Map of Land Cover Agreement: Ensambling Existing Datasets for Large-Scale Training Data Provision

Land cover information plays a critical role in supporting sustainable development and informed decision-making. Recent advancements in satellite data accessibility, computing power, and satellite technologies have boosted large-extent high-resolution land cover mapping. However, retrieving a sufficient amount of reliable training data for the production of such land cover maps is typically a demanding task, especially using modern deep learning classification techniques that require larger training sample sizes compared to traditional machine learning methods. In view of the above, this study developed a new benchmark dataset called the Map of Land Cover Agreement (MOLCA). MOLCA was created by integrating multiple existing high-resolution land cover datasets through a consensus-based approach. Covering Sub-Saharan Africa, the Amazon, and Siberia, this dataset encompasses approximately 117 billion 10m pixels across three macro-regions. The MOLCA legend aligns with most of the global high-resolution datasets and consists of nine distinct land cover classes. Noteworthy advantages of MOLCA include a higher number of pixels as well as coverage for typically underrepresented regions in terms of training data availability. With an estimated overall accuracy of 96%, MOLCA holds great potential as a valuable resource for the production of future high-resolution land cover maps

Sensing slow mobility and interesting locations for lombardy region (Italy): A case study using pointwise geolocated open data

During the past years Web 2.0 technologies have caused the emergence of platforms where users can share data related to their activities which in some cases are then publicly released with open licenses. Popular categories for this include community platforms where users can upload GPS tracks collected during slow travel activities (e.g. hiking, biking and horse riding) and platforms where users share their geolocated photos. However, due to the high heterogeneity of the information available on the Web, the sole use of these user-generated contents makes it an ambitious challenge to understand slow mobility flows as well as to detect the most visited locations in a region. Exploiting the available data on community sharing websites allows to collect near real-time open data streams and enables rigorous spatial-temporal analysis. This work presents an approach for collecting, unifying and analysing pointwise geolocated open data available from different sources with the aim of identifying the main locations and destinations of slow mobility activities. For this purpose, we collected pointwise open data from the Wikiloc platform, Twitter, Flickr and Foursquare. The analysis was confined to the data uploaded in Lombardy Region (Northern Italy) - corresponding to millions of pointwise data. Collected data was processed through the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in order to organize them into a suitable database. This allowed to run statistical analyses on data distribution in both time and space by enabling the detection of users' slow mobility preferences as well as places of interest at a regional scale

Hotspot analysis: a first prototype Python plugin enabling exploratory spatial data analysis into QGIS

ABSTRACT The growing popularity of Free and Open Source (FOSS) GIS software is -without doubts-due to the possibility to build and customize geospatial applications to meet specific requirements for any users. From this point of view, QGIS is one of the most flexible as well as fashionable GIS software environment which enables users to develop powerful geospatial applications using Python. Exploiting this feature, we present here a first prototype plugin for QGIS dedicated to Hotspot analysis, one of the techniques included in the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA). These statistics aim to perform analysis of geospatial data when spatial autocorrelation is not neglectable and they are available inside different Python libraries, but still not integrated within the QGIS core functionalities. The main plugin features, including installation requirements and computational procedures, are described together with an example of the possible applications of the Hotspot analysis

Looking through the changes: an analysis of the buried watercourses of Como

Studying territorial evolutions and investigating their underlying processes is essential to ensure continuity in well-done land management decisions. The case of Como City can be considered as a perfect small-scale example of how human influence acted on natural environment. Several watercourses hidden under the road network of the city represent one of the meaningful consequences. FOSS4G and geospatial data from different epochs of Como City historical development allowed to trace the evolution of the territorial setting and the original position of the watercourses. We quantified the variations in their peak flood discharges as a consequence of watersheds urbanization. A Web viewer was created for an easy access to the outcomes of the study

Humanitarian Mapping within a Student Association: PoliMappers

The lack of availability and accessibility of open geospatial data, especially in developing countries is addressed by various volunteer mapping associations. PoliMappers, a chapter of the YouthMappers network and a student association of Politecnico di Milano, was established with this purpose in December 2016. PoliMappers aims to contribute data to the OpenStreetMap (OSM) database by promoting the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Hence, it focuses on creating awareness on the lack of open geospatial data and on how individuals can have an impact on contributing to open geospatial databases using FOSS. The activities of PoliMappers focus on teaching and promoting the use of such geospatial technologies to run OSM-based mapathons and mapping parties

City Focus: A web-based interactive 2D and 3D GIS application to find the best place in a city, using open data and open source software

City Focus is a webbased interactive 2D and 3D GIS application to find the best place in a city to live as well as to pass shorter staying. The user can select among different criteria and decide their importance by assigning weights to each of them. The application provides thematic maps displaying insights on the places which better fit the user’s preferences. The resulting map is computed through map algebra by means of Web Coverage Processing Service WCPS provided by RASDAMAN Database Management System. Data visualization is mainly based on NASA Web WorldWind opensource virtual globe. The app exploits exclusively open data as well as Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for its implementation by enabling continuous improvements while minimizing development costs

PoliMappers: activities and objectives

PoliMappers is a student association of Politecnico di Milano, recently founded in December 2016. The mission of the group is to do mapping across different realities within the university as well as among primary and secondary schools, furthermore to train and motivate the next generation of volunteer mappers. PoliMappers is the first European chapter of the International Association YouthMappers, founded in 2014 in the United States of America with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to cultivate a new generation of leaders in the field of open geospatial data and technologies, with the purpose of creating through them resilient communities of the future. YouthMappers is a global network that currently includes some 52 chapters in 18 countries. In accordance with the terms of participation of YouthMappers, the association's activities include at least two mapping activities per year: mapping the local area and participating in a YouthMappers network promoted campaign

PoliMappers: associazione, attività e obiettivi

PoliMappers è un’Associazione Studentesca del Politecnico di Milano recentemente fondata (dicembre 2016) con la finalità di promuovere la conoscenza e l’utilizzo dell’informazione geografica volontaria e condivisa, ed in particolare del progetto OpenStreetMap (OSM), a fini umanitari ed educativi. PoliMappers rappresenta il primo chapter europeo dell’associazione internazionale YouthMappers (http://www.youthmappers.org), fondata nel 2014 negli USA con il supporto dell’USAID (United States Agency for International Development) per coltivare una nuova generazione di leader nel campo delle tecnologie e dei dati geospaziali aperti e creare tramite essi le comunità resilienti del futuro. YouthMappers è un network globale che comprende ad oggi circa 40 associazioni sparse per quattro continenti. In quanto prima cellula di YouthMappers fondata in Europa, PoliMappers avrà inoltre il compito di sollecitare e sostenere la formazione di associazioni gemelle presso altre università del Vecchio continente. PoliMappers consta di un proprio statuto e di una struttura organizzativa, nominata tramite votazione interna di tutti i membri, costituita da presidente, vice-presidente, segretario, tesoriere, responsabile tecnico, responsabile per la logistica, responsabile per l’education, responsabile per il fundraising, responsabile per la comunicazione e i social media, e due mentor accademici. In accordo con le linee guida fornite da YouthMappers, le attività dell’Associazione prevedono almeno due progetti di mapping OSM da svolgersi durante ciascun anno solare: la mappatura sul campo di un’area locale e la mappatura da remoto a carattere umanitario, con le indicazioni su quest’ultima che verranno suggerite direttamente dal coordinatore internazionale di YouthMappers. Un primo mapping party locale è in programma per il mese di gennaio presso il campus Leonardo del Politecnico di Milano con l’obiettivo di arricchire il database OSM con informazioni puntuali quali punti di ristoro (bar e ristoranti, distributori di caffè/bevande e snack, ecc.), rastrelliere per bici, ingressi e relativa accessibilità. Obiettivo principale di PoliMappers, che ha in previsione un calendario di incontri mensili, sarà il coinvolgimento di un numero sempre maggiore di studenti e di appassionati a OSM, software libero e dati geografici aperti, mediante l’organizzazione occasionale di mapathon e mapping party, seminari su temi legati a GIS e cartografia partecipativa nonché attività educative nelle scuole dell’obbligo. Nella comunicazione verrà presentata l’associazione e si daranno indicazioni sulla tipologia e quantità di attività richieste per diventare parte della rete internazionale YouthMappers. Verranno inoltre illustrati i progetti che vedono impegnata PoliMappers per questo suo primo anno di attività

Studies on Air Pollution and Air Quality in Rural and Agricultural Environments: A Systematic Review

Studies on air quality in rural environments are fundamental to obtain first-hand data for the determination of base emissions of air pollutants, to assess the impact of rural-specific airborne pollutants, to model pollutant dispersion, and to develop proper pollution mitigation technologies. The literature lacks a systematic review based on the evaluation of the techniques and methods used for the sampling/monitoring (S/M) of atmospheric pollutants in rural and agricultural settings, which highlights the shortcomings in this field and the need for future studies. This work aims to review the study design applied for on-field monitoring campaigns of airborne pollutants in rural environments and discuss the possible needs and future developments in this field. The results of this literature review, based on the revision of 23 scientific papers, allowed us to determine (i) the basic characteristics related to the study design that should always be reported; (ii) the main techniques and analyses used in exposure assessment studies conducted in this type of setting; and (iii) contextual parameters and descriptors of the S/M site that should be considered to best support the results obtained from the different studies. Future studies carried out to monitor the airborne pollution in rural/agriculture areas should (i) include the use of multiparametric monitors for the contextual measurement of different atmospheric pollutants (as well as meteorological parameters) and (ii) consider the most important boundary information, to better characterize the S/M site