Mapeamento dinâmico e colaborativo de alagamentos na cidade de São Paulo

A tendência de utilização de dados voluntários e colaborativos em contextos de desastres naturais é crescente. Esse fato aliado aos cenários de alagamentos que ocorrem na cidade de São Paulo traz a possibilidade de exploração sobre o modo voluntário e colaborativo de geração e transmissão da informação geográfica de forma dinâmica. E estas são proporcionadas por tecnologias acessíveis à população, como o GPS (Global Positioning System) embarcado em celulares e a internet. O presente artigo tem como objetivo a proposta de um esquema conceitual para um sistema dinâmico e colaborativo de mapeamento dos pontos alagados, cuja fonte dos dados advém das pessoas equipadas com aparelhos celulares que permitem a sua localização. Os resultados apresentados correspondem aos esquemas conceituais do sistema, bem como ao protótipo "Pontos de Alagamento" - mapa disponibilizado via web com os pontos de alagamento da cidade, fornecidos no momento da ocorrência do evento por pessoas comuns. O protótipo foi desenvolvido por meio da plataforma livre e de código aberto - Crowdmap/Ushahidi. O sistema foi avaliado através de um questionário respondido por usuários, os quais opinaram sobre a viabilidade do mesmo, bem como os ajustes que devem ser realizados para o uso efetivo da população

Understanding urban planning outcomes in the UK

The planning process in the UK is a highly complex system, developed over many decades, and is in the process of rapid transitions into digital planning. Among these transformations is a desire to move from an outputs-based assessment to an outcomes-based assessment process. This is challenging, and in this paper, the authors explore the variety of factors that make outcomes assessment challenging. The authors first studied the literature to understand how outcomes are complex, ranging across different sectors and practices, identifying 359 indicators related to outcomes. The authors then conducted a knowledge mapping exercise to understand the characteristics of the indicators in multiple themes. The authors also invited practitioners for an interview on their perspectives of outcomes assessment, definitions of outcomes, barriers to outcomes, the benefits of outcomes assessment, and how practitioners envision a world with outcomes assessment. The authors conclude the paper with future directions of research

Geospatial information infrastructures

Manual of Digital Earth / Editors: Huadong Guo, Michael F. Goodchild, Alessandro Annoni .- Springer, 2020 .- ISBN: 978-981-32-9915-3Geospatial information infrastructures (GIIs) provide the technological, semantic,organizationalandlegalstructurethatallowforthediscovery,sharing,and use of geospatial information (GI). In this chapter, we introduce the overall concept and surrounding notions such as geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial datainfrastructures(SDI).WeoutlinethehistoryofGIIsintermsoftheorganizational andtechnologicaldevelopmentsaswellasthecurrentstate-of-art,andreflectonsome of the central challenges and possible future trajectories. We focus on the tension betweenincreasedneedsforstandardizationandtheever-acceleratingtechnological changes. We conclude that GIIs evolved as a strong underpinning contribution to implementation of the Digital Earth vision. In the future, these infrastructures are challengedtobecomeflexibleandrobustenoughtoabsorbandembracetechnological transformationsandtheaccompanyingsocietalandorganizationalimplications.With this contribution, we present the reader a comprehensive overview of the field and a solid basis for reflections about future developments

Citizen Science 2.0 : Data Management Principles to Harness the Power of the Crowd

Citizen science refers to voluntary participation by the general public in scientific endeavors. Although citizen science has a long tradition, the rise of online communities and user-generated web content has the potential to greatly expand its scope and contributions. Citizens spread across a large area will collect more information than an individual researcher can. Because citizen scientists tend to make observations about areas they know well, data are likely to be very detailed. Although the potential for engaging citizen scientists is extensive, there are challenges as well. In this paper we consider one such challenge – creating an environment in which non-experts in a scientific domain can provide appropriate and accurate data regarding their observations. We describe the problem in the context of a research project that includes the development of a website to collect citizen-generated data on the distribution of plants and animals in a geographic region. We propose an approach that can improve the quantity and quality of data collected in such projects by organizing data using instance-based data structures. Potential implications of this approach are discussed and plans for future research to validate the design are described

Differences in the gut microbiota between Gurkhas and soldiers of British origin

Previous work indicated that the incidence of travellers’ diarrhoea (TD) is higher in soldiers of British origin, when compared to soldiers of Nepalese descent (Gurkhas). We hypothesise that the composition of the gut microbiota may be a contributing factor in the risk of developing TD in soldiers of British origin. This study aimed to characterise the gut microbial composition of Gurkha and non-Gurkha soldiers of the British Army. Recruitment of 38 soldiers (n = 22 Gurkhas, n = 16 non-Gurkhas) and subsequent stool collection, enabled shotgun metagenomic sequencing-based analysis of the gut microbiota. The microbiota of Gurkhas had significantly (P < 0.05) lower diversity, for both Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, using species level markers than the gut microbiota of non-Gurkha soldiers. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) of the Bray-Curtis distance matrix revealed a significant difference in the composition of the gut microbiota between Gurkhas and non-Gurkha soldiers, at both the species level (P = 0.0178) and the genus level (P = 0.0483). We found three genera and eight species that were significantly enriched in the non-Gurkha group and one genus (Haemophilus) and one species (Haemophilus parainfluenzae) which were enriched in the Gurkha group. The difference in the microbiota composition between Gurkha soldiers and soldiers of British origin may contribute to higher colonization resistance against diarrhoeal pathogens in the former group. Our findings may enable further studies into interventions that modulate the gut microbiota of soldiers to prevent TD during deployment

Differences in the gut microbiota between Gurkhas and soldiers of British origin

Previous work indicated that the incidence of travellers’ diarrhoea (TD) is higher in soldiers of British origin, when compared to soldiers of Nepalese descent (Gurkhas). We hypothesise that the composition of the gut microbiota may be a contributing factor in the risk of developing TD in soldiers of British origin. This study aimed to characterise the gut microbial composition of Gurkha and non-Gurkha soldiers of the British Army. Recruitment of 38 soldiers (n = 22 Gurkhas, n = 16 non-Gurkhas) and subsequent stool collection, enabled shotgun metagenomic sequencing-based analysis of the gut microbiota. The microbiota of Gurkhas had significantly (P < 0.05) lower diversity, for both Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, using species level markers than the gut microbiota of non-Gurkha soldiers. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) of the Bray-Curtis distance matrix revealed a significant difference in the composition of the gut microbiota between Gurkhas and non-Gurkha soldiers, at both the species level (P = 0.0178) and the genus level (P = 0.0483). We found three genera and eight species that were significantly enriched in the non-Gurkha group and one genus (Haemophilus) and one species (Haemophilus parainfluenzae) which were enriched in the Gurkha group. The difference in the microbiota composition between Gurkha soldiers and soldiers of British origin may contribute to higher colonization resistance against diarrhoeal pathogens in the former group. Our findings may enable further studies into interventions that modulate the gut microbiota of soldiers to prevent TD during deployment

A Survey of Volunteered Open Geo-Knowledge Bases in the Semantic Web

Over the past decade, rapid advances in web technologies, coupled with innovative models of spatial data collection and consumption, have generated a robust growth in geo-referenced information, resulting in spatial information overload. Increasing 'geographic intelligence' in traditional text-based information retrieval has become a prominent approach to respond to this issue and to fulfill users' spatial information needs. Numerous efforts in the Semantic Geospatial Web, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), and the Linking Open Data initiative have converged in a constellation of open knowledge bases, freely available online. In this article, we survey these open knowledge bases, focusing on their geospatial dimension. Particular attention is devoted to the crucial issue of the quality of geo-knowledge bases, as well as of crowdsourced data. A new knowledge base, the OpenStreetMap Semantic Network, is outlined as our contribution to this area. Research directions in information integration and Geographic Information Retrieval (GIR) are then reviewed, with a critical discussion of their current limitations and future prospects