Geoinformatics For Environmental Management

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.

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.

Geotechnologies and the Environment: Environmental Applications and Mana- ment presents an engaging and diverse array of physically-oriented GIScience applications that have been organized using four broad themes. While the book’s themes are by no means mutually exclusive, Hoalst-Pullen and Patterson provide an elegant overview of the eld that frames the collection’s subsequent thematic str- ture – Wilderness and Wildlife Response; Glaciers; Wetlands and Watersheds; and Human Health and the Environment. Over the course of the volume, the contrib- ing authors move beyond basic (and in some respects clichéd) landscape ecology of land use change to explore human-environment dynamics heretofore not emp- sized in the applied literature. In doing so, the collection presents a compelling case for the importance of developing new physically-oriented GIScience applications that reside at the nexus of social and natural systems with the explicit intent of informing public policy and/or the decision making practices of resource managers. Individually, the chapters themselves are intentionally diverse. The diversity of the approaches, their spatial context, and emphases on management applications demonstrate the many ways in which geotechnologies can be used to address small and big problems in both developed and developing regions. The collection’s int- nal coherence is derived – like the book series – from its explicit appeal to a wide variety of human-environment interactions with potential policy linkages.

With the advent of advanced satellite sensors, high resolution satellite imagery, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), that enables mapping and modelling of the landscape, it is becoming even more important for the research scientist and engineer in the field of environment to integrate Geoinformatics Technology into their scientific investigation. This book focuses on the development of advanced technologies of Geoinformatics for Environmental Management. This book is intended for the academic community as well as the resource scientist, engineers, decision makers and planners involved in environmental problem solving. The book is organized around two main themes, namely principles of Geoinformatics and Applications to Environmental Management with case studies, spread over a total of eighteen chapters. From applications of Surveying and Mapping to Natural Disaster Management, and other areas of natural resources, Geoinformatics for Environmental Management provides a complete picture of the fascinating and rapidly growing fields of remote sensing, GIS and GPS. Unique in scope, this book covers the full interdisciplinary spectrum of the subject including Surveying and Mapping, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Forest Resource Management, Watershed Management, Saltwater Intrusion Modelling, Water Quality Mapping and Modelling, Solid Waste Management, Natural Disaster Management and Urban Planning and Management. This is the first book of its kind to incorporate and summarize number of case studies of environmental issues for students, teachers, and practitioners. In addition, it provides operational methodologies for analysis and design of environmental projects.

This is a comprehensive resource that integrates the application of innovative remote sensing techniques and geospatial tools in modeling Earth systems for environmental management beyond customary digitization and mapping practices. It identifies the most suitable approaches for a specific environmental problem, emphasizes the importance of physically based modeling, their uncertainty analysis, advantages, and disadvantages. The case studies on the Himalayas with a complex topography call for innovation in geospatial techniques to find solutions for various environmental problems. Features: Presents innovative geospatial methods in environmental modeling of Earth systems. Includes case studies from South Asia and discusses different processes and outcomes using spatially explicit models. Explains contemporary environmental problems through the analysis of various information layers. Provides good practices for developing countries to help manage environmental issues using low-cost geospatial approaches. Integrates geospatial modeling with policy and analysis its direct implication in decision making. Using a systems’ approach analysis, Geospatial Modeling for Environmental Management: Case Studies from South Asia shall serve environmental managers, students, researchers, and policymakers.

Geotechnologies and the Environment: Environmental Applications and Mana- ment presents an engaging and diverse array of physically-oriented GIScience applications that have been organized using four broad themes. While the book’s themes are by no means mutually exclusive, Hoalst-Pullen and Patterson provide an elegant overview of the eld that frames the collection’s subsequent thematic str- ture – Wilderness and Wildlife Response; Glaciers; Wetlands and Watersheds; and Human Health and the Environment. Over the course of the volume, the contrib- ing authors move beyond basic (and in some respects clichéd) landscape ecology of land use change to explore human-environment dynamics heretofore not emp- sized in the applied literature. In doing so, the collection presents a compelling case for the importance of developing new physically-oriented GIScience applications that reside at the nexus of social and natural systems with the explicit intent of informing public policy and/or the decision making practices of resource managers. Individually, the chapters themselves are intentionally diverse. The diversity of the approaches, their spatial context, and emphases on management applications demonstrate the many ways in which geotechnologies can be used to address small and big problems in both developed and developing regions. The collection’s int- nal coherence is derived – like the book series – from its explicit appeal to a wide variety of human-environment interactions with potential policy linkages.

Geospatial technology is a combination of state-of-the-art remote sensing and technology for geographic information systems (GIS) and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) for the mapping and monitoring of landscapes and environment. The main thrust of using geospatial technology is to understand the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of spatial heterogeneity, while its ultimate objective is to provide a scientific basis for developing and maintaining ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable landscapes. This book presents new research on the interdisciplinary applications of geospatial technology for identification, assessment, monitoring, and modelling issues related to landscape, natural resources, and environmental management. The book specifically focuses on the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation, display, and dissemination of spatio-temporal data, which help to resolve environmental management issues including ecosystem change, resource utilization, land use management, and environmental pollution. The positive environmental impacts of information technology advancements with regard to global environmental and climate change are also discussed. The book addresses the interests of a wide spectrum of readers who have a common interest in geospatial science, geology, water resource management, database management, planning and policy making, and resource management.