Designing a flood forecasting and inundation-mapping system integrated with spatial data infrastructures

Turkey currently lacks a fully functional flood forecasting system (FFS). How- ever, the studies necessary for establishing such a system are still being performed by the Turkish State Meteorological Service. The main purpose of this study was to determine the technical architecture of the FFS intended to be developed in Turkey and to design a flood forecasting and inundation-mapping system integrated with spatial data infrastructure (SDI). Because SDIs provide interoperability among the institutions by enabling collective use of data and services, this enables decision makers to take correct and rapid decisions regarding the forecasting. In the design of the system, the Web services architecture presented by the open geospatial consortium that develops international standards for SDI realizations was taken as a basis. Designed with flexibility and an expandable architecture, the system will enable instant access to up-to-date data from different institutions through Web services and meets the requirements of a real-time FFS. While the criteria requiring the expansion of the designed system were explained, its implementation was left for future studies

Random forest-based landslide susceptibility mapping in coastal regions of Artvin, Turkey

Natural disasters such as landslides often occur in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey owing to its geological, topographical, and climatic characteristics. Landslide events occur nearly every year in the Arhavi, Hopa, and Kemalpa¸sa districts located on the Black Sea coast in the Artvin province. In this study, the landslide susceptibility map of the Arhavi, Hopa, and Kemalpa¸sa districts was produced using the random forest (RF) model, which is widely used in the literature and yields more accurate results compared with other machine learning techniques. A total of 10 landslide-conditioning factors were considered for the susceptibility analysis, i.e., lithology, land cover, slope, aspect, elevation, curvature, topographic wetness index, and distances from faults, drainage networks, and roads. Furthermore, 70% of the landslides on the landslide inventory map were used for training, and the remaining 30% were used for validation. The RF-based model was validated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Evaluation results indicated that the success and prediction rates of the model were 98.3% and 97.7%, respectively. Moreover, it was determined that incorrect land-use decisions, such as transforming forest areas into tea and hazelnut cultivation areas, induce the occurrence of landslides.Funding: This research was supported by the Scientific Research Projects Office of Artvin Çoruh University (AÇÜBAP) (Scientific Research Project No. 2016.F40.02.05)

Determinación del índice de calidad del suelo en el delta de Batumi, Georgia

The soil quality index is a quantitative assessment concept and it is used in the evaluation of ecosystem components. Because of the high potential for agriculture and biodiversity, deltas are the most valuable parts of the ecosystem. This study aimed to determine the soil quality index (SQI) in the Batumi Delta, Georgia. For this purpose, the study area was divided into five plots due to their morphological positions (L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5). A total of 125 soil samples were taken for analysis including clay content (CC), silt content (SC), sand content (SaC), mean weight diameter (MWD), aggregate stability (AS), amount of water retained under -33 kPa (FC) and -1500 kPa (WP) pressures and organic matter content (OM). These properties were used as the main criteria, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Factor Analysis were used for weighting them. Sub-criteria were scored using expert opinion and the linear score functions, such as “more is better” and “optimum value”. For determining SQI, the additive method (SQIA), the weighted method with AHP (SQIAHP), and the weighted method with factor analysis (SQIFA) were used. The resulting SQI scores of the three methods were ordered as SQIAHP>SQIA>SQIFA, but these differences were not significant. However, the SQI scores of the plots (p£0.01) showed statistically significant differences and were ordered as L5>L4>L3>L2>L1.El índice de calidad del suelo es un concepto de evaluación cuantitativa y se utiliza en la evaluación de los componentes del ecosistema. Debido a su potencial alto para la agricultura y la biodiversidad, los deltas son las partes más valiosas del ecosistema. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar el índice de calidad del suelo (SQI) en el delta de Batumi, Georgia. Es por ello que el área de estudio se dividió en cinco parcelas con base en sus posiciones morfológicas (L1 , L2 , L3 , L4 y L5 ). Un total de 125 muestras de suelo se tomaron para su análisis, e incluyeron contenido de arcilla (CC), contenido de limo (SC), contenido de arena (SaC), diámetro medio ponderado (MWD), estabilidad de agregados (AS), cantidad de agua retenida de presiones por debajo de -33 kPa (FC) y -1500 kPa (WP) y contenido de materia orgánica (OM). Estas propiedades se utilizaron como criterios principales, y para ponderarlas usamos el Proceso analítico jerárquico (Analytic Hierarchy Process, AHP) y el Análisis de factores. Los subcriterios se calificaron de acuerdo con la opinión de expertos y con las funciones de calificación lineal, como “más es mejor” y “valor óptimo”. Para determinar el SQI, se utilizó el método aditivo (SQIA), el método ponderado con AHP (SQIAHP) y el método ponderado con análisis de factores (SQIFA). Los valores resultantes de SQI de los tres métodos se ordenaron como SQIAHP> SQIA> SQIFA, pero estas diferencias no fueron significativas. Sin embargo, los valores de SQI de las parcelas (p£0.01) mostraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas y se ordenaron como L5 > L4 > L3 > L2 > L

Designing and implementation of the foundation information system: a case study of Samsun

Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemleri (CBS), konumsal verilerin analiz edilmesi işlevini hızlı ve sağlıklı bir şekilde yerine getirmesi nedeniyle birçok uygulama alanı bulmuştur. Bunlardan biri, konumsal bilgiyi kullanarak, planlama, mühendislik ve yönetimsel faaliyetlerde etkili karar vermeyi sağlayan Taşınmaz Bilgi Sistemleridir. Vakıflar menkul ya da gayrimenkulden oluşan birer mülk topluluğudur. Vakıfların varlığı temelde gayrimenkule dayanmaktadır. Vakıflar idaresindeki taşınmazların fazla oluşu, taşınmaz bilgilerine erişim ve taşınmazlar üzerindeki değişimlerin takip edilmesinde karşılaşılan güçlükler nedeniyle vakıf taşınmazlarının yönetiminde çeşitli sorunlar yaşanmaktadır. Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, e-devlet stratejisi altında, kurum bünyesindeki ihtiyaçlara cevap verecek şekilde tasarlanan CBS kurma çalışmalarına başlayarak, Vakıflar Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemini 2008 yılında hayata geçirmiştir. Kurulan bilgi sistemi, Infoanalystpro Konumsal Analiz Programı ve WebGIS olarak adlandırılan iki uygulamadan oluşmaktadır. Ancak uygulamada, Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğünün geliştirmiş olduğu bilgi sisteminin kullanımı sırasında bazı eksiklikler ve problemlerle karşılaşılmaktadır. Bu da en başta verilerin zamanında güncellenememesine sebep olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, mevcut sistemdeki sorunlar dikkate alınarak, Samsun Vakıflar Bölge Müdürlüğü’nün mülklerinin takibinin sağlanması, envanterlerinin çıkarılması, taşınmazların etkin ve verimli bir biçimde yönetilebilmesi için CBS tabanlı bir Vakıf Bilgi Sistemi tasarlanmış ve geliştirilmiştir.Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have found many applications due to spatial data analysis function be accomplished quickly. One of them is the real estate information system that provides effective decision in planning, engineering and administrative activities by using spatial information. Foundations are communities constituted from movable or real estate properties. The possession of foundations is essentially based on real estates. Starting the works of building the Geographical Information System (GIS) that is designed in a way to meet the needs within the body of the institution under the strategy of e-government, General Directorate for Foundations accomplished the Geographical Information System for Foundations in 2008. The information system is comprised of two parts, which are called Infoanalystpro Spatial Analysis Program and WebGIS. However, some deficiencies and problems are encountered during the use of the information system built by the General Directorate for Foundations in practice. This causes the disability to update the data in time. In this study, taking the problems in the present system into account, a GIS-based Foundation Information System was designed and developed for the purpose of following the properties of Samsun Regional Directorate for Foundations, taking the inventory and administrating the real estate efficiently

Designing and implementation of the foundation information system of the Samsun province

Vakıflar menkul ya da gayrimenkulden oluşan birer mülk topluluğudur. Vakıfların varlığı temelde gayrimenkule dayanmaktadır. Vakıflar idaresindeki taşınmazların fazla oluşu, taşınmaz bilgilerine erişim ve taşınmazlar üzerindeki değişimlerin takip edilmesinde karşılaşılan güçlükler nedeniyle vakıf taşınmazlarının yönetiminde çeşitli sorunlar yaşanmaktadır. Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, e- devlet stratejisi altında, kurum bünyesindeki ihtiyaçlara cevap verecek şekilde tasarlanan Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemi (CBS) kurma çalışmalarına başlayarak, Vakıflar Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemini 2008 yılında hayata geçirmiştir. Kurulan bilgi sistemi, Infoanalystpro Konumsal Analiz Programı ve WebGIS olarak adlandırılan iki uygulamadan oluşmaktadır. Ancak uygulamada, Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğünün geliştirmiş olduğu bilgi sisteminin kullanımı sırasında bazı eksiklikler ve problemlerle karşılaşılmaktadır. Bu da en başta verilerin zamanında güncellenememesine sebep olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, mevcut sistemdeki sorunlar dikkate alınarak, Samsun Vakıflar Bölge Müdürlüğü’nün mülklerinin takibinin sağlanması, envanterlerinin çıkarılması, taşınmazların etkin ve verimli bir biçimde yönetilebilmesi için CBS tabanlı bir Vakıf Bilgi Sistemi tasarlanmış ve geliştirilmiştir.Foundations are communities constituted from movable or real estate properties. The possession of foundations is essentially based on real estates. Starting the works of building the Geographical Information System (GIS) that is designed in a way to meet the needs within the body of the institution under the strategy of e-government, General Directorate for Foundations accomplished the Geographical Information System for Foundations in 2008. The information system is comprised of two parts, which are called Infoanalystpro Spatial Analysis Program and WebGIS. However, some deficiencies and problems are encountered during the use of the information system built by the General Directorate for Foundations in practice. This causes the disability to update the data in time. In this study, taking the problems in the present system into account, a GIS-based Foundation Information System was designed and developed for the purpose of following the properties of Samsun Regional Directorate for Foundations, taking the inventory and administrating the real estate efficiently