Transferring Google Earth observations to GIS-software : example from gully erosion study

High-resolution images available on Google Earth are increasingly being consulted in geographic studies. However, most studies limit themselves to visualizations or on-screen measurements. Google Earth allows users to create points, lines, and polygons on-screen, which can be saved as Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files. Here, the use of R statistics freeware is proposed to easily convert these files to the shapefile format [or .shp file format'], which can be loaded into Geographic Information System (GIS) software (ESRI ArcGIS 9 in our example). The geospatial data integration in GIS strongly increases the analysis possibilities

Assessing spatio-temporal rainfall variability in a tropical mountain area (Ethiopia) using NOAA's rainfall estimates

Seasonal and interannual variation in rainfall can cause massive economic loss for farmers and pastoralists, not only because of deficient total rainfall amounts but also because of long dry spells within the rainy season. The semi-arid to sub-humid mountain climate of the North Ethiopian Highlands is especially vulnerable to rainfall anomalies. In this article, spatio-temporal rainfall patterns are analysed on a regional scale in the North Ethiopian Highlands using satellite-derived rainfall estimates (RFEs). To counter the weak correlation in the dry season, only the rainy season rainfall from March till September is used, responsible for approximately 91% of the annual rainfall. Validation analysis demonstrates that the RFEs are well correlated with the meteorological station (MS) rainfall data, i.e. 85% for RFE 1.0 (1996-2000) and 80% for RFE 2.0 (2001-2006). However, discrepancies indicate that RFEs generally underestimate MS rainfall and the scatter around the trendlines indicates that the estimation by RFEs can be in gross error. A local calibration of RFE with rain gauge information is validated as a technique to improve RFEs for a regional mountainous study area. Slope gradient, slope aspect, and elevation have no added value in the calibration of the RFEs. The estimation of monthly rainfall using this calibration model improved on average by 8%. Based upon the calibration model, annual rainfall maps and an average isohyet map for the period 1996-2006 were constructed. The maps show a general northeast-southwest gradient of increasing rainfall in the study area and a sharp east-west gradient in its northern part. Slope gradient, slope aspect, elevation, easting, and northing were evaluated as explanatory factors for the spatial variability of annual rainfall in a stepwise multiple regression with the calibrated average of RFE 1.0 as dependent variable. Easting and northing are the only significant contributing variables (R-2=0.86), of which easting has proved to be the most important factor (R-2=0.72). The scatter around the individual trendlines of easting and northing corresponds to an increase in rainfall variability in the drier regions. Despite the remaining underestimation of rainfall in the southern part of the study area, the improved estimation of spatio-temporal rainfall variability in a mountainous region by RFEs is valuable as input to a wide range of scientific models

An approach to fulfill art 8 of directive 2009/128: procedure of risk assessment for pesticide application equipment

The EU Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides requires that Member States (MS) shall ensure that all Pesticide Application Equipment (PAE) in professional use shall be subject to inspection at regular intervals. Article 8.3 of the Directive allows the MS to derogate from the mandatory inspection at regular intervals or to apply different timetables and inspection intervals for certain types of PAE based on a Risk Assessment (RA) for human health, food safety and environment and an assessment of the scale of use. In order to fulfill Article 8.3, a risk assessment protocol was developed in Belgium within the framework of the SIRA-APESTICON project. Risk is now evaluated for the human health and the environment on all Belgian equipment. It will offer guidelines about the necessity to carry out an inspection of every PAE in use. The protocol is based on technical parameters subject to inspections, their occurrences and severities, but also on national scale of use of the PAE types. Results are expressed at different scale levels: the defect, the machine and the country.The EU Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides requires that Member States (MS) shall ensure that all Pesticide Application Equipment (PAE) in professional use shall be subject to inspection at regular intervals. Article 8.3 of the Directive allows the MS to derogate from the mandatory inspection at regular intervals or to apply different timetables and inspection intervals for certain types of PAE based on a Risk Assessment (RA) for human health, food safety and environment and an assessment of the scale of use. In order to fulfill Article 8.3, a risk assessment protocol was developed in Belgium within the framework of the SIRA-APESTICON project. Risk is now evaluated for the human health and the environment on all Belgian equipment. It will offer guidelines about the necessity to carry out an inspection of every PAE in use. The protocol is based on technical parameters subject to inspections, their occurrences and severities, but also on national scale of use of the PAE types. Results are expressed at different scale levels: the defect, the machine and the country

Spatio-temporal modeling of soil characteristics for soilscape reconstruction

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Measuring teat dimensions using image analysis

The interaction between teat and teatcup liner can strongly affect the milking characteristics and udder health. Therefore teat morphology is an important parameter in choosing the most appropriate liner. Nevertheless, teat morphology is rarely considered in choosing a teatcup liner. Gathering information on teat morphology on large scale with current techniques is time consuming, subjective and not always accurate. However, the ability to measure teat shape parameters in an easy way and on large scale has many applications. This study presents a new vision based measuring system that uses a camera to obtain a 2D image of the teat and image processing analyses to determine teat length and diameters. The technique is proven to be accurate (error less than 6%), repeatable and reproducible for both teat length and diameters