Comparison of GIS‐Based Logic Scoring of Preference and Multicriteria Evaluation Methods: Urban Land Use Suitability

Multi‐criteria evaluation (MCE) methods are useful tools to evaluate the land suitability for various uses and assist in the effective management of available land. Many common GIS‐based MCE methods, such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP), ordered weighted averaging (OWA), and a combination of AHP and OWA methods (AHP–OWA) are not able to fully represent all the logic that constitute a wide range of human decision‐making reasoning. Consequently, improved GIS‐based MCE methods such as Logic Scoring of Preference (LSP) method are needed. The main objectives of this study are to: (1) implement the GIS‐based LSP method for land suitability evaluation and (2) compare qualitatively and quantitatively the suitability maps generated by LSP and three GIS‐based MCE methods. This study was implemented with data sets from Boulder County, Colorado, USA for the case study of the urban land suitability evaluation. The qualitative properties of MCE methods and the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) statistics were used as comparison metrics. The results indicate that soft computing methods and particularly LSP performed the best among GIS‐based MCE methods for the urban land use application.     

A Hybrid Approach for Mass Valuation of Residential Properties through Geographic Information Systems and Machine Learning Integration

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Machine Learning methods are now widely used in mass property valuation using the physical attributes of properties. However, locational criteria, such as as proximity to important places, sea or forest views, flat topography are just some of the spatial factors that affect property values and, to date, these have been insufficiently used as part of the valuation process. In this study, a hybrid approach is developed by integrating GIS and Machine Learning for mass valuation of residential properties. GIS-based Nominal Valuation Method was applied to carry out proximity, terrain, and visibility analyses using Ordnance Survey and OpenStreetMap data, than land value map of Great Britain was produced. Spatial criteria scores obtained from the GIS analyses were included in the price prediction process in which global and spatially clustered local regression models are built for England and Wales using Price Paid Data and Energy Performance Certificates data. Results showed that adding locational factors to the property price data and applying a novel nominally weighted spatial clustering algorithm for creating a local regression increased the prediction accuracy by about 45%. It also demonstrated that Random Forest was the most accurate ensemble model.     

All Strings Attached: Negotiating Relationships of Geographic Information Science

Human geography has driven substantive improvements in methodologies and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GISs), yet Indigenous groups continue to experience erasure in geographic representations. GIS ontologies comprise categorised labels that represent lived contexts, and these ontologies are determined through the shared worldviews of those labelling spatial phenomena for entry into GIS databases. Although Western ontologies and spatial representations reflect Western understandings of human experience, they are often inappropriate in Indigenous contexts. In efforts to be represented in courts and land management, Indigenous groups nevertheless need to engage Western spatial representations to ‘claim space’. This paper examines what GISs are and do and shows that GIS technology comes with strings attached to the myriad social contexts that continue to shape the field of GIScience. We show that Intellectual Property Rights Agreements can sever and control these ‘strings’; the agreement between the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation and university researchers reframes GIS from a technology of erasure to a technology of opportunity that enables Indigenous groups to define their own engagement. The visual and narrative outputs will contribute important understandings of the environmental crisis facing the Murray–Darling Basin and connect older and younger generations through knowledge sharing. We conclude the application of GIScience is never simply technological but always has potential to empower particular communities. Applying GIS technology to new circumstances is an engagement of new relationships in the social praxis of technology transfer, where worldviews meet and negotiations are made over what exists and how we know.     

GIS Methods in Time-Geographic Research: Geocomputation and Geovisualization of Human Activity Patterns

Over the past 40 years or so, human activities and movements in space‐time have attracted considerable research interest in geography. One of the earliest analytical perspectives for the analysis of human activity patterns and movements in space‐time is time geography. Despite the usefulness of time geography in many areas of geographical research, there are very few studies that actually implemented its constructs as analytical methods up to the mid‐1990s. With increasing availability of geo‐referenced individual‐level data and improvement in the geo‐computational capabilities of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), it is now more feasible than ever before to operationalize and implement time‐geographic constructs. This paper discusses recent applications of GIS‐based geo‐computation and three‐dimensional (3‐D) geo‐visualization methods in time‐geographic research. The usefulness of these methods is illustrated through examples drawn from the author's recent studies. The paper attempts to show that GIS provides an effective environment for implementing time‐geographic constructs and for the future development of operational methods in time‐geographic research.     

Evolving technology,shifting expectations: cultivating pedagogy for a rapidly changing GIS landscape

As humans and natural processes continuously reshape the surface of the Earth, there is an unceasing need to document and analyze them through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The public is gaining more access to spatial technologies that were once only available to highly trained professionals. With technological evolution comes a requirement to transition traditional GIS training for the next generation of GIS professionals. Traditional GIS combined with non-traditional GIS (i.e. mobile and location media) and CyberGIS educational materials could attract new and diverse students into Geography departments while informing the next generation of geospatial tool builders and users. Here we pose an applied pedagogical framework for teaching cutting-edge GIS material to diverse student populations with varying levels of technological experience and professional goals. The framework was developed as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CyberGIS Fellows program and was applied as a course template at the University of Washington Tacoma’s Master’s of Science in Geospatial Technologies. We chart how the framework developed into a cyclical structure from our original conceptualization as a hierarchy. This changed the epistemological orientation accommodating the shifting technological terrain of the GIS landscape to improve the skills of those driving the machines.     

GIS辅助城市用地结构分析与用地调整的应用初探

面对复杂的城市问题,单一学科的理论和方法往往束手无策,交叉学科的研究是近年来城市问题研究的主要趋势之一,特别是随着GIS的发展,借助GIS及相关学科的研究方法和手段进行城市现状分析和预测将是城市学领域发展的重要方向之一。本文以湖北省崇阳县白霓镇为例,借用经济学供需基本概蓬和分析方法,结合社会学的调查研究方法,利用系统工程方法和GIS技术,在深入调查的基础上,开创性地提出城市用地供需度的概念,并从它们与区位之间关系的角度出发分析用地结构,探讨了GIS在城市用地结构分析与辅助用地调整方面的应用,旨在抛砖引玉,引起同行们对新技术条件下传统研究方法革新的重视。     

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) hydrological modeling in archaeology: an example from the origins of irrigation in Southwest Arabia (Yemen)

From small bands of foragers, pastoralists, and village agriculturists, to states and civilizations water accessibility and management played a crucial role in sustenance and social life throughout the ancient world. Recent advances in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related remote sensing technologies offer powerful means of analyzing water flow that are well-suited to clarify design and operational requirements of different irrigation and water management systems. Ancient Southwest Arabian irrigation technologies developed over thousands of years culminating in some the ancient world's most advanced flashflood water systems. This paper describes satellite imagery Digital Elevation Model (DEM) extraction and GIS hydrological modeling procedures conducted for the Wadi Sana watershed of Hadramawt Governate, Yemen. Results help illustrate one of the local contexts in which small-scale irrigation originated in Southwest Arabia and additionally serve as an example for those interested in applying similar methods in other regions.     

Facilitating native land reacquisition in the rural USA through collaborative research and Geographic Information Systems

A large proportion of American Indian reservation lands are owned by non‐Indian entities. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for visualising land tenure changes, and public participation GIS (PPGIS) is one approach for using spatial technologies to facilitate the identification and reacquisition of reservation lands by tribes. While some tribes have successfully harnessed GIS for land management and for systematically identifying lands for reacquisition, others struggle to implement land management systems such as GIS for these purposes. This paper situates PPGIS in relation to other forms of participatory action research and outlines our use of a PPGIS framework to engage undergraduate geography students in the mapping of land tenure status on ten rural Minnesota Indian reservations as part of a collaborative partnership with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF). A PPGIS framework allowed us to collaboratively define research goals in response to tribal community needs and provided structure for student work with partner reservations to develop and implement tailored mapping and analysis techniques. Two sets of findings are significant. First, the assembly of a standardised set of maps for American Indian reservations in Minnesota provides a tremendous visual and analytical resource for ILTF and individual tribes to pursue land reacquisition within reservation boundaries. Second, from a PPGIS perspective, we found that working with a coordinating or ‘bridging’ organisation provided key benefits by enabling education of both the student–faculty partners and the individual tribes. The PPGIS model empowered both partners by allowing tribes to harness a powerful technology to assist in visualising land‐based assets and allowing students to contribute to native land reacquisition efforts through application of their GIS skills. This mapping helps facilitate economic and cultural viability in tribal communities by providing an important visual catalogue of existing land‐based assets, in support of future land acquisition and economic development planning.     

Geospatial modeling of pedestrian transportation networks: a case study from precolumbian Oaxaca,Mexico

Using accumulated cost surfaces and various pathfinding techniques within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, archaeologists and other spatial scientists have developed increasingly sophisticated models of human movement. Despite their utility, these approaches can be limited because standard GIS software cannot model movement (1) from many origins to many destinations or (2) without specific origins and destinations. Absent these capabilities, it is particularly difficult to model networks of movement over a given tract of land if you are interested in obtaining a more general sense of movement dynamics, not specific site-to-site patterns. In this paper, we present an innovative way of modeling past movement that generates both natural-looking networks and also indicates the degree of traffic that may have existed on any particular segment of those networks. The “From Everywhere to Everywhere” (FETE) model generates networks based on topography and landcover without requiring that origin and destination points be supplied in advance. We apply the FETE model to a case from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, a region that has extensive archaeological and ethnohistoric data sets that serve as a test of the efficacy of our technique. A comparison of the FETE output with known late precolumbian and early colonial movement corridors indicates that the method is effective and should be useful for modeling networks in other areas.     

Modelling small-arms projectile distribution on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century battlefield sites

The application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies to archaeological investigations continues to provide new perspectives on historical events. Applied to battlefield archaeology, GIS analysis offers an efficient means of predicting potential artefact distribution across a conflict landscape. The approach proposed in this piece allows a user to test historical engagement scenarios within a desktop computing environment utilizing a customized GIS application. The study was intended to develop a framework that allowed for the input of quantifiable parameters in order to illustrate potential artefact patterning. The framework consists of two components, the trajectory model and the methodology for implementing it. Using this coarse-grained approach, it is our contention that small-arms projectile distribution can be estimated for a single engagement, and in doing so provide a more comprehensive view of potential artefact patterning than using KOCOA (Key Terrain, Observation and Fields of Fire, Concealment and Cover, Obstacles, Avenues of Approach/Withdrawal) terrain analysis or historic research alone. As an initial example to illustrate the efficacy of our model, this study uses data and parameters from the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut landscape as a test case.     

The development of a new geospatial framework for the palaeoanthropological site of the Sterkfontein Caves,Cradle of Humankind,Gauteng, South Africa

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide an essential element in modern paleoanthropological inquiry through their ability to integrate a diverse range of data within a multidimensional spatial framework which can be used for data storage, analysis and modeling. One of the challenges of creating such a framework is the integration of legacy and new data (collected with digital technologies) at large sites with a long history of research. The Sterkfontein Caves, located in the Cradle of Humankind, is the richest Australopithecus-bearing locality in the world and has been the focus of intense palaeoanthropological research for the past 80 years. A diverse range of spatial data has been collected over this history and future integrative research necessitates the development of a unified, cohesive 3D GIS framework. In this paper we describe three phases of work undertaken to implement such a framework and discuss the next steps in its development and utilization for spatial analyses.     

南京城市轨道交通建设潜在影响下的土地利用分异研究

选取南京轨道交通沿线土地利用状态作为研究对象,针对南京轨道交通建设的发展背景和特点,通过GIS和RS技术,建立南京市中心城区的土地利用、交通等综合数据库,运用"廊道效应"方法,研究轨道交通沿线的土地利用分异情况,探讨轨道交通建设对城市土地利用空间分异的潜在影响。结果表明:居住用地已经表现出明显的廊道效应,从轨道交通线中心圈层向外逐步递减;而公共设施用地和工业用地则表现不明显。基于以上结果,从空间角度研究轨道交通线路与沿线土地利用的相互关系,提出有利于南京轨道交通建设与高强度土地开发相结合的联合开发模式。     

从传统乡村聚落到现代滨海旅游度假区——过去20年大连金石滩旅游度假区土地利用动态演变

旅游城镇化是中国新型城镇化进程中的重要类型之一。本文以大连金石滩为案例区,从土地利用变化视角,综合采用参与式乡村评估(PRA),GIS和遥感影像分析等方法分析了过去20年金石滩旅游度假区从传统乡村聚落转变为现代旅游度假区的城镇化过程。研究发现,过去20年,金石滩地区经历了从传统乡村聚落到现代滨海旅游度假区的转变。在此期间,农业用地和乡村聚落用地基本消亡,旅游设施用地和第二居所用地等商业设施用地呈现由海滩到内陆波浪式推进和立体集约性扩展。这种转换过程是以旅游持续增长为基本动力,以土地资本化进程为根本原因,以利益主导者转变为主要推手,在各种正式和非正式制度调节下共同作用的结果。     

Three-dimensional visibility analysis of architectural spaces: iconography and visibility of the wall paintings of Xeste 3 (Late Bronze Age Akrotiri)

In recent years various methods of visibility analysis have been applied to investigate human engagement, experience and socialisation within historic and prehistoric ’natural’ and built environments. On many occasions these approaches appear to be either extremely limited or wholly inadequate for the interpretation of complex built structures and building interiors because they do not fully model the three-dimensional geometry of such spaces. This paper briefly reviews computational approaches to visual analysis that have been previously applied in archaeological research, and then goes on to introduce a new analytical technique that uses fully 3D reconstructions of past environments. This method integrates common functionalities of 3D modelling software and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), essentially permitting viewshed analysis to be performed upon objects of any form and shape modelled in 3D. We argue that the proposed methodology can generate new data and encourage fresh lines of enquiry in the study of extant and partially preserved historic and prehistoric built structures in a variety of contexts, ranging from building interiors and townscapes to landscapes. The potential of the method is illustrated by applying the suggested analysis to explore visual perception issues associated with the urban remains of Late Bronze Age Akrotiri (Thera, Greece).     

THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR DATA-BANK

Several countries have made large investments in building historical Geographical Information Systems (GIS) databases containing census and other quantitative statistics over long periods of time. Making good use of these databases requires approaches that explore spatial and temporal change. The authors use a variety of visualization and spatial analysis techniques to explore population change in Ireland during and after the Great Famine of the late 1840s. Importantly, the techniques allow differences over space and time to be explored, thus stressing the diversity between places, rather than making all places appear the same, a common criticism of many statistical approaches. The authors demonstrate the potential of these techniques to explore geographical and temporal variations in large quantitative GIS datasets.     

人文地理过程内涵辨析与模拟探讨

人文地理过程是陆地表层系统地理过程最重要的组成部分之一。本文从陆地表层系统科学的角度出发,探讨了人文地理过程的基本内涵及主要组成部分,指出人口迁移过程和经济集聚-扩散过程是人文地理过程最重要的要素过程,城市化和土地利用变化是人文地理过程最直接的空间表达形式;在此基础上进一步探讨了人文地理过程模拟的核心内容,包括要素模拟和综合过程模拟;提出了人文过程模拟的主要数据源获得途径与模拟方法,指出了人文地理过程模拟需要解决的几个关键问题。     

改革开放以来广佛都市区空间扩展分析

利用遥感和GIS技术对改革开放以来广佛都市区的空间扩展情况进行分析,从1982年的地形图、1995和2008年的遥感影像中提取城镇建设用地和路网数据,从扩展强度、方式和效率等方面对其扩展情况进行定性定量的测度分析,发现:其建设用地具有扩展强度大、速度快的特点,但土地利用方式不甚合理,具有一定的低度不连续开发现象和较显著的道路沿线开发特征;扩展效率不高,新增用地的集约化程度、人口承载力度和经济产出水平均低于原有用地水平。这种高速、低效和无序的扩展特征表明其快速发展存在蔓延倾向。     

Toward Historical Ethnography: Notarial Records and Family History in the Middle Ages

One can easily use nineteenth-century tithe data of England and Wales in a Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze a range of subjects, for example, land use, productivity, land ownership, or tenancy. Making the tithe data GIS ready, on the other hand, is a nontrivial matter. The tithe data consist of two main types: spatial, that is, the tithe map, and nonspatial attribute data linked to the map. The tithe therefore has the characteristics of a GIS, albeit in paper form. The author outlines the process of creating the structures for building a data repository that allows the storage and dissemination of both tithe schedules and maps in a single GIS-ready system. The author chose Oracle to host the repository. The Oracle Spatial module allows storage of both spatial and attribute information. Oracle also provides the means of serving data to users via the Internet.     

Geographic Visualization in Archaeology

Archaeologists are often considered frontrunners in employing spatial approaches within the social sciences and humanities, including geospatial technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) that are now routinely used in archaeology. Since the late 1980s, GIS has mainly been used to support data collection and management as well as spatial analysis and modeling. While fruitful, these efforts have arguably neglected the potential contribution of advanced visualization methods to the generation of broader archaeological knowledge. This paper reviews the use of GIS in archaeology from a geographic visualization (geovisual) perspective and examines how these methods can broaden the scope of archaeological research in an era of more user-friendly cyber-infrastructures. Like most computational databases, GIS do not easily support temporal data. This limitation is particularly problematic in archaeology because processes and events are best understood in space and time. To deal with such shortcomings in existing tools, archaeologists often end up having to reduce the diversity and complexity of archaeological phenomena. Recent developments in geographic visualization begin to address some of these issues and are pertinent in the globalized world as archaeologists amass vast new bodies of georeferenced information and work towards integrating them with traditional archaeological data. Greater effort in developing geovisualization and geovisual analytics appropriate for archaeological data can create opportunities to visualize, navigate, and assess different sources of information within the larger archaeological community, thus enhancing possibilities for collaborative research and new forms of critical inquiry.     

Multiple pathways across past landscapes: circuit theory as a complementary geospatial method to least cost path for modeling past movement

The incorporation of geospatial technologies in archaeology has resulted in productive advances in the analysis of past behavioral processes. Archaeologists have relied on the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application of cost surface analysis and the computation of least cost paths (LCP) to study movement, one key social process. Recent research has identified limitations with LCP for modeling nonhuman species movement, notably the inability of LCP to accommodate multiple pathways. Archaeology must consider the implications of these critiques for models of past human movement. In this paper, I apply a different approach, circuit theory modeling, enacted through the program Circuitscape, to an archaeological case study previously analyzed with LCP modeling, travel to a regionally significant ceremonial earthwork center during Late Prehistory (ca. AD 1200–1600) in the Northern Great Lakes. Through this comparative analysis, I evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these methods for modeling past movement. The results suggest LCP modeling and circuit modeling offer archaeology complementary geospatial methods for conceptualizing past mobility. Combining circuit theory and LCP allows archaeologists to produce richer models of past movement by appreciating scenarios where multiple pathways are important as well as scenarios where optimum single travel routes have priority.