Open Source GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Nowadays, daily life intensively depends on public services. Increasing population and urbanization take humans away from environment which may lead to chaos in usage of city lands. Consequently, human is in trouble using public services and facilities including green spaces. Isfahan, one of the metropolitans, has 18 m2 green spaces per person while City Park of district 8 is of inappropriate distribution with regard to population density. To create a localization map of civil park, Isfahan district 8 has been selected. The selected district delimits to Baharestan in north and to Kaveh street in west and to Shahid Forouqi in south and to Emam Komeini street in west-south. Finally, GIS has been used to create given layers and calculate weights based on AHP. According to overlap between layers, the most appropriate places have been identified.

This paper is an Editorial for the Special Issue titled “OpenStreetMap as a multidisciplinary nexus: perspectives, practices and procedures”. The Special Issue is largely based on the talks presented in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Academic Track at the State of the Map conferences. As such, it represents the most pressing and relevant issues and topics considered by the academic community in relation to OpenStreetMap (OSM)—a global project and community aimed to create and maintain a free and editable database and map of the world. In this Editorial, we survey the papers included in the Special Issue, grouping them into three research perspectives: applications of OSM for studies within other disciplines, OSM data quality, and dynamics in OSM. This survey reveals that these perspectives, while being distinct, are also interrelated. This calls for the formalization of an ‘OSM science’ that will provide the conceptual grounds to advance the scientific study of OSM, not as a set of individualized efforts but as a unified approach.

Proprietary software can put archaeological data at risk by placing unnecessary barriers of entry to studying the past through closed file formats. Open source software has been successfully adopted for visualisation and analysis of archaeological data in both commercial and academic archaeology. Two case-studies are presented here: a large commercial fieldwork project in England and an archaeological and topographic survey at the site of Medinet el-Gurob in Egypt. Open source software -as we describe -replaces proprietary software both within the highly cost-sensitive commercial sector and within international and educational archaeology. This is done through active use and testing, as well as dissemination of documentation. Software discussed includes tools for digital survey download (Total Open Station), GIS (gvSIG, Quantum GIS (QGIS), GRASS, PostGIS), Illustration (Inkscape) and 3D analysis (Paraview, VisIt). The move from proprietary software to open source has been a success both within this sector of British archaeology and this Egyptian project.

Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a cloud centered platform for temporal and spatial geoprocessing and analysis on global challenges that require more computation power and involve large geospatial datasets. In GEE, the user analyses are automatically parallelized to make use of the computers housed in Google data centers. Moreover, GEE comes with a massive data catalog of 40 years of historical and current remotely sensed imageries (e.g., MODIS, Landsat) and other data. This data archive is constantly updated with the acquisition of new images. GEE also allows users to do spatial and temporal analyses based on their own data (e.g., vector, raster) that are exported into GEE data catalog. The exported data can be kept private or made available for other users of GEE.

To facilitate the users, such as academicians and scientists, and to script more complex analysis, the functionality of GEE is exposed through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for JavaScript and Python.

ÖZET Teknolojinin gelişmesine paralel olarak Coğrafi Bilgi Sistemlerinin de (CBS) gelişmesi ve yeni teknolojilerle entegre olması ile bu teknolojinin kullanımı daha da yaygınlaşmıştır. Yerel yönetimlerde CBS, daha iyi hizmet sunmakta, karar destek mekanizmalarında, vergilendirme, planlama, alt-üst yapı çalışmalarında ve belediyenin görev alanına giren her türlü konuda yardımcı olmak için kullanmaktadır. Altındağ Kent Bilgi Sistemi (ALBİS) Projesine 2010 yılı içerisinde başlanmıştır ve halen devam etmektedir. ALBİS projesi kapsamda belediyede bulunan coğrafi veriler CBS ortamına aktarılmakta bunun yanında çeşitli kurumlardan veriler alınarak sisteme entegre edilmektedir. Çalışmalar sonucunda gelinen noktada, bilgilendirme amaçlı, internetten imar durumu sorgulaması yapılabilmektedir. Bunun yanında ilçeye ait coğrafi bilgilere erişim amacıyla açık kaynak kodlu yazılım ve sistemlerle geliştirilmiş olan Kent Rehberi Uygulaması internetten vatandaşların kullanımına açılmıştır. Bildiride açık kaynak kodlu yazılımlarla belediye CBS çalışmalarının web üzerinden yayınlanması, çalışmalar sırasında izlenilen yol, yaşanılan problemler ve saptamalara yer verilmektedir.

Mapping ancient roads is crucial to tell credible geospatial stories about where, how, or why different people might have travelled or transported materials within and between places in the distant past. Achieving this process is challenging and commonly accomplished by means of archaeological and GIS methods and materials. It is not uncommon for different experts employing these methods to generate inconsistent delineations of the same ancient roads, creating confusion about how to produce knowledge and decisions based on multiple geospatial perspectives. This yet to be adequately addressed problem motivates our desire to enrich existing literature on the nature and extents of these differences. We juxtapose GIS and archaeologically generated road maps for northern Etruria, a region of ancient Italy with a well-developed road network built by the Etruscans and Romans. We reveal map differences through a map comparison approach that integrates a broad set of qualitative and quantitative measures plus geospatial concepts and strategies. The differences are evident in route locations, sinuosities, lengths, and complexities of the terrains on which the routes were set as defined by subtle variations in elevation, slope, and ruggedness. They ranged from 11.2–34.4 km in road length, 0–65.7 m in road relief, 1.0–13.5% in mean road grade, 0.07–0.79 in detour indices and 0.19–3.08 for mean terrain roughness indices, all of which can be considerable depending on application. Taken together, the measures proved effective in furthering our understanding of the range of possible disagreements between ancient linear features mapped by different experts and methods and are extensible for other application areas. They point to the
importance of explicitly acknowledging and maintaining all usable perspectives in geospatial databases as well as visualization and analysis processes, regardless of levels of disagreement, and especially where ground-truth informed assessments cannot be reliably performed.

The use of spatial technologies which includes Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing and
Global Positioning System have the promise to become much more powerful tools in environmental
research and management. However, the potential of the application of spatial technologies to
environmental phenomena has been not been fully realized due to the lack of professionals that are
experts in spatial technologies and environmental science. This paper discusses the potential for the
use of spatial technologies in environmental science education and the development of hybrid
programs that can integrate both disciplines. In this light, the author also uses as a case study the
development of the curricula in the Geography program at Fatih University which has placed
emphasis on Environmental Science, spatial technologies and Geographic Information Science
(GIScience).

In the recent years, the major production of cartographic information and the advancement of new Information Technologies (IT's) has brought with it the need to develop new storage and management tools, making access in a simpler way either alphanumeric or vector information.
Since the 60s, the processing, analysis and visualization of cartographic data has been carried out using GIS as desktop software, installed on a single computer. The advantage of this system was the possibility of combining different cartographic information thereby facilitating decision-making.
The need to share data, mainly cartographic information, between agents who are working in the same area has been the basis for the creation of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) at global, national, regional ,local, or corporative level.
Several resources for managing, classifying, sharing, exchanging, combining and accessing geographic data through internet connection have been developed together with the implementation of all levels of SDI's. The resources can be classified as: software for publishing cartographic data (maps servers), publication standards, metadata, legal framework, agreements among organizations, and the possibility to create different user levels.

Therefore, the aim will be to have cartographic information updated and available for all the involved agents who are working in the same territory, which will result in sharing efforts and costs.
Nevertheless, the development of new technologies has had an effect where the cartographic data producers have less direct contact with the field, ignoring somehow the people living in it who are the ones with best knowledge of the territory.
In remote areas, where it is difficult to access such as the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve Region (Honduras), it is indispensable to create an SDI for managing and sharing cartographic information by the involved agents in the territory.
It is important that the information offered by the indigenous communities is not left aside because they have a direct relation with the field. In the case of Rio Platano, they are scattered along the territory.
The basis of this thesis is to create the SDI for the Rio Platano region and the methodology to combine the different cartographic information published by different organisms. Also, it will be important to include in the SDI structure the information regarding the cadastral boundaries and socio environmental indicators obtained from the indigenous communities. It will require the design of participative pictograms using Participatory Mapping techniques.

In 2007, for the first time worldwide, more people lived in urban conurbations than in rural settlement structures. This advancing urbanization has dramatically altered the living situation, the use of space, as well as human behavior along with the health situation and disease burden. This process began in Europe as early as the 19th century, while developing and emerging countries in particular are currently exposed to increasing urbanization. The burden of disease is clearly altered by living in a confined space, by environmental pollution in urban areas, the impossibility of producing food oneself, and being lost in an anonymous crowd. While city air made people “free” in medieval times, it often makes them “sick” today. Obesogenic environments represent a special problem in urban areas. A lack of physical activity, adverse dietary habits, and stressful and unsafe neighborhoods increase the risk of becoming overweight and obese in urban centers. Recently, modernization in rural areas and an adaptation to urban habits there increase the obesity rates in rural areas in high-income as well as low- and middle-income countries, too. Within cities, marked spatial differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity occur. In Vienna, Austria, overweight and obesity rates during childhood and adolescence differ markedly between the individual Viennese districts. Highest overweight and obesity rates occur in districts characterized by a low socioeconomic status.

As a growing number of companies reject intellectual property (IP) monopoly-based business models to embrace libre product development of free and open source hardware and software, there is an urgent need to refurbish the instruments of university-corporate research partnerships. These partnerships generally use a proprietary standard research agreement (PSRA), which for historical reasons contains significant IP monopoly language and restrictions for both the company and the university. Such standard research agreements thus create an artificial barrier to innovation as both companies using a libre model and universities they wish to collaborate with must invest significantly to restructure the contracts. To solve this problem, this article provides a new Sponsored Libre Research Agreement (SLRA). The differences between the agreements are detailed. The advantages of using an SLRA are provided for any type of company and include: (1) minimizing research investments on reporting requirements; (2) reducing delays related to confidentiality and publication embargos; and (3) reducing both transaction and legal costs as well as research time losses associated with IP. Moving to libre agreements both speeds up and reduces costs for setting up collaborative research. Under the SLRA, university researchers can spend more time innovating for the same investment.

Groundwater quality is gradually deteriorating due to agricultural activities and its evaluation is there for eneeded before use. The aim of this study was to evaluate groundwater quality for use in the foundry industry using water quality data, including PH, EC, TDS, Cl and HCO3, from 26 wells located in Jolgeh and Bon-Rud districts, Iran. Zoning and classification of the area were done, based on groundwater quality, using a GIS software and the existing standards for water use. Results showed that groundwater in the East, North and Southwest of the area was of acceptable quality for use in the foundry industry, but water quality deteriorated from the East to the West of the area. It was found that for foundry industry about 4 percent of area ground water could be used without any limitation, 2 percent with low limitation, 7 percent with moderate limitations, and the rest with high limitation or even unusable. Agricultural activities in the region are having a negative impact on the quality of groundwater.

The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is also in the Humanities an interesting method to analyze questions of space and time. For creating new results, we need to search reputed GIS software for our regular use. Within this article we tested two commercial and four open source GIS programs: MapInfo, ArcGIS, Quantum GIS, gvSIG, DIVA-GIS and SAGA. ArcGIS has the greatest functionality. But it is very expensive and not easy to use. MapInfo is particularly distinguished for GIS-beginners due to its large usability. However, the cost is quite high. Quantum GIS is a free software that is user friendly, and even for beginners easy to get started. gvSIG is not very easy to use and some ancillary functions are missing. DIVA-GIS provides a quick start by its good documentation. But the functionality is limited pretty soon. Many functions make SAGA to a full-fledged GIS, despite the lower number of enhancements. Hundreds extensions make Quantum GIS very powerful and versatile. Altogether for the Humanities the open source Quantum GIS represents a viable alternative to expensive commercial GIS software.

OpenData besitzt auf internationaler Ebene eine hohe politische Relevanz und verleiht der seit Jahrzehnten geführten Diskussion um die Öffnung von amtlichen Geodaten neue Aktualität. Ihre Bedeutung liegt darin, dass sie essentieller Bestandteil einer Informationsinfrastruktur und Basis einer darauf aufbauenden Wissensökonomie sind, sie politisches Handeln nachvollziehbar machen und einen Beitrag zur Transparenz und damit zur Demokratisierung leisten können, sie Menschen zu Dialog, Partizipation und Kollaboration befähigen können und iv. ein großes Potenzial für soziale und wirtschaftliche Entwicklungen bergen. Der Open Data und OGGD Diskurs ist im Kontext der Herausbildung von Informations- und Wissensgesellschaften zu verstehen, der einen Wandel im Bedarf, in der Benutzung und Weiterverwendung von Informationen bedingt.

Zahlreiche Hürden existieren in Bezug auf die Öffnung von amtlichen Geodatenbeständen und Weiterverarbeitung der (Roh)Daten. Die Arbeit untersucht, inwieweit institutionelle und rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen die Öffnung von amtlichen Geodatenbeständen beeinflussen. Hierzu wurden Experten aus Wissenschaft, Politik, Wirtschaft und Verwaltung befragt. Das Interviewmaterial wurde anhand einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet.

Die Herausforderungen und Chancen im Bereich von OGGD zeigen sich in drei großen Spannungsfeldern:

Informationsfreiheit versus Datenschutz, Traditionelle Verwaltungskultur versus eParticipation & eCollaboration und Kommerzielle Weiterverwendung versus Refinanzierung von OGGD.

Es existieren Unklarheiten einzelner Rechtslagen in Bezug auf die Informationsfreiheitsgesetze sowie den Datenschutzgesetzen. Diese Situation wird durch die unterschiedliche Gesetzgebung auf Länder- und Bundesebene verschärft. Hinzukommen Fragen zum Schutz der Privatsphäre, die gesellschaftlich neu erörtert werden müssen. Auf institutioneller Ebene (Verwaltung als Datenproduzent und Datenhalter) verlaufen Wandlungsprozesse nur sehr langsam (z.B. Schaffung kollaborativer Umgebungen), da das Personal unzureichend in IKT und Social Network Software geschult ist und der Nutzen für die Verwaltung selbst zunächst unklar bleibt. Zudem existieren Ängste und Abneigungen der Mitarbeiter gegenüber der Offenlegung und Freimachung der Daten. Der Zugang zu Daten staatlicher Stellen soll zu privaten Zwecken gebührenlos und ohne vorherige Registrierung, Anmeldung etc. ermöglicht werden.

Für eine umfassende Öffnung amtlicher Geodatenbestände muss eine einheitliche Rechtslage zur Informationsweitergabe und zum Datenschutz geschaffen werden. Verwaltungen müssen dazu angeregt werden ihr Betriebssystem zu überdenken und der Nutzen von kollaborativen Umgebungen verdeutlicht werden.

1.1. Are there national policy, strategy and legislation addressing disaster risk reduction? Although the disaster preparedness law was developed three decades ago, remains relevant and required only minor fine-tuning. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Asia Development Bank have collaborated with the Government of Afghanistan and other partners to develop a National Plan for Disaster management as well and Strategy for Institutional Strengthening in Risk Management. 1.2. Is there a national body for multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration in disaster risk reduction, which includes ministries in charge of water resource management, agriculture/land use and planning, health, environment, education, development planning and finance? The Department for Disaster preparedness is the national body for multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration in Disaster Risk Reduction. The Department for Disaster Preparedness is a ministerial level department and it consists of three sub-departments: Policy and Coordination, De-mining and Administration and Finance Departments. According to the new strategy and policy and the new structure, DDP is given the following responsibilities and functions: · Identification of effective measures for disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness activities; · Timely mobilization and coordination for distribution of relief; · Overall vulnerability reduction through prevention, mitigation and preparedness; · Awareness raising for disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness; · Efficient use of financial and material resources for disaster; · Training and public education in disaster reduction; · Implementation of the decisions of the national commission for disaster preparedness, and the state government; · Coordination of activities between various ministries, NGOs, communities in disaster reduction; · Planning and organization of disaster preparedness and mitigation activities; · Mobilization of national and international resources/assistance for disaster; · Monitoring and supervision of disaster reduction in all concerned government bodies; · Surveying and assessment of high risk areas, and preparation of national disaster risk management and contingency plans; · Early warning and alert; · Policy advice to the President and the National Commission for Disaster Preparedness, · Monitoring and evaluation of provincial and district level activities; · Deployment of technical and material resources in high risk areas; · Emergency relief assistance to disaster victims; · Preparation of, quarterly, and annual progress report.

This paper examines spatial variations in the geomorphology of the Ninety East Ridge (NER), located in the Indian Ocean. The NER is an extraordinary long linear bathymetric feature with topography reflecting complex geophysical setting and geologic evolution. The research is based on a compilation of high-resolution bathymetric, geological, and gravity datasets clipped for the study area extent (65° - 107°E, 35°S - 21°N): General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), Earth Gravitational Model (EGM2008, EGM96). The submarine geomorphology of the NER was modeled by digitized cross-sectional profiles using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT). The availability of the method is explained by 1) the free datasets; 2) the open source GMT toolset; 3) the available tutorials of the GMT and the codes explained in this work. Three segments of the NER were selected, digitized, and modeled: 1) northern 89°E, 7°S to 90°E, 7°N; 2) central 88.4°E, 14.7°S to 88.8°E, 8.2°S; 3) southern 87.9°E, 17°S to 87.5°E, 27°S. Measured depths were visualized in graphs, compared, and statistically analyzed by the histograms. The northern segment has a steepness of 21.3° at the western slopes, and 14.5° at the eastern slope. The slopes on the eastern flank have dominant SE orientation. The central segment has a bell-shaped form, with the highest steepness comparing to the northern and southern segments. The eastern flank has a steepness of 49.5°. A local depression at a distance of 50 km off from the axis (90°E) continues parallel to the NER, with the shape of the narrow minor trench. The western slope has a steepness of 57.6°, decreasing to 15.6°. The southern segment has a dome-like shape form. Compared to the northern and central segments, it has a less pronounced ridge crest, with a steepness of 24.9° on the west. The eastern flank has a steepness of 36.8° until 70 km, gradually becoming steeper at 44.23°. A local minor trench structure can be seen on its eastern flank (100 km off the axis). This corresponds to the very narrow long topographic depressions stretching parallel to this segment of the NER at 90.5°E. The study contributes to regional geographic studies of Indian Ocean geomorphology and cartographic presentation of GMT functionality for marine research and oceanographic studies.

While urban areas are often considered to be comprised chiefly of artificial surfaces, they can contain a substantial portion of green space and a great diversity of natural habitats. These spaces include public parks, private gardens and street trees, all of which can provide valuable environmental services, such as improved air quality. Trees play a particular role in cities as they are often placed along roadsides and in the median strip of busy streets. As such they regulate access to sunshine, restrict airflow, provide shelter, scavenge air pollutants and manage noise at the street level. A tree planting policy can be an important part of a broader environmental strategy aimed at improving the quality of life in urban areas but this requires up-to-date knowledge of the current tree stock, which does not exist for Dublin. This article presents an inventory of trees in Dublin’s city centre, defined as the area between the Grand and Royal canals. The results show that there are over 10,000 trees in the study area representing a density of 684 trees km
2 or one tree to approximately every 50 residents of the city centre. The tree canopy extent when in full foliage was nearly 1 km2 in extent or 6% of the study area. A more detailed analysis of those trees planted along streets shows little species variation but clear distinction in the sizes of trees, which is indicative of the age of planting. These data are used to estimate the carbon stored in Dublin’s trees.

The study aims at utilizes the machine learning methods in cartography with a case study of climate and environmental mapping of Brazil. Rapid advances in machine learning applied to Earth observations have resulted in the application of scripting and programming languages for cartographic visualization and modelling. This research applies the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) scripting toolset for advanced environmental mapping of Brazil. The data includes TerraClimate dataset of 2020. The GMT is an advanced cartographic tools that operates mapping from the console using scripts. Selected codes of the used scripts are presented in the research for technical explanation of the workflow. The results show correlation among the parameters and demonstrate climate and environmental trends notable for different biomes of Brazil: Amazônia, Caatinga, Cerrado, Pampa and Pantanal. The study presents 10 new maps made using GMT. Based on the obtained results, the increase of precipitation is notable in the Amazônia, along with the highest temperatures in the northern Brazil (Negro river basin) which corresponds to the increase in soil moisture and runoff. The evapotranspiration is higher in the southern regions than those in the north. On the contrast, the Caatinga region shows the minimal values of evapotranspiration, soil moisture and runoff. The main advantage of scripting cartography, demonstrated in this research, consists in automated data processing which pushes climate studies towards a data-driven research. Automated mapping technically facilitates the workflow due to the fast and smooth handling of various formats and types of data. The results contribute to the environmental analysis of climate in Brazil that has applications in agricultural and food studies and shows technical use of GMT.

The Islamic State is quickly becoming one of the most organized, while still decentralized, and violent terrorist organizations with high ambitions and capability in the Middle East.  In an official statement for the record to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), the Director of National Intelligence has proclaimed the Islamic State to be the foremost terrorist threat to the United States.  Claiming masses of land under their control through force and brutal violence, and still seizing more, to establish their Caliphate of governorship, the Islamic State appeals to even non-radicals in their proclamation of a self-appointed Caliph to govern Muslims as a whole.  This would be a separate government of Muslims that exceeds nationals and regional boundaries of state law led by a single man, the Caliph, who leads this terrorist organization.

In such governorship of territories already under Caliphate control, the Islamic State has established basic necessities such as electricity, running water, school, hospitals and other critical services to the people of their controlled lands in at least some areas.  Such areas receiving these services can only be assumed to be grateful for these programs.  It is unknown if these programs existed before the Caliphate took control and were ceased in the interim until the Caliphate was well established, but the Caliphate good-naturedness in restoring any previous services, or even improving them, would be duly noted by the people of the land and place the Caliph in less distasteful regards, perhaps even in pleasant regards for some.

Such tactics are a major step up from the forced influence of using major infrastructure such as water supply to force submission and acquiescence of just two years ago as the Islamic State (then mostly referred to as ISIS) was on a path of war to obtain as much land as quickly as possible to establish the Caliphate, which by custom is recognized and strengthened as well as respected based on the size of his territorial land control (the Caliphate).  It appeared ISIS at the time had a higher goal of a central territory of control in the Middle East, vast yes, but location was the key, in which Muslims from all over could come to join their Caliphate and their cause—their war.  Since 2004, numerous terrorist cells and organizations have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State across the globe, providing IS the opportunity to proclaim more “provinces” of their Caliphate, even to the extent of encroaching on al-Qaeda and Taliban territories.

Software distribution strategies have many aspects and can be analysed by reviewing different incisions of a strategy. The focus of this paper is on Licensing aspect involves licensing strategy, licensing risks, licensing enforcement costs. Furthermore, by formulating licensing strategy main technical and business aspects are predicted also. The key issues of this paper are different business models for FOSS software and also SWOT analysis of usage and development of FOSS software from point of view of different user groups. This analysis was provided as part of work of Humboldt IP, LernSens and Collaborative@Rural IP. Currently this strategy is an important issue of members of Czech Centre for Science and Society and WirelessInfo Living Lab, where models based on dual licensing are important.

Recently several algorithms have been developed to calculate the solar photovoltaic (PV) potential on the basis of 2.5D raster data that can capture urban morphology. This study provides a new algorithm that (i) incorporates both terrain and near surface shadowing effects on the beam component; (ii) scales down the diffuse components of global irradiation; and (iii) utilizes free and open source GRASS and the module r.sun in modeling irradiation. This algorithm is semi-automatic and easy to upgrade or correct (no hand drawn areas), open source, detailed and provides rules of thumb for PV system design at the municipal level. The workflow is pilot tested on LiDAR data for 100 buildings in downtown Kingston, Ontario. Shading behavior was considered and suitable roof sections for solar PV installations selected using a multi-criteria objective. At sub-meter resolution and small time steps the effect of occlusion from near object was determined. Annual daily horizontal irradiation values were refined at 0.55m resolution and were shown to be lower than those obtained at 90 m by 30%. The robustness of r.sun as capable of working with different levels of surface complexity has been confirmed. Finally, the trade off of each computation option (spatial resolution, time step and shading effect) has been quantified at the meso scale, to assist planners in developing the appropriate computation protocols for their regions.

This book combines theoretical and practical knowledge about key actors and driving forces that help to initiate and advance open data governance. Using Finland and Sweden as case studies, it sheds light on the roles of key actors in the open data movement, enabling researchers to understand the key operational elements of data-driven governance. It also examines the most salient manifestations of related networking activities, the motivations of stakeholders, and the political and socioeconomic readiness of the public, private and civic sectors to advance such policies. The book will appeal to e-government experts, policymakers and political scientists, as well as academics and students of public administration, public policy, and open data governance.

The Rural Access Index (RAI) is beneficial to monitor accessibility in rural areas. However, the RAI cannot indicate how many rural people have not been served (called Not Served Rural Population or NSRP), and it has only been mapped at a national and/or regional scale. This study visualizes both the RAI and NSRP in Africa, and also visualizes the NSRP at a fine scale (i.e., 10km×10km grid). The results show that: First, the spatial pattern of the NSRP is quite different with that of the RAI, and thus we suggest to use the NSRP indicator as a supplement of the RAI. Second, the NSRP varies within a country, and the fine-scale mapping can be helpful for policy makers and planners to decide where there is a priority need to improve rural road accessibility.

Barnes and Sheppard (2009) assume that an anti-monist and anti-reductionist economic geography is desirable and that this desirability is so obvious that no argument needs to be advanced in its support. This commentary challenges this assumption and suggests that a monist and reductionist economic geography organized around the idea of truth-seeking is neither unthinkable nor unpalatable. In order to flesh out this idea, the commentary builds on recent work in the philosophy of scientific induction to show why one of its less publicized advances – error statistical theory – holds far more promise for the future development of economic geography than Barnes and Sheppard's vague and nebulous 'engaged pluralism'.

El avance tecnológico a nivel mundial, conlleva al desarrollo de las sociedades, incrementando la demanda de energía eléctrica en los hogares. La energía producida actualmente es obtenida principalmente de combustibles fósiles, los cuales, aparte de no ser sustentables, contaminan el medio ambiente e incrementan la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero. En este trabajo, se presenta una alternativa al uso de combustibles fósiles para la generación de energía para consumo doméstico, específicamente la energía solar. La información necesaria respecto a la radiación solar fue derivada de imágenes satelitales (NOAA-AVHRR), generando mapas promedios mensuales para evaluar el potencial de aprovechamiento de esta energía renovable en la parte sur del Ecuador y para determinar zonas posibles para la implementación de sistemas de abastecimiento. Los resultados indicaron que el aprovechamiento de energía solar es viable en los valles interandinos y las regiones sur – occidentales donde la rad...

"USING PREDICTIVE MODELLING METHODS AS A WAY OF EXAMINING PAST SETTLEMENT PATTERNS:AN EXAMPLE FROM SOUTHERN POLAND, Anna Łuczak
Undoubtedly, spatial analysis using GIS applications has become increasingly important in archaeological research. Archaeological Predictive Modelling (APM) plays a crucial role among those GIS techniques. The main goal of APM is to create predictive distribution maps of occurrence of archaeological sites on the basis of known archaeological records and their link to environmental or cultural predictors used in modelling. This gives to CRM (Cultural Resource Management) a real opportunity to protect archaeological remains and to prevent them from damage. That is the main concept of North American predictive modelling approaches. On the other hand, developing Archaeological Sensitivity Maps also helps scientists to plan for field surveys. The use of predictive modelling has a different methodological approach in Europe, where it is an attempt to understand settlement patterns and factors that may have influenced site location in the past. The aim of this presentation is to show how valuable a combination of the two mentioned concepts of predictive modelling (North Americans and European) can be to simulate and visualize prediction maps. This is why I chose for this project an area in southern Poland that lies between two river basins: the ones of the Oława and the Ślęza. The examined area is morphometrically quite diversified – from the flat area in the North and close to river valleys, to the hilly area in the central and eastern part. These features of the selected territory suit the predictive modelling method well and give an opportunity to study complex environmental factors that may have influenced past settlement. The archaeological dataset used in modelling comes from the field survey record stored in the database of the Polish Archaeological Record (PAR /Polish name: Archeologiczne Zdjęcie Polski, AZP). For modelling purposes I selected two datasets representing sites from different periods: Neolithic and Medieval (Early and Late). This approach allows to minimize the modelling and analysing effort and also to examine the differences between settlement patterns in these periods. In the preliminary process a variety of environmental and cultural factors obtained using typical GIS procedures were used to determine past settlement preferences. Variables were examined to identify their potential influence on site location. Statistical analysis (e.g. density plots, correlation coefficients, etc.) was used for this purpose. The best subset of factors was selected and included in different types of statistical modelling procedures. After comparing the accuracy of the models, the best modelling method (with stronger predictive power) was chosen. As a result of the analysis the predictive distribution maps of archaeological sites were obtained."

Today, the overall goal of energy transition planning is to seek an optimal strategy for increasing the share of renewable sources in existing power networks, such that the growing power demand is satisfied at manageable short/long term investment. In this paper we address the problem of PV penetration in electricity networks, by considering both 1) the spatial issue of site selection and size, and 2) the temporal aspect of hourly load and demand satisfaction, in addition with the investment and maintenance costs to guarantee a viable and reliable solution. We propose to address this spatio-temporal optimization problem through an integrated GIS and robust optimization model, that allows handling of the ubiquitous dependencies between resource and demand time variability and the selection of optimal sites of renewable power generation. Our approach contributes to the integration of the multi-dimensional and combinatorial aspects of this problem, gathering geographical layers (regional or national scale) and temporal packing (hourly time stamp) constraints, and cost functions. This model computes the optimal geographical location and size of PV facilities allowing energy planning targets to be met at minimal cost in a reliable manner. In this paper, we illustrate our approach by studying the penetration of large-scale solar PV in the French Guiana's power system. Among the results, we show for instance that: 1) our approach performs geographical aggregation with real contextual data, i.e. balances the intermittency of RE sources by spreading out the corresponding installations (location + size) across the territory; 2) the total installed PV capacity can be doubled by removing the 35 % penetration limit on intermittent power without exceeding hourly demand; 3) the safest investment scenario is below 30 MW of new PV facilities (≈ 45 Me and 2 plants), though it is theoretically possible to install up to 45 MW (>120 Me and 11 plants).

There are several practical methods in landslide susceptibility of which the logistic regression is used as the statistical model in central Zab basin in the southwest mountainsides of West-Azerbaijan province in Iran to predict landslide susceptibility with two independent and dependant variables. This part of Zab basin is landslide-prone given its geological structure and geomorphology. We studied and defined the factors (slope, aspect, elevation, distance to road, distance to drainage network, and distance to fault, land use, precipitation, and geological factors) that affect occurrence of the landslides. To get more precision, speed and facility in our analysis, all descriptive and spatial information was entered into GIS system. The applied statistical approach is appropriate to landslide prediction. It employs the landslide events as dependant variable and data layers as independent variable, and makes use of the correlation between these two factors in landslide susceptibility. Given the employed model and the variables, signification tests were implemented on each independent variable, and the degree of fitness of susceptibility mapping was estimated; finally the map was classified into five categories: very low, low, moderate, high and very high risk. The categories cover an area of 95.46km 2 , 100.46km 2 , 46.1km 2 , 158.38km 2 and 120.96km 2 , respectively.

The paper addresses the problem of optimal bus stop allocation. The aim is to achieve reduction of costs on account of appropriate re-design of the process of obligatory transportation of children from their homes to the corresponding schools in the Laško municipality. The proposed algorithm relies on optimization based on the Monte Carlo simulation procedure. The number of calculated bus stops is required to be minimal possible, which can still assure maximal service area within the prescribed radius, while keeping the minimal walking distances pupils have to go across from their homes to the nearest bus stop and vice versa. The main issues of the proposed algorithm are emphasised and the working mechanism is explained. The presentation of calculated results is given and comparison with some other existing algorithms is provided. The positions of the calculated bus stops are going to be used for the purpose of physical bus stops implementation in order to decrease the current trans...

The amount of biological data available in online repositories is increasing at an exponential rate. However, data on marine invertebrate biodiversity resources from Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe are still sparse and scattered. Online repositories are useful instruments for biodiversity research, as they provide a fast access to data from different sources. The use of interactive platforms comprising web mapping are becoming more important, not only for the scientific community, but also for conservation managers, decision-makers and the general public as they allow data presentation in simple and understandable visual schemes. The main goal of this study was to create an interactive online digital map (hosted and available at MARINBIODIV Atlas), through the collection of data from various sources, to visualise marine invertebrate occurrences and distribution

Open government aims to integrate citizens into the public value creation process. This paper aims to fill in two gaps in the existing body of open government literature. First, little is known about the implementation of open government initiatives to and their implications for organizational design. Second, there is still little open government literature that considers municipalities. Hence, we examine how the pre-existing organizational design of a municipality shapes the implementation of a web-based open government platform. The empirical context showcases how the City of Linz implemented the application “Schau.auf.Linz”, an interactive mapping and reporting platform for urban maintenance needs. The platform builds on the existing structures and policies of the municipality. It functions as an additional, transparent channel of communication. Number of inquiries processed by the responsible department convincingly speaks for the success of the “Schau.auf.Linz“ platform. We suggest that the continuous adaptation of the municipalities’ organizational design to the service-oriented new public management paradigm prior to the launch of “Schau.auf.Linz” was a key enabler for the successful implementation of the platform.

Several proprietary industrial symbiosis software tools have been developed, however, without long term financial commitments these endeavors fall short of creating generalizable and sustainable tools. The recent development of virtual globes such as Google Earth (GE), an information service that provides imagery and three dimensional data depicting the entire physical earth, provides an opportunity to use a new sustainable method of navigating information to save energy and use materials more efficiently in the real world. To test this open source methodology, a data set was used from the Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania, which has mandated reporting the location of disposal and type of residual waste from sources producing more than one ton per month. This data set was integrated into the GE interface to identify and quantify opportunities for materials and energy efficiency improvements. This investigation found that virtual globes coupled with open source waste information can be used to: 1) reduce embodied transport energy by reducing distances to recycling facilities, 2) choose end of life at recycling facilities rather than landfills, and 3) establish industrial symbiosis and eco-industrial parks on known by-product synergies. For one waste category, a potential 70% reduction in ton-kilometers was identified by simply observing closer disposal locations than currently utilized; similar reductions are achievable in other categories. It is concluded that the open source sharing of information in virtual globes provide a means to identify economically and environmentally beneficial opportunities for waste management if the data have been made available.