Urban and regional heat island adaptation measures in the Netherlands

The urban planner´s role should be adapted to the current globalised and overspecialised economic and environmental context, envisioning a balance at the regional scale, apprehending not only new technologies, but also new mapping principles, that allow obtaining multidisciplinary integral overviews since the preliminary stages of the design process. The urban heat Island (UHI) is one of the main phenomena affecting the urban climate. In the Netherlands, during the heat wave of 2006, more than 1,000 extra deaths were registered. UHI-related parameters are an example of new elements that should be taken into consideration since the early phases of the design process. PROBLEM STATEMENT Thus, the development of urban design guidelines to reduce the heat islands in Dutch cities and regions requires first an overall reflection on the heat island phenomenom (relevance of the large scale assessment, existing tools, instruments) and proposal of integrative and catalysing mapping strategies and then a specific assessment of the phenomenom at the selected locations in The Netherlands (testing those principles). MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION Could the use of satellite imagery help analyse the UHI in the Netherlands and contribute to suggest catalysing mitigation acions actions implementable in the existing urban context of the cities, regions and provinces assessed? METHOD The development of urban design principles that aim at reaching a physical balance at the regional scale is critical to ensure a reduction of the UHI effect. Landsat and Modis satellite imagery can be analysed and processed using ATCOR 2/3, ENVI 4.7 and GIS, allowing not only a neighbourhood, city and regional scale assessment, but also generating holistic catalysing mapping typologies: game-board, rhizome, layering and drift, which are critical to ensure the integration of all parameters. The scientific inputs need to be combined not only with other disciplines but often also with existing urban plans. The connection between scientific research and existing agreed visions is critical to ensure the integration of new aspects into the plans. RESULTS At the neighbourhood level the areas that have a greater heat concentration in the cities of Delft, Leiden, Gouda, Utrecht and Den Bosch are the city centres characterised by their red ceramic roof tiles, brick street paving, and canals. Several mitigation strategies could be implemented to improve the UHI effect in those areas; however, since the city centres are consolidated and listed urban areas, the mitigation measures that would be easier to implement would consist in improving the roof albedo. A consistent implementation of albedo improvement measures (improving the thermal behaviour not only of flat roofs, but also of tiled pitched roofs) of all roofs included in the identified hotspots (with an average storage heat flux greater than 90 W/m2) would help reduce the temperatures between 1.4°C and 3°C. Pre-war and post-war compact and ground-based neighbourhoods present similar thermal behaviour of the surface cover, and green neighbourhoods and small urban centres also present similar thermal behaviour. At the city scale the analysis of 21 medium-size cities in the province of North Brabant, which belongs to the South region of the county -in relative terms the most affected by the UHI phenomenon during the heat wave of 2006-, reveals that albedo and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) are the most relevant parameters influencing the average nightime land surface temperature (LST). Thus, imperviousness, distance to the nearest town and the area of the cities do not seem to play a significant role in the LST night values for the medium-size cities analysed in the region of North Brabant, which do not exceed 7,700 ha in any case. The future growth of most medium-size cities of the regions will not per se aggravate the UHI phenomenon; in turn it will be the design of the new neighbourhoods that will impact the formation of urban heat in the province. The average day LST of provincial parks in South Holland varies depending on the land use. The analysis of the average night LST varies depending of the land use of the patches. The following surfaces are arranged from the lowest to the highest temperatures: water surfaces, forests, cropland, and greenhouse areas. For each of these land uses, NDVI, imperviousness and landscape shape index (LSI) shape index influence the thermal behaviour of the patches differently. NDVI is inversely correlated to day LST for all categories, imperviousness is correlated to day LST for all areas which do not comprise a significant presence of greenhouses (grassland and built patches) and inversely correlated to LST for areas with a high presence of greenhouses (cropland and warehouses). Greenhouse surfaces have highly reflective roofs, which contribute to the reduction of day LST. Finally, landscape shape index varies depending on the nature of the surrounding patches, especially for small patches (built areas, forests and greenhouse areas). When the patches analysed are surrounded by warmer land uses, slender and scattered patches are warmer, more compact and large ones are cooler. In turn, when they are surrounded by cooler patches it is the opposite: slenderer and scattered patches are cooler and more compact and larger ones are warmer. In Midden-Delfland (1 of the 6 South Holland provincial parks), most of the hotspots surrounding the park are adjacent to grassland patches. The measure to increase the cooling capacity of those patches would consist in a change of land use and/or an increase of NDVI of the existing grassland patches. CONCLUSIONS Satellite imagery can be used not only to analyse the heat island phenomenom in Dutch neighbourhoods, cities and regions (identify neighbourhoods with highest surface temperature, identify impact of city size and morphology in surface temperature, calcuate average surface temperature for different land uses…), but also to suggest mitigation actions for the areas assessed. Moreover, satellite imagery is here used to generate catalysing mapping typologies: game-board, rhizome, layering and drift, ensuring that the measures proposed remain accurate enough to actualy be efficient and open enough to be compatible with the rest of urban planning priorities

Towards a metadata standard for field spectroscopy

This thesis identifies the core components for a field spectroscopy metadata standard to facilitate discoverability, interoperability, reliability, quality assurance and extended life cycles for datasets being exchanged in a variety of data sharing platforms. The research is divided into five parts: 1) an overview of the importance of field spectroscopy, metadata paradigms and standards, metadata quality and geospatial data archiving systems; 2) definition of a core metadataset critical for all field spectroscopy applications; 3) definition of an extended metadataset for specific applications; 4) methods and metrics for assessing metadata quality and completeness in spectral data archives; 5) recommendations for implementing a field spectroscopy metadata standard in data warehouses and ‘big data’ environments. Part 1 of the thesis is a review of the importance of field spectroscopy in remote sensing; metadata paradigms and standards; field spectroscopy metadata practices, metadata quality; and geospatial data archiving systems. The unique metadata requirements for field spectroscopy are discussed. Conventional definitions and metrics for measuring metadata quality are presented. Geospatial data archiving systems for data warehousing and intelligent information exchange are explained. Part 2 of the thesis presents a core metadataset for all field spectroscopy applications, derived from the results of an international expert panel survey. The survey respondents helped to identify a metadataset critical to all field spectroscopy campaigns, and for specific applications. These results form the foundation of a field spectroscopy metadata standard that is practical, flexible enough to suit the purpose for which the data is being collected, and/or has sufficient legacy potential for long-term sharing and interoperability with other datasets. Part 3 presents an extended metadataset for specific application areas within field spectroscopy. The key metadata is presented for three applications: tree crown, soil, and underwater coral reflectance measurements. The performance of existing metadata standards in complying with the field spectroscopy metadataset was measured. Results show they consistently fail to accommodate the needs of both field spectroscopy scientists in general as well as the three application areas. Part 4 presents criteria for measuring the quality and completeness of field spectroscopy metadata in a spectral archive. Existing methods for measuring quality and completeness of metadata were scrutinized against the special requirements of field spectroscopy datasets. Novel field spectroscopy metadata quality parameters were defined. Two spectral libraries were examined as case studies of operationalized metadata. The case studies revealed that publicly available datasets are underperforming on the quality and completeness measures. Part 5 presents recommendations for adoption and implementation of a field spectroscopy standard, both within the field spectroscopy community and within the wider scope of IT infrastructure for storing and sharing field spectroscopy metadata within data warehouses and big data environments. The recommendations are divided into two main sections: community adoption of the standard, and integration of standardized metadatasets into data warehouses and big data platforms. This thesis has identified the core components of a metadata standard for field spectroscopy. The metadata standard serves overall to increase the discoverability, reliability, quality, and life cycle of field spectroscopy metadatasets for wide-scale data exchange

Urban and regional heat island adaptation measures in the Netherlands

The urban planner´s role should be adapted to the current globalised and overspecialised economic and environmental context, envisioning a balance at the regional scale, apprehending not only new technologies, but also new mapping principles, that allow obtaining multidisciplinary integral overviews since the preliminary stages of the design process. The urban heat Island (UHI) is one of the main phenomena affecting the urban climate. In the Netherlands, during the heat wave of 2006, more than 1,000 extra deaths were registered. UHI-related parameters are an example of new elements that should be taken into consideration since the early phases of the design process. Problem statement Thus, the development of urban design guidelines to reduce the heat islands in Dutch cities and regions requires first an overall reflection on the heat island phenomenom (relevance of the large scale assessment, existing tools, instruments) and proposal of integrative and catalysing mapping strategies and then a specific assessment of the phenomenom at the selected locations in The Netherlands (testing those principles). Main research question Could the use of satellite imagery help analyse the UHI in the Netherlands and contribute to suggest catalysing mitigation acions actions implementable in the existing urban context of the cities, regions and provinces assessed? Method The development of urban design principles that aim at reaching a physical balance at the regional scale is critical to ensure a reduction of the UHI effect. Landsat and Modis satellite imagery can be analysed and processed using ATCOR 2/3, ENVI 4.7 and GIS, allowing not only a neighbourhood, city and regional scale assessment, but also generating holistic catalysing mapping typologies: game-board, rhizome, layering and drift, which are critical to ensure the integration of all parameters. The scientific inputs need to be combined not only with other disciplines but often also with existing urban plans. The connection between scientific research and existing agreed visions is critical to ensure the integration of new aspects into the plans. Results At the neighbourhood level the areas that have a greater heat concentration in the cities of Delft, Leiden, Gouda, Utrecht and Den Bosch are the city centres characterised by their red ceramic roof tiles, brick street paving, and canals. Several mitigation strategies could be implemented to improve the UHI effect in those areas; however, since the city centres are consolidated and listed urban areas, the mitigation measures that would be easier to implement would consist in improving the roof albedo. A consistent implementation of albedo improvement measures (improving the thermal behaviour not only of flat roofs, but also of tiled pitched roofs) of all roofs included in the identified hotspots (with an average storage heat flux greater than 90 W/m2) would help reduce the temperatures between 1.4°C and 3°C. Pre-war and post-war compact and ground-based neighbourhoods present similar thermal behaviour of the surface cover, and green neighbourhoods and small urban centres also present similar thermal behaviour. At the city scale the analysis of 21 medium-size cities in the province of North Brabant, which belongs to the South region of the county -in relative terms the most affected by the UHI phenomenon during the heat wave of 2006-, reveals that albedo and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) are the most relevant parameters influencing the average nightime land surface temperature (LST). Thus, imperviousness, distance to the nearest town and the area of the cities do not seem to play a significant role in the LST night values for the medium-size cities analysed in the region of North Brabant, which do not exceed 7,700 ha in any case. The future growth of most medium-size cities of the regions will not per se aggravate the UHI phenomenon; in turn it will be the design of the new neighbourhoods that will impact the formation of urban heat in the province. The average day LST of provincial parks in South Holland varies depending on the land use. The analysis of the average night LST varies depending of the land use of the patches. The following surfaces are arranged from the lowest to the highest temperatures: water surfaces, forests, cropland, and greenhouse areas. For each of these land uses, NDVI, imperviousness and landscape shape index (LSI) shape index influence the thermal behaviour of the patches differently. NDVI is inversely correlated to day LST for all categories, imperviousness is correlated to day LST for all areas which do not comprise a significant presence of greenhouses (grassland and built patches) and inversely correlated to LST for areas with a high presence of greenhouses (cropland and warehouses). Greenhouse surfaces have highly reflective roofs, which contribute to the reduction of day LST. Finally, landscape shape index varies depending on the nature of the surrounding patches, especially for small patches (built areas, forests and greenhouse areas). When the patches analysed are surrounded by warmer land uses, slender and scattered patches are warmer, more compact and large ones are cooler. In turn, when they are surrounded by cooler patches it is the opposite: slenderer and scattered patches are cooler and more compact and larger ones are warmer. In Midden-Delfland (1 of the 6 South Holland provincial parks), most of the hotspots surrounding the park are adjacent to grassland patches. The measure to increase the cooling capacity of those patches would consist in a change of land use and/or an increase of NDVI of the existing grassland patches. Conclusions Satellite imagery can be used not only to analyse the heat island phenomenom in Dutch neighbourhoods, cities and regions (identify neighbourhoods with highest surface temperature, identify impact of city size and morphology in surface temperature, calcuate average surface temperature for different land uses…), but also to suggest mitigation actions for the areas assessed. Moreover, satellite imagery is here used to generate catalysing mapping typologies: game-board, rhizome, layering and drift, ensuring that the measures proposed remain accurate enough to actualy be efficient and open enough to be compatible with the rest of urban planning priorities

Proceedings of the 2011 Joint Workshop of Fraunhofer IOSB and Institute for Anthropomatics, Vision and Fusion Laboratory

This book is a collection of 15 reviewed technical reports summarizing the presentations at the 2011 Joint Workshop of Fraunhofer IOSB and Institute for Anthropomatics, Vision and Fusion Laboratory. The covered topics include image processing, optical signal processing, visual inspection, pattern recognition and classification, human-machine interaction, world and situation modeling, autonomous system localization and mapping, information fusion, and trust propagation in sensor networks

Bridging the gap between reconstruction and synthesis

Aplicat embargament des de la data de defensa fins el 15 de gener de 20223D reconstruction and image synthesis are two of the main pillars in computer vision. Early works focused on simple tasks such as multi-view reconstruction and texture synthesis. With the spur of Deep Learning, the field has rapidly progressed, making it possible to achieve more complex and high level tasks. For example, the 3D reconstruction results of traditional multi-view approaches are currently obtained with single view methods. Similarly, early pattern based texture synthesis works have resulted in techniques that allow generating novel high-resolution images. In this thesis we have developed a hierarchy of tools that cover all these range of problems, lying at the intersection of computer vision, graphics and machine learning. We tackle the problem of 3D reconstruction and synthesis in the wild. Importantly, we advocate for a paradigm in which not everything should be learned. Instead of applying Deep Learning naively we propose novel representations, layers and architectures that directly embed prior 3D geometric knowledge for the task of 3D reconstruction and synthesis. We apply these techniques to problems including scene/person reconstruction and photo-realistic rendering. We first address methods to reconstruct a scene and the clothed people in it while estimating the camera position. Then, we tackle image and video synthesis for clothed people in the wild. Finally, we bridge the gap between reconstruction and synthesis under the umbrella of a unique novel formulation. Extensive experiments conducted along this thesis show that the proposed techniques improve the performance of Deep Learning models in terms of the quality of the reconstructed 3D shapes / synthesised images, while reducing the amount of supervision and training data required to train them. In summary, we provide a variety of low, mid and high level algorithms that can be used to incorporate prior knowledge into different stages of the Deep Learning pipeline and improve performance in tasks of 3D reconstruction and image synthesis.La reconstrucció 3D i la síntesi d'imatges són dos dels pilars fonamentals en visió per computador. Els estudis previs es centren en tasques senzilles com la reconstrucció amb informació multi-càmera i la síntesi de textures. Amb l'aparició del "Deep Learning", aquest camp ha progressat ràpidament, fent possible assolir tasques molt més complexes. Per exemple, per obtenir una reconstrucció 3D, tradicionalment s'utilitzaven mètodes multi-càmera, en canvi ara, es poden obtenir a partir d'una sola imatge. De la mateixa manera, els primers treballs de síntesi de textures basats en patrons han donat lloc a tècniques que permeten generar noves imatges completes en alta resolució. En aquesta tesi, hem desenvolupat una sèrie d'eines que cobreixen tot aquest ventall de problemes, situats en la intersecció entre la visió per computador, els gràfics i l'aprenentatge automàtic. Abordem el problema de la reconstrucció i la síntesi 3D en el món real. És important destacar que defensem un paradigma on no tot s'ha d'aprendre. Enlloc d'aplicar el "Deep Learning" de forma naïve, proposem representacions novedoses i arquitectures que incorporen directament els coneixements geomètrics ja existents per a aconseguir la reconstrucció 3D i la síntesi d'imatges. Nosaltres apliquem aquestes tècniques a problemes com ara la reconstrucció d'escenes/persones i a la renderització d'imatges fotorealistes. Primer abordem els mètodes per reconstruir una escena, les persones vestides que hi ha i la posició de la càmera. A continuació, abordem la síntesi d'imatges i vídeos de persones vestides en situacions quotidianes. I finalment, aconseguim, a través d'una nova formulació única, connectar la reconstrucció amb la síntesi. Els experiments realitzats al llarg d'aquesta tesi demostren que les tècniques proposades milloren el rendiment dels models de "Deepp Learning" pel que fa a la qualitat de les reconstruccions i les imatges sintetitzades alhora que redueixen la quantitat de dades necessàries per entrenar-los. En resum, proporcionem una varietat d'algoritmes de baix, mitjà i alt nivell que es poden utilitzar per incorporar els coneixements previs a les diferents etapes del "Deep Learning" i millorar el rendiment en tasques de reconstrucció 3D i síntesi d'imatges.Postprint (published version

Calm Displays and Their Applications : Making Emissive Displays Mimic Reflective Surfaces Using Visual Psychophysics, Light Sensing and Colour Science

Ph. D. Thesis.Our environment is increasingly full of obtrusive display panels, which become illuminating surfaces when on, and void black rectangles when off. Some researchers argue that emissive displays are incompatible with Weiser and Seely Brown's vision of "calm technology", due to their inability to seamlessly blend into the background. Indeed, Mankoff has shown that for any ambient technology, the ability to move into the periphery is the most relevant factor in their usability. In this thesis, a background mode for displays is proposed based on the idea that displays can look like an ordinary piece of reflective paper showing the same content. The thesis consists of three main parts. In the first part (Chapter 4), human colour matching performance between an emissive display and reflective paper under chromatic lighting conditions is measured in a psychophysical experiment. We find that threshold discrimination ellipses vary with condition (16.0×6.0 ΔEab on average), with lower sensitivity to chroma than hue changes. Match distributions are bimodal for some conditions. In the second part (Chapter 5), an algorithm enabling emissive displays to look like reflective paper is described and evaluated, giving an average error of ΔEab = 10.2 between display and paper. A field study showed that paper-like displays are more acceptable in bedrooms and that people are more likely to keep them always on than normal displays. Finally, the third part (Chapter 6) concerns the development and four-week trial of a paper-like display application. Using the autobiographical design method, a system for sharing bedtime with a remote partner was developed. We see that once unobtrusive, display systems are desired for use even in spaces like bedrooms. Paper-like displays enable both emerging and existing devices to move into the periphery and become “invisible”, and therefore provide a new building block of calm technology that is not achievable using simple emissive displays

Empirical approach to satellite snow detection

Lumipeitteellä on huomattava vaikutus säähän, ilmastoon, luontoon ja yhteiskuntaan. Pelkästään sääasemilla tehtävät lumihavainnot (lumen syvyys ja maanpinnan laatu) eivät anna kattavaa kuvaa lumen peittävyydestä tai muista lumipeitteen ominaisuuksista. Sääasemien tuottamia havaintoja voidaan täydentää satelliiteista tehtävillä havainnoilla. Geostationaariset sääsatelliitit tuottavat havaintoja tihein välein, mutta havaintoresoluutio on heikko monilla alueilla, joilla esiintyy kausittaista lunta. Polaariradoilla sääsatelliittien havaintoresoluutio on napa-alueiden läheisyydessä huomattavasti parempi, mutta silloinkaan satelliitit eivät tuota jatkuvaa havaintopeittoa. Tiheimmän havaintoresoluution tuottavat sääsatelliittiradiometrit, jotka toimivat optisilla aallonpituuksilla (näkyvä valo ja infrapuna). Lumipeitteen kaukokartoitusta satelliiteista vaikeuttavat lumipeitteen oman vaihtelun lisäksi pinnan ominaisuuksien vaihtelu (kasvillisuus, vesistöt, topografia) ja valaistusolojen vaihtelu. Epävarma ja osittain puutteellinen tieto pinnan ja kasvipeitteen ominaisuuksista vaikeuttaa luotettavan automaattisen analyyttisen lumentunnistusmenetelmän kehittämistä ja siksi empiirinen lähestymistapa saattaa olla toimivin vaihtoehto automaattista lumentunnistusmenetelmää kehitettäessä. Tässä työssä esitellään kaksi EUMETSATin osittain rahoittamassa H SAFissa kehitettyä lumituotetta ja niissä käytetyt empiiristä lähestymistapaa soveltaen kehitetyt algoritmit. Geostationaarinen MSG/SEVIRI H31 lumituote on saatavilla vuodesta 2008 alkaen ja polaarituote Metop/AVHRR H32 vuodesta 2015 alkaen. Lisäksi esitellään pintahavaintoihin perustuvat validointitulokset, jotka osoittavat tuotteiden saavuttavan määritellyt tavoitteet.Snow cover plays a significant role in the weather and climate system, ecosystems and many human activities, such as traffic. Weather station snow observations (snow depth and state of the ground) do not provide highresolution continental or global snow coverage data. The satellite observations complement in situ observations from weather stations. Geostationary weather satellites provide observations at high temporal resolution, but the spatial resolution is low, especially in polar regions. Polarorbiting weather satellites provide better spatial resolution in polar regions with limited temporal resolution. The best detection resolution is provided by optical and infra-red radiometers onboard weather satellites. Snow cover in itself is highly variable. Also, the variability of the surface properties (such as vegetation, water bodies, topography) and changing light conditions make satellite snow detection challenging. Much of this variability is in subpixel scales, and this uncertainty creates additional challenges for the development of snow detection methods. Thus, an empirical approach may be the most practical option when developing algorithms for automatic snow detection. In this work, which is a part of the EUMETSAT-funded H SAF project, two new empirically developed snow extent products for the EUMETSAT weather satellites are presented. The geostationary MSG/SEVIRI H32 snow product has been in operational production since 2008. The polar product Metop/AVHRR H32 is available since 2015. In addition, validation results based on weather station snow observations between 2015 and 2019 are presented. The results show that both products achieve the requirements set by the H SAF

Embodied geosensification-models, taxonomies and applications for engaging the body in immersive analytics of geospatial data

This thesis examines how we can use immersive multisensory displays and body-focused interaction technologies to analyze geospatial data. It merges relevant aspects from an array of interdisciplinary research areas, from cartography to the cognitive sciences, to form three taxonomies that describe the senses, data representations, and interactions made possible by these technologies. These taxonomies are then integrated into an overarching design model for such "Embodied Geosensifications". This model provides guidance for system specification and is validated with practical examples