Day :
- GIS | GIS in Mapping | GIS in Disaster Management
Session Introduction
Xinhang Shen
CEO & President, NAC Geographic Products inc. Canada
Title: Streamline GIS and location applications
Time : 09:50-10:50
Biography:
Xinhang Shen has graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (BEng in Naval Architecture & MSci in Mechanics) in China and Royal Institute of Technology (Technical Licentiate in Computational Fluid Mechanics) in Sweden and worked in a few organizations including University of Toronto. In 1995, he has developed Natural Area Coding System and founded NAC Geographic Products Inc., since then, he has been running the company, developing various software and web applications and providing consulting and geo-services for more than 20 years. Recently, he has been working on theoretical physics and produced a paper to disprove the special theory of relativity.
Abstract:
GIS as a powerful tool has gained a significant popularity recently as big data are gathered and analyzed spatially. Efficiently retrieving data and map for any specific area is getting more attention as people are losing patience quickly. Current methods defining the bounding rectangle of an area of interest with four real numbers are hurting the user as these numbers are long to input, difficult to remember and communicate and nearly impossible to digest. A new scheme to solve the problem is proposed which can use one short unified code to specify any bounding rectangular area or any location in the world. This new approach will not only improve the efficiency in typing, but more significantly streamline the representations of all areas and locations in the world for all GIS and location applications from urban planning, resources management, environment protection, worldwide postal/courier services, navigation, and emergency services for all people speaking different languages. Even more significant change is that human beings are entering a new era of using accurate spacetime obtained from their spacetime watches/smartphones for their daily activities. Thanks to GPS and the easy-to-remember, easy-to-communicate and easy-to-digest representation of the area and location, a revolution with more impact than the introduction of accurate time-keeping watches in the industrial revolution.
Yongwei Sheng
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
Title: Developing high-resolution global lake GIS database from landsat Images
Time : 11:20-12:20
Biography:
Yongwei Sheng has completed his PhD in 2000 from University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Professor at Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has published more than 80 papers in reputed journals and is currently serving in NASA Landsat Science Team and NASA SWOT Mission Science Team.
Abstract:
This presentation uses lake mapping to showcase turning remote sensing data into GIS products at global scales. Lakes are important water resources and play a crucial role in the global water cycle, but are sensitive to climate change and human activities. Mapping dynamics of global lakes is rather challenging due to their high abundance and low accessibility. With its broad spatial coverage and monitoring capability, satellite remote sensing is the only feasible approach to inventory global lake dynamics but requires thousands of high-resolution satellite images, automated mapping algorithms and more importantly tedious yet essential quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures. In our USGS- and NASA-funded projects, millions of lakes have been mapped from thousands of Landsat images acquired at lake-stable seasons and have gone through intensive QA/QC procedures. A set of highly replicable automated lake mapping tools have been developed to tackle various situations across the entire Earth. These mapping tools treat individual lakes as objects, and produce each lake as a GIS polygon. Commission and omission errors in lake mapping need to be identified and mitigated through intensive QA/QC processes. However, QA/QC of such a huge quantity of lakes is a great challenge. We have developed an automated QA tool and a semi-automated QC tool in a GIS environment to reduce the workload for manpower. The circa 2000 high-resolution systematically-generated global lake GIS database with adequate QA/QC will be released shortly. The circa 2015 database is being produced using Landsat 8 images.
Jeffrey P Harrison
University of North Florida, USA
Title: GIS and wireless technology: The positive impact on healthcare quality
Biography:
Jeffrey P Harrison is a Chair of the Department of Public Health at the University of North Florida. He has received his PhD in Health Services Research from VCU, MBA from William and Mary and his MHA from the Medical College of Virginia. He is a Professor in Health Administration and teaches Strategic Planning. He has 25 years’ experience in health care and is an international speaker on a wide range of topics. He has published extensively in the areas of Strategic Planning, change management and healthcare technology. He has authored 39 professional articles and three book chapters. In 2015, he has completed the second edition of his book: “Essentials of Strategic Planning in Healthcare” published by Health Administration Press. He is a certified Healthcare Executive and a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He was selected as one of the “Top 100 Health Administration Professors”, in 2013.
Abstract:
In the United States, the use of GIS and Wireless technology are proving essential to improving healthcare quality. These technologies are providing the system infrastructure necessary to support future innovations in healthcare. GIS and Wireless technology provide an indispensable service to healthcare delivery. Data shows that the need for these systems is growing to meet technological and workload demands. Additionally, GIS and Wireless technology provides the system infrastructure necessary to support clinical healthcare information systems such as the Electronic Health Record. At the policy level, there is growing use of GIS technology to ensure the appropriate allocation of scarce healthcare resources across geographic areas to best meet patient’s needs. This includes hospital infrastructure, emergency medical services and disaster medical response. The use of GIS mapping will replace the fragmented, overwhelmed system we have today with a coordinated, regionalized healthcare system capable of delivering lifesaving healthcare treatment. The use of Wireless technology allows providers to adapt to the changing healthcare environment by reducing medical errors and increasing time for patient interaction. Advancements such as wireless capsule endoscopy provide innovative solutions to patient treatment. Additionally, RFID systems for patient tracking and the allocation of high value medical equipment improve the quality and value of healthcare services. The benefits of a wireless infrastructure are significant. However, leadership must consider the financial cost and problems associate with implementing wireless technology. From a strategic planning perspective, healthcare leadership should foster an environment of innovation as they try to redesign the future process for healthcare delivery.
Debra A Harrison
Mayo College of Medicine, USA
Title: GIS and wireless technology: The positive impact on healthcare quality
Biography:
Debra A. Harrison, DNP, RN, NEA-BC is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Mayo College of Medicine and Chief Nursing Officer Emeritus of the Mayo Clinic in Florida. She obtained her Bachelors & Master's Degrees in Nursing from Winona State University in Minnesota and her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of North Florida. She has board certification as Nursing Executive, Advanced. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) on an FDA approved study and funded grant titled “A Pilot Study: Evaluating the Safety and Feasibility of Using autologous Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells (ASCs) on Adults with Stage III or IV Pressure Ulcers”. The Mayo Clinic Florida includes a 304 bed teaching hospital and a large outpatient practice. As Chair of the Department of Nursing, Deb supervised 1,400 RN’s, LPN’s and other personnel who work in both the hospital and outpatient setting. She has done numerous presentations related to clinical and management topics at regional and national conferences and in Santiago, Chile at the International Congress of Nursing. She has been the recipient of the Great 100 Nurses of NE Florida and of the Great 100 Nurses of Florida.
Abstract:
In the United States, the use of GIS and Wireless technology are proving essential to improving healthcare quality. These technologies are providing the system infrastructure necessary to support future innovations in healthcare. GIS and Wireless technology provide an indispensable service to healthcare delivery. Data shows that the need for these systems is growing to meet technological and workload demands. Additionally, GIS and Wireless technology provides the system infrastructure necessary to support clinical healthcare information systems such as the Electronic Health Record. At the policy level, there is growing use of GIS technology to ensure the appropriate allocation of scarce healthcare resources across geographic areas to best meet patient’s needs. This includes hospital infrastructure, emergency medical services and disaster medical response. The use of GIS mapping will replace the fragmented, overwhelmed system we have today with a coordinated, regionalized healthcare system capable of delivering lifesaving healthcare treatment. The use of Wireless technology allows providers to adapt to the changing healthcare environment by reducing medical errors and increasing time for patient interaction. Advancements such as wireless capsule endoscopy provide innovative solutions to patient treatment. Additionally, RFID systems for patient tracking and the allocation of high value medical equipment improve the quality and value of healthcare services. The benefits of a wireless infrastructure are significant. However, leadership must consider the financial cost and problems associate with implementing wireless technology. From a strategic planning perspective, healthcare leadership should foster an environment of innovation as they try to redesign the future process for healthcare delivery.
Craig E. Colten
Louisiana State University, USA
Title: New orleans: Historic city with a poor memory
Time : 14:10-14:50
Biography:
Craig E Colten earned his PhD from Syracuse University in 1984. He began his career working for the State of Illinois documenting historical hazardous waste sites and moved to the private sector to participate in litigation-support research for a number of years. In 2000, he joined the Geography faculty at Louisiana State University. He wrote the award winning book, “Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature” and recently published “Southern Waters: The Limits to Abundance”.
Abstract:
New Orleans is a city with a rich history that provides the foundation for its tourist attractions and its economy. It is also a city that has endured repeated destruction due to river floods and hurricanes and rebounded after each. One of the core principles of urban resilience is preserving the memory of lessons learned in the course of past events. This paper traces the erosion of social memory of key elements of urban development in the wake of a series of dramatic hurricanes. The purpose is to draw attention on the loss of urgency between tragic events and to foster more deliberate attempts to bolster the retention of lessons learned and to perpetuate social memory.
N.S Nethengwe
N.S Nethengwe, University of Venda, South Africa.
Title: Detecting Seriphium Plumosum spatial distribution dominancy using some of abiotic variables in Msukaligwa Local Municipality, Mpumalanga
Time : 14:50-15:20
Biography:
N S Nethengwe is currently the Deputy Dean and HOD of Environmental Sciences University of Venda, South Africa, His research interests includes applications of PGIS/GIS/RS in flood risk, gully extraction, modeling soil erosion and cross-border trade & green economy. He is registered as a Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.
Abstract:
The spread of Seriphium Plumosum is a significant environmental predicament which is aggressive to South African grasslands. Detecting Seriphium Plumosum spatial distribution dominancy using abiotic variables is crucial towards the management of its population and it assists researchers, farmers and governments to understand the species’ spatial distribution. Areas which are currently affected by Seriphium Plumosum were mapped using GIS and remote sensing techniques. A reconnaissance survey was employed to gather accurate point locational information about the Seriphium Plumosum. GPS coordinates were collected and used as a location reference to digitize areas affected by Seriphium Plumosum. Remote sensing was applied during the process of image interpretation. Unsupervised classification results and land cover maps were used as field work guide tools. Potential survey areas were selected by masking out the land cover from a land cover database such as plantation, towns, mines and cultivated land that are less likely to be affected by Seriphium Plumosum. Soil texture, soil depth, mean annual rainfall, land cover, slope and aspect raster data were used in this study. The ArcGIS spatial analyst tool was used to reclassify the data. It was detected that Seriphium Plumosum prefers deep to very deep soil with loam clay texture, loams and sandy loams. However, although, Seriphium Plumosum prefers these variables it should not be considered that Seriphium Plumosum cannot be distributed to other variables because it was also found in other variables but at a lower rate. This study also found that Seriphium Plumosum prefers areas that are classified as cultivated land. Similarly, it was documented as well that Seriphium plumosum flourishes well in the disturbed areas or abandoned land.
Arfanara Najnin
Curtin University, Australia
Title: Spatio-temporal modeling of traffic congestion triggered by incidents
Time : 15:20-15:40
Biography:
Arfanara Najnin has completed her MSc from University of Muenster, Germany in 2014 and New University of Lisbon, Portugal under the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship funded by European Commission. Currently she is pursuing her PhD in Department of Spatial Sciences at Curtin University, WA, Australia supervised by Dr. Cecilia Xia. She has three and half years of work experience in the field of research and consultancy.
Abstract:
Traffic congestion has become a substantial issue in major urban spaces, which has significant adverse environmental, social and economic impacts to the modern civilization. Traffic congestion triggered by incidents is predominantly challenging because of its haphazard occurrence in different places at a certain period that exploits the functional influences of the congestion on communal and financial events. In Australia’s main cities, around 50% of traffic congestions are caused by various traffic incidents such as vehicle crashes, breakdowns, road works, lane blockages, extreme weather events, etc., where the same condition has been seen in many other cities of the developed nation. As a recent improvement to transport safety and efficiency, the mitigation of vulnerability to road and traffic congestion caused by traffic incidences is becoming a major task to make sure sustainable breathing space in cities for near future. Among the various types of incidences, vehicle crashes are a significant factor all over the world. The spatial and temporal pattern of traffic congestion triggered by vehicle crashes seem to be an under examined field of study. This research aims to discover the connection between traffic congestion and vehicle crashes by using a spatial temporal modeling approach. The fundamental concept of shockwave theory will be used in this study to model spatial temporal scenarios which is one of the best approaches for traffic modeling. This research will also attempt to provide some intervention strategies to mitigate vulnerability to traffic congestion in response to vehicle crashes, as a contribution to future urban transport management and planning.
Reda Amer
Tulane University, USA
Title: Remote sensing approach to evaluate sediment diversions on the lower Mississippi River
Time : 16:00-16:30
Biography:
Reda Amer has a PhD in Geophysics/Advanced Remote Sensing and GIS from Saint Louis University, USA. Currently, he is working as a Professor of Practice of Remote Sensing and GIS at Tulane University, in New Orleans, LA. His research focuses on the applications of remote sensing and GIS to the mineral exploration, evaluation of groundwater resources in arid and semi-arid lands, water quality, land use and land cover change, and other environmental studies. His research has been presented to the scientific community through publications and international conference presentations.
Abstract:
This study presented a modified Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) for mapping the percentage of wetland loss and gain in the lower Mississippi river within Cubit’s Gap Subdelta (CGSD). The Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images were used to derive highly accurate land/water boundary maps at the 30 m resolution. The NDWI calculated from (blue - SWIR)/(blue + SWIR), where SWIR is the shorter wavelength region was able to determine the water/land boundaries, and separate mixed water pixels better than the previously published NDWI. The overall accuracies of the ETM+ and OLI classified maps were above 90% confidence level, and Kappa statistics are well above 0.9. The classification accuracy reflects how well the water, non-water and mixed-water classes were identified from the newly developed NDWI. The GIS spatial analysis revealed that there were about 84 km of land gain and 38.1 km of land loss within in the CGSD between 2000 and 2015. Land gain occurred predominantly in the western section of the CGSD where sediment was imported either from Mississippi River crevasses or from dredging. Land loss typically occurred in the eastern part of CGSD with greater wave exposure. Areas with land loss generally correlate to high values of average loss of ignition, water content and salinity, where areas of land gain generally correlate with high shear strength and bulk density. This study suggests that diversions will be most successful if they have high sediment inputs.
Olga Viedma
University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Title: Feedbacks between fire and landscape using remote sensing and GIS
Time : 16:30-17:00
Biography:
Olga Viedma has graduated in Geography, specializing in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She has completed her PhD in Environmental Sciences from University of Alcala, Spain in 1999. She belongs to the group of Fire Ecology and Global Change of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). Her main research is focused on landscape ecology and forest fires which has resulted in several papers related to the development of standard methodologies for mapping fires from satellite images, analysis of spatio-temporal patterns of forest fires, post-fire effects and spatio-temporal modeling of historical land use-land cover changes-related to fire hazard.
Abstract:
During last decades, fire activity has been changing in several countries bordering the Mediterranean basin. Changes in socio-economic factors that affect landscapes and ignitions may have played a role. In this work, we will show different methods to assess fire activity, the role of the various drivers on fire activity and the main fire effects on the landscape by means of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) technologies. We will focus on the main methods to reconstruct the spatio-temporal patterns of fire regime from time series of Landsat images, including main pre-processing and fire mapping techniques. Later, we will assess how land use-land cover (LULC) changes have increased fire-hazard, as well as how the role of environmental and socioeconomic factors have changed over time, focusing on promising statistical approaches. We will show how to model fire activity in a spatially and temporally explicit way, assessing the role of landscape features and socio-economic factors on daily fire frequency. Finally, we will assess the fire effects on landscapes modeling fire severity (from Landsat images) from several factors as the pre-fire stand structure, directional topography and burning conditions. We conclude with an example of modeling post-fire species richness one year after a fire (from QuickBird imagery) using multiscale, spatially explicit predictive models.
Shyla Liebscher
Project Coordinator, Houston Parks Board, USA
Title: Sustainable and innovative open-space/greenways development with GIS
Biography:
As Project Coordinator, Shyla focuses on daily GIS activities related to project mapping and data administration at the Houston Parks Board. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Biology from the University Of Houston- Clear Lake and has earned technical certifications of GIS Technician and Analyst from Lonestar College. She holds a professional certification with GISCI Institute for meeting the requirements to be considered a GISP. She has over nine years of experience in the Geographic Information Science field with a strong background in database development, analysis and mapping.
Abstract:
The Houston Parks Board is a non-profit organization that is currently undertaking a major intiaitve called Bayou Greenways 2020 to build 80 miles of hike and bike trails and parkland along bayous throughout communities in Houston. These hike and bike trails are a valuable form of transportation for many in the underparked community, but they also provide tangible health benefits, socio-economic benefits and environmental benefits. While the organization was busy building these major infrastructure projects along Houston’s bayous, they discovered along the way that providing easy access within the organization itself and its public-facing website to locations and information about amenities of these trails and greenspaces was a necessity. Out of that necessity came the intiative to build a public mapping application. The Houston Parks Board has leveraged it’s nonprofit status to create a dynamic GIS database capable of hosting both internal and external data that ties directly back to a GIS server, which creates up-to-date information available for all uers at reduced cost, reduced speed and high integrity. Creating this public mapping application has and can continue to reduce maintenance efforts because if can inform the organization of repairs, provides a central repository for all projects, and maintains a seamless and streamlined data processes and transfers from multiple vendors. This model can be trasferred to other organizations and agencies, and the solutions provided by creating this dynamic system can do the following: • Gather real time information submitted by the actual users of the infrastructure; • Increase productivity and better time management due to less time monitoring out in the field; and • Creates a better defined experience for users because their input is taken into account.
David Lamb
Physicist, University of New England, Australia
Title: GIS alive and working: National broadband telecommunications network + farm technology = SMART farms. The Australian experience
Biography:
David is a physicist who has worked in ‘Precision Agriculture’ (PA) for over 20 years, initially on the early use of GPS, airborne video remote sensing, crop yield monitoring and electromagnetic soil surveying. He runs the University of New England’s Precision Agriculture Research Group (www.une.edu.au/parg); a multidisciplinary team of academic, research and technical staff working on industry-funded projects across rain-fed and irrigated cropping, livestock and and horticulture (including viticulture) enterprises. David leads the university’s SMART Farm project.
Abstract:
The role of internet in agriculture is fast approaching its ‘third wave’; ‘Wave 1’ was connecting people to data via www (1990’s); ‘Wave 2’ connecting people to people, viz, Facebook and Twitter (2000’s); and ‘Wave 3’ will now connect people to ‘things’ (2010-). Advances in wireless sensor networks coupled with in-situ, low-cost plant, animal and asset sensors; the so-called ‘internet of things’, means our farms and field will become sources of high quality, local yet synoptic, real-time management data. The University of New England (Australia) has transformed a 2,900 ha commercial farm into a SMART Farm (Sustainable Manageable Accessible Rural Technologies Farm). The SMART Farm (www.une.edu.au/smartfarm) showcases the latest, live GIS-enabled technologies aimed at improving productivity, environmental sustainability, safety, workflow and social/business support networks on Australian farms. With a $2 million SMART Farm Innovation Centre located in the middle of the farm, and linked to the outside world via fibre, fixed wireless and satellite national broadband network, the predominantly grazing SMART Farm is one of the largest farms of its kind, serving as an 'instrumented' research and teaching laboratory. Serving as a test-site for new technologies and farming practises, the SMART Farm is a connected GIS classroom where the community as well as students of all ages can access the latest data streaming in from a range of field, animal and machinery sensors.
Renata Coura Borges
Researcher, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia, Brazil
Title: The application of the GIS and IDW interpolator on the evaluation of environmental impacts on different matrixes and regions
Biography:
Renata Coura Borges has completed her D. Sc. at the age of 30 years from Universidade Federal Fluminense in the field Environmental Geochemistry and postdoctoral studies from Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear. She is the scholarship holder researcher of Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia. She has published more than 5 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial revisor of international papers. It has experience in the evaluation of environmental degradation and recovery of areas contaminated by heavy metals, rare earth elements and natural radionuclides. Currently working on the recovery of the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais.
Abstract:
The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are powerful computational tools, which allow the performance of complex analysis by integrating data from multiple sources and creating geo-referenced databases. Due to its wide range of applications, including topics such as agriculture, forestry, environment, cartography, urban registers, among others. There are at least three major ways to use GIS: as a tool for map production; as support for phenomena spatial analysis; and as a geographic database. The method of Inverse Distance Weighting interpolation (IDW) estimates the values of un sampled points by averaging the values of surrounding sampled points. This study aims to show the GIS application capacity on the environmental field through the use of IDW interpolation, the spatial distribution of lead (Pb) and nickel (Ni) in of Cunha Canal Watershed and West of Guanabara Bay-RJ, by building thematic maps for identification of the possible leach of rare earth elements on the phosphogypsum stacks in Imbituba-SC and also provide radionuclide distribution in soils maps of Fundão Island-RJ. Specific analytical techniques were used, Guanabara Bay was analyzed with the Optical Emission Spectrometry with Inductively Coupled Plasma; Imbituba and Fundão Island were analyzed with Gama Spectrometry. Using the IDW and GIS, high efficiency maps were generated to clearly inform the contamination which occurred in different evaluated areas of study in this work
Ismail Sabbah
The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait
Title: Dust and climat in Kuwait
Biography:
Ismail Sabbah has completed his PhD in 1990 from the University of New Mexico and his D.Sc in 2012 from University of Alexandria, Egypt. He is working in Remote Sensing. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member of repute. He established the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) site in Kuwait and completed the Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN) for Space Weather predictions in 2006 by installing the first cosmic-ray muon Telescope in the Middle East.
Abstract:
We investigate the consistency between Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrieved by MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite and measurements collected by ground-based AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) site in Kuwait for 2007-2012. A good correlation (r = 0.7) is obtained between the two data sets. The concentration of particles with geometric mean radius ranges of 0.05–15 μm has been studied as well. Seasonal variations are clearly found in the shape and magnitude of the volume size distributions (VSDs) for PM2.5 and coarse particles. The highest concentrations of aerosol coarse particles are found during the spring. Both PM2.5 and coarse particles concentrations increase substantially during dust storms, reaching the highest values during the dust storm of 24 May 2012. The method of superposed epoch analysis is used to test the influence of the dust on meteorological parameters in 2012. Increases in wind speed together with significant reductions in visibility and diurnal temperature range (DTR) during dusty days are observed. Additionally air temperature decreases one day after dust occurrence. These effects can be due to scattering of sunlight back to space by the suspended dust particles.
Sajid Ali
Research Assistant, University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
Title: Design and Implementation of a geodatabse and Web GIS
Biography:
Sajid Ali has completed his M.Sc. form Hochschule fur Technik Stuttgart, University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart Germany in Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics. He has worked as student research assistant at the same university under the supervesion of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietrich Schröder. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietrich Schröder is the dean of faculity of Geomatics, Computer Science und Mathematics and also the Programme director MSc. Photogrammetry and Geoinformatics at the Hochschule fur Technik Stuttgart, University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart Germany. He is also the Honorary Doctor of Yerevan State University for Architecture and Construction, Armenia.
Abstract:
The merging of internet and Web has created many disciplines and Web GIS is one these disciplines which is effectively dealing with the geospatial data in a proficient way. Web GIS technologies have provided an easy accessing and sharing of geospatial data over the internet. However, there is a single platform for easy and multiple access of the data lacks for the European Caribbean Association (Europaische Karibische Gesselschaft - EKG) to assist their members and other research community. The technique presented in this paper deals with designing of a geodatabase using PostgreSQL/PostGIS as an object oriented relational database management system (ORDBMS) for competent dissemination and management of spatial data and Web GIS by using OpenGeo Suite for the fast sharing and distribution of the data over the internet. The characteristics of the required design for the geodatabase have been studied and a specific methodology is given for the purpose of designing the Web GIS. At the end, validation of this Web based geodatabase has been performed over two Desktop GIS software and a web map application and it is also discussed that the contribution has all the desired modules to expedite further research in the area as per the requirements.
- Remote Sensing
Session Introduction
Benjamin Malphrus
Morehead State University, USA
Title: Lunar IceCube: Ushering in a new era of planetary remote sensing using small satellite platforms
Biography:
Dr. Benjamin K. Malphrus is Professor of Space Science at Morehead State University where he also directs the University’s Space Science Center and serves as the Director of Space Operations for the Kentucky Space program. He has served as Principal Investigator on several nanosatellite missions including KySat-1, CXBN 1 and 2, and TechSat-1. He and his team recently received an $8M contract from NASA to design a small space probe to fly to the Moon to prospect for water ice. In the late 1990s, he developed a theory of galaxy formation that has gained wide acceptance among the astronomical community.
Abstract:
Lunar IceCube, a 6U CubeSat designed to prospect for water in solid (ice), liquid, and vapor forms and other lunar volatiles from a low-perigee, highly inclined lunar orbit, has been selected by NASA for a flight opportunity on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). The mission is a partnership between Morehead State University, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC), JPL, the Busek Company, Vermont Tech, and Kentucky Space LLC. Lunar IceCube will be deployed during lunar trajectory by the Space Launch System (SLS) and use an innovative RF Ion engine to achieve lunar capture and a science orbit (inertially locked, highly elliptical, 100 km periapsis) to investigate the distribution of water (ice, vapor, water components), as a function of time of day, latitude, and regolith composition in the context of mineralogy. IceCube will include the Broadband InfraRed Compact High Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES)- a compact version of the successful volatile-seeking New Horizons Ralph instrument. BIRCHES has the high spectral resolution (5 nm) and wavelength range (1 to 4 μm) needed to distinguish phase states of water. The mission addresses NASA Strategic Knowledge Gaps related to lunar volatile distribution, and will complement the work of Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map by focusing on the distribution and transportation physics of water ice at a variety of latitudes, thus not restricted to permanently shadowed regions. The 13 secondary payload CubeSats that will be included on EM-1, including Lunar IceCube, will usher in a new era of solar system exploration with CubeSats and other small satellite platforms.
Xuelian Meng
Louisiana State University, USA
Title: New era of 3D coastal morphology mapping using LiDAR and unmanned aerial vehicle
Biography:
Xuelian Meng is an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University and Fellow of the Coastal Studies Institute. Her research interest is to apply geospatial technologies to investigate fragile ecosystems that are sensitive to human activities. Specific topics of her research include LiDAR, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), 3D modeling of coastal morphology, image processing, feature extraction and land cover and land use analysis. Her recent studies focus on applying terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal morphological mapping under dense vegetation and fine scale sediment change analysis. She is a life-time Member of the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS), Member of Association of American Geographers (AAG) and American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
Abstract:
Coastal morphology addresses the evolution of coastal features such as sediment, vegetation and their interaction with hydrodynamics, which is an important subject in coastal studies. Previous researches mainly used historical data from satellite or airborne sensors to map coastal morphology in land cover and 3D structure, which are limited by the availability in time, location, cost and resolution of existing data. Other commonly used approaches are field data collection through RTK (Real Time Kinematic) GPS, total station, leveling sensor and manual survey of vegetation plots. Although elevation profiles and vegetation plots provide insight into terrain morphology and sediment dynamics, these discrete survey methods faces major challenges in coastal environments with spatial heterogeneity and unpredictable locations with severe morphological changes. In recent years, the development of high-resolution and portable survey instruments of terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provide flexible field mapping tools to fill in the gap between the existing imagery and discrete field elevation survey, which have gained popularity in morphological mapping. This presented study focuses on our recent applications of terrestrial LiDAR and UAV on coastal morphological mapping by addressing the following questions: How effective and accurate are terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal terrain mapping? What are the uncertainties and causes in areas with low accuracy? What are the main challenges to map densely vegetated coastal environment and how to correct elevation under dense vegetation? In the end, this study applies recently developed coastal morphology analyst (CMA) for sediment change and evolution analysis.
Gabriel
GIS Analyst, Telematica, Peru
Title: Gold mining and land cover change in Madre de Dios, Peru: A remote sensing study using landsat-5 thematic mapper data
Biography:
Gabriel is working at TELEMATICA S.A, Esri’s International Distributor in Peru. As a GIS Analyst I work with the Project Development and Support Team. I help public and private institutions maximize the use of the ArcGIS Platform. I also provide smart solutions to optimize their projects and decision making processes in areas such as urban planning, conservation, resources management, social programs, transportation, emergency management, etc. I recently attended the Esri User Conference in San Diego and the study area map I created for my Honors thesis - “Gold mining and land cover change in Madre de Dios, Peru: A remote sensing study using LandSat-5 Thematic Mapper Data” - was featured by Jack Dangermond in the Natural Resources Management group during the ‘’GIS Around the World” session at the Plenary. This group also included work related to precision agriculture, crop rotation, marine planning, as well as agriculture and forecasting activities.
Abstract:
Peru has reputedly the largest non-discovered gold resources on earth. In a country with a 30% poverty rate, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) offers a source of employment and a strategy to fight poverty among the low income sectors of the population. ASM is found in four geographic regions: Central South (Ica, Ayacucho and Arequipa), Puno, La Libertad and Madre de Dios. Few government regulations and low cost of mining operations are driving land cover changes on these locations, but to unknown extent and magnitude. The following study applies Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data to create land cover maps and detect land cover changes between 1986 and 2011 resulting from artisanal and small-scale gold mining for a ~10316 km2 region in the Department of Madre de Dios, southeastern Peru. TM images from 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2011 were used to map five categories: dense forest, water, cleared land and sediment, mine tailings and grassland. Overall map accuracy ranged between 81-84%. Throughout the 25-years period, forest cover decreased by 915.98 km2 (7.09%), cleared land and sediment increased by 105.06 km2 (0.81%), grassland increased by 348.35 km2 (2.70%), as did mine tailings, which increased by 396.15 km2 (3.07%). Dense forest areas contributed to an increase in grassland (44.35%), mine tailings (38%) and cleared land and sediment (17.65%). Land cover changes in Madre de Dios are caused by ASM activities in concessions with title (53.4%), in concessions with title in progress (12.6%), and in areas outside the boundaries of mining concessions and mining claims (34%).
Bharathi
Bharathidasan University Trichy, India
Title: Mapping wastelands through remote sensing and GIS Techniques
Biography:
Bharathi has doing M Tech Geoinformatics final semester in Bharathidasan University Trichy. Also done my UG on B E Geoinformatics at Anna University Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu. Plan to do Ph.D after my PG at same discipline Remote Sensing and GIS applications. Currently am doing my final dissertation work at National Institute of Advanced Studies(NIAS) at Bangalore uunder DR. M B Rajini, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities. My dissertation based on the 3D Visulaization of Archeaological sites using remote snesing and GIS techniques.
Abstract:
Mapping Wastelands through Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques: An empty area of land, especially in or near a city, which is not used to grow crops or built on, or used in any way and/or a place, time or situation containing nothing positive or productive, or completely without a particular quality or activity. Different authors have defined wastelands as: Land which is lying unproductive or which is not being utilized to its potential; Land which is incapable of producing material or services of value (Ameri¬can Society of Soil Science);Land which has been abandoned and for which there is no further use (e.g. abandoned quarries or mine spoils); Land which produces less than 20% of economic potential; Land where no greenery can be sustained; Lands which are ecologically unstable, badly eroded and degraded; Land which is neither under forest cover or agricultural cover, or assigned for specific purposes such as national parks or national hydel projects.Over a certain period, both geological and geomorphological processes resulted in the formation of a variety of land systems, such as mountains, hills, valleys, plateaus and plains. This reserach carries out that how the Remote Sensing application activates to identify and mapping the wastelands through GIS over the Vellore district which have high temperature over Tamil Nadu, which leads us to manage our natural resources to derive optimum benefit and create higher awrenwss through a highly reliable information system
Shah Murad
Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST), Karachi
Title: Legal validity of satellite remote sensing data: Emerging challenges and regulatory Issues
Biography:
Shah Murad is an Assistant Professor at Department of Law, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST), Karachi. He received a Master of Law (LL.M) degree from University of Karachi in 2007 and currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law at the University of Karachi. Shah has a strong interest in legal analysis, research and writing on emerging legal issues, particularly Air and Space Law. His several interviews, columns, and legal opinions have been published in the leading newspapers in Pakistan on complex legal issues. He has presented research work at the national and international conferences.
Abstract:
Technological advancements in the field of space technology have provided tremendous benefits to the modern society. The application of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) has also played a vital role in the socio-economic development of Pakistan - ranging from food security to disaster management. The national space agency, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), has been using Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) since 2000. Pakistan is party to all five Treaties of the United Nations on Space Law but it has not incorporated any Treaty into municipal law. Hence, at present there is no law and policy in Pakistan to regulate the collection, distribution, sharing, archiving, and access of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) data. The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) has developed an international set of norms, Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space, which provide a guideline for policy making on application and uses of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS). In view of the emerging challenges and regulatory issues involved in application of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS), it is imperative to develop a regulatory framework at national level to cope with complex challenges faced by the public and private sector in legal environment. This paper addresses legal aspects of Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) in the context of data privacy, responsibility, liability, rights, intellectual property, and also indentifies shortcomings in the existing Pakistan’s legal system and proposes possible solutions.
Wael EL ZEREY
Djillali Liabes University, Algeria.
Title: The use of remote sensing and GIS for monitoring and analysis of desertification in Algerian territory
Biography:
Wael El Zerey is an Associate Professor at the department of environment in Djillali Liabes University. He obtained his engineering degree (2002) in ecology and his M.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2010) in Environmental Sciences from Djillai Liabes University in Algeria. His research focuses on the monitoring and understanding of land cover change and desertification by the use of remote sensing, and GIS technology
Abstract:
The desertification results from an imbalance in the dynamic interactions between the four elements of the ecosystem (climate, soil, vegetation, human beings). It is then a state which settles under the combined effects of the climatic modifications and the human activities applied to fragile soil and vegetation. The current vegetation all over the world is the complex result of interactions between flora, climate, and soil conditions. According to the different studies of desertification phenomena in North Africa, the most significant indicators are the biophysical ones like the state of vegetation cover and the state of landscape Combating desertification gives a priority to the execution of preventive measures in favour of the not yet degraded regions. This step remains however dependent on precise and reliable information in the time and space on the situation and the evolution of desertification. remote sensing technology and geographical information systems can play a great role in land desertification investigation, monitoring land changes, and as a tool for regional planning. If the multi-temporal remote sensing data at optimum season are acquired, it is possible to establish a desertification analysis model to study the cause of land desertification and predict the tendency of its expansion quantitatively. The remote sensing is also a powerful tool to follow the state of landscape and its the relationship with the distribution of the water resources. The synthesis of the totality of results under a geographical information system GIS as well as their confrontation with others types of data can allow the mapping of the desertification risk
- GIS In Mapping
Session Introduction
Vibha Katiyar
Banaras Hindu University, India
Title: Lineaments study with the help of GIS applications around Rameshwar, Pithoragarh District, Uttrakhand, India
Biography:
I am Indian and completed my Ph.D. at the age of 26 years from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, U.P. India. Main focus of my research is to study the structural and neotectonic features of the area with the help of GIS software. So far my two papers have published at the referred journal a title is "Fold Profile Geometry of the Rock of the Area Around Pithoragarh, Uttarakhandâ€. The second one is “Mesoscopic Structures From the Area Around Satengal, Lesser Garhwal Himalaya."
Abstract:
The area under study lies in a very rugged mountain terrain of Kumaun region is constituted of varied lithogical units of early to late precambrian in age (Auden, 1937) and forms a part of southern extension of Almora crystalline. These two tectonic units Almora Crystalline and Garhwal Group are separated along the North Almora Thrust (NAT). The area is drained by river sarju and Ramganga which have their confluence near Rameshwar. For geomorphic and neotectonic study, contour of the area has been digitized from Survey of India (SOI) toposheet no. 62 C/2 and 62 C/3. The study area is bounded between the latitude 29º 25' to 29º 35' and longitude 80º 05' to 80º 15' and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been prepared from these digitized contours of GIS software in ArcGIS 9.3. The DEM shows that the area falls under a rugged mountainous terrain where the height varies between 460 m. to 2489 m. above mean sea level. The prominent peaks of the study area is Thalkedar (2375 m). We used remote sensing data, geological maps, field observations and related structure to map the NAT and lineaments in the study area. Remote sensing is beneficial for recognising fault lineaments in a number of ways (Prost 2001; Babaahmadi et al. 2012). It allows the recognition of geological structures, geomorphic features, rock units, structural lineaments. A Lineaments is a mappable linear or curvilinear features of a surface whose parts align in a straight or slightly curving relationship (Hung, 2005). They may be expression of a faults, joints or other weakness line. Satellite images used in this study are Landsat ETM+ images with composite bands, which are suitable for geological purpose. For better identification of rock units and larger scale faults and lineaments, we merge the images with ERDASS imagine software. This image has a resolution of 30 m which is suitable to detect the lineaments. A total 319 lineaments are identified in which 159 are present in Almora Crystalline and 160 in Garhwal Group tectonic unit. Lineaments have wide variation in their individual length for both the tectonic units in which 0.7 to 0.96 km in Almora Crystalline and 0.46 to 1.16 km in Garhwal Group. The rose diagram also suggests that most of the lineaments in Almora Crystalline are oriented between N30ºE to N60ºE directions while in Garhwal Group the maximum frequency is in NE-SW direction. A rough NE direction of the lineaments of both the tectonic units reveal that most of the lineaments are oriented perpendicular to direction of major fold axis (i.e. NW-SE). However, there is also a marked difference in the density of the lineaments between the two tectonic units. The Almora Crystallines have higher lineament density (1.21 km/km2) than that of the Garhwal Group 0.96 km/km2). This difference in density can be attributed to lithological difference in these two tectonic units.
Vikas Srivastava
Banaras Hindu University, India
Title: Development in strategies for mapping of the coal seam fires through RS and GIS vis-Ã -vis JCF on the Indian continent
Biography:
Vikas Srivastava pursuing his Ph.D at the age of 35 years from Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi – 221005. He has published more than 5 publications in journals and conferences
Abstract:
Coal is an important energy resource of a country. The huge coal reserves of JCF (Jharia coalfields) burning from past nine decades due to lack of attention towards airborne RS & GIS (Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System) technologies. The detection of the coalfire at early stage is helpful in the prediction of serious economical and environmental problems at national and international levels. Coal seam fires are mainly under control by effective detection model in developed countries and researches are going in other countries. The RS studies and their data are based on Hyperspectral, optical - MSS (Multi Spectral Spectrum), thermal or radar data. LISS (Linear Imaging and Self Scanning sensors), TM (Thematic Mapper), bands 4, 5 and 7 TIR (Thermal Infra Red), SWIR (Short Wave Infra Red) ETM+, NIR (Near Infra Red and Din SAR (Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar ) sensors of IRS and Landsat for detections in JCF. The detection time is reduced through remote sensing & GIS technologies. The effective application of RS & GIS reduces the gap between technologies for mapping the control measures for detection of uncontrolled underground coal fires. The present paper, discuses the advances in the approaches for the delineation of fire zones of JCF.
Lazhar Belkhiri
University of Hadj Lakhdar Batna, Algeria
Title: Evaluation of potential health risk of heavy metals in groundwater using the integration of indicator kriging and statistical methods
Biography:
He is affiliated as a Professor at Department of hydraulics, University of Hadj Lakhdar Batna, Algeria
Abstract:
Multivariate statistical methods, geostatistical techniques and human health risk assessment were used to determine the main factors and mechanisms controlling the spatial variation of heavy metals in groundwater and to assess the adverse health effects on the population. Q-mode cluster analysis (Q-mode CA) grouped the sampling wells into two statistically significant clusters based on similarities of groundwater quality characteristics. Two significant factors were extracted by principal component analyses (PCA), explaining 64.19 % of the total variance. These factors were in turn described by the clusters 1 and 2, respectively, resulting from the R-mode CA. PCA and CA revealed significant anthropogenic contributions and water-rock interaction effects of the metals in groundwater. Health risk assessment like chronic daily intake (CDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) indices were calculated for child and adult. The HQ indices of Cd and Pb in child and Al and Fe in adult were found to be higher than the safe limits, posing adverse health hazards and potential non-carcinogenic health risks to the inhabitants. Spatial variability maps using ordinary kriging show that safe zones are mainly concentrated in the west and south-western parts of the study area, while the contamination zones are found to be concentrated in the east, north, and south-eastern parts of the plain. The indicator kriging maps show highly uneven spatial pattern of Pb, Cd, Fe, and Al concentrations. The probability maps show that more than 50% of the total area had the highest probability (0.8-1.0) of exceeding the threshold values for Cd and Pb
Tarik Chafiq
Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco
Title: Geological data using spatial data Infrastructure
Biography:
Tarik CHAFIQ is a PhD student at Hassan II University, he got his master's degree in GIS. he has worked in the research field of genetics, including the establishment of a spatial data infrastructure, and specifically on the technical parts of SDI. he had certificates from Microsoft as an expert in C # and HTML5.
Abstract:
Spatial data has an important role in many social, environmental, economic and political decisions, and is increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development. Therefore, they can help to make the appropriate decision in several specialties; namely exploration and resource management, urban development, and water qualit,etc. Despite the huge explosion and the availability of these data entities that produce them have been faced with increasing difficulties regarding aspects such as harmonization, standardization, management and sharing of data between the different platforms; on a national or/and international level. Furthermore, geospatial data are often acquired for special purposes that are often proved in a differently way to their future use. The aim of this proposed work is to facilitate access to geological data coming from distributed data sources and the information (metadata) related to these data. We have established a spatial data infrastructure as a prototype that comprises a geoportal providing access to a Catalogue Service for Web (CSW) representing both the data and available services, and the WMS (Web Map Service) view and Web Feature Service (WFS) download services, which aim to be compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards rules. In fact the establishment of a spatial data infrastructure that we have elaborated in accordance with internationally recognized standards allows the exploration and sharing of geological data information, and will also allow researchers and professionals to spend more time in the analysis and the discovery of these data
Kombo Hamad Kai
University of Dar es Salam, Tanzania
Title: The relationship between tropical cyclones and the plant productivity indices along the coast of Tanzania
Biography:
Mr Kai is a finaly year PhD student at the institute of Marine Sciences of the University of Dar es. Mr Kai is the senior meteorologist working with Tanzanian Meteorological Agency, where his work station is Zanzibar.. based on puplishing he has sent number of abtracts and manuscripts wainting for responses from the the specific Jounals.
Abstract:
The relationship between tropical cyclone (TCs) and the plant productivity indices along the coast of Tanzania was investigated using both field observations and change detection methods. The satellite data comprising of 16 days MODIS 250 x 250 m and 8 days Landsat 7 ETM 30 x 30 m (2000-2014) and 5 Landsat 8 (LC8) images, were used to determine the pattern of the inter-annual variability of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and the TCs impacts on vegetation. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) acquired from TRMM website and daily to monthly rainfall data, acquired from Tanzanian Meteorological Agency (TMA) were used. Inter annual variability of NDVI/EVI over Chwaka, Rufi and Pugu- Kazimzumbwi, and monthly rainfall at the coastal stations were analyzed. The reults revealed that, 2002 had highest NDVI/EVI values, which were peaked in March and April and minimum values in November. MODIS data for most stations and TCs gave significantly lower EVI changes ranging from 0.05-0.45 (Gafilo), -0.15-0.25 (Kalunde), 0.1-0.25 (Fobane) compared to L7 ETM data where the EVI change ranged from -0.4-0.15 (Gafilo), 0.0-0.25 (Kalunde) and 0.05-0.5 (Fobane). Analyses of spatial changes in NDVI showed that TCs Besija and Fobane were associated with both decline and enhancement of the NDVI over Chwaka and Rufiji. Over Chwaka, these TCs were associated with the NDVI enhancement of > 0.51 and > 0.47 and a decline of < 0.03 and < 0.02, respectively. Over Rufiji TCs event resulted into NDVI enhancement of > 0.31 and a decline of < -0.19. Further image analyses indicated a high deposition of sediments along the shorelines, where water covered areas had changed to vegetation covered. These results were consistent with the patterns shown by analysis of rainfall data which indicated low rainfall occurred in low EVI/NDVI areas and vice versa.
- Geodynamics | GIS software | Digital Earth
Session Introduction
Xuelian Meng
Louisiana State University, USA
Title: New era of 3D coastal morphology mapping using LiDAR and unmanned aerial vehicle
Biography:
Dr. Xuelian Meng is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University and fellow of the Coastal Studies Institute (SCI). Her research interests are to apply geospatial technologies to investigate fragile ecosystems that are sensitive to human activities. Specific topics of research include LiDAR, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), 3D modeling of coastal morphology, image processing, feature extraction, and land cover and land use analysis. Her recent studies focus on applying terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal morphological mapping under dense vegetation and fine scale sediment change analysis. She is a life-time member of the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS), and member of Association of American Geographers (AAG) and American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
Abstract:
Coastal morphology addresses the evolution of coastal features such as sediment, vegetation, and their interaction with hydrodynamics, which is an important subject in coastal studies. Previous research mainly use historical data from satellite or airborne sensors to map coastal morphology in land cover and 3D structure, which are limited by the availability in time, location, cost, and resolution of existing data. Other commonly used approaches are field data collection through RTK GPS, total station, leveling sensor, and manual survey of vegetation plots. Although elevation profiles and vegetation plots provide insight into terrain morphology and sediment dynamics, these discrete survey methods faces major challenges in coastal environments with spatial heterogeneity and unpredictable locations with severe morphological changes. In recent years, the developments of high-resolution and protable survey instruments of terrestrial LIght Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provide flexible field mapping tools to fill in the gap between the existing imagery and descrete field elevation survey, which have gained popularity in morphological mapping. This presented studies focus on our recent applications of terrestrial LiDAR and UAV on coastal morphological mapping by addressing the following questions. How effective and accurate are terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal terrain mapping? what are the uncertainties and causes in areas with low accuracy? what are the main challenges to map densely vegetated coastal environment and how to correct elevation under dense vegetation? In the end, this study applies recently developed Coastal Morphology Analyst (CMA) for sediment change and evolution analysis.
Barbara Bollard Breen
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
Title: Remote sensing in conservation and ecological research
Biography:
Dr Barbara Bollard Breen is a senior lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences at AUT. Her research interests are in GIS applications, ecosystem management, cultural landscapes and spatial ecology. She has over 20 years’ experience working in government and NGO’s in both Australia and New Zealand. Her research focus has been the identification and selection of Protected Areas, using remote sensing technology, such as UAV, to map habitats and landscapes for conservation planning and integrating social data with environmental and biological information using decision support systems, multivariate statistics and GIS
Abstract:
The Auckland University of Technology unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research team are leaders in the application of UAV technology and remote sensing in conservation and ecological research. The team works in partnership with industry to customise and develop unmanned systems for use in New Zealand and extreme environments such as Antarctica, desert systems and offshore islands. Low flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) offer ecologists new opportunities to collect scale appropriate data at high spatial and temporal resolution. The presentation will showcase the use of UAVs in spatial ecology and demonstrate existing post processing tools for UAV imagery. The talk will explore opportunities for use of computer vision techniques for analysis of high resolution video imagery in a variety of environments and ecological studies.
Yafra Khan
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
Title: E-BABE-Encyclopedia of bioanalytical methods for bioavailability and bioequivalence studies of pharmaceuticals
Biography:
Yafra Khan pursuing Masters of Computer Science(Research) degree from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology. The topic of my research is Water Quality Analysis and Prediction. Before this, I did my Bachelors of Software Engineering from Pakistan. I have previously done two internships in reputable organizations in Pakistan, mainly related to Web Development. I am also doing a freelance job of Software content writing and Web Development. Under this job, I have written wide ranging content including software proposals and other documents. I am interested in the fields of Machine Learning and GIS.
Abstract:
The lack of clean water resources is one of the direst issues faced by humanity, especially in the developing countries. Therefore, management of water resources to optimize the quality is very crucial. There has been a lot of research in past few years to find ways of using technology for efficient water quality management and solving issues surrounding this. In more recent years, some work has been done to improve the prediction accuracy of water quality using Artificial Intelligence algorithms like Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Bayesian Networks (BN) etc. However, more work needs to be done in terms of reliability, accuracy and usability of these water quality management tools. The goal of this research is to develop a methodology using a hybrid of ANN and fuzzy inference, known as Adaptive Neuro- Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) as well as using GIS tools to improve the prediction accuracy. The data for this research has been taken from United States Geographical Survey (USGS), with Time-Series data for six months (January-June) each of the year 2014 and 2015. The data includes 17 quality parameters. The integration of Artificial Intelligence and GIS techniques intends to provide a comprehensive methodology for effective analysis and prediction of future trends of water quality. This research intends to utilize both these tools by interactive display and graphical manipulation of the results produced. This research also studies different aspects of the methodologies used in past, reflects upon current and future challenges as well as provides insight into further improvements.
Rakshan Roohi
La Trobe University, Australia
Title: Assessment of wateruse of different landcovers using Surface Energy Balance Algorithms for Rainfed Agriculture (SEBARA) in western Victoria, South Australia
Biography:
Rakhshan has completed her first PhD at the age of 33 years from Colorado State University, USA. She stayed involved in research, research management and education for more than more than 30 years in different capacities at Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. She took an early retirement and moved to Australia and is currently working as a causal staff/Associate Research Fellow at LaTrobe University besides perusing her second PhD at LaTrobe University, Australia. She has participated in more than 20 international trainings/conferences/workshops mostly related to remote sensing and GIS and has more than 30 publications including journal articles and book chapter.
Abstract:
Evaporation and transpiration components of the energy balance are influenced by many factors especially in water-limited ecosystems: surface temperature, soil moisture, vegetation type and growth stage, and atmospheric advection and therefore are the most difficult ones to estimate. Any shift in landuse/Landcover (LULC) can disturb the hydrological balance and thus put stress on the water resources. Following the principals of energy balance equation, Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Rainfed Agriculture (SEBARA) has been devised to estimate the evapotranspiration (ET) of different LULCs in western Victoria using medium spatial resolution Landsat data. ET estimates of four LULCs: crops, plantations, natural vegetation and pastures revealed that generally the crops and plantations have 12-20% higher evapotranspirtation rate than the natural vegetation and pasture which is due to lower surface albedo and emissivity, resulting in lower outgoing longwave radiation. As a consequence, the higher available net radiation and lower soil heat flux in crops and plantations result in higher ET rate. It is observed that the tree roots can reach extend down to 12m to access groundwater which is deeper than the 6-8m previouly measured. The younger plantation with an open canopy has lower ET than the older plantation, but similar to the pastures and natural vegetation. The cultivated oats have similar evapotranspiration rate as that of old plantation. Overall the ET from pastures is lowest however, the rate depends upon the pasture species. The estimated ET compares well with ET measured using flux tower and adjusted sapflow readings (accuracy > 95%).
Munkhnasan Lamchin
Korea University, Korea
Title: Assessment of land cover change and desertification using remote sensing technology in a local region of Mongolia
Biography:
I am Mongolian now studying at the Ph.D. course of Environmental GIS-RS lab of Korea University. My research is an assessment of desertification by remote sensing and GIS method and classifies land cover of Mongolia. So far my two papers have published at the international journal a title is “Monitoring of Vegetation Dynamics in the Mongolia Using MODIS NDVIs and their Relationship to Rainfall by Natural Zone”. The second one is “Assessment of land cover change and desertification using remote sensing technology in a local region of Mongolia”.
Abstract:
Desertification is a serious ecological, environmental, and socio-economic threat to the world, and there is a pressing need to develop a reasonable and reproducible method to assess it at different scales.The Hugnu Khaan region lies in the semiarid regions of center, Mongolia. Remote sensing and GIS are being used to study desertification in this region. In this paper, we used Landsat TM and ETM data between July and September first week in 1990, 2002, and 2011 to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of the desertification using three indices: the Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI), Topsoil Grain Size index (TGSI), the Land Surface albedo. We normalized the indicators, determined their weights, and defined five grades of desertification: non, low, medium, high, and severe. The times of image acquisition on the assessment indicators, sets of assessing rules were built, and a Decision Tree approaches were used to assess the desertification and we computed Compound Topographic index (CTI), Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Perpendicular Drought index (PDI). Then tested the correlation between the level of desertification and the six variables and compared with each other, checked by field data. We found that desertification in the Hugnu Khaan covered severe desertification more than 15 % of the total land area, the total area of severely desertified land was 7% in 1990. The desertification of the study area is increasing each year; in the desertification map for 1990–2002, there is a decrease in areas of non and low desertification, and an increase in areas of high and severe desertification. From 2002 to 2011, areas of non desertification increased significantly, with areas of severe desertification also exhibiting increase, while areas of medium and high desertification demonstrated little change.
Thomas MacMullen
Eastern Illinois University, USA
Title: Implementing GIS Laboratory Practices: Migration to a distance learning based Instruction
Biography:
Eastern Illinois University,
Abstract:
Traditional learning environment laboratory practices related to GIS is aimed towards learning to use the software in a dedicated lab located in a room on campus. The need to be physically present at pre-scheduled hours, often with an instructor limits the possibilities of many non-traditional students wanting to take GIS courses. The need to design viable alternatives that allow students to access laboratory facilities remotely without losing most of the educational objectives, typically achieved in a face-to-face environment, is increasing by the day. This paper proposes a solution already implemented and tested in order to move a traditionally taught GIS course, to an ONLINE based instruction. The design requires remote access authentication via the VMWare View system which is composed of three servers: The secure server, the composer server and the administrative server. The seservers have been virtualized and reside on the hardware allocated for the project. The VMWare View system is housed on a cluster of two Dell Poweredge R720 blades with Teradici graphics accelerators. Each blade serves as a VMWare ESX 6.0 host. Within the administrative server, a pool of virtual computers is created. Any student with internet access enrolled in the course can authenticate to the VMWare View secure server which checks them for password validity and for access authorization. Once access is granted, the user is assigned to a random virtual computer in the pool. Upon logging off, the virtual computer that the user was logged into will be deleted and re-copied from the snapshot so that the next user who logs in to it will get a clean copy and will not be able to access the previous user’s data. Once student is granted access to a virtual machine they can first perform GIS mapping within the virtual server environment using the ArcGIS or qGIS. Once thes tudents gets proficient with a simulated laboratory environment, which mimics the real set-up of the laboratory facilities, a specially created secure proxy-firewalled network allows then to take control of the laboratory real GIS server facilities, which are prewired for the specific practice in place. Students then are allowed to manage and program real GIS mapping and perform laboratory practices as if they were inside the laboratory. In case they need assistance, instructors with remote access to the facilities can be reached online within the laboratory hours.
Biography:
Student
Abstract:
Web Processing Services (WPS) have upgrowing concern in geoinformation research. However, teaching about them is difficult because of the generally complex circumstances of their use. They limit the possibilities for hands- on- exercises on Web Processing Services. To support understanding however a Training Tools Collection was brought on the way at University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart (HFT). It is limited to the scope of Geostatistical Interpolation of sample point data where different algorithms can be used like IDW, Nearest Neighbor etc. The Tools Collection aims to support understanding of the scope, definition and deployment of Web Processing Services. For example it is necessary to characterize the input of Interpolation by the data set, the parameters for the algorithm and the interpolation results (here a grid of interpolated values is assumed). This paper reports on first experiences using a pilot installation. This was intended to find suitable software interfaces for later full implementations and conclude on potential user interface characteristics. Experiences were made with Deegree software, one of several Services Suites (Collections). Being strictly programmed in Java, Deegree offers several OGC compliant Service Implementations that also promise to be of benefit for the project. The mentioned parameters for a WPS were formalized following the paradigm that any meaningful component will be defined in terms of suitable standards. E.g. the data output can be defined as a GML file. But, the choice of meaningful information pieces and user interactions is not free but partially determined by the selected WPS Processing Suite
Shashi Bhushan
Jawaharlal Nehru University School of Social Science, India
Title: Assessing change of forest cover and their socio-economic impact through LULC and NDVI in Kaimur, Bihar, India: 1977-2014.
Biography:
Shashi Bhushan is continuing PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University from Center for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Science and about to submit their thesis by July 2016. Currently He is working on various aspect of forestry along with socio-economic perspective and of livelihood as well as climatic impact in tropical forestry region of India. He has published two papers in international journal including FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation, UNO) and many papers are waiting for publication, which focussing on the several perspectives of forestry in India.
Abstract:
The Study attemts to identify the ulitisation of land use pattern and status of forest area in kaimur region of Bhabua, Bihar, India using LULC(Land use Land Cover) classification and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)-based land-cover change detection method based on harmonic analysis. Apart from this, the study also tried to discover the regions of forest scarcity through checking the quality of forest nearest to settlement and visual interpretation.The main focus is the forested areas of kaimur district of bihar, boardered with Sonabhadra districts of Uttar Pradesh prioritized in changing socio-economic structure of surrounding livelihood and contemperary conservation with livelihood initiatives. GIS (Geographical Information System) and Remote sensing applied to landsat images of the pleateau a region in 1977 and 2014 indicates a 17% decline in overall forest for the study area. Nearly 50% of the area is covered with forest area, out of which 36% are open and 14% are dense forest cover, where most of the open forest are were degraded for different purpose of activities. There was 16% increase in agricultural area and 3% in built up area, which shows that most of the forest area has been shifted into agricultural land and settlement expansion due to population pressure on local natural resources. The remote-sensing analysis, complemented by fieldwork in the region, attributes the negative trends to the livelihood demand for firewood, animal grazing and NTFP. The study proposes the application of satellite remote sensing and geospatial techniques for future environmental monitoring and forest dynamics studies.
Obinna Anejionu
Imperial College London, London
Title: multi-tier accounting of ghg emissions and removals associated with bioenergy-induced land use changes using GIS and Remote sensing
Biography:
Dr Obinna C.D Anejionu is a Research Associate at Imperial College London, where he is developing an Earth Observation Laboratory as part of a UK Space Agency / Biz sponsored project on ‘Advancing Earth Observation Applications in Forests. His expertise covers Geomatics, Geography, Remote Sensing and GIS, with field experience in land surveying in Nigeria. He has worked as a lecturer in the Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying, University of Nigeria Nsukka. His research interests span applied Environmental Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis in environmental monitoring and management
Abstract:
Current global momentum urging the use of non-fossil-based energy as a viable means of curbing global climate change is prompting increasing interests in the use of bioenergy. However, increasing bioenergy generation activities are mounting pressure on land resources, leading to land use changes, which impact on global greenhouse gas emission and removal, as a result of its influence on ecosystem processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and combustion. Land use land use change and forestry (LULCF) is included as one of the 6 key sectors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global GHG inventory. The IPCC guidelines outlined generic methods for the country-based accounting of GHG emissions and removals at three different tiers (levels of details). However, such national or regional accounting of the GHG emissions, where results are presented as national aggregates has limited application to related studies such as understanding the impacts of bioenergy industry-driven land use changes on GHG emission for specific areas or at sub-national and/or sub-regional levels. For such studies, a spatially disaggregated method for LULUCF accounting will be required. This study aims at using GIS and remotely-sensed techniques and data to establish the basis for the accounting of carbon stock, emissions and removals associated with LULUCF activities at varying spatial scales, based on IPCC-recommended methods. Spatially explicit land use areas will be used to develop nested multi-resolution techniques for the three different tiers based on remotely-sensed images of varying spatial resolutions, integrated with appropriate IPCC default values. This research is expected to establish robust platform for understanding how bioenergy activities may drive future global climate change.
Wael EL ZEREY
Associate Professor, Djillali Liabes University, Algeria
Title: The use of remote sensing and GIS for monitoring and analysis of desertification in Algerian territory
Biography:
Wael El Zerey is an Associate Professor at the department of environment in Djillali Liabes University. He obtained his engineering degree (2002) in ecology and his M.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2010) in Environmental Sciences from Djillai Liabes University in Algeria. His research focuses on the monitoring and understanding of land cover change and desertification by the use of remote sensing, and GIS technology
Abstract:
The desertification results from an imbalance in the dynamic interactions between the four elements of the ecosystem (climate, soil, vegetation, human beings). It is then a state which settles under the combined effects of the climatic modifications and the human activities applied to fragile soil and vegetation. The current vegetation all over the world is the complex result of interactions between flora, climate, and soil conditions. According to the different studies of desertification phenomena in North Africa, the most significant indicators are the biophysical ones like the state of vegetation cover and the state of landscape Combating desertification gives a priority to the execution of preventive measures in favour of the not yet degraded regions. This step remains however dependent on precise and reliable information in the time and space on the situation and the evolution of desertification. remote sensing technology and geographical information systems can play a great role in land desertification investigation, monitoring land changes, and as a tool for regional planning. If the multi-temporal remote sensing data at optimum season are acquired, it is possible to establish a desertification analysis model to study the cause of land desertification and predict the tendency of its expansion quantitatively. The remote sensing is also a powerful tool to follow the state of landscape and its the relationship with the distribution of the water resources. The synthesis of the totality of results under a geographical information system GIS as well as their confrontation with others types of data can allow the mapping of the desertification risk
Elvis Obeng Boateng
Czech University Of Life Sciences, Czech Republic
Title: GIS In natural resources
Biography:
Elvis Obeng Boateng is a graduate student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. I completed in 2010 with second class upper in Natural Resource Management. I am 30 years of age. Currently I am offering my masters in Nature conservation in Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. I work with University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana as assistance teacher. I have did some field studies in illegal mining in Ghana and the impart it have on nature in 2011.
Abstract:
A geographic information system (GIS) lets us visualize, question, analyze, and interpret data to understand relationships, patterns, and trends.GIS benefits organizations of all sizes and in almost every industry. There is a growing interest in and awareness of the economic and strategic value of GIS. GIS analysis and processing uses specialized applied geometric, mathematical, and relational operators on the basic features/records in the reource of countries. Nearly all resource management problems are spatial in nature or have a strong spatial component in the resource. The challenges that exist for organizations thinking of distributing GIS capabilities to field offices, a move becoming more prevalent as recent natural resource graduates likely will have GIS experience in coursework, and exposure or training in the field. Some federal agencies make significant amounts of natural resource GIS data available to the public. Recognize that there are factors that hinder an organization’s willingness to share a database. This is the first step to successfully negotiate getting the data. Reluctance to share data may arise in Sensitive inter formation such as endangered species or archeological sites, ownership holdings or management practices and scientific interest. GIS used in natural resource uses basic ecological research in identification of landscape areas meeting particular complex criteria and project objectives, rather than other measures, should be emphasized and can keep personnel focused when setbacks occur.
- Remote Sensing.
Session Introduction
Benjamin K. Malphrus
Morehead State University, USA
Title: Lunar IceCube: Ushering in a new era of planetary remote sensing using small satellite platforms
Time : 09:50-10:50
Biography:
Dr. Benjamin K. Malphrus is Professor of Space Science at Morehead State University where he also directs the University’s Space Science Center and serves as the Director of Space Operations for the Kentucky Space program. He has served as Principal Investigator on several nanosatellite missions including KySat-1, CXBN 1 and 2, and TechSat-1. He and his team recently received an $8M contract from NASA to design a small space probe to fly to the Moon to prospect for water ice. In the late 1990s, he developed a theory of galaxy formation that has gained wide acceptance among the astronomical community.
Abstract:
Lunar IceCube, a 6U CubeSat designed to prospect for water in solid (ice), liquid, and vapor forms and other lunar volatiles from a low-perigee, highly inclined lunar orbit, has been selected by NASA for a flight opportunity on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). The mission is a partnership between Morehead State University, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC), JPL, the Busek Company, Vermont Tech, and Kentucky Space LLC. Lunar IceCube will be deployed during lunar trajectory by the Space Launch System (SLS) and use an innovative RF Ion engine to achieve lunar capture and a science orbit (inertially locked, highly elliptical, 100 km periapsis) to investigate the distribution of water (ice, vapor, water components), as a function of time of day, latitude, and regolith composition in the context of mineralogy. IceCube will include the Broadband InfraRed Compact High Resolution Exploration Spectrometer (BIRCHES)- a compact version of the successful volatile-seeking New Horizons Ralph instrument. BIRCHES has the high spectral resolution (5 nm) and wavelength range (1 to 4 μm) needed to distinguish phase states of water. The mission addresses NASA Strategic Knowledge Gaps related to lunar volatile distribution, and will complement the work of Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map by focusing on the distribution and transportation physics of water ice at a variety of latitudes, thus not restricted to permanently shadowed regions. The 13 secondary payload CubeSats that will be included on EM-1, including Lunar IceCube, will usher in a new era of solar system exploration with CubeSats and other small satellite platforms.
Xuelian Meng
Louisiana State University, USA
Title: New era of 3D coastal morphology mapping using LiDAR and unmanned aerial vehicle
Time : 11:10 -12:10
Biography:
Xuelian Meng is an Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University and Fellow of the Coastal Studies Institute. Her research interest is to apply geospatial technologies to investigate fragile ecosystems that are sensitive to human activities. Specific topics of her research include LiDAR, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), 3D modeling of coastal morphology, image processing, feature extraction and land cover and land use analysis. Her recent studies focus on applying terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal morphological mapping under dense vegetation and fine scale sediment change analysis. She is a life-time Member of the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS), Member of Association of American Geographers (AAG) and American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
Abstract:
Coastal morphology addresses the evolution of coastal features such as sediment, vegetation and their interaction with hydrodynamics, which is an important subject in coastal studies. Previous researches mainly used historical data from satellite or airborne sensors to map coastal morphology in land cover and 3D structure, which are limited by the availability in time, location, cost and resolution of existing data. Other commonly used approaches are field data collection through RTK (Real Time Kinematic) GPS, total station, leveling sensor and manual survey of vegetation plots. Although elevation profiles and vegetation plots provide insight into terrain morphology and sediment dynamics, these discrete survey methods faces major challenges in coastal environments with spatial heterogeneity and unpredictable locations with severe morphological changes. In recent years, the development of high-resolution and portable survey instruments of terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provide flexible field mapping tools to fill in the gap between the existing imagery and discrete field elevation survey, which have gained popularity in morphological mapping. This presented study focuses on our recent applications of terrestrial LiDAR and UAV on coastal morphological mapping by addressing the following questions: How effective and accurate are terrestrial LiDAR and UAV for coastal terrain mapping? What are the uncertainties and causes in areas with low accuracy? What are the main challenges to map densely vegetated coastal environment and how to correct elevation under dense vegetation? In the end, this study applies recently developed coastal morphology analyst (CMA) for sediment change and evolution analysis.
Jennifer L Summers
Tulane University, USA
Title: Schoenoplectus americanus clones and genetic heat map across kirkpatrick marsh, edgwater, MD
Time : 12:10-12:40
Biography:
Jennifer L Summers completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Furman University in Greenville, SC in 2013. She has worked with Jenks Farmer, a sustainable garden designer, in SC as well as working with partners in agriculture in Haiti. She is currently a PhD student in Michael J Blum’s Molecular Ecology Lab.
Abstract:
Salt marshes are increasingly important for coastal ecosystems around the world in the face of climate change. Ecosystem services provided by salt marshes include wildlife habitat, water filtration, fishery nurseries, storm buffers, AND land-building. The plants that compose salt marshes include sedges like Schoenoplectus americanus. S. americanus is foundational sedge found throughout North America and contributes majorly to marsh accretion (land-building) through its rhizomal growth. Understanding the genetic landscape or variation in genomes of individuals across different spatial scales, of salt marsh sedges like S. americanus helps climate change scientists better estimate salt marsh species’ capacity to adapt to major climatic change going forward. S americanus is a clonal plant whose reproduction and dispersal are poorly understood. Recent studies suggest it exhibits surprisingly substantial genetic variation across short distances. Mapping the genetic landscape of S. americanus builds on basic biological understanding of clonal plant spread and the dynamics of salt marsh plant reproduction. Using GIS technology (ESRI ArcMap 10.3), I built maps of the clonal ranges of S. americanus sampled from across Kirkpatrick Marsh in Edgewater Maryland, the site of decades-long studies on salt marshes and climate change implemented by collaborators at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. In addition to mapping individual genotypes that appear multiple types across the marsh, I mapped out different microclimate associated with the plots we sampled. Finally, I took the results of our comparison of genetic similarity across all individuals into 2-5 clusters and interpolated them to illustrate genetic grouping of samples across Kirkpatrick Marsh.
Wilbert A.McClay
Northeastern University, USA
Title: Mobile data and individual client diagnostic acquisition from pgws call analysis utilizing spark and the hadoop ecosystem
Time : 12:40-13:10
Biography:
Wilbert A McClay has served as Managing Technical Scientist at Aerospace Corporation and is a Principal Investigator, Visiting Scientist and Signal Processing Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. At Southern University he taught courses in Electrical Engineering and currently at Northeastern University serves as Cyber Security, Brain Computer Interface and Big Data (Hadoop, MapReduce and NoSql databases) researcher. Additionally while acquiring his 2nd Master’s in Information Assurance at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, he has worked extensively as a Big Data Hadoop Architect/Developer Contractor for top Fortune 500 media corporations such as NBC Universal and DirecTV.
Abstract:
Individual Client Diagnostics, is an account specific event log to diagnose customer experience from PGWS call analysis. The meaning of a PGW call is to perform policy enforcement, packet filtering for each DirecTV user, charging support, lawful interception and packet screening. Another key role of the PGW is to act as the anchor for mobility between 3GPP and non-3GPP technologies such as WiMAX and 3GPP2 (CDMA 1X and EvDO). Thus, the acquisition of the PGW calls within the Kafka API demonstrates the objective of the DirecTV Mobile Diagnostics project. The Spark Dstream is connected to a HBase/Websocket to IMAP with a projection into HBase. The big data analytics and diagnostics component will rely heavily upon the aggregation windows return, which prescribes how IMAP wants the PGWS call data lucidly defined. The Spark analytics machine learning analysis post Kafka API inspection of key-value pair analysis from IMAP PGWS Request and Response Data demonstrate the following statistical results utilizing Spark machine learning library (MLlib), SparkR and SparkSQL, projected into HBase as a column family architecture.
Iqra Ashraf
National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad.
Title: Spatio-temporal analysis of tuberculosis in relation to socio-economic and environmental factors
Time : 14:10-14:40
Biography:
Iqra Ashraf, has completed my MS in geographic information system and Remote sensing in 2015 from school of Geographical Information systems, National university of science and technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. I have combined GIS/RS field with epidemiology making use of new ArcGIS tools and have my two research papers submitted in peer-reviewed journals of epidemiology.
Abstract:
Tuberculosis (TB) is a debilitating infectious disease affecting more than one third of the global population. Pakistan is among the top most affected and vulnerable countries of TB. A study was designed (1) to conduct a field survey of the TB patients in the study area of Ravi town, Lahore and develop a Geodatabase (2) hotspot analysis and spatial regression analysis of TB patient’s data with socio-economic & environmental factors data and (3) to investigate population at risk of TB using Standard Morbidity Ratio (SMR) statistics. The patient’s data showed an increasing trend of TB cases from 2011 to 2013 with the spatial spread from North-East to South-West direction in the study area. The hotspot analysis indicated two major clusters (90 & >95% confidence level) in Faisal park. A combination of four socioeconomics variables (low income, overcrowding, low literacy and malnourishment) were found to be the best subset of predictors in applying the ordinary least square (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) spatial statistical techniques. Multiple environmental and host-related socio-economic factors were presented in the mapping of pulmonary TB cases of Ravi town, Lahore. The spatial and temporal analysis of TB patient’s data along with the socio economic, and environmental factors data may be useful for assessing disease risk and formulating intervention and control strategies for resources allocation and appropriate management of TB.
Makario Sylvia Bosibori
Geowiz Services Limited, Kenya
Title: MWRMM - T: Mobile Water Resource Mapping and Management Tool
Time : 14:40-15:10
Biography:
Makario Sylvia Bosibori’s experience spans the fields of geospatial engineering and space technology. She holds a Bsc in Geospatial Engineering and Space Technology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and is now pursuing Master’s of Science in Information Technology. She has worked with the United Nations and other organizations. She is co-founder and management executive of a startup company Geowiz Services, which she founded in 2013. Her main focus is on business development and fostering partnerships to enable the company deliver services to both the public and private sectors with special emphasis on those that need systems and applications that need integration of Space/Spatial data. She is currently taking a Professional Practicum at Ramani Geosystems, a geospatial and space technology engineering firm in Kenya. She also curates information and writes about emerging technologies in her blog where her major focus is on geospatial technologies and earth observations for development in a wide range of Areas. Her other interests are on design thinking and how creating tools and strategies around design thinking can enable provide solutions to problems centered around the user.
Abstract:
Mobile water resource mapping and management tool (MWRMM-T) is a mobile application coded on the android platform to help combat water scarcity problems while promoting sustainability of the existing water resources in Machakos County, Kenya with plans of rolling out the tool to the whole country of Kenya and other African Counties. The tool integrates both the mobile application with the location element (GPS Tracking) that enables the registering of the mapped water resources with their specific location. The MWRMM-T is a very simple tool that meets the needs of even those with low literacy level in the community who have shown interest in being part of the mapping party due to its visualization power, as it can be displayed in the back-end database, the mapped information is sent instantly through real time mapping. All the existing data archived in the back-end database was collected in Machakos County in collaboration with the county government individuals and civic leaders with the need to test the tool. Information can be visualized by clicking on any water resource mapped to get the particular details, including any kind of action required for making better informed decisions. The back-end database is a web application that is hosted on our own server spaces. Searching/querying the database is by location name, sub-county or feature format. Keen selections of spatial analysis methods for water resources analysis or regular quality control are also possible with MWRMM-T. MWRMM-T was hence built understanding the needs of the grassroot level individuals in the rural and peri-urban setting in Kenya, working on promoting sustainability on their water resources.
Ichio ASANUMA
Tokyo University of Information Sciences, Japan
Title: Possibility of detection and identification of boats and vessels detected by Day-Night-Band of VIIRS and synthetic aparture radar on RADARSAT
Biography:
Ichio Asanuma has received Doctor of Engineering from the Chiba University in 1999. He has been working on the satellite oceanography, especially on the primary productivity of the ocean using the visible and infrared bands. His main source of data are received by the receiving stations operated at the Tokyo University of Information Sciences, which receive data from the VIIRS on the Suomi-NPP, which covers the western boundary region of the Asia.
Abstract:
The day-night-band (DNB) of the visible infrared and imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP detects light of the fishery boats on the open water at night, although the presence of clouds exhibits a limitation of detection. In contrast, the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on the RADARSAT detects the boats and vessels on the water even through the clouds, although the observations are difficult in the midnight because of power consumption by SAR. The locations of vessels weighing greater than 300 tons are reported by the automatic identification system (AIS) with the maritime mobile service identity (MMSI) and are available to the public, although the locations of smaller fishery boats are not included. In this study, the locations of boats and vessels detected by DNB, SAR and reported by the AIS are plotted on the geophysical information system (GIS) so as to discuss the inconsistencies of locations introduced by the difference of observation time. Although the ship identifications are difficult for the data observed by the DNB and the SAR by itself, the MMSI data reported by the AIS with the interpolation methods exhibited the possibility to identify the large vessels from the data observed by DNB and SAR on the GIS analysis.
Farai Dondofema
University of Venda, South Africa.
Title: Determining the relationship between gully characteristics and environmental factors at sub catchment level using GIS and remote sensing in Zimbabwe
Biography:
F Dondofema is currently a Chief Technician in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Venda, South Africa. He has completed his BSc in Agriculture specializing in Animal Science in 2000 from the University of Zimbabwe, BSc in Applied remote sensing and GIS from the University of Fort Hare in 2004, MSc in Pasture Ecology from the University of Fort Hare in 2004 and MSc in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) from the University of Zimbabwe in the year 2007. He has published several articles in agriculture, ecology, GIS, remote sensing and water management. He is registered as a Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.
Abstract:
GIS and remote sensing techniques were used to identify and monitor gully erosion, and its relationship with selected environmental factors in Zhulube in Zimbabwe. The results showed that gully characteristics are significantly explained by soil characteristics, environmental factors, slope gradient, sediment loadings and the erosive power of streams. There was an evident, significant (p<0.05) relationship between gully depth and bulk density at r2=0.873. The soil clay content was another soil property that showed a significant relationship with gully development with its related minerals, indicating a decline in erosion with an increase in proportions. A significant relationship between gully depths and slope gradient showed a resultant increase of r2= 0.62. There was a significant relationship between gully development and the erosive power of stream while sediment loadings of the streams indicated a non-significant effect on the gully depth with an r2=0.02. The susceptibility of soils to detachment and transport by various erosive agents was a function of soil properties including, among others, physical and chemical soil properties. The effects of each soil property were different between sites, thereby influencing the degree of vulnerability of any given soil to destructive erosion forces. The interactive effects of the topography, vegetation cover and rainfall factors greatly influenced erosive agents. Soil erodibility assessment using simulated stream erosive forces and sediment loadings revealed that sediment yield or the erosive power of the streams in the study area increased with increasing slope gradient depending on the clay content of the soil.
Volodymyr Hnatushenko
Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine
Title: Urban change detection method of multitemporal remote sensing images
Biography:
In 1994 V.Hnatushenko graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk college of automation and telemechanics in Machine with CNC and robotic systems. In 1999, he received a M.S. degree in Technology and Telecommunications from Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine. Volodymyr Hnatushenko has completed his PhD in 2003 and postdoctoral studies from Dnipropetrovsk National University. In 2006 - docent, 2009 - Doctor of Sciences, 2011 – Full Professor. He is the head of the automated data processing systems department at the Oles Honchar Dnepropetrovsk National University, Ukraine. He has supervised to completion 7 research PhD. He has published more than 200 papers in reputed journals
Abstract:
Change detection analyses describe and quantify differences between images of the same scene at different times. Change detection is a complex phenomenon which includes different procedures such as identifying the specific change detection problem, image preprocessing and variables and algorithm selection for the computations. The widely used methods for high-resolution image change detection rely on textural/structural features. However, these spatial features always produce high-dimensional data space since they are related to a series of parameters. Moreover, the current urban change detection methods are totally reliant on visual interpretation. This article presents a new automatic change detection method of multitemporal remote sensing high-resolution images and visual interpretation of results. To detect change we apply a series of algorithms, which are independent of each other: subpixel registration of multitemporal images, spectral classification (building masks), singling-out of the most informative stripes and threshold segmenting, morphological filtering and object classification, vectorization and calculation of parameters, visualization of the changes on the map. The candidate changed areas are obtained base on spatial mask filtering, then the spectral difference, searching for spectral-temporal anomalies, morphological technique and a shadow detection method to identify the real changes. Experiments were conducted on the multitemporal Pléiades images. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively and quickly extract the changing urban area between the two temporal optical remote sensing images of high spatial resolution. Compared with other change detection methods, the proposed method reduces the effects of classification and segmentation on the change detection accuracy
Makario Sylvia Bosibori
Geowiz Services Limited, Kenya
Title: MWRMM-T -Mobile water Resource Mapping and Management Tool
Time : 14:40-15:10
Biography:
Makario Sylvia Bosibori’s experience spans the fields of geospatial engineering and space technology. She holds a Bsc in Geospatial Engineering and Space Technology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and is now pursuing Master’s of Science in Information Technology. She has worked with the United Nations and other organizations. She is co-founder and management executive of a startup company Geowiz Services, which she founded in 2013. Her main focus is on business development and fostering partnerships to enable the company deliver services to both the public and private sectors with special emphasis on those that need systems and applications that need integration of Space/Spatial data. She is currently taking a Professional Practicum at Ramani Geosystems, a geospatial and space technology engineering firm in Kenya. She also curates information and writes about emerging technologies in her blog where her major focus is on geospatial technologies and earth observations for development in a wide range of Areas. Her other interests are on design thinking and how creating tools and strategies around design thinking can enable provide solutions to problems centered around the user.
Abstract:
Mobile water resource mapping and management tool (MWRMM-T) is a mobile application coded on the android platform to help combat water scarcity problems while promoting sustainability of the existing water resources in Machakos County, Kenya with plans of rolling out the tool to the whole country of Kenya and other African Counties. The tool integrates both the mobile application with the location element (GPS Tracking) that enables the registering of the mapped water resources with their specific location. The MWRMM-T is a very simple tool that meets the needs of even those with low literacy level in the community who have shown interest in being part of the mapping party due to its visualization power, as it can be displayed in the back-end database, the mapped information is sent instantly through real time mapping. All the existing data archived in the back-end database was collected in Machakos County in collaboration with the county government individuals and civic leaders with the need to test the tool. Information can be visualized by clicking on any water resource mapped to get the particular details, including any kind of action required for making better informed decisions. The back-end database is a web application that is hosted on our own server spaces. Searching/querying the database is by location name, sub-county or feature format. Keen selections of spatial analysis methods for water resources analysis or regular quality control are also possible with MWRMM-T. MWRMM-T was hence built understanding the needs of the grassroot level individuals in the rural and peri-urban setting in Kenya, working on promoting sustainability on their water resources
Laurent Thum
Geologist, Lausanne, Switzerland
Title: 2D and 3D GIS-based geological modeling – application for geotechnical investigations, tunneling and mining
Biography:
Laurent Thum completed his master’s degree at Lausanne University in 2008. He was awarded the prize of the Swiss Geological Society for his work on Alpine Geology. He is the co-founder of D&T Geodata Management and operates as a senior engineering geologist for one of the leading Swiss engineering companies, Edy Toscano. A member of the Swiss Tunneling Society, he recently published, together with Geol. Reto De Paoli, an innovative GIS-based methodology for the digital mapping and 3D modeling of geological features during the excavation of a tunnel
Abstract:
Knowledge of sub-surface characteristics in the context of a civil engineering project is essential to reduce the risks related to geological uncertainties. In the quest to improve geological models, modern GIS tools facilitate the acquisition, management and interpretation of data. It was in parallel with the Ceneri base tunnel project, one of the longest tunnels in Switzerland, that 3D digital mapping and modeling tools were developed in ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop. The geological and geotechnical monitoring during the excavation of the tunnel has been optimized with digital tablet mapping and automated 3D modeling of geological elements. The discontinuities (faults, joints, strata interfaces) as well as a certain number of specific points of information (water ingress points, samples, etc. ...) are drawn on a model of the tunnel walls, and are then georeferenced and modeled in 3D using geoprocessing tools. These objects can then be viewed in their actual geographical position on a geological map of the project (horizontal cross-section halfway up the tunnel), as well as in a 3D model. A graphic parallel to the tunnel axis automatically displays all the numerical data related to the progress. The adaptation of the technique for monitoring underground mining is underway. Since exploratory drillings have a decisive role in this type of project, a tool to model them in 3D, based on their geometrical characteristics (coordinates, azimuth, dip), has been developed; it is used to represent data such as stratigraphic layers, the level of the water table, water inflows, in situ and laboratory tests values. The developed GIS tools allow rapid and accurate modeling and synthesis of a large quantity of data and helps improve the safety and performance of the works
Volodymyr Vasiliev
CTO EOS Data Analytics, Ukraine
Title: Urban change detection method of multitemporal remote sensing images
Biography:
Volodymyr Vasiliev is a graduate of Dnipropetrovsk National University. He is the CTO EOS Data Analytics Ukraine and PhD student of the Faculty of Physics, Electronics and Computer Systems, Oles Honchar Dnepropetrovsk National University. His main research interests include remotely sensed data processing, real scene image retrieval, cloud computing and GIS methods
Abstract:
Change detection analyses describe and quantify differences between images of the same scene at different times. Change detection is a complex phenomenon which includes different procedures such as identifying the specific change detection problem, image preprocessing and variables and algorithm selection for the computations. The widely used methods for high-resolution image change detection rely on textural/structural features. However, these spatial features always produce high-dimensional data space since they are related to a series of parameters. Moreover, the current urban change detection methods are totally reliant on visual interpretation. This article presents a new automatic change detection method of multitemporal remote sensing high-resolution images and visual interpretation of results. To detect change we apply a series of algorithms, which are independent of each other: subpixel registration of multitemporal images, spectral classification (building masks), singling-out of the most informative stripes and threshold segmenting, morphological filtering and object classification, vectorization and calculation of parameters, visualization of the changes on the map. The candidate changed areas are obtained base on spatial mask filtering, then the spectral difference, searching for spectral-temporal anomalies, morphological technique and a shadow detection method to identify the real changes. Experiments were conducted on the multitemporal Pléiades images. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively and quickly extract the changing urban area between the two temporal optical remote sensing images of high spatial resolution. Compared with other change detection methods, the proposed method reduces the effects of classification and segmentation on the change detection accuracy