Land use change in Northeast China in the twentieth century: a note on sources,methods and patterns

Studies of historical change in cultivated land use in Northeast China have become important in the discussion of food supply safety and the reconstruction of land use/cover changes in China. This paper subjects a number of sources relating to land use change in the three provinces of Northeast China to comparative analysis. The data examined include Russian survey data (1914), data from local and regional Chinese governments during the Republic of China (1931), data from the Japanese Society of Manchuria Railway (SMR) for 1940 and various sets of contemporary Chinese data for the second half of the 20th century. A unified method of reconstructing the data and estimating the rate of cultivated land use change in Northeast China during the 20th century is developed here. A relational model is proposed for this purpose. It establishes a general framework for relating the various sets of data generated in different time periods and indicates ways in which the data have to be calibrated to ensure their comparability. The calibration of the data involves correlation and regression analysis. The results of the comparative analysis show that the area of and rate of change in cultivated land use in Northeast China increased until the last decade of the twentieth century. Increase rates were particularly high between 1914–1931 and 1950–1960.     

基于机器学习和图像形态学的彩色近代地图数字化——以近代上海地区地表水体信息提取为例

利用科学测绘技术绘制的近代地图作为一类珍贵的历史地理资料,不同程度上反映着过去的地表覆盖情况,数字化则是复原地图所载地表覆盖信息的重要途径。以《华东·上海》地图为例,实现并验证一种基于机器学习和图像形态学的彩色近代地图数字化方法。结果表明,该方法能够充分挖掘地图中的颜色信息和形态结构信息,以半自动方式快速准确地将彩色近代地图中的地表水体信息提取出来。该方法对数字化一类彩色近代地图具有参考价值,有望为精准复原近代以来地表覆盖变迁,深入理解人地关系变化提供数据和方法基础。     

Monitoring Land‐Cover and Land‐Use Change in a Rapidly Urbanising Coastal Environment: the Maroochy and Mooloolah Rivers Catchments,Southeast Queensland, 1988–1997

Effective catchment monitoring requires an integrative approach for selecting remotely sensed data to monitor land‐cover change. Catchment analyses and monitoring requirements in the Maroochy and Mooloolah River Catchments (south‐east Queensland) were addressed by linking government and community information needs to appropriate scales of remotely sensed data and processing routines. A hybrid image classification approach applied to Landsat Thematic Mapper image data acquired in 1988 and 1997 provided catchment scale land‐cover maps (with accuracies of 73% and 84%). Land‐cover change maps derived from post‐classification comparison provided information on the spatial distribution and type of land‐cover changes between 1988–1997. Land‐cover change was dominated by activities related to urban residential expansion (suburban and rural residential) and agricultural expansion (sugar cane farms). Significant spatial variations in the geometric registration accuracy of the image data sets and classification accuracies produced moderate to low change detection accuracies. However, the framework and community consultation used for selecting and processing data ensured the resource managers and community groups were fully aware of the limitations of the land‐cover change mapping process and that the output images were suitable for incorporating in resource monitoring activities.     

Cartographically reconstructing surveys of community land grants in New Mexico to support historical research and political discourse

Cartographic visualization of past changes in ownership and management of real estate provides a basis for historical research, decision-making, and political discourse. Surveys associated with land title deeds represent unique and legally valid geographic records of historical boundaries, including those of some Spanish-Mexican land grants in the American Southwest that are currently administrative subdivisions of state. Accurate representation of land grant boundaries that were surveyed during the nineteenth century is problematic due to imprecise instrumentation, error of record, and uncertainty in landmark location. This study assesses the utility of coordinate points from US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) “brass-cap” monuments (cadastral points) for cartographic reconstruction of three New Mexico land grant surveys that exhibit distinct geographic characteristics. Findings reveal discrepancies with respect to land ownership maps produced by the BLM and provide insight to decisions made during surveying. These reconstructed boundaries are also compared to boundary maps produced by the BLM, based on comparisons with the original surveys and relative to known boundary markers. This study highlights the practical importance and potential scholarly applications of reconstructing geographic boundaries of politically active community land grants in a contemporary context.     

The Use of Old Russian Land Survey Data in Geographic Research for Agricultural Purposes

Estate maps dating from the Russian general land survey of 1770–1781 are used to compile a historical map of land types, including cropland, forest, meadow, swamps, etc. The historical map is then compared with a modern soil map and a map of soil-forming parent materials to establish what effect, if any, past land types have had on present soil qualities. It is suggested that the better soils, in terms of drainage characteristics, were selected by man in the earliest stages of cultivation, and that poorer soils were put under the plow only subsequently as the crop area expanded. Some of these poorer soils have reverted, in the meantime, to grazing land. Soils long cleared of forest are found to have a higher carbonate horizon (effervescing with HCI) than soils more recently cleared of forest. The study area is Sapozhok Rayon of Ryazan' Oblast, southeast of Moscow.     

Monuments on a migrating Nile

River courses migrate, but many Egyptologists plot the present-day River Nile on maps of the valley in archaeological times. This may have misled interpretations of ancient monuments and settlements. We show a river migrating rapidly on historical timescales in the Luxor region, sweeping > 5 km across the valley at rates on the order of 2–3 km per 1000 years. Satellite elevation data (SRTM), processed by a novel method, and Landsat imagery are used to trace ancient river levees and extend trends present in 200 years of archive maps thousands of years into the past. This supplements observations by Ptolemy (121–141 AD) and places local geo-archaeological studies in a wider spatial and temporal context. Satellite data are demonstrated to be a relatively quick and easy constraint upon ancient river courses, and a basis for investigations along the Egyptian Nile, even in logistically inaccessible regions.     

100年来东北地区经济地域格局的演变

东北地区经济地域格局的形成与发展受区域环境与经济成本的双重约束。基于100年来东北地区交通网络化过程分析,通过统计分析与现代GIS空间分析方法相结合,作者探讨不同时间序列东北地区的主要经济、社会发展特征,重点分析了37个城市区域的人口、经济等的空间集聚与边缘化特征以及土地利用变化、城市空间扩展等,揭示东北地区不同时期经济地域格局的演化机制,并预测其基本走向。     

Integrating Landsat and Land Systems for Cover Maps in Southern Inland Queensland

Digital analysis of Landsat data is applied to up-dating land cover maps for the Goondiwindi district of southern, inland Queensland. The imagery was paired with climax cover maps obtained from land systems reports with analysis conducted separately for each of three climax cover types (open forest, woodland and open woodland). Computer classification using this approach produced readily interpreted and reliable results. This work demonstrates that Landsat can be used in conjunction with existing, land systems derived maps to produce data that combine the advantages of two approaches to environmental survey, the former being based on current land cover/land use and the latter on the original environment and its land use potential.     

我国特大城市地域扩展与用地效益的初步研究

本文利用历史资料和相关分析的方法研究了我国130万人口以上特大城市的地域扩展特点,并对100万人口以上的34座特大城市的用地效益进行了分析,提出了我国大城市土地合理利用的方向。     

Constructing Abstract Worlds of the Past

A principal research need in historical geography is the creation of abstract worlds of the past. This study of agricultural settlement patterns in Upper Canada, 1782–1851, assesses the relative rank and sensitivity of land availability, point of entry, land quality, and distance to market in relation to a settler's decision to locate. Settlement patterns for years between 1782 and 1851 are simulated and compared to real world data by means of visual analysis of settlement maps and correlation analysis. For patterns before 1851 the dates of survey are important; by 1851 the effects of this factor are not evident.     

International Collaboration in the Compilation of Monographs on the Geography of Individual Socialist Countries

The paper describes an attempt to determine the causes of the development of the present gully network in the steppe and forest-steppe of the European part of the USSR. The authors develop a technique that involves comparing the number of gullies derived from a map of gully density with the number of gullies derived from data on the expansion of the cropland area within the boundaries of the prerevolutionary guberniyas (major civil divisions). The authors conclude from the close correspondence of the two sets of figures that the great majority of gullies could have been formed as a result of the plowing up of the land over the 150 to 300 years of agricultural land use in the study region and can therefore be assumed to have arisen as a result of human activities.     

近300年来新疆玛纳斯湖变迁研究

本文在充分分析、利用历史文献记载、精确解读历史地图信息的基础上,结合现代大比例尺地形图、遥感卫星影像资料,以及前人的科学研究和野外实地考察成果,运用历史地理逆向推演法,分析了近300年来玛纳斯湖的历史演化过程,确定了不同历史时期玛纳斯湖的地理位置,弥补了第四纪以来玛纳斯湖演化过程研究的空白,并且对不同历史时期区域自然因素与人文因素对玛纳斯湖流域水文变迁的影像进行了分析,为今后玛纳斯湖周围生态环境演化研究提出了新的研究重点和研究方向。     

近70年来中国历史城市地理研究进展

历史城市地理是历史地理学的重要分支之一。近70年来,中国历史城市地理研究经历了奠基与探索、缓滞、复苏与拓展、深化与融合等发展阶段,在研究内容拓展、理论与方法总结、新技术探索等方面取得了长足进步和丰硕成果,促进了中国历史地理学的整体发展。基于近70年来历史城市地理领域的代表性研究论著,总结了中国历史城市地理研究的阶段性特征,论述了九大专题领域的研究进展,并对历史城市地理研究相关问题进行了辨析,对今后的研究趋向加以展望。     

Seeing what you know: Changing constructions and perceptions of landscape in Epirus,Northwestern Greece, 1945 and 1990

This paper considers how current understandings of historical events, past practices and movements of the people of Pogoni in Epirus, Northwestern Greece, informs the way they currently visually perceive their physical and social landscape. Taking two periods, marked as prior to 1945 and up to 1990, the paper explores, with the use of maps showing different temporal versions of the visual perception of the area, the combination of social, historical and spatial elements which combined to generate Pogoni people's perception of their “place”;. It argues that the current experience of place emphasises both the visual and historical aspects of it (through notions such as “cultural heritage"). In this context, what people “see”; is the combined outcome of particular reconstructions of past relations and movements around the place, overlaid with current practices, experiences and movements through the place.     

Using toponymy to reconstruct past land use: a case study of ‘brüsáda’ (burn) in southern Switzerland

Toponyms are frequently the outcome of a creative process, a subjective interpretation by the local inhabitants at the time of naming. They often survive changes in the local landscape, thus becoming historical documents of landscape dynamics or changes in land use. In this contribution we provide a systematic synchronic analysis of the toponym brüsáda (burn) in Canton Ticino. In total, 182 instances of place names containing brüsáda were recorded, of which 102 cases (56.0%) were localised. Based on oral information provided by the local people or on archival documents, it was possible to group the selected toponyms into different meaning classes such as burnt building, exposed sites, pasture-land and others without any indication (classified here as generic). On the basis of etymological, topographic, documentary, bibliographic, and historic evidence, as well as proxy-archives (such as charcoal in lake sediments), we hypothesise that most of the toponyms associated with pasture-land – and probably also a large portion of the generic toponyms – are directly or indirectly related to the habit of using fire to clear brushwood to improve pasture-land or to eliminate trees. In the study area, the practice of pasture-fires appears to have been a very well controlled and targeted activity in medieval times. In contrast, pasture-fires became very frequent and uncontrolled in the second half of the nineteenth century up until the Second World War. Our study confirms the usefulness and suitability of toponymy, in combination with other disciplines, for ecohistorical reconstructions of past environmental and land-use changes.     

Estimation of Spatio-Temporal Correlations of Prehistoric Population and Vegetation in North America

We discuss a simple methodology to enable a statistical comparison of human population with the vegetation of North America over the past 13,000 years. Nonparametric kernel methods are applied for temporal and spatial smoothing of point data obtained from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database and the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database, which results in sequences of maps showing the development of population and different plant taxa during the Holocene. The estimation of smooth spatial and spatio-temporal cross-correlation functions is proposed in order to detect relationships between population and vegetation in fixed time intervals. Furthermore, the effects of varying environment on demographic changes as well as potential impacts of populations on plant taxa over time are analyzed. Pointwise confidence bands for cross-correlation functions are computed and a robustness analysis is performed to assess the significance of obtained results. Considering the example of oak, an interpretation of our results for eastern North America shows the value of this methodology.     

近三十年来中国历史气候研究方法的进展——以文献资料为中心

过去30年里,中国历史气候的研究取得了世所瞩目的成就。这一研究领域中每次重要的进展,都伴随着资料的开拓和方法的创新。有鉴于此,本文主要对近三十年来历史气候研究中文献资料的收集整理、资料中存在问题的甄别和处理,温度序列、干湿序列的重建及其它相关历史气候研究领域中研究方法的进展做了回顾总结。指出研究方法的进步主要体现在更有效地提取和利用历史文献中的有效信息,尽量减少重建过程和结果的不确定性。而一定的方法总是适用于一定的资料。并认为新资料的继续开拓和集成方法的发展完善将进一步推动研究的进步。     

大连市建成区土地利用时空演变与动力机制分析

借助ENVI和GIS技术对大连市1990年以来遥感影像资料及空间数据进行统计分析,研究其建成区扩张的时空演变及动力机制。研究结果表明,近20年来,大连市区建设用地扩张1.34倍,以东北为主要拓展方向。1990-1995年扩张速度和扩张贡献率最大,城市空间不规则扩张;1995-2005年城市以填充式发展为主,边界逐渐规则;2005年以来进入了新一轮的建设用地扩张时期。人口增长和经济发展对建设用地扩张的驱动作用趋于弱化,政府决策行为成为主要影响因素,尤其是金州区与新城区(开发区)的建立与发展对大连市区建设用地扩张有明显的牵引和带动作用。     

Fluctuations in land values in a rural municipality in southern Québec, Canada

The agro-forested region of the Haut-St-Laurent, in southwestern Québec, in Canada, has served as a laboratory for several years to a multi-disciplinary research team seeking to understand the interplay of stakeholders and processes influencing the rural space of southern Québec. Following directly in the footsteps of previous research, this study was undertaken to analyze the hitherto neglected but important aspect of fluctuations in land values with respect to geomorphology and land use, during the 1958–1997 period. A geo-referenced database was built within an object-oriented geographic information system (GIS) that includes data from the sale of parcels of land within the study area, land registry maps, land use maps, and a geomorphological map. These data were analyzed and sorted through queries addressed to the database. Finally, a statistical analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between sale price, geomorphology and indirectly land use, for the entire study period and for each of its decades. The results show that land value has increased at different times during the past, according to its geomorphological type and land use. These relationships are explained by the important transformation phases that have affected southern Québec during the second half of the twentieth century.