The changing face of floodplains in the Mississippi River Basin detected by a 60-year land use change dataset

Floodplains provide essential ecosystem functions, yet \u3e80% of European and North American floodplains are substantially modified. Despite floodplain changes over the past century, comprehensive, long-term land use change data within large river basin floodplains are limited. Long-term land use data can be used to quantify floodplain functions and provide spatially explicit information for management, restoration, and flood-risk mitigation. We present a comprehensive dataset quantifying floodplain land use change along the 3.3 million km2 Mississippi River Basin (MRB) covering 60 years (1941–2000) at 250-m resolution. We developed four unique products as part of this work, a(n): (i) Google Earth Engine interactive map visualization interface, (ii) Python code that runs in any internet browser, (iii) online tutorial with visualizations facilitating classroom code application, and (iv) instructional video demonstrating code application and database reproduction. Our data show that MRB’s natural floodplain ecosystems have been substantially altered to agricultural and developed land uses. These products will support MRB resilience and sustainability goals by advancing data-driven decision making on floodplain restoration, buyout, and conservation scenarios

On Spatial Database Integration

This paper investigates the problems that arise when application requirements command that autonomous spatial databases be integrated into a federated one. The paper focuses on the most critical issues raised by the integration of databases of different scales. A short presentation of approaches to interoperability and of the main steps composing the integration process is given first. Next, a general format is proposed for precisely defining correspondences between objects of two databases. The format can deal with a wide range of discrepancies in GIS data. Last, a solution is presented for aggregation conflicts which arise when one object of one database corresponds to a set of objects in the other database, a very frequent case when the databases are of different scales. The method is applied to excerpts of real cartographic databases

Hybrid GIS and Remote Sensing in Environmental Applications

Geographical information systems (GIS) are a relatively new and rapidly developing class of computer applications. They show considerable potential in a growing number of application domains, regional and environmental planning and management being one of them. The integration of GIS methods adds a key technology for spatial analysis to the set of tools of applied systems analysis, and environmental systems analysis in particular. The two papers presented in this volume address the use of GIS and satellite imagery in environmental applications. Hybrid GIS, that combine both vector and raster information, are the topics of the first report that was presented at the "EARSel Workshop on Relationship of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems" which took place in Hannover, Germany in September 1991. The integration of satellite imagery in a global change information system that also uses rule-based expert systems methods, together with GIS data structures and tools, is the theme of the second part. This paper was presented at the "25th International Symposium - Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change, Tools for Sustainable Development," held in Graz, Austria, in September 1993

GIS and Environmental Modeling

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a relatively new and rapidly developing class of computer applications. They show considerable potential in a growing number of application domains, regional and environmental planning and management being one of them. The integration of GIS methods adds a key technology for spatial analysis to the set of tools of applied systems analysis, and environmental systems analysis, in particular. IIASA's Advanced Computer Applications (ACA) project develops and implements environmental information and decision support systems that bring together key technologies such as database management, simulation and optimization modeling, computer graphics, expert systems, and geographical information systems. Using several of the software systems developed at ACA as examples, the paper explores and illustrates the integration of GIS and modeling as a paradigm shift for both fields, adding more complex and dynamic analytical capabilities to the world of GIS, and better spatial data handling and display functionality to environmental models

Representing and manipulating spatial data in interoperable systems and its industrial applications

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-126).Introduction: The amount of information available nowadays is staggering and increases exponentially. Making sense of this data has become increasingly difficult because of the two factors: · The sheer volume of data · The lack of interoperability between disparate data sources and models While one can do little about the former factor, the latter one can be mitigated by advancing solutions that make data easy to work with and ensure the interoperability among data sources and models in intelligent networks. One way to achieve interoperability is to force every entity involved in the data exchange to adopt the same standard. However, organizations have heavily invested in proprietary data standards and are unlikely to replace their existing standards with a new one. Therefore, another solution is to create a standard, through which organizations can translate their data sources and share them with their customers or general community. The MIT Data Center is spearheading an initiative to create M - a language that is capable to provide the much needed interoperability between divergent data sources and models with an ultimate goal of creating a new intelligent information infrastructure (Brock, Schuster and Kutz 2006).by Marat Zborovskiy.S.M

Improving Search and Discovery of Geospatial Information in Australia and New Zealand using Semantic Web Techniques

This thesis proposes a set of techniques to make it easier for end users of spatial catalogue systems to locate datasets which they can then use for their own purposes. While other methods are used to locate spatial datasets, catalogue systems continue to be a common choice and are actively supported by those with jurisdiction over datasets in both the public and private sectors

Exploring multi-granular documentation strategies for the representation, discovery and use of geographic information

This thesis explores how digital representations of geography and Geographic Information (GI) may be described, and how these descriptions facilitate the use of the resources they depict. More specifically, it critically examines existing geospatial documentation practices and aims to identify opportunities for refinement therein, whether when used to signpost those data assets documented, for managing and maintaining information assets, or to assist in resource interpretation and discrimination. Documentation of GI can therefore facilitate its utilisation; it can be reasonably expected that by refining documentation practices, GI hold the potential for being better exploited. The underpinning theme connecting the individual papers of the thesis is one of multi-granular documentation. GI may be recorded at varying degrees of granularity, and yet traditional documentation efforts have predominantly focussed on a solitary level (that of the geospatial data layer). Developing documentation practices to account for other granularities permits the description of GI at different levels of detail and can further assist in realising its potential through better discovery, interpretation and use. One of the aims of the current work is to establish the merit of such multi-granular practices. Over the course of four research papers and a short research article, proprietary as well as open source software approaches are accordingly presented and provide proof-of-concept and conceptual solutions that aim to enhance GI utilisation through improved documentation practices. Presented in the context of an existing body of research, the proposed approaches focus on the technological infrastructure supporting data discovery, the automation of documentation processes and the implications of describing geospatial information resources of varying granularity. Each paper successively contributes to the notion that geospatial resources are potentially better exploited when documentation practices account for the multi-granular aspects of GI, and the varying ways in which such documentation may be used. In establishing the merit of multi-granular documentation, it is nevertheless recognised in the current work that instituting a comprehensive documentation strategy at several granularities may be unrealistic for some geospatial applications. Pragmatically, the level of effort required would be excessive, making universal adoption impractical. Considering however the ever-expanding volumes of geospatial data gathered and the demand for ways of managing and maintaining the usefulness of potentially unwieldy repositories, improved documentation practices are required. A system of hierarchical documentation, of self-documenting information, would provide for information discovery and retrieval from such expanding resource pools at multiple granularities, improve the accessibility of GI and ultimately, its utilisation