Environmental Geoinformatics

There is no doubt that today, perhaps more than ever before, humanity faces a myriad of complex and demanding challenges. These include natural resource depletion and environmental degradation, food and water insecurity, energy shortages, diminishing biodiversity, increasing losses from natural disasters, and climate change with its associated potentially devastating consequences, such as rising sea levels. These human-induced and natural impacts on the environment need to be well understood in order to develop informed policies, decisions, and remedial measures to mitigate current and future negative impacts. To achieve this, continuous monitoring and management of the environment to acquire data that can be soundly and rigorously analyzed to provide information about its current state and changing patterns, and thereby allow predictions of possible future impacts, are essential. Developing pragmatic and sustainable solutions to address these and many other similar challenges requires the use of geodata and the application of geoinformatics. This book presents the concepts and applications of geoinformatics, a multidisciplinary field that has at its core different technologies that support the acquisition, analysis and visualization of geodata for environmental monitoring and management. We depart from the 4D to the 5D data paradigm, which defines geodata accurately, consistently, rapidly and completely, in order to be useful without any restrictions in space, time or scale to represent a truly global dimension of the digital Earth. The book also features the state-of-the-art discussion of Web-GIS. The concepts and applications of geoinformatics presented in this book will be of benefit to decision-makers across a wide range of fields, including those at environmental agencies, in the emergency services, public health and epidemiology, crime mapping, environmental management agencies, tourist industry, market analysis and e-commerce, or mineral exploration, among many others. The title and subtitle of this textbook convey a distinct message. Monitoring -the passive part in the subtitle - refers to observation and data acquisition, whereas management - the active component - stands for operation and performance. The topic is our environment, which is intimately related to geoinformatics. The overall message is: all the mentioned elements do interact and must not be separated. Hans-Peter B ahr, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.h.c., Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.

This second edition includes updated chapters from the first edition as well as five additional new chapters (Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), CORONA historical de-classified products, Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles (UAVs), GNSS-reflectometry and GNSS applications to climate variability), shifting the main focus from monitoring and management to extreme hydro-climatic and food security challenges and exploiting big data. Since the publication of first edition, much has changed in terms of technology, and the demand for geospatial data has increased with the advent of the big data era. For instance, the use of laser scanning has advanced so much that it is unavoidable in most environmental monitoring tasks, whereas unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs)/drones are emerging as efficient tools that address food security issues as well as many other contemporary challenges. Furthermore, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are now responding to challenges posed by climate change by unravelling the impacts of teleconnection (e.g., ENSO) as well as advancing the use of reflected signals (GNSS-reflectometry) to monitor, e.g., soil moisture variations. Indeed all these rely on the explosive use of “big data” in many fields of human endeavour. Moreover, with the ever-increasing global population, intense pressure is being exerted on the Earth’s resources, leading to significant changes in its land cover (e.g., deforestation), diminishing biodiversity and natural habitats, dwindling fresh water supplies, and changing weather and climatic patterns (e.g., global warming, changing sea level). Environmental monitoring techniques that provide information on these are under scrutiny from an increasingly environmentally conscious society that demands the efficient delivery of such information at a minimal cost. Environmental changes vary both spatially and temporally, thereby putting pressure on traditional methods of data acquisition, some of which are highly labour intensive, such as animal tracking for conservation purposes. With these challenges, conventional monitoring techniques, particularly those that record spatial changes call for more sophisticated approaches that deliver the necessary information at an affordable cost. One direction being pursued in the development of such techniques involves environmental geoinformatics, which can act as a stand-alone method or complement traditional methods.

Most government agencies and private companies are investing significant resources in the production and use of geographical data. The capabilities of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for data analysis are also improving, to the extent that the potential performance of GIS software and the data available for analysis outstrip the abilities of

With the advent of advanced satellite sensors, high resolution satellite imagery, digital global positioning systems (GPS) and geographical information systems (GIS) which enable mapping and modelling of the landscape, it is becoming even more important for the research scientists in the field of environment to integrate Geoinformatics technology into their scientific investigation. This book focuses on the development of advanced technology of Geoinformatics for environmental management. The book is intended for the academic community as well as the resource scientists, engineers, decision makers and planners involved in environmental problem solving. This book has been organised around two main themes, Geoinformatics and its application to environmental management containing eighteen chapters, which provide a step-by-step approach.

Statistical Geoinformatics for Human Environment Interface presents two paradigms for studying both space and interface with regard to human/environment: localization and multiple indicators. The first approach localizes thematic targets by treating space as a pattern of vicinities, with the pattern being a square grid and the placement of viciniti

Spatial dimensions need to be properly captured if modelling and engineering techniques are to be successfully applied in addressing environmental problems. The links between the geographical information systems (GIS) that capture this data, simulation modelling, and engineering offer tremendous possibilities for building versatile support systems for managing the environment. GIS, Environmental Modelling and Engineering focuses on using GIS and external models to solve real environmental problems, promoting the critical thinking needed for the effective applications of these systems and their analytical outputs. Divided into three major sections, this textbook first concentrates on defining GIS, identifying how data is structured, and explaining common functionality. The text examines GIS from a technological perspective, exploring the evolution of its scientific basis and its synergies with other technologies within a geocomputational paradigm. The next section explores modelling from a neutral scientific perspective in its role of simulating phenomena, as well as from a more specific perspective in its role within environmental science and engineering. The third and largest section looks at how GIS and simulation modelling are joined. It provides case studies and covers issues such as interoperability, data quality, model validity, space-time dynamics, and decision-support systems. This volume provides seniors and postgraduate students with a structured, coherent text that goes beyond introductory subject matter by enabling readers to think critically about the data acquisition process and the results they get from the technology.

GIS for Environmental Applications provides a practical introduction to the principles, methods, techniques and tools in GIS for spatial data management, analysis, modelling and visualisation, and their applications in environmental problem solving and decision making. It covers the fundamental concepts, principles and techniques in spatial data, spatial data management, spatial analysis and modelling, spatial visualisation, spatial interpolation, spatial statistics, and remote sensing data analysis, as well as demonstrates the typical environmental applications of GIS, including terrain analysis, hydrological modelling, land use analysis and modelling, ecological modelling, and ecosystem service valuation. Case studies are used in the text to contextualise these subjects in the real world, examples and detailed tutorials are provided in each chapter to show how the GIS techniques and tools introduced in the chapter can be implemented using ESRI ArcGIS (a popular GIS software system for environmental applications) and other third party extensions to ArcGIS to address. The emphasis is placed on how to apply or implement the concepts and techniques of GIS through illustrative examples with step-by-step instructions and numerous annotated screen shots. The features include: Over 350 figures and tables illustrating how to apply or implement the concepts and techniques of GIS Learning objectives along with the end-of-chapter review questions Authoritative references at the end of each chapter GIS data files for all examples as well as PowerPoint presentations for each chapter downloadable from the companion website. GIS for Environmental Applications weaves theory and practice together, assimilates the most current GIS knowledge and tools relevant to environmental research, management and planning, and provides step-by-step tutorials with practical applications. This volume will be an indispensable resource for any students taking a module on GIS for the environment.

GIS for Environmental Applications provides a practical introduction to the principles, methods, techniques and tools in GIS for spatial data management, analysis, modelling and visualisation, and their applications in environmental problem solving and decision making. It covers the fundamental concepts, principles and techniques in spatial data, spatial data management, spatial analysis and modelling, spatial visualisation, spatial interpolation, spatial statistics, and remote sensing data analysis, as well as demonstrates the typical environmental applications of GIS, including terrain analysis, hydrological modelling, land use analysis and modelling, ecological modelling, and ecosystem service valuation. Case studies are used in the text to contextualise these subjects in the real world, examples and detailed tutorials are provided in each chapter to show how the GIS techniques and tools introduced in the chapter can be implemented using ESRI ArcGIS (a popular GIS software system for environmental applications) and other third party extensions to ArcGIS to address. The emphasis is placed on how to apply or implement the concepts and techniques of GIS through illustrative examples with step-by-step instructions and numerous annotated screen shots. The features include: Over 350 figures and tables illustrating how to apply or implement the concepts and techniques of GIS Learning objectives along with the end-of-chapter review questions Authoritative references at the end of each chapter GIS data files for all examples as well as PowerPoint presentations for each chapter downloadable from the companion website. GIS for Environmental Applications weaves theory and practice together, assimilates the most current GIS knowledge and tools relevant to environmental research, management and planning, and provides step-by-step tutorials with practical applications. This volume will be an indispensable resource for any students taking a module on GIS for the environment.