Éléments méthodologiques de diagnostic paysager utilisant les systèmes d'information géographique

Although landscape is not a recent notion, its place in environmental management is now of major concern. Unprecedented land transformations have become a source of worry in terms of impacts on the landscape. The dynamics are still poorly understood and need to be studied in detail to be able to design consistent planning strategies. Today's policy is largely reactive and calls for prospective, as well as participative, methods and tools at different scales. Information Technologies (IT) and more particularly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are fast-expanding domains proposing more and more better-suited solutions for problems concerning our environment. They generally provide means to capitalize on the different land data sources, whether they are spatial or not. Though their use is still limited in the context of landscape analysis, they have a huge potential that needs to be developed. Therefore, the current study is concerned with landscape research as well as GIS development. The contribution of GIS is assessed with respect to landscape management and both methodological and technological adaptations are proposed in return. One of the most important question concerns the integration of the qualitative dimension of landscape evaluation in fundamentally quantitative systems. The Jura mountains and more specifically the Marchairuz region in the higher part of the Jura vaudois constitute the study region. The main result of the work consists in the proposal of a participative and multiscale landscape assessment method, relying on the specific use of information technologies. Landscape is considered to be the visible part of the land, that the local community perceive and consider. Different forms of appreciation are modelled within a system of spatial indicators. It is used on a small scale to identify and locate landscape impacts coming from land transformations, in order to compare them with public perception. On a larger scale, indicators are used to translate social preferences in space, from the definition of landscape representation models. The assessment method relies on visibility analysis functions, improved with visual correction factors and content analysis operators. Finally, the method proposes an objective way to put together subjective landscape perceptions and thus offers an interesting basis for negotiation. The relevant approach is defined by examining its integration potential in existing management processes. Additionally, the pros and cons of the method and the tools developed here are described and some final perspectives are drawn

La figuration cartographique de l’espace sonore

L’appréhension du paysage sonore soulève deux problèmes. D'une part, la manière de considérer la dimension sonore dans l'environnement a longtemps été négative, car focalisée sur le bruit et la gêne qu'il procure. D'autre part, du fait de sa nature fondamentalement visuelle, le mode traditionnel de représentation de l'espace géographique qu'est la cartographie offre un cadre limité pour la prise en compte des manifestations sonores. Le présent article relève la nécessité d'adopter une approche plus sensible qui envisage le son comme un révélateur des liens de territorialité entre la société et son espace et évalue le rôle et le potentiel des technologies de l'information comme soutien à la cartographie pour explorer cette thématique

Spatial Dependence of Body Mass Index: Geneva, Switzerland

Urban health (UH) is an emerging field, which explores the effect of urban environment and urbanization on health. Evidence suggests that urban environment can either positively influence health behaviors or be a health stressor. One key approach in UH is the use of georeferenced data and geographic information system (GIS). Mapping disease prevalence and trends provide insight into disease mechanisms and etiologies. An important limitation of GIS is that data sets have likely been collected separately by different agencies, often over different time periods.The Canton of Geneva deviates from this limitation as it has been collecting geographic and health-related information continuously since 1998 through the Unit of Population Epidemiology (UEP) of the Geneva University Hospitals and its Bus Santé study. Combining health-related data from the Bus Santé study and GIS, using Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), the investigators detected significant spatial dependance with respect to BMI. The results clearly indicate that BMI levels are not distributed at random in the Canton of Geneva. Moreover, performing preliminary exploratory analyses on blood pressure, investigators have identified cluster of individuals with higher blood pressure than the average, lifting up possible influences of environmental/urban factors (e.g., sidewalks, traffic, socioeconomic status)

Diagnostic du Projet d'agglomération franco-valdo-genevois de 2ème génération

Ce document répond à l’exigence de base 3 (EB3) de la directive pour l’examen et le cofinancement des projets d’agglomération de deuxième génération (DETEC, ARE, 2010). Le rapport présente une analyse de l’état actuel et des tendances de développement dans l'agglomération franco-valdo-genevoise et fait ressortir, pour tous les domaines (urbanisation, transport et environnement) les principales forces et faiblesses de l’agglomération. En lien avec les tendances de développement, il identifie les opportunités, les menaces et les besoins d’action. Ce document est l'annexe 1 du dossier de Projet d'agglomération 2012

Persistent spatial clusters of high body mass index in a Swiss urban population as revealed by the 5-year GeoCoLaus longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE Body mass index (BMI) may cluster in space among adults and be spatially dependent. Whether and how BMI clusters evolve over time in a population is currently unknown. We aimed to determine the spatial dependence of BMI and its 5-year evolution in a Swiss general adult urban population, taking into account the neighborhood- and individual-level characteristics. DESIGN Cohort study SETTING Swiss general urban population PARTICIPANTS 6,481 geo-referenced individuals from the CoLaus cohort at baseline (age range 35–74 years, period=2003-2006) and 4,460 at follow-up (period=2009-2012). OUTCOME MEASURES Body weight and height were measured by trained health care professionals with participants standing without shoes in light indoor clothing. BMI was calculated as weight (kg) divided by height squared (m2). Participants were geocoded using their postal address (geographic coordinates of the place of residence). Getis-Ord Gi statistic was used to measure the spatial dependence of BMI values at baseline and its evolution at follow-up. RESULTS BMI was not randomly distributed across the city. At baseline and at follow-up, significant clusters of high versus low BMIs were identified and remained stable during the two periods. These clusters were meaningfully attenuated after adjustment for neighborhood-level income but not individual-level characteristics. Similar results were observed among participants who developed obesity. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first study to report longitudinal changes in BMI clusters in adults from a general population. Spatial clusters of high BMI persisted over a 5-year period and were mainly influenced by neighborhood-level income. ARTICLE SUMMARY STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY • As far as we know, this is the first study to report the persistence of spatial clusters of high BMI values over a 5-year period in adults from a general population • The observed east to west pattern of BMI clustering fits known socio-economic and ethno-cultural differences distinguishing these opposite regions of the city of Lausanne, Switzerland • A consequence of the social policy applied by the city is likely to fix populations with modest income in subsidized housing located in specific areas • While recruitment methods of the CoLaus study aimed at collecting information on a representative sample of the general population, adult participants and non-participants to the CoLaus study may differ and participation bias cannot be excluded • We considered several individual-level covariates but data on individual income was missing. We used instead the median income of the including city statistical sector

La figuration cartographique de l’espace sonore

L’appréhension du paysage sonore soulève deux problèmes. D'une part, la manière de considérer la dimension sonore dans l'environnement a longtemps été négative, car focalisée sur le bruit et la gêne qu'il procure. D'autre part, du fait de sa nature fondamentalement visuelle, le mode traditionnel de représentation de l'espace géographique qu'est la cartographie offre un cadre limité pour la prise en compte des manifestations sonores. Le présent article relève la nécessité d'adopter une approche plus sensible qui envisage le son comme un révélateur des liens de territorialité entre la société et son espace et évalue le rôle et le potentiel des technologies de l'information comme soutien à la cartographie pour explorer cette thématique

Use of GIS for data acquisition and visualisation of potentials

In: OFEN (ed.): Potentiale zur energetischen Nutzung von Biomasse in der Schweiz. Office Fédéral de l'Energie (OFEN) / Bundesamt für Energie (BFE), Berne