Tree species composition for squirrel-observation recreational activity in botanical garden, Putrajaya / Noraini Bahari, Ismail Said and Noradila Rusli

Squirrel is one of the important natural components in urban ecosystems. It commonly inhabits urban parks in many cities of Peninsular Malaysia. The understanding of how they use trees is essential in creating wildlife habitats for supporting wildlife-oriented recreational activities in urban parks. Direct observation through focal animal sampling was employed in order to understand the tree composition which influences squirrel’s behaviours in Botanical Garden, Putrajaya. The result shows that squirrels mainly forage and feed in fruits and flowers bearing trees. Inasmuch, this paper suggests the tree species composition which is suitable for squirrel’s habitat in urban park

Analysing street heritage trees surface temperature for UHI mitigation using remote sensing and GIS application / Nor Suhaida Yusof, Nur Huzeima Mohd Hussain and Noradila Rusli

Urban Trees are important in reducing the heat by providing the shade and cooling effect to the urban environment. Every tree species provides different cooling effect depending on their tree characteristics. Evergreen species such as heritage tree are significant in reducing the surface temperature. In particular, heritage trees do have environmental implications which provide lots of benefits for the environment and human health. The aim of this paper is to analyse the heritage trees surface temperature in mitigating urban heat island (UHI) at Taiping Old Town. The research has conducted utilizing Landsat 8 OLI data and on-site data collection. This research integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing in data processing and SPSS for analysis. The result shows the low significant relationship of tree characteristics and Land Surface Temperature (LST) with (R²=0.17) indicates that external factors can reduce the cooling effect from heritage trees in reducing the surface temperature in the urban area. Moreover, there is also an analysis on the LST of land cover features together with the frequency of heritage trees. The findings revealed that the higher frequency of heritage trees planted at the hard surface; the higher the ability to reduce the LST (about 5.3°C) in urban areas

The relationship of heritage trees in urban heat island mitigation effect at Taiping, Perak, Malaysia / Nor Suhaida Yusof, Nur Huzeima Mohd Hussain and Noradila Rusli

Every tree species provide different cooling effect depending on their tree characteristics. Evergreen species such as heritage trees are significant in reducing the surface temperature. The aim of this paper is to determine the relationship of heritage treesin mitigating urban heat island at Taiping Old Town. The research had been conducted through Landsat 8 OLI and field data collection. Thisresearch integrated the Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing in data processing and analysis. The results show the low significant relationship of tree characteristics and Land Surface Temperature (LST) with (R²=0.17) which indicate that external factors may also influence the changes in temperature

Digital elevation model (DEM) extraction from google earth: a study in Sungai Muar watershed

Topographic data or DEMs are commonly perceived as providing loaded information for hydrological modelling. However, this information severely limited, and most users rely on published topographic maps or DEMs produced by government agencies. This paper proposes an alternative method of generating DEM by using online source of elevation data which is easier and free. The result shows that, the percent difference of the watershed boundary is 0.19% by using Google Earth’s elevation data as it compared with the same watershed area which delineated using 20 meter interval contour data obtained from JUPEM (Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia). Firstly, the location of the study area identified in Google Earth, divided into thirty-six areas and marked using provided mark functions in Google Earth. The coordinates were exported to an online application tools named Terrain Zonum Solutions for extracting 5000 elevation points for each thirty-six areas. These points were uploaded and processed in ArcGIS software (version 9.3.1) to generate the DEM. As to compare the reliability of the elevation values that extracted from Google Earth, the DEM was utilized and integrated with river line data to delineate Sungai Muar’s watershed boundary using ArcHydro version 1.4 tool. Based on the result, this study proposes an alternative method in obtaining a DEM data for a wide area which is traditionally time consuming and costly

Monitoring and mapping leaf area index of rubber and oil palm in small watershed area

Existing conventional methods to determine LAI are tedious and time consuming for implementation in small or large areas. Thus, raster LAI data which are available free were downloaded for 4697.60 km2 of Sungai Muar watershed area in Johor. The aim of this study is to monitor and map LAI changes of rubber and oil palm throughout the years from 2002 to 2008. Raster datasets of LAI value were obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website of available years from 2002 to year 2008. These data, were mosaicked and subset utilizing ERDAS Imagine 9.2. Next, the LAI raster dataset was multiplied by a scale factor of 0.1 to derive the final LAI value. Afterwards, to determine LAI values of rubber and oil palms, the boundaries of each crop from land cover data of the years 2002, 2006 and 2008 were exploited to overlay with LAI raster dataset. A total of 5000 sample points were generated utilizing the Hawths Tool (extension in ARcGIS 9.2) within these boundaries area and utilized for extracting LAI value of oil palm and rubber. In integration, a wide range of literature review was conducted as a guideline to derive LAI value of oil palm and rubber which range from 0 to 6. The results show, an overall mean LAI value from year 2002 to 2008 as decremented from 4.12 to 2.5 due to land cover transition within these years. In 2002, the mean LAI value of rubber and oil palm is 2.65 and 2.53 respectively. Meanwhile in 2006, the mean LAI value for rubber and oil palm is 2.54 and 2.82 respectively. In 2008, the mean LAI value for both crops is 0.85 for rubber and 1.04 for oil palm. In conclusion, apart from the original function of LAI which is related to the growth and metabolism of vegetation, the changes of LAI values from year 2002 to 2008 also capable to explain the process of land cover changes in a watershed are

Spatial correlation of dengue outbreak based on climate change in Selangor

Dengue fever is an infectious mosquito borne disease that impacts the population globally. It also creates concern on the public health system in Malaysia as well as in most tropical countries around the world. Little is known that climate change is associated with dengue. The main goal of this study is to analyse the spatial correlation of dengue cases based on climate changing condition in Selangor using Geographic Information System (GIS). The correlation of climate change and dengue cases is based on the calculation of temperature value in Selangor was mapped based on the weekly number of dengue cases for three years. This study analysed dengue cases reported in 2013, 2014 and 2015 within Selangor. The data were collected from various government health agencies. Kernel Density estimation was used to analyse the hotspot location for dengue cases. Then, Landsat 8 was used to obtain the value of temperature in the process of attaining the correlation value between temperature and dengue cases. The result identified the hotspot location of dengue cases for three years in Selangor. In addition, the distribution timeline and trend significant analysis on the relationship between temperature and dengue cases on 2013, 2014 and 2015 were also acquired. The study has shown that by integrating spatial analysis using GIS, it is possible to improve the understanding on the distribution of dengue cases within a particular area. GIS and spatial statistical analyses are important in guiding health agencies, epidemiologists, public health officers, town planners and relevant authorities in developing efficient control measures and contingency programmes in identifying and prioritizing their efforts in effective dengue control activities

Forecasting spatial pattern of land use and land cover changes using cellular automata

Land use and land cover changes predictions are two important aspects to be studied for a better understanding on dynamic landscape change and awareness on sustainable development. Geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing have been used in this research as it is considered as the most effective method in order to monitor the changes of land use and land cover (Deep, 2014). The aim of this research is to forecast land use in the year of 2020 by referring to the land cover changes between the year 1997 and 2008 using Cellular Automata (CA). The result will then be evaluated with the existing development planning land use of Perlis for 2020. The prediction of the CA model was successfully applied into this research by using modelling tools namely, Methods of Land Use Change Evaluation (MOLUSCE plugin in Quantum GIS). The validation result of the prediction shows 78% similarity with the existing Development Land Use Planning 2020. This demonstrated the validity of the model to be used for future prediction. In conclusion, based on the behavior of cells changes using CA method, it has proven to be a useful tool for government planners to observe the development pattern in this country and enable them to use land sources in better ways

Assessment of topographic mapping using digital metric camera and digital consumer grade camera in terms of accuracy in Kampung Asam Kubang, Taiping, Perak

Most people are still doubtful with regards to UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) photogrammetry as compared to government aerial photos obtained from the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM). Therefore, the aim of this research is to assess the use of aerial images from a Digital Metric Camera (DMC) and Digital Consumer Grade Camera in orthophoto production. The Consumer Grade Digital Camera images in RAW format were obtained using UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) from JUPEM. The Digital Metric Camera image that has been processed is also provided by JUPEM. Aerial images from the consumer grade digital camera were then processed with Pix4D software together with the GCP (Ground Control Point) used for georeferencing. Next, the images were aligned, point cloud densification, meshing of cloud points, build texture from mesh, DEM (Digital Elevation Model) generation and mosaicking of the images. Orthomosaic images were generated alongside the DEM (Digital Elevation Models). Likewise, VP (Verification Points) were used to measure the accuracy of all the Orthomosaic images and DEM from Consumer Grade Camera, Metric Camera and TENDEM satellite. The expected results for this research will be in RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) in positioning error with the analysis as to why this error happens. In conclusion, if the accuracy of the Consumer Grade Camera with UAV as a platform is at par with JUPEM orthophoto, it will encourage more surveyors to adopt the UAV mapping for their projects