Vagueness in Geography

Some have argued that the vagueness exhibited by geographic names and descriptions such as ''Albuquerque,'' ''the Outback,'' or ''Mount Everest'' is ultimately ontological: these terms are vague because they refer to vague objects , objects with fuzzy boundaries. I take the opposite stand and hold the view that geographic vagueness is exclusively semantic, or conceptual at large. There is no such thing as a vague mountain. Rather, there are many things where we conceive a mountain to be, each with its precise boundary, and when we say ''Everest'' we are just being vague as to which thing we are referring to. This paper defends this view against some plausible objections

Integrating dynamic environmental models in GIS : The development of a dynamic modelling language

An integrated, executable mathematical modelling language for environmental and ecological applications has been developed to create and run Dynamic Models in a GIS. The modelling language is embedded in the GIS, providing the ability to model complex space-time systems free from the technical burdens of database management and algorithm optimization. The spatial modelling language uses a structured script, which is illustrated here by an example of a model of plant dispersion

Environmental mobility of radiocaesium in the Pripyat catchment, Ukraine/Belarus

Evidence from research in the Pripyat catchment, reviewed here, indicates that under the ecological conditions prevalent in this area, radiocaesium (137Cs) is highly mobile in both river water and poorly drained organic soils. Data collected at three different spatial and temporal scales demonstrate the effects of hydrological events on 137Cs mobility. During the period 1988–1994, 137Cs contamination in some poorly drained organic soils in the Pripyat catchment and in the milk from cows grazing on these soils are generally declining much faster than the radioactive half life. However, sharp increases in levels of 137Cs in both floodplain soils and milk to 2–3 times that observed immediately after the initial deposition have been measured immediately after summer floods. The processes causing these observed changes have not yet been fully explained but the sites where enhanced 137Cs mobility has been detected are clearly associated with the spatial patterns of organic soils and river flooding

Integrating dynamic environmental models in GIS: The development of a dynamic modelling language

An integrated, executable mathematical modelling language for environmental and ecological applications has been developed to create and run Dynamic Models in a GIS. The modelling language is embedded in the GIS, providing the ability to model complex space-time systems free from the technical burdens of database management and algorithm optimization. The spatial modelling language uses a structured script, which is illustrated here by an example of a model of plant dispersion