Development of a QGIS Plugin to Dasymetric Mapping

Demographic data is usually represented by choropleth map, where the statistical data is aggregated to areal units. This type of representation has several limitations associated with spatial analysis and distribution. A common alternative to display statistical data in meaningful spatial zones is the dasymetric mapping technique. Though dasymetric mapping has existed for many decades, the open source GIS tools to explore dasymetric mapping methods are scarce. In this paper, a Geographical Information System (GIS) open source application was developed in QGIS software that applies the dasymetric mapping method to the Portuguese Guimarães municipality 2011 Census block-group populations and using Corine Land Cover Data Set to redistribute the block-group populations into a 25-m grid. The application employs a simple centroid sampling approach (supported by the Addresses theme obtained in the INSPIRE ATOM Download Service from the Portuguese National Statistics Institute, INE) to acquire information on the population densities for different land use classes, and it uses the ratio of class densities to redistribute population to sub-source zone areas. Several tools available from QGIS and Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS) GIS were employed to generate a resident population dasymetric map. The application development was supported by Python 2.7 language and PyQt4 API. The plugin developed for the QGIS is an innovative tool that allows the population mapping to any case study that has statistical data and the Corine Land Cover layer. To test the results obtained from the tool, census block populations were compared with the dasymetric map. The results indicate that dasymetric mapping produce more accurate population distributions than the choropleth approach

Sistema de apoio à decisão na gestão de risco à escala municipal

Tese de doutoramento, Geografia (Ciências da Informação Geográfica), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território, 2016Num contexto de catástrofes recorrentes e de expansão urbana, associada a usos do solo incompatíveis, a conexão entre ordenamento do território e amplificação do risco é comum. O recente Quadro de Ação de Sendai para a Redução do Risco de Desastres (2015-2030), promovido pelas Nações Unidas, através da prioridade no investimento na redução do risco de desastres para a resiliência, identifica como atividade, a promoção da integração das avaliações de risco no desenvolvimento e na implementação de políticas de usos do solo, o que constitui uma evidência do risco como parte integrante do ordenamento do território. Neste contexto, o objetivo desta tese é o desenvolvimento de um sistema de apoio à decisão espacial para para apoio ao ordenamento do território que integre os conceitos associados à análise de risco e governança do risco à escala municipal. A escolha desta escala para o desenvolvimento do sistema, deve-se ao facto de, no nível municipal, em Portugal, reverterem e serem concertadas várias políticas públicas. A pesquisa é orientada pelas seguintes questões: 1. De que forma o risco é integrado nos modelos territoriais de ordenamento do território municipais e como poderá concorrer para o desenvolvimento de um sistema de apoio à decisão? 2. Quais as componentes (e com que caraterísticas) poderá ter um sistema de apoio à decisão que integre a cartografia de risco na gestão do território à escala municipal? 3. Poderá um modelo de apoio à decisão ser aplicado na gestão do risco para suporte ao ordenamento do território e avaliação sobre a transformação de uso do solo? 4. Quais são os cenários que o sistema de apoio à decisão irá desenvolver e como poderão ser apresentados os resultados? Para alcançar o objetivo desta tese, foram identificadas as componentes necessárias ao desenvolvimento do sistema de apoio à decisão espacial e descrita a forma como se assegura a execução e funcionamento do mesmo. A demonstração prática da aplicabilidade do sistema de apoio à decisão espacial, designado por “RiskOTe”, baseou-se num caso de estudo, correspondente ao município de Oeiras. A aplicação ao caso de estudo permitiu gerar vários cenários, comparar os resultados obtidos e demonstrar que o apoio à tomada de decisão sobre a transformação dos usos do solo que integre a análise e governança de risco pode ser suportado numa base sólida de informações obtidas a partir do sistema.In a context of recurrent disasters and urban expansion, associated with incompatible land uses, the connection between spatial planning and risk amplification is common. The recent Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), promoted by the United Nations, through its priority 3 “investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience”, identifies an activity, for the promotion of the mainstreaming of disaster risk assessments into land-use, including urban planning. This activity is evidence of risk as part of spatial planning. In this context, the aim of this thesis was the development of a spatial decision support system to assist spatial planning integrating the risk management component at municipal level. The choice of the municipal level was made, because, in Portugal, various public policies are applied and articulated in this way. The research was guided by the following questions: 1. How is risk integrated into municipal territorial models and how can that contribute to the development of a decision support system? 2. What components (and with what characteristics) may have a decision support system that integrates risk mapping in land management at the municipal level? 3. Can a decision support model be applied in risk management to support spatial planning and land use transformation evaluation? 4. What are the scenarios that the decision support system will develop and how can the results be presented? To achieve the main objective of this thesis, the components for the development of the spatial decision support system were identified, described and implemented. Oeiras municipality was used as case study to demonstrate the applicability of the spatial decision support system, referred as "RiskOTe". The use of the system allowed the generation of multiple scenarios and results. This thesis demonstrated that decision-making about land uses transformation integrating risk analysis and governance can be supported on a solid basis of information obtained from the system

Intégration des cartes de risques dans les modèles territoriaux municipaux

The integration of risk mapping into land use options at the municipal level is an issue of recognized importance as a risk mitigation strategy. This article seeks to understand how risk is integrated in territorial spatial planning models and how it can help the development of a Decision Support System. For this purpose, a set of interviews were carried out with some Portuguese municipalities, who had considered in the documentary elements of the master plan any type of risk mapping. The results of the interviews were analysed qualitatively, based on the computer-assisted analytical approach known as “NCT”, or “Noticing things”, “Collecting things” and “Thinking about things”. The results of the analysis indicate that the hazards/risks incorporated in territorial spatial planning models depend fundamentally on legal obligations and are integrated in an individual way and only with the classes of higher hazard/susceptibility. This result is a demonstration that in spatial planning models there is no integration of the various dimensions of vulnerability. Regarding the situation diagnosed, the integration of the hazard component with vulnerability could be one of the development axes to be addressed in the implementation of a spatial decision support system to support spatial planning.A integração de cartografia de risco nas opções de uso do solo à escala municipal é um tema de reconhecida importância enquanto estratégia de mitigação do risco. Este artigo procura conhecer a forma como o risco é integrado nos modelos territoriais municipais de ordenamento do território e como poderá concorrer para o desenvolvimento de um Sistema de Apoio à Decisão. Para este efeito foram efetuadas um conjunto de entrevistas a municípios portugueses que consideraram nos elementos documentais do plano diretor municipal qualquer tipo de cartografia de risco. Os resultados das entrevistas foram submetidos a uma análise qualitativa, baseada na abordagem analítica assistida por computador conhecida como «NCT», ou Recolha (Noticing things), Codificação (Collecting things) e Análise (and Thinking about things). Os resultados da análise indicam que os perigos/riscos incorporados nos modelos territoriais de ordenamento do território municipais dependem fundamentalmente das obrigações legais e são integrados de forma individual e com uma ligação ao regulamento que se relaciona apenas com as classes de maior perigosidade/suscetibilidade, evidenciando que não existe ainda integração com as várias dimensões da vulnerabilidade. A utilização da componente da perigosidade com a vulnerabilidade de forma integrada constitui, face à situação existente diagnosticada um dos eixos de desenvolvimento a colmatar e desenvolver na implementação de um sistema de apoio à decisão espacial para suporte ao ordenamento do território.Cette intégration est une question importante, qui peut permettre d’atténuer les risques. Pour comprendre comment la notion de risques est intégrée dans les modèles d’aménagement du territoire, on a procédé à de multiples entrevues dans certaines municipalités du Portugal, en choisissant divers types de cartographie des risques. Les résultats ont été soumis à une analyse quantitative, en s’aidant de programmes informatiques, tels que « NCT », « Noter les choses », « Collecter les choses » et « Penser aux Choses ». On conclut que les aléas qui marquent les modèles d’aménagement du territoire dépendent surtout des obligations légales et sont tous classés comme étant de susceptibilité élevée. Ce résultat pourrait aider à la mise place d’un système plus efficace d’aide à la décision spatiale, en ce qui concerne l’aménagement du territoire.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tsunami Hazard Assessment at Oeiras Municipality, Portugal

Portugal has had several large tsunamis in the past, yet Oeiras municipality has not implemented mitigation strategies and awareness to the general public, to the authors’ knowledge. In addition, Oeiras has 10 beaches that are very popular among residents and tourists, who can become at high risk of a potential tsunami if they do not evacuate from the low ground areas on time. Thus, the tsunami numerical model of the 1755 event was carried out to calculate the inundation, complemented with a field survey, in order to assess the tsunami evacuation conditions of the beaches. The results show the tsunami hits Oeiras municipality 26 to 36 min after the earthquake, inundating all the beaches. The local tsunami hazard classification is Low on 3 beaches, Moderate on 1 beach, High on 5 beaches, and Critical on 1 beach. In addition, there are no tsunami evacuation signs to guide the people to move to higher ground. Therefore, it is important to conduct mitigation strategies to avoid and reduce fatalities in a future tsunami.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dashboard COMPRIME_COMPRI_MOv: Multiscalar Spatio-Temporal Monitoring of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal

Due to its novelty, the recent pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is associated with the spread of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), triggered the public’s interest in accessing information, demonstrating the importance of obtaining and analyzing credible and updated information from an epidemiological surveillance context. For this purpose, health authorities, international organizations, and university institutions have published online various graphic and cartographic representations of the evolution of the pandemic with daily updates that allow the almost real-time monitoring of the evolutionary behavior of the spread, lethality, and territorial distribution of the disease. The purpose of this article is to describe the technical solution and the main results associated with the publication of the COMPRIME_COMPRI_MOv dashboard for the dissemination of information and multi-scale knowledge of COVID-19. Under two rapidly implementing research projects for innovative solutions to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, promoted in Portugal by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology), a website was created. That website brings together a diverse set of variables and indicators in a dynamic and interactive way that reflects the evolutionary behavior of the pandemic from a multi-scale perspective, in Portugal, constituting itself as a system for monitoring the evolution of the pandemic. In the current situation, this type of exploratory solutions proves to be crucial to guarantee everyone’s access to information while simultaneously emerging as an epidemiological surveillance tool that is capable of assisting decision-making by public authorities with competence in defining control policies and fight the spread of the new coronavirusinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Flood risk management: Implementation of the European directive 2007/60/EC in the autonomous region of Madeira

The Decree-Law no. 115/2010, of October 22 transposed the Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks into Portuguese national law establishing a framework for the assessment and management of flood risks. Flash floods and debris events have a long history in the island of Madeira resulting in several adverse impacts on human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity. For this reason and since the catastrophic debris event of 20 February 2010 the establishment of a flood risk management plan in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) has assumed double importance. The aim of the paper is to present flood risk analysis methods and technical options adopted in the elaboration of flood hazard and flood risk maps as well the flood risk management plan strategy. The hydrographic basin of Socorridos is used as case study to show the principles and stages of the implementation of the Flood Risk Directive (FRD) in the ARM. In spite of some limitations associated with the volcanic mountain island characteristics and the debris events specificities, the flood risk analysis methods used are in harmony with the requirements of the FRD. Another important issue is the flood risk management plan strategy that addresses all aspects of flood risk management.publishersversionpublishe

The qualitative risk assessment model of riskote decision support system

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 identify among other principles that disaster risk reduction requires a multi-hazard approach and inclusive risk-informed decision-making. The development of a harmonized decision support tool to ensure that planning decisions are informed about the hazards affecting a given territory, the vulnerability of different land uses, exposed elements and options available to mitigate risks is crucial in the context of spatial planning. The objective of this paper is to describe the qualitative risk assessment model used in the development of the RiskOTe decision support system (DSS). RiskOTe is a spatial decision support system to assist spatial planning integrating the risk management component at municipal level. The qualitative risk assessment model used in RiskOTe is based on risk matrix that relates consequences and likelihood. Oeiras municipality was used as case study to demonstrate the applicability of the spatial decision support system. The scenarios obtained from the case study show that decision-making integrating risk analysis can be supported on a solid basis of information obtained from the system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobility and Dissemination of COVID-19 in Portugal: Correlations and Estimates from Google’s Mobility Data

The spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has important links with population mobility. Social interaction is a known determinant of human-to-human transmission of infectious diseases and, in turn, population mobility as a proxy of interaction is of paramount importance to analyze COVID-19 diffusion. Using mobility data from Google’s Community Reports, this paper captures the association between changes in mobility patterns through time and the corresponding COVID-19 incidence at a multi-scalar approach applied to mainland Portugal. Results demonstrate a strong relationship between mobility data and COVID-19 incidence, suggesting that more mobility is associated with more COVID-19 cases. Methodological procedures can be summarized in a multiple linear regression with a time moving window. Model validation demonstrate good forecast accuracy, particularly when we consider the cumulative number of cases. Based on this premise, it is possible to estimate and predict future evolution of the number of COVID-19 cases using near real-time information of population mobilityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Igualdade de género nas geografias espácio-temporais: uma análise a partir de dispositivos móveis

A realidade de um mundo global, reconfigura a relação entre acessibilidade (ou a sua ausência), exclusão social e desigualdade de género. Este relacionamento questiona o sistema de mobilidade e em particular as suas soluções universais e neutras desligadas das necessidades e aspirações de mobilidade e acessibilidade de mulheres e homens na sua relação com a produção e reprodução social. A estas questões associa­se a rápida evolução tecnológica e soluções que oferece aos quotidianos do espaço­tempo de mulheres e homens. Este artigo discute como podem os dispositivos móveis ( e ) ser usados para promover políticas de conciliação da mobilidade quotidiana, genericamente designada de ‘casa­trabalho’.La realidad de un mundo global, reconfigura la relación entre accesibilidad (o su ausencia), exclusión social y desigualdad de género. Este relacionamiento cuestiona el sistema de movilidad y en particular sus soluciones universales y neutras desligadas de la necesidad y aspiraciones de movilidad y accesibilidad de mujeres y hombres en relación con la producción y reproducción social. Estas cuestiones se asocian a la rápida evolución tecnología y soluciones que ofrecen a los cotidianos del espacio tiempo de mujeres y hombres. Este artículo discute como utilizan los dispositivos de movilidad cotidiana, genéricamente designada de ‘casa­trabajo’.The reality of a global world reconfigures the relationship between accessibility (or its absence), social exclusion and gender inequality. This relationship challenge the mobility system and in particular its universal and neutral solutions, disconnected from the needs and aspirations of mobility and accessibility of women and men in their relationship with social production and reproduction. These issues are associated with the fast­technological evolution and the solutions it offers to the daily space­time needs of women and men. This article discusses how mobile devices (smartphones and trackers) can be used to promote policies for reconciling daily mobility, usually called ‘home­work’ commuting.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobilidade e propagação do sars-cov-2 em Portugal continental: modelo explicativo territorializado em contexto anterior à vacinação

A difusão do novo coronavírus tem importantes associações com a mobilidade da população. Recorrendo a modelos de regressão linear múltipla, com informação epidemiológica da Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS) e dados de mobilidade disponibilizados pela Google, captura-se a relação causal existente entre alterações na mobilidade e a tendência de incidência de COVID-19 para várias escalas em Portugal, demonstrando-se que maior mobilidade está associada a maior número de novos casos. Com base nesta premissa e recorrendo aos padrões de mobilidade da população é possível desenvolver um modelo de previsão do número de infeções futuras, com pelo menos 14 dias de antecedência.The diffusion of the new coronavirus has important associations with population mobility. Using multiple linear regression models, with epidemiological information and mobility data from Google, a causal relationship between changes in mobility and the trend of COVID 19 incidence for several scales in Portugal has been identified, showing that greater mobility is associated with a higher number of new cases. Based on this premise and using information on mobility patterns of the population, it is possible to develop a model to predict the number of future infections, at least 14 days in advance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio