establish the process for making consistent joint projections for the water sector and land-use. This should account for spatial claims from the water sector, balance those claims with claims from other sectors, and feed back spatial constraints and opportunities. Land-use markets and government policies (translated e.g. in spatial reservations) form an important input in this balance. Modeling is indispensable to keep track of spatial characteristics and trace changes. Most of the available modeling considers a layered structure with a layer for national/regional projections and a GIS based layer to keep track of land use changes. Basically such model makes a distribution (rule based) of the national projections into the GIS based spatial raster, followed by an impact assessment based on the changes in the raster. Those models are generally weak in representing the processes driving land use changes such as the housing and labor market and – the water sector. The challenge remains to set up a suitable module covering these spatial - and water sector development processes. Based on the experience of the authors with many water studies and the recent development of a space-transport modeling tool (integration of transport and land-use), a sketch will be made of the requirements for such module. The scope for such planning tool will be illustrated (with data for The Netherlands), addressing key aspects such as competition for space, costs, risk, and environmental impact.

Regional integrated infrastructure scoping study

The purpose of the study is to consider how the Region should take infrastructure forward in an integrated way at a strategic level and to help scope further work to inform the RSS 2009 Update. It is envisaged that this scoping study is the first part of a major work stream for the Assembly to enable infrastructure to influence future locational decisions and develop a better understanding of the impact of higher levels of growth on the Region’s infrastructure

Using Geographic Information System (GIS) in a local government--a case study of GIS implementation in Ascension Parish Government, Louisiana

The objective of this paper is to argue for a new model of Geographic Information System (GIS) implementation, Web-based GIS, for supporting decision-making in local government. In this paper, the GIS implementation in Ascension Parish Government, Louisiana is used as a case study to show how Web-based GIS implementation can improve the system use and maximize the value of GIS infrastructures for the community. The author first defines the concept of implementation and role of GIS in local government as a base for further discussion. Special attention is given to analyze the variables that influence the parish employees’ acceptance and use of the GIS in the work. A three-level evaluation framework is established to evaluate GIS implementation strategy and GIS impacts on decision-making in local government. Research findings will be used to direct future implementation strategy. The paper concludes that Web-based GIS, by combining GIS technology and Internet technology, can distribute GIS resources and geo-processing tools to a wider range of potential users. In addition, flexible user-oriented GIS applications can best be developed with intensive user participation and feedback. One of the arguments proposed is that the Web-based GIS can be used to help the local government employees to provide better service for the public and improve the performance of a specific local government agency in processing land development permit applications

Simulation of site-specific irrigation control strategies with sparse input data

Crop and irrigation water use efficiencies may be improved by managing irrigation application timing and volumes using physical and agronomic principles. However, the crop water requirement may be spatially variable due to different soil properties and genetic variations in the crop across the field. Adaptive control strategies can be used to locally control water applications in response to in-field temporal and spatial variability with the aim of maximising both crop development and water use efficiency. A simulation framework ‘VARIwise’ has been created to aid the development, evaluation and management of spatially and temporally varied adaptive irrigation control strategies (McCarthy et al., 2010). VARIwise enables alternative control strategies to be simulated with different crop and environmental conditions and at a range of spatial resolutions. An iterative learning controller and model predictive controller have been implemented in VARIwise to improve the irrigation of cotton. The iterative learning control strategy involves using the soil moisture response to the previous irrigation volume to adjust the applied irrigation volume applied at the next irrigation event. For field implementation this controller has low data requirements as only soil moisture data is required after each irrigation event. In contrast, a model predictive controller has high data requirements as measured soil and plant data are required at a high spatial resolution in a field implementation. Model predictive control involves using a calibrated model to determine the irrigation application and/or timing which results in the highest predicted yield or water use efficiency. The implementation of these strategies is described and a case study is presented to demonstrate the operation of the strategies with various levels of data availability. It is concluded that in situations of sparse data, the iterative learning controller performs significantly better than a model predictive controller

Air pollution and livestock production

The air in a livestock farming environment contains high concentrations of dust particles and gaseous pollutants. The total inhalable dust can enter the nose and mouth during normal breathing and the thoracic dust can reach into the lungs. However, it is the respirable dust particles that can penetrate further into the gas-exchange region, making it the most hazardous dust component. Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of dust particles can lead to respiratory health issues for both livestock and farming staff. Ammonia, an example of a gaseous pollutant, is derived from the decomposition of nitrous compounds. Increased exposure to ammonia may also have an effect on the health of humans and livestock. There are a number of technologies available to ensure exposure to these pollutants is minimised. Through proactive means, (the optimal design and management of livestock buildings) air quality can be improved to reduce the likelihood of risks associated with sub-optimal air quality. Once air problems have taken hold, other reduction methods need to be applied utilising a more reactive approach. A key requirement for the control of concentration and exposure of airborne pollutants to an acceptable level is to be able to conduct real-time measurements of these pollutants. This paper provides a review of airborne pollution including methods to both measure and control the concentration of pollutants in livestock buildings