Day: September 22, 2010

Jack Dangermond to Discuss How GIS Provides Solutions for a Healthier Planet at INTERGEO Conference

/ Matt Artz

Esri president Jack Dangermond will be keynoting the INTERGEO conference, organized by the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation, and Land Management, to be held in Cologne, Germany, October 5–7, 2010. Dangermond will discuss the use of geospatial data and technology to assist in the fight against climate change. The motto of the conference is Knowledge and Action for Planet Earth.

Dangermond’s Keynote Address will focus on a multitude of issues surrounding climate change science, from root cause to resultant impacts, looking at geography as an elemental factor. “Every aspect of climate change affects or is affected by geography, be it at a global, regional, or local level,” Dangermond says. “The European Environment Information and Observation Network, or Eionet, is a great example of how organizations can work together to help each other understand climate change and find solutions. Through Eionet, the European Environment Agency is using GIS [geographic information system] technology to share and access essential geographic environmental data provided by more than 32 member countries in approximately 460 organizations.”

In Europe, sharing data, applications, and knowledge through the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) provides the resources countries need to collaborate, improving decision making and operations for a healthier planet. Esri is offering ArcGIS for INSPIRE, a solution built on ArcGIS software, to help this community create an extensible infrastructure that is INSPIRE compliant.

Visit Esri booth 2H.132 in hall 11.2 to see ArcGIS for INSPIRE as well as other ArcGIS 10 innovations that take advantage of rich Internet applications, cloud computing, and mobile GIS. To schedule a demonstration in the booth or an opportunity to talk to an expert at the show, send an e-mail to nationalmapping_info@esri.com.

[Source: Esri press release]

Second Annual GeoDesign Summit: 06-07 January, 2011

/ Matt Artz

Join us 06-07 January, 2011 for the second annual GeoDesign Summit, a gathering of professionals and academics involved in transforming technology, engineering, and planning in a changing world. GeoDesign brings together geospatial technologies and design processes to create innovative outcomes, from developing a community project to conducting scientific research.

At this groundbreaking event, you will be able to

  • Collaborate with an international group of innovators and speakers from diverse disciplines.
  • Take part in Idea Labs; Lightning Talks; brainstorming workshops; and cross-disciplinary, hands-on learning.
  • Be part of the development of GeoDesign concepts, technologies, and tools that will advance how our global society approaches design.

Learn More

Register

The Linear Earthworks System in Timis County (S-W Romania, Banat Region). A Synchronic Approach

/ Matt Artz

International Aerial Archaeology Conference – AARG 2010, Bucharest, Romania, 15 – 18 September 2010

Dorel Micle, Liviu Măruia, Marcel Török, Adrian Cîntar, Călin Timoc, and Andrei Stavilă

“Timis County, part of the historic region of Banat, situated in south-western Romania, is traversed from north to south by a system of three linear defense works, constituted by a number of successive ditches and earthworks, known to specialists as „roman earthworks” they have not been dated or ethnically assigned. Having been confronted with this on field, out team has tried during the past two years, through modern techniques and methods, to establish the exact route these defense works follow and to identify their common characteristics, both as far as defense is concerned as well as method of construction and establishing the relationship with the geographic environment. Our research combines methods of geophysical prospecting (magnetic surveying) with topography and archaeological mapping, as well as the processing of satellite imaging, in order to compile an interdisciplinary study of landscape archaeology. Our main objectives were to identify the route of the linear defense works and its features and the relation between the fortifications and landscape.

“The research had two parts: 1. field work (archaeological field research, geo-morphologic analysis, archaeological topography, and geo-physical prospecting – magnetometry; 2. laboratory work (the analysis of: topographical and cadastral maps, satellite images, GIS processing).

“The final results were the creation of maps with the exact path of the linear fortifications, the identification of construction features, the identification of landscape geo-morphological features on the route of the fortifications using satellite images.”

EPA Award to Facilitate GIS Analysis and Modeling for Air Quality Management

/ Matt Artz

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $110,022 to the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council in New Mexico. The funds will be used to support capacity building efforts for the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council staff increasing their knowledge and understanding of air quality management in Indian Country as well as provide assessments on two of their member tribes by conducting emissions inventories within each tribes jurisdictional boundaries. The Council is a consortium which will facilitate Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis and modeling training in order to better understand how air quality management can be used to support current and future emissions inventory development.

[Source: EPA news release]

Agroforestry in the Western Ghats of Peninsular India and the Satoyama Landscapes of Japan: A Comparison of Two Sustainable Land Use Systems

/ Matt Artz

Sustainability Science, Volume 4, Number 2, 2009, 215-232

B. Mohan Kumar and K. Takeuchi

“Agroforestry in the Western Ghats (WG) of peninsular India and satoyama in rural Japan are traditional land-use systems with similar evolutionary trajectories. Some of their relevance was lost by the middle of the twentieth century, when modern agricultural technologies and urbanisation engineered shifts in emphasis towards maximising crop production. There has been, however, a resurgence of interest in traditional land-use systems recently, in view of their ability to provide ecosystem services. Both agroforestry and satoyama are thought to be harbingers of biological diversity and have the potential to serve as “carbon forests.” Carbon (C) stock estimates of the sampled homegardens in WG ranged from 16 to 36 Mg ha−1. Satoyama woodlands owing to variations in tree stocking and management conditions indicated widely varying C stocks (2–279 Mg ha−1). Agroforestry and satoyama also differ in nature, complexity, and objectives. While agroforestry involves key productive and protective functions, and adopts ‘intensive management’, the satoyama woodlands are extensively managed; understorey production is seldom a consideration. Differences in canopy architecture (multi-tiered structure of agroforestry vs. the more or less unitary canopy of satoayama) and land ownership pattern (privately owned/managed agroforestry holdings vs. community or local government or privately owned and mostly abandoned satoyamas) pose other challenges in the transfer and application of knowledge gained in one system to the other. Nonetheless, lessons learnt from satoyama conservation may be suitable for common pool resource management elsewhere in Asia, and aspects relating to understorey production in agroforestry may be relevant for satoyama under certain scenarios.”

Impact of Water Availability on Land and Water Productivity: A Temporal and Spatial Analysis of the Case Study Region Khorezm, Uzbekistan

/ Matt Artz

Water 2010, 2(3), 668-684

Maksud Bekchanov, Aziz Karimov, and John P. A. Lamers

“Since irrigation water is assumedly the predominant factor determining crop yield, the difference in irrigation water availability across the administrative sub-districts of the Khorezm region, Central Asia, also inflicts an unequal distribution of agricultural revenues. Considering the national aim of a fair distribution and efficient use of resources, here we analyze the relationships between irrigation water access and rural welfare from 2000 to 2007 by descriptive statistics. Analyses revealed not only the general dependency of agricultural revenue on irrigation water availability, but also occurrence of low land productivity during water scarce years and, irrespective of the annual water availability, in some tail end regions each year. Furthermore, apart from irrigation water availability, land productivity was also impacted by soil quality, cropping structure, and type of land ownership. Fair distribution of water and land resources should also take into consideration population density. It is argued that an anticipated equal and efficient water allocation necessitates improved irrigation water conveyance, distribution, and application efficiency via best water management practices. Liberalization of markets, development of a market infrastructure and improvement in yields also contribute to increased land and water productivity.”

The Decline: The Geography of a Recession, by LaToya Egwuekwe

/ Matt Artz

“According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 31 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those involuntarily working parttime and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession,” as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available today. Original link: www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html. For more information, email latoya.egwuekwe@yahoo.com”