Day: August 11, 2010

Spatial Distribution Change of Forest Cover by Climate Change in Korea

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

2010 ESRI International User Conference, San Diego, CA

Jae-Gyun Byun, Jung-Kee Choi, Young-Jin Lee, Woo-Kyun Lee, and Dong-Jun Chung

“This study analyzed the impact of climatic and topographic factors on tree radial growth of red pine and oak forest in Korea. Annual tree growth can be affected by age, current size, density, competition, site environment, and climatic factors such as temperature, precipitation and humidity. To find the relationship between annual tree radial growth and climatic factors, we took core samples from individual trees and measured the tree radial width. We found the spatial differences in tree radial growth. There exists spatial relationship between topographic and climatic factors, and tree radial growth. Using this relationship, we predicted spatial distribution change of red pine and oak forest with GAM (Generalized Additive Model) analysis based on GIS.”

Can We Predict Earthquakes with GPS Data?

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

International Journal of Digital Earth, Volume 3, Issue 1 March 2010 , pages 83 – 90

Shunji Muraia

“Prediction of earthquakes using GPS remains an unsolved but important problem. Pre-signals in terms of changes in triangular networks of GPS Stations were examined for many large earthquakes in Japan and in other Asian regions. I discovered that the occurrence and location of an earthquake can be predicted with pre-signals found in GPS data analysis. However, more research is required to predict how many days after the pre-signals an earthquake will occur.”

2010 URISA Election Results Announced

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

URISA is pleased to announce the results of its 2010 Board of Directors Election. Greg Babinski, GISP will become President-Elect of the association. Tom Conry, Nancy Obermeyer, GISP and Christopher Thomas will begin their terms as members of the Board of Directors, at the close of GIS-Pro 2010: URISA’s 48th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, September 28-October 1, 2010.

Greg Babinski is the Finance & Marketing Manager for the King County GIS Center in Seattle, Washington. He remarked, “URISA has been very important for my career and personal professional development. Our association faces challenges but it is also pursuing exciting new opportunities. I look forward to working with the Board, committees, and you the members as URISA prepares to enter its second 50 years of serving the needs of GIS professionals. Thank you…and feel free to send me an email….or better yet talk to me at GIS-Pro in Orlando….about your thoughts and ideas regarding the future of URISA – the Association for GIS Professionals.”

Three new directors were elected by the URISA membership to serve a three-year term on the URISA Board, also beginning in October. The three new Board members are:

  • Tom Conry, Fairfax County, Fairfax, Virginia
  • Nancy Obermeyer, GISP, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana
  • Christopher Thomas, ESRI, Redlands, California

At the close of GIS-Pro 2010 in Orlando, the terms of service for these Board members will conclude:

  • Hilary Perkins, GISP, AICP (Immediate Past President) – East-West Gateway Council of Governments, St Louis, Missouri
  • Cindy Braddock – Boulder County Assessor’s Office, Boulder, Colorado
  • Sandi Majewski, GISP – Las Vegas Metro Police Dept, Las Vegas, Nevada

We thank them, in advance, for their dedication and service to URISA and anticipate many more years of continued involvement.

[Source: URISA press release]

New Book: Mapping Species Distributions: Spatial Inference and Prediction

/ Matt Artz

“Maps of species’ distributions or habitat suitability are required for many aspects of environmental research, resource management and conservation planning. These include biodiversity assessment, reserve design, habitat management and restoration, species and habitat conservation plans and predicting the effects of environmental change on species and ecosystems. The proliferation of methods and uncertainty regarding their effectiveness can be daunting to researchers, resource managers and conservation planners alike. Franklin summarises the methods used in species distribution modeling (also called niche modeling) and presents a framework for spatial prediction of species distributions based on the attributes (space, time, scale) of the data and questions being asked. The framework links theoretical ecological models of species distributions to spatial data on species and environment, and statistical models used for spatial prediction. Providing practical guidelines to students, researchers and practitioners in a broad range of environmental sciences including ecology, geography, conservation biology, and natural resources management.”

An Iconography-Based Modeling Approach for the Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Architectural Heritage

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

2010 Shape Modeling International Conference, Aix en Provence, France, 21-23 June 2010

Livio De Luca, Chawee Busarayat, Chiara Stefani, Noemie Renaudin, Michel Florenzano, and Philippe Véron

“The study of historic buildings is usually based on the collection and analysis of iconographic sources such as photographs, drawings, engravings, paintings or sketches. This paper describes a methodological approach to make use of the existing iconographic corpus for the analysis and the 3D management of building transformations. Iconography is used for different goals. Firstly, it’s a source of geometric information (image-based-modeling of anterior states); secondly, it’s used for the re-creation of visual appearance (image-based texture extraction); thirdly it’s a proof of the temporal distribution of shape transformations (spatio-temporal modeling); finally it becomes a visual support for the study of building transformations (visual comparison between different temporal states). The aim is to establish a relation between the iconography used for the hypothetical reconstruction and the 3D representation that depends on it. This approach relates to the idea of using 3D representations like visualization systems capable of reflecting the amount of knowledge developed by the study of a historic building.”

Vulnerability Assessment of Water Resources to Climate Change Using GIS

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

2010 ESRI International User Conference, San Diego, CA

Guishan CUI, Sang-chul LEE, Woo-Kyun LEE, and Ji-woong CHUNG

“Climate change has influenced on various environmental and social sectors. Especially, it has significant impact on water resource, such as drought and flood. In this study, we assessed the flood and drought vulnerability to climate change using GIS-based spatio-temporal information. Vulnerability is assessed in terms of sensitivity, exposure and adaptation. We prepared criteria and indicators for climate change impact assessment to flood and drought, and integrated GIS based data which is correspondent to indicators. As a result, we mapped flood and drought vulnerability and suggested adaptation strategies in Korea. South-eastern region of Korea is likely to be vulnerable to flood. And central-western region of Korea is vulnerable to drought.”