GEOMATICS FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PURPOSES:DESIGN OF A GLOBAL GEODATABASE

Nowadays, the world is facing disasters on an unprecedented scale: millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally each year and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. Scientific predictions and evidence indicate that global climate changes are increasing the number of extreme events, creating more frequent and intensified natural hazards such as floods and windstorms. Population growth, urbanization and the inability of poor populations to escape from the vicious cycle of poverty are conditions to foresee that there will most likely be an increase in the number of people who are vulnerable to natural hazards, with a resulting increase of natural disasters and environmental emergencies. In recent years, international preoccupation for disasters and their impacts has intensified and risen closer to the top of the development agenda. For many years, response to disasters was largely confined to emergency relief and short-term life-saving actions. But over the last two decades, the critical importance of disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention has been widely recognized. The humanitarian and the United Nations system are therefore called to intensify their efforts to improve their capacity in order to provide support to the countries in need and to be better prepared to intervene. Such request came, amongst others, from the UN General Secretary in various occasions. In the frame of humanitarian operations, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations is in the front line. The WFP is the biggest UN Agency and responds to more than 120 emergencies per year worldwide. According to the UN reform, WFP is also the leader of logistics for UN and international bodies during emergency response operations. WFP initiated a process to reinforce its capacity to be a leading force in the area of emergency response, improving its Information Management capacity in support to emergency preparedness and response. To do so, an agreement of collaboration with the recently formed Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance Cooperation and Action (ITHACA) Association has been signed and a joint collaboration started in February 2007. One of the objectives of the collaboration is about the use of Geomatics and Information Technology instruments in the Early Warning and Early Impact analysis field. Many worldwide experiences conducted in this area, show that the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies, combined with up-to-date, reliable and easily accessible reference base geographic datasets, constitute the key factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. As a matter of fact, the unique characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data through space and time, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. Besides its proven value, the geospatial information is an expensive resource and needs to be fully utilized to maximize the return on investment required for its generation, management and use. Reuse and sharing of spatial information for multiple purposes is an important approach applied in countries where investment in spatial data collection and in their appropriate management has advanced on the basis of its known asset value. Very substantial economic benefits have been estimated by countries that have moved in the direction of optimizing data reuse. However, it is still relatively easy to find examples of projects and other development activities from around the globe that required expensive recapture of essential spatial data because they were originally captured in unique or non-standard file formats, or perhaps discarded after initial use. Recapture of data has also been undertaken in many cases simply because its prior existence was known only by its originators. The United Nations has not been immune to this problem, both within and between the multitude of entities that make up the Secretariat and its agencies, funds and programmes. Historically, the production and use of geospatial data within the UN entities has been accomplished by its component organizations, according to their individual needs and expertise. This has resulted in multiple efforts, reduced opportunities for sharing and reuse of data, and a unnecessary cost burden for the UN system as a whole. Thus, a framework data development approach has been considered necessary. This has resulted in the proposal that implement an UN Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The term SDI is used to denote the relevant base collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data. A SDI hosts geographic data and attributes, sufficient documentation (metadata), a means to discover, visualize and evaluate the data (catalogues and Web mapping), and some methods to provide access to the geographic data. Beyond this, it will also host additional services or software to support applications of the data. The concept of developing a Spatial Data Infrastructure to fulfil UN data management needs was duly approved by United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) members in 2005 at their 6th Plenary Meeting in Addis Ababa, in the context of a UN-specific SDI, or UNSDI. The WFP, like all other UN agencies, has been called to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure, according to the UNGIWG recommendations. Therefore, during the last year the different units of WFP involved in the use of geospatial data worked at defining and implementing a WFP SDI with the aim of contributing at the whole UNSDI project. This effort was coordinated and supported by the ITHACA association. Aim of the study The objective of the conducted research has been to investigate the better solution for collecting and organizing geospatial data within a suitable geodatabase with two main purposes:  to support the WFP SDI effort: the development of consistent reusable themes of base cartographic content, known as Framework, Fundamental or Core Data, is recognized as a main and first ingredient in the construction of a SDI. Therefore, the definition of a geodatabase supporting all the WFP units dealing with GIS and geospatial data can be considered a fundamental and necessary step in the whole complex process of the development of the WFP SDI. Common used data provide key for the integration and, in the context of the SDI implementation, the definition of a Core Data geodatabase can be thought as one instrumentality to help improving interoperability, reducing expenses resulting from the inevitable duplications. Moreover, the major aim of the planned geodatabase is to supply all WFP users of a "minimum spatial dataset" which assures valuable geographic analyses and mapping, in support to decision makers during emergencies operations.  to support all activities carried out by ITHACA: the planned geodatabase must constitute a suitable instrument which realizes the integration and the organization of the large geospatial data needed by all ITHACA units in their activities, allowing their effective distribution, sharing and reuse, avoiding any duplication. Moreover, the implemented solution must also guarantee the correct management and updating of the data, keeping their integrity. Finally, this instrument must also allow the easy and fast sharing of necessary information produced by ITHACA during Early Impact activities with the WFP's users engaged in the emergencies rescue operations. In conclusion, the major expected output of the study carried out, described in this thesis, has been the design and the development of a global database and of related rules and procedures in order to correctly store, manage, and exchange geospatial data needed either by WFP humanitarian workers and ITHACA users. The developed database solution allows integrating and updating globally consistent geographic data coming from different sources in many formats, providing each user with the latest datasets, thus avoiding duplications and mistakes. In methodological terms, the following procedure has been adopted: - defining requirements, identification of all activities supported by the geodatabase, analysis of the data flows expected in all supported activities, examining existing data sources and relevant standards (particularly those proposed by the UNGIWG); - development of the data model. The data model has been shaped according to specific needs and demands of the involved user groups within the different interested organizations. The adopted design techniques do not wander off the techniques proposed in literature for general database design, even if it has been necessary, in some steps, to consider the specific features of geographic data; - geodatabase schema generation and implementation of the defined geographic database model as an ESRI ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase based on Oracle 10g as DBM

A Systematic Performance Study of Object Database Management Systems

Many previous performance benchmarks for Object Database Management Systems (ODBMSs) have typically used arbitrary sets of tests based on what their designers felt were the characteristics of Engineering applications. Increasingly, however, ODBMSs are being used in non-engineering domains, such as Financial Trading, Clinical Healthcare, Telecommunications Network Management, etc. Part of the reason for this is that the technology has matured over the past few years and has become a less risky choice for organisations looking for better w'ays to manage complex data. However, the development of suitable application- or industry-specific benchmarks, based on actual performance studies, has not paralleled this growth. The research reported here approaches performance evaluation of ODBMSs pragmatically. It uses a combination of case studies and benchmark experiments to investigate the performance characteristics of ODBMSs for particular applications, following the successful use of this approach by Youssef [Youss93] for studying the performance of On- Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) applications for Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs). Six case studies at five organisations show’ that organisations consider a wide range of factors when undertaking their own performance studies or benchmarks. Furthermore, none of the studied organisations considered using any public benchmarks. Six current and derived benchmarks also highlight statistically significant performance differences between three major commercial products: Objectivity/DB, ObjectStore and UniSQL. These benchmarks indicate the suitability of the products tested for particular application domains. The research could not find any evidence at this time to support the concept of a generic or canonical performance workload for ODBMSs. This is demonstrated by the case studies and supported by the benchmark experiments. However, the research shows that performance benchmarks serve a very useful role in ODBMS evaluations and can help identify architectural and quality problems with products that would not otherwise be observed until significant application or system development was already in progress

The Design and Implementation of a Truly Integrated GIS Using the Persistent Programming Language Napier88

This thesis is concerned with the design and development of an integrated geographical information system (IGIS) based on the use of a persistent programming language called Napier88. It reports on the research carried out to implement a wholly new approach to deal with the problems of constructing a truly integrated GIS. The main aspects discussed within the context of this thesis are: an overview of the current status and trends in IGIS development; the characteristics and functions of the persistent programming language Napier88; the design considerations and the definition of the system architecture of an IGIS; the integration of vector map data and raster image data in a persistent store; the multiple data modelling of geographical data; the superimposition and cross indexing of vector maps and raster images; the spatial indexing and querying of geographical data; the management of geographical data in a persistent database environment; and the implementation of a prototype IGIS. This thesis concludes that the Napier88 language can provide a sound framework for the construction of a truly integrated GIS, although some current deficiencies in the language need to be overcome. Since persistent programming languages are still in the stage of research and development, more research is necessary to investigate other features that they could provide which may be beneficial to the development of a truly integrated GIS

Transportation linear referencing toolboxes : a 'reflective practitioner's' design approach

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000."September, 2000."Includes bibliographical references (p. 395-407).Seventy percent of the data of a typical transportation agency (e.g., bridges, accidents, etc.) has location as a primary reference. A Linear Referencing System (LRS) is the main way of identifying the location of this data and providing a storage key for it in a database. LRS is based on a one-dimensional offset on a predefined network. In theory, it is one of the simplest spatial cases. In reality, it can be spatially and analytically quite complex. LRS to quite recent date has been little formally researched. That research which has occurred has been the construction of large and comprehensive conceptual data models. This thesis is not primarily aimed at new "tool building research". The existing models have been based to only a limited extent on a fuller analysis of the nature of transportation and spatial data; they have not considered relevant field and wider methodological concerns (i.e., they followed a "model-driven" approach). The goal here is to create a more appropriate foundation and base from which LRS tools may be most appropriately built (i.e., a 'field-driven" approach). A "practitioners perspective" view of LRS was sought. Such a more holistic understanding was sought through the adoption of a "layered methodology" of research that involved gaining the perspectives of a variety of disciplinary viewpoints. This research framework was developed especially for this thesis based on the ideas and work of Schon and Reich. The approach involved in short a desk exercise in fundamental consideration of the nature of LRS, a deeper, cross-field synthesis and literature research, four in-depth state DOT LRS case studies, a panel of transportation field experts, a panel of national data model experts, and a limited object-orientated modeling exercise. The conclusion reached is that while LRS in the simple case can be modeled in general forms, it is also an "exception-driven" field. Thus, a "toolkit approach" may be more appropriate for LRS. It is inferred that this may hold for other similar application areas in transportation and planning. Further research would further develop the holistic layered methodology adopted here and further define the proposed LRS transportation application toolboxes.by Simon Lewis.Ph.D

Comparison and benchmarks for import of VPF geographic data from object-oriented and relational database files

. This paper presents some of the advantages accrued from adopting an object-oriented (OO) data model versus the relational data model when representing and managing a Vector Product Format (VPF) database, specifically the Digital Nautical Chart (DNC) for Norfolk Harbor, Virginia. An OO-DNC prototype viewer capable of importing, displaying and editing DNC feature data both from relational-format and from object-format files was developed using the Smalltalk language. The differences in performance between the relational import and the object import were then compared across several DNC coverages. The results indicate a significant increase in performance when adopting the OO paradigm; specifically the OO-DNC viewer imported feature data from objectformat files from 6 to 15 times faster than from the relational-format files. It should be noted that these figures are NOT the result of comparing a commercial objectoriented database managment system (ODBMS) against a commercial relational ..

IMPACT OF THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMME ON PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES’ INDEPENDENT LIVING

This thesis aims to contribute to current policy and academic debates on the impact of cash transfers, as an essential pillar of social protection policy, on persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. It is one of the first studies to specifically explore cash transfer schemes' potential contribution to persons with disabilities’ independent living, pursuant to Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A qualitative country case study approach, with both descriptive and explanatory purposes, was adopted. Multiple lines of evidence were used to examine the Palestinian National Cash Transfer Programme, combining collection and analysis of primary and secondary data through document study, expert interviews, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews. This thesis draws on the transformative social protection framework, emphasising the aim of enhancing the rights and social status of the marginalised, thereby reducing their economic and social vulnerability. It argues that social protection for persons with disabilities should adopt a ‘transformative’ approach to support equity, social justice, and empowerment. The necessary components of an inclusive social protection policy are suggested, transcending the traditional medical or charitable conceptualisations of persons with disabilities. The thesis highlights the complexity of addressing disability through cash transfer programmes, especially when political, structural, and resource factors are also influential. The main argument is that ad hoc responses to persons with disabilities’ needs in cash transfer programmes are insufficient to deliver a sustainable and positive impact on their wellbeing and independent living. The evidence suggests that policy interventions to address persons with disabilities’ independent living rights must focus on institutional, social, and political structures, rather than just income. Cash transfers are one policy solution to partially enhance persons with disabilities’ autonomy and life choices. However, social protection interventions should extend beyond poverty alleviation social transfers, with broader services than cash. Adopting wide-ranging measures should assure persons with disabilities of equal access to support and mainstream social services, promote their independence, and reduce social exclusion