Selected topics
Andrea Pődör: Crowdsourcing a noise map
It was a
pleasure to attend the presentation of Mrs. Andrea Pődör, from the Obuda University,
Budapest, Hungary. It was interesting to learn about education at the Obuda
University and the current research in the field of Geoinformatics conducted
there.
Different
methods of moderating crowd-sourcing data influences the data quality and speed
of publication. Nevertheless, nowadays crowd-sourcing is increasingly used by companies,
public authorities, and non-profit organizations. I think, using the method of crowd-sourcing can be more successful in
the field of environmental protection (as well in noise mapping), for example
for the protection from illegal dumps, the discharge of untreated sewage, the damage
or destruction of forests, protected natural sites, or habitats of rare species
of flora and fauna.
The method of
crowd-sourcing in the implementation of noise mapping led me to the idea of
using thematic maps available on the Internet (in social networks, websites,
forums) in order to pick up information from social experts. They can help not
only to update information on sites of
environmental violations of noise indicators (according to the software
package standards on the smartphones or from another sources) on these maps, but
can offer various solutions, making it possible to choose the most appropriate
and effective solution in any particular case. Providing information about the
status of the environment can help in the implementation of projects covering a
large area, which is important for every country.
Bernhard
Castellazzi: Application for retail service area assessment
Bernhard Castellazzi
presented a very interesting topic about application for retail service area
assessment,which can be a useful tool for production development in order to
maximize profit for deliveries and, at the same time, for customers. He gave a
step by step explanation of the whole structure of the application that can be
implemented by using not only commercial, but also open source software such as
PostGIS, Python and QGIS and OSM as a supplier. For me it was interesting to learn
about the pgRouting extension for the PostGIS database that provides a routing
function.
I think, web applications can be a
very convenient tool for services in big cities. Nevertheless, parameter
problems such as routing and point location, depending on countryside or elevated
areas, can occur, and require improvements for future use.
Bernhard
Vockner: Integration and interpolation point-cloud data (sonar) for semiautomatic extraction 3D
underwater elevation models
From the
presentation by Bernhard Vockner, I learned about the methodology of generating
3D underwater elevation models. And I think that despite the challenges of
exploring the underwater world, it is important in geology, aquatic
biodiversity and other marine observation services.
Sonar
data is used to generate a terrain model of the underwater region. For me it was
also interesting to learn about the integration of GDAL( Geospatial Data
Abstraction Library) in FME (Feature Manipulation Engine) for the interpolation
of raster data which can run faster e.g.
than ArcGIS. Several interpolation methods require the consideration of
parameters depending on measurement scales. However, as discussed at the end of
the lecture, due to reasons such as dependency by customers, e.g. time limit can
cause a challenge and lead to not so perfect results, e.g. not very 'realistic' underwater visualizations of terrain models.
Caroline Atzl: Communicating
Spatio-Temporal Web Maps
Caroline Atzl presented very
useful information and advice on web map design perception and implementation
of design guidelines. Formulating the headline ,web maps can be used for
different domain applications for scientists, scholars, governments, for
economic, political, and social requirements. Nowadays, with the ever increasing
developments of technology, the design of the user interface plays a crucial
role not only in the use of a web map, but also in the competition between
service providers.
Creating
suitable and simple but detailed user interfaces can increase consumers.Nevertheless,
it can be more challenging than the technical implementation.I agree with
Caroline's remark, that a designer can't make the 'right' design decision
without users feedback. And I think, in some cases (e.g.
habitat mapping applications), another challenge can be the importing of obtained
real time data of changes, which requires detailed information about changes
and regular updating of the interface and application.
Michael Hagenlocher: Climate
change and vulnerability to vector-borne diseases – Concepts and methods for an
integrated spatial assessment
Despite
the complexity of vulnerability
assessment Mr. Hagenlocher could explain his research work in an understandable
manner. I think this research work has an important and salutary purposein
terms ofhuman health. However, to quantify the predicted impact on human health
is difficult, since the scale of climate change-induced health disorders
depends not only on insecticide resistance changes in vector-borne organisms disease,
but also on several other factors, such as migration, the provision of clean
urban environment, improving nutrition, supply of drinking water, sanitation,
and providing greater access to health services.
For
the modeling of vulnerability or latent phenomena with GIS, the indicators
and aggregation indices are used in the form of multiple layers, and a statistical
weight-based regression analysis is performed in order to create a malaria risk
map. Aside from the scientific application, vulnerability modeling also includes
the policy domain, which can add challenges like losing aggregation information
when comparing pixel and administrative units. For me it was interesting to
learn about the methodology of OBA (Object based analysis) for vulnerability assessment
in order to delineate homogeneous objects within individual indicators using
the same weight.
Natalia Kolecka: Forest
Succession Mapping with Airborne LIDAR
The use of LIDAR technology is very encouraging for
forest inventory. Traditional aerial photography was not always sufficient for
the measurements, especially when visibility was poor on earth, and the interpretation
of materials required highly skilled employees and a significant part of the
images required manual processing. The use of satellite images received via
passive mode doesn't provide the necessary accuracy because of the atmospheric
distortions. In contrast to these methods of remote sensing, LIDAR installed on
the airplane is equipped with an active sensor that can simultaneously and
accurately measure the forest structure and the underlying surface of the Earth,
and after processing the measurement,it is possible to obtain the exact
three-dimensional representation.
I think LIDAR mapping technology is a good opportunity
not only for monitoring of forest conditions but also to enable e.g. habitat
mapping or to determine the amount of carbon stored in forest biomass. Regarding the forest biomass studies, I came
across another example of a map which was created with data from the German
TanDEM-X satellite along with POLinSAR (Poliametric Insaris a remote sensing technique based on combining polarimetric and
interferometric information in synthetic aperture radar images), it accurately
representedchanges in the forest height over time, which is one useful parameter
to understanding ecosystems and forest dynamics.
Oană Liviu: Numerical Weather
Prediction
How
do meteorologists greet in the morning: -Good
morning! -Probably good morning! :)
Mr.
LiviuOana's presentation was fun with his professional jokes. It is evident
that limitations occur in the ability to accurately predict the evolution of
atmospheric processes for long periods of time. Limitation due to the fact that
the initial conditions for the calculation of the forecast always contain
errors and initial errors tend to increase during the forecast period due to
the instability of atmospheric processes (Edward Norton Lorenz ,
"butterfly effect"). Practical predictability of the atmosphere
depends on several factors, including the structure of the atmospheric currents
(e.g. the current weather situation) - in some cases the development of weather
processes is well "visible" for a few days in advance, yet it also happens
that the forecast for tomorrow is quite uncertain.
Nowadays,
different types of numerical weather prediction models supply a wide range of
domains with readily available and helpful information. WRF (Weather Research
and Forecast Model) is a very customizable and open source model which can
predict convective phenomena. In my opinion, a three-dimensional computer
animation enhances the prediction to better visualize which may take a role of
a considerable use in a broad domain in the future.
Peter Ranacher: GPS trajectories
and automobile energy usePeter
introduced his dissertation in a highly interesting manner. Nowadays, GPS
trajectories play a crucial role in different aspects such as pedestrian or
vehicle tracking. Obviously, the use of GPS navigation systems has a great
economic effect– increased traffic safety and reduced fuel consumption.Despite
this, as was explained and discussed during the presentation, several
challenges are occuring in analyzing GPS trajectories.
I need to
add that in my opinion using GPS in an extensive manner, like using it in
everyday life, can lead to problems such as a disorder of spatial orientation
and memory. Health care scientists strongly recommend owners of GPS devices not
to rely unconditionally on the navigator, but rather "to turn on"
their own brains from time to time.
Shahnawaz:Spatio-Temporal pattern of Aerosols in India
Mr. Shahnawaz presented an interesting topic about exploring the environmental context of India using GIS.In the general system of monitoring environmental pollution, a crucial study area is the atmospheric pollution, since all components of the natural environment can be polluted by the atmosphere. In urban environments, the most dangerous sources of air pollution are emissions from large industrial enterprises to motor vehicles. The processes occurring in the atmosphere are the most difficult to control, to forecast, and to manage, making it difficult to conduct environmental protection activities. Nonetheless, maps derived from appropriate classification methods from high spectral satellite images can increase the understanding of patterns of aerosols and their dynamics. Comparing the maps for each month of 2013, it is evident that the dynamics of aerosols changed mainly according to the temperature and that it differs depending on the Hemisphere.
Mr. Shahnawaz presented an interesting topic about exploring the environmental context of India using GIS.In the general system of monitoring environmental pollution, a crucial study area is the atmospheric pollution, since all components of the natural environment can be polluted by the atmosphere. In urban environments, the most dangerous sources of air pollution are emissions from large industrial enterprises to motor vehicles. The processes occurring in the atmosphere are the most difficult to control, to forecast, and to manage, making it difficult to conduct environmental protection activities. Nonetheless, maps derived from appropriate classification methods from high spectral satellite images can increase the understanding of patterns of aerosols and their dynamics. Comparing the maps for each month of 2013, it is evident that the dynamics of aerosols changed mainly according to the temperature and that it differs depending on the Hemisphere.
Uwe
Morgenstern: Transit times of baseflow in New Zealand rivers
It
was interesting to attend Mr. Morgenstern's presentation and to learn about
new methods of
measuring water consistency for tritium to estimate the age of water,
and about groundwater dynamics in New Zealand. Groundwater is an important
water resource for many countries including Finland, where its use is promoted
by its high quality and low purification need. Despite lower contamination
risks of groundwater compared to surface water, its geochemistry is constantly changing
as a result of anthropogenic and geogenic impacts.
Bytheway,
regarding lake Rotorua, I am not sure whether it was talked about during the
presentation, might be I skipped it, because when I googled it I found out that
it is well known for its geothermal activity and geysers, the source of which
is the Rotorua volcano caldera, and this lead me to the idea that the excess of
tritium could likely have a natural rather than anthropogenic cause. Anyway, accurate tritium analysis shows clear results,
merging numerical modeling and tracer
techniques can give information not only about historical changes of water, but
also about the ecological stability of water which can be a foundation for
creating maps about e.g. flora and fauna richness of water.