Structural analyses of features in cultural landscapes based on historical cadastral maps and GIS

A landscape may appear to be ancient and to contain old man-made structures even if this is not the whole truth. Structures are moved, removed, replaced and added over the years. New users introduce new land use and management regimes. In Norway, information from land consolidation processes is crucially important in gaining a better understanding of the history, dynamics and development of farms, identifying older traces of human activity and selecting important areas for protection and management. When cadastral maps are transformed, common points are needed during the transformation process and for testing the accuracy of the final transformation. It is often difficult to find enough common points to satisfy statistical requirements. Paper I presents a simple method using buffers based on linear features to evaluate whether or not the accuracy of the transformation results is better than the known accuracy of the source. Papers II, III and IV show how digitised and geographically referenced historical cadastral maps can be used to reconstruct the situation at various dates back to the 19th century, and for some information back to the 16th century. The digitised cadastral map provides a snapshot of the situation at the time of the land consolidation process, and the information is considered to be very exact. Paper IV also demonstrates how a DEM (digital elevation model) can add significantly to an understanding of the information contained in the land consolidation material. The use of digitised cadastral maps reveals that many man-made structures generally perceived as old, because they are constructed using traditional techniques, in fact date from after the land consolidation process. One aim of the new European Landscape Convention is to promote landscape protection, management and planning. It therefore requires identification of landscapes and analysis of their characteristics and the forces and pressures transforming them. Using land consolidation material in a GIS makes it possible to document changes in a landscape and improve understanding of the pressures behind these changes

Imaging multi-age construction settlement behaviour by advanced SAR interferometry

This paper focuses on the application of Advanced Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (A-DInSAR) to subsidence-related issues, with particular reference to ground settlements due to external loads. Beyond the stratigraphic setting and the geotechnical properties of the subsoil, other relevant boundary conditions strongly influence the reliability of remotely sensed data for quantitative analyses and risk mitigation purposes. Because most of the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) measurement points (Persistent Scatterers, PSs) lie on structures and infrastructures, the foundation type and the age of a construction are key factors for a proper interpretation of the time series of ground displacements. To exemplify a methodological approach to evaluate these issues, this paper refers to an analysis carried out in the coastal/deltaic plain west of Rome (Rome and Fiumicino municipalities) affected by subsidence and related damages to structures. This region is characterized by a complex geological setting (alternation of recent deposits with low and high compressibilities) and has been subjected to different urbanisation phases starting in the late 1800s, with a strong acceleration in the last few decades. The results of A-DInSAR analyses conducted from 1992 to 2015 have been interpreted in light of high-resolution geological/geotechnical models, the age of the construction, and the types of foundations of the buildings on which the PSs are located. Collection, interpretation, and processing of geo-thematic data were fundamental to obtain high-resolution models; change detection analyses of the land cover allowed us to classify structures/infrastructures in terms of the construction period. Additional information was collected to define the types of foundations, i.e., shallow versus deep foundations. As a result, we found that only by filtering and partitioning the A-DInSAR datasets on the basis of the above-mentioned boundary conditions can the related time series be considered a proxy of the consolidation process governing the subsidence related to external loads as confirmed by a comparison with results from a physically based back analysis based on Terzaghi's theory. Therefore, if properly managed, the A-DInSAR data represents a powerful tool for capturing the evolutionary stage of the process for a single building and has potential for forecasting the behaviour of the terrain-foundation-structure combination

Process monitoring IAN Agroparks in India : Transforum report 2009

This is the first report of the TransForum project Process monitoring agroparks international, which focuses on India and specific on the development of the IFFCO Kisan SEZ Nellore in the south of India. It contains an overview of process design and the content of the proposition of IAN agroparks in India for 2009

Contribution of anthropogenic consolidation processes to subsidence phenomena from multi-temporal DInSAR: a GIS-based approach

The paper introduces an approach based on the combination of multi-temporal Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and geographical information systems analysis to investigate and separate several contributions to subsidence phenomena over the municipality of Ravenna (Emilia Romagna, Italy). In particular, the relationship between displacements detected over built environment and consolidation processes after construction was assessed and filtered out from the subsidence map to quantify the local overestimation of subsidence phenomena due to the mentioned processes. It requires descriptive attributes related to the age of construction and intended uses. The outcomes of the present study highlight ground consolidation processes that seem to be active over areas settled in the last 30 years with a component contributing to vertical rates up to 3 mm/yr. Such contribution represents the 20% of the cumulative displacements reported for coastal villages where different sources of subsidence increase the vulnerability to coastal erosion. We discuss the contribution of consolidation processes over a couple of recently settled areas to separate among contributions and avoid the misinterpretation of effects due to other anthropogenic sources of subsidence

Spatial optimization for land use allocation: accounting for sustainability concerns

Land-use allocation has long been an important area of research in regional science. Land-use patterns are fundamental to the functions of the biosphere, creating interactions that have substantial impacts on the environment. The spatial arrangement of land uses therefore has implications for activity and travel within a region. Balancing development, economic growth, social interaction, and the protection of the natural environment is at the heart of long-term sustainability. Since land-use patterns are spatially explicit in nature, planning and management necessarily must integrate geographical information system and spatial optimization in meaningful ways if efficiency goals and objectives are to be achieved. This article reviews spatial optimization approaches that have been relied upon to support land-use planning. Characteristics of sustainable land use, particularly compactness, contiguity, and compatibility, are discussed and how spatial optimization techniques have addressed these characteristics are detailed. In particular, objectives and constraints in spatial optimization approaches are examined

The urban heritage characterization using 3D geographic information systems. The system of medium-sized cities in Andalusia

The primary objective of this paper is to approach the use of the 3D Geographic Information Systems (3D GIS), as an instrumental tool that allows us to deal efficiently with the extensive amount of information that characterises a large part of the research carried out in the field of Urbanism and Regional Planning. Specifically, the study focuses on medium-sized cities in Andalusia, the most populous and the second largest region in Spain. The Andalusian urban system is substantially characterised by the historical importance of this type of cities within its territorial organisation, which dates back to more than two thousand years, and whose potential as sustainable and balanced stands out. In particular, it is intended to address features related to urban characterisation as medium-sized cities that have been declared as heritage sites, as well as, the integration of the cultural heritage into urban development planning as an active strategy by the cultural administration of the regional and local governments. In detail, this paper will analyse data relating to the development experienced, their characterisation through urban indicators or the evolution and traceability of their protection. In this sense, the use of 3D GIS will not only allow the efficient recording and the graphical representation of a significant amount of data resulting from the quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out but also model them using the third dimension to facilitate a cross analysis among the cities under study. Definitely, the aim is to demonstrate the suitability use of this technology in this type of scientific research.Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain HAR2016-79788-

Development of Geographical Information Systems Applications for Local Government Organizations: the Case of the Rhodes Municipality, Greece

The present recommendation summons up matter from a project in progress, concerning the possibilities and conditions of founding a Social Geographical Information System (GIS) in the Municipality of Rhodes. It is argued that, on the level of local societies and their self-administration, the importance of GIS can prove decisive for the rational management of resources and mainly for a better service of the citizens. Local governments, being that very institution at the closest possible relationship and contact with the resident-citizen, are called to cope with a constantly expanding spectrum of functions and services, often with insufficient infrastructures and limited resources. Today’s stage of the applied development of the GIS technology permits an overall arrangement and regulation of a series of functions that are important elements of everyday life in a city. In this sense, the use of GIS, although in the beginning seems as an “unnecessary luxury†for Greek administrational matters, can contribute in a creative way to the realization of the institutional role of local government organizations, to the accomplishment of the declared goals of each municipal authority but also to the saving of time and expenses. However, beyond the applications of GIS related to the improvement of a city’s functions, and which are the most frequent, there is a whole constellation of additional uses that are often downgraded or ignored. It is about those dimensions and applications, during which the GIS are utilized as an implement of social studies and search, as a mechanism of tendency diagnosis, as a starting point for awareness on the problems of urban areas and of their residents. It is the perspective and necessity of such applications that we are trying not to downgrade in the present, initial stage of development of a “Social GIS for the Municipality of Rhodesâ€. Our fundamental point of view is that no modern “leading-edge†technology, no advanced implement is by itself a panacea. It can simply assist the development procedures, when it is in the right hands and with the appropriate staff, information and infrastructure. Procedures that have finally reference to the level of central or local political choices but also to the disposition, dynamic or not dynamic, of the body politic for interference and action.

Empiricism and stochastics in cellular automaton modeling of urban land use dynamics

An increasing number of models for predicting land use change in regions of rapidurbanization are being proposed and built using ideas from cellular automata (CA)theory. Calibrating such models to real situations is highly problematic and to date,serious attention has not been focused on the estimation problem. In this paper, wepropose a structure for simulating urban change based on estimating land usetransitions using elementary probabilistic methods which draw their inspiration fromBayes' theory and the related ?weights of evidence? approach. These land use changeprobabilities drive a CA model ? DINAMICA ? conceived at the Center for RemoteSensing of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (CSR-UFMG). This is based on aneight cell Moore neighborhood approach implemented through empirical land useallocation algorithms. The model framework has been applied to a medium-size townin the west of São Paulo State, Bauru. We show how various socio-economic andinfrastructural factors can be combined using the weights of evidence approach whichenables us to predict the probability of changes between land use types in differentcells of the system. Different predictions for the town during the period 1979-1988were generated, and statistical validation was then conducted using a multipleresolution fitting procedure. These modeling experiments support the essential logicof adopting Bayesian empirical methods which synthesize various information aboutspatial infrastructure as the driver of urban land use change. This indicates therelevance of the approach for generating forecasts of growth for Brazilian citiesparticularly and for world-wide cities in general

Analysing trade-offs and synergies between SDGs for urban development, food security and poverty alleviation in rapidly changing peri-urban areas: a tool to support inclusive urban planning

Transitional peri-urban contexts are frontiers for sustainable development where land-use change involves negotiation and contestation between diverse interest groups. Multiple, complex trade-offs between outcomes emerge which have both negative and positive impacts on progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These trade-offs are often overlooked in policy and planning processes which depend on top-down expert perspectives and rely on course grain aggregate data which does not reflect complex peri-urban dynamics or the rapid pace of change. Tools are required to address this gap, integrate data from diverse perspectives and inform more inclusive planning processes. In this paper, we draw on a reinterpretation of empirical data concerned with land-use change and multiple dimensions of food security from the city of Wuhan in China to illustrate some of the complex trade-offs between SDG goals that tend to be overlooked with current planning approaches. We then describe the development of an interactive web-based tool that implements deep learning methods for fine-grained land-use classification of high-resolution remote sensing imagery and integrates this with a flexible method for rapid trade-off analysis of land-use change scenarios. The development and potential use of the tool are illustrated using data from the Wuhan case study example. This tool has the potential to support participatory planning processes by providing a platform for multiple stakeholders to explore the implications of planning decisions and land-use policies. Used alongside other planning, engagement and ecosystem service mapping tools it can help to reveal invisible trade-offs and foreground the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. This is vital for building approaches which recognise how trade-offs between the achievement of SDGs can be influenced by development interventions