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Porcine pasteurellosis is an infectious disease caused by Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida), which seriously endangers the healthy development of pig breeding industry. Early detection of disease transmission in animals is a crucial early warning for humans. Therefore, predicting risk areas for disease is essential for public health authorities to adopt preventive measures and control strategies against diseases. In this study, we developed a predictive model based on multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and assessed risk areas for porcine pasteurellosis in the Chinese mainland. By using principal component analysis, the weights of seven spatial risk factors were determined. Fuzzy membership function was used to standardize all risk factors, and weight linear combination was used to create a risk map. The sensitivity of the risk map was analyzed by calculating the mean of absolute change rates of risk factors, as well as calculating an uncertainty map. The results showed that risk areas for porcine pasteurellosis were predicted to be locate in the south-central of the Chinese mainland, including Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangdong, and Guangxi. The maximum standard deviation of the uncertain map was less than 0.01and the ROC results showed that the prediction model has moderate predictive performance with the area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.80 (95% CI 0.75–0.84). Based on the above process, MCDA was combined with WebGIS technology to construct a system for predicting risk areas of porcine pasteurellosis. Risk factor data was directly linked to the developed model, providing decision support for disease prevention and control through monthly updates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma is developing a new application to set up a 'Map of the Archaeological Potential of Rome' within the SITAR platform. The research group is developing a solid system for the Rome Archaeological Potential Map, which is based on the great documentary heritage included in the system, i.e. 25,000 archaeological partitions and over 10,000 cores collected and processed. With a view to a participatory philosophy, this tool will be implemented through the input of data entered by individual users of the platform. The final elaboration will soon be available on the SITAR webgis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and evaluation of soil ecological environments are very important to ensure saline–alkali soil health and the safety of agricultural products. It is of foremost importance to, within a regional ecological risk-reduction strategy, develop a useful online system for soil ecological assessment and prediction to prevent people from suffering the threat of sudden disasters. However, the traditional manual or empirical parameter adjustment causes the mismatch of the hyperparameters of the model, which cannot meet the urgent need for high-performance prediction of soil properties using multi-dimensional data in the WebGIS system. To this end, this study aims to develop a saline–alkali soil ecological monitoring system for real-time monitoring of soil ecology in the Yellow River Delta, China. The system applied advanced web-based GIS, including front-end and back-end technology stack, cross-platform deployment of machine learning models, and a database embedded in multi-source environmental variables. The system adopts a five-layer architecture and integrates functions such as data statistical analysis, soil health assessment, soil salt prediction, and data management. The system visually displays the statistical results of air quality, vegetation index, and soil properties in the study area. It provides users with ecological risk assessment functions to analyze heavy metal pollution in the soil. Specially, the system introduces a tree-structured Parzan estimator (TPE)-optimized machine learning model to achieve accurate prediction of soil salinity. The TPE–RF model had the highest prediction accuracy (R2 = 94.48%) in the testing set in comparison with the TPE–GBDT model, which exhibited a strong nonlinear relationship between environmental variables and soil salinity. The system developed in this study can provide accurate saline–alkali soil information and health assessment results for government agencies and farmers, which is of great significance for agricultural production and saline–alkali soil ecological protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact worldwide and continues to spread due to various mutations of the virus. Many governmental and nonprofit agencies at different levels have quickly developed COVID-19 dashboards to disseminate information on the pandemic to the public. However, most of these systems have mainly distributed "plain" information (e.g. cases, death counts, vaccination), and rarely provided insights that can be gained from spatiotemporal analyses, such as the detection of emerging clusters. The results from these analyses hold tremendous potential for health policymakers as they try to identify ways to slow down transmission. We present a web-based geographic framework to detect and visualize space-time clusters of COVID-19. Our tightly coupled framework integrates the prospective space-time scan statistics and local indicators of spatial association (LISA) with novel 2D and 3D interactive visuals in a cyber environment (). We illustrate the applicability of our approach using COVID-19 data for the continental US. Our framework is portable to other regions that may experience infectious diseases but is also flexible to handle data of different spatial and temporal granularities. This paper fits within an effort to integrate space-time analytics for the monitoring of infectious diseases in web environment, ultimately improving health surveillance systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers on all levels have had to adapt to an online or hybrid teaching environment. People in geography, a discipline that traditionally values field trips to connect theory to practice, have had to find online alternatives for educational activities that normally would have taken place in the field. This has led to several innovative practices, which, however, have only to a limited degree been purposively tested for efficacy because of the ad-hoc, enforced nature of the required changes. This project deals with this issue by studying, through student workshops dealing with the creation of online didactic walking routes in two cities, how students can obtain specific geographical competences such as interpreting different historical layers that collectively shape the current urban fabric through online cartography. We found that students reported clear improvements in geographical reasoning skills, regarding both GIS and heritage interpretation. There were no clear patterns regarding the role of familiarity with the studied city for the quality of the produced story maps. On final reflection, we argue that online cartographic exercises are a valuable addition to the geographers' educational toolkit to bounce forward to a more resilient, reflective educational practice after the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the role of preventive archaeological investigations - and consequently that of archaeologists -in territorial and urban transformation became more and more important; On the other hand, the time allocated to archaeological investigation is often severely compressed: so, it is essential to exercise targeted and effective action and, even more so, to have in-depth knowledge of the context on which the project impacts. The National Geoportal for Archaeology is a useful tool, making archaeological data available for consultation and free reuse. Its usefulness is growing every day, thanks to recent provisions that provide for the use of the GNA as a standard for the delivery of minimum data for all archaeological investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inventory of architectural heritage must deal with problems of managing and storing large amounts of information in heterogeneous formats, in addition to the necessity to organize and manage the information generated by the collaborative work between the different technicians involved in the documentation process. The solution involves the creation of a standardized base to plan and execute the digital recording of graphic documentation. To this end, an Information System of the Mudejar Architectural Heritage of Aragon is presented, with the purpose of integrating under a common support, all the documentation and graphic information available on the heritage element, with the purpose of preparing an inventory for its conservation and dissemination. The implementation of a tool that allows the dissemination and exploitation of information by different users through a web portal that integrates a cartographic viewer (WebGIS) and access to a point cloud manager based on WebGL is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific studies concentrated in Antarctica hold great value and importance for humanity. Research projects are conducted in various disciplines on the continent, where nearly 100 research stations from 30 countries are established. Despite the challenges posed by Antarctica's natural structure, unique environment, difficult working conditions, and limited logistics opportunities, scientific research conducted there is indispensable due to the valuable information it offers. In pursuit of accessing this information, Turkish Antarctic expeditions have been organized since 2017. In this study, a polar data center was established through a web-based geographic information system (WebGIS), a significant infrastructure for the continuity of scientific studies. The implemented projects and raw/processed data from previous expeditions in diverse subjects and disciplines, including geology, geophysics, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, atmospheric physics, chemistry, microbiology, and remote sensing, were incorporated into this information system. Studies in Antarctica have primarily focused on observing the effects of global warming, necessitating the monitoring of past and current data related to sea ice, sea level, and coastal changes. The data also encompasses seismic, volcanic, tectonic, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) monitoring. As suggested by the Antarctic Treaty, a user-friendly website was designed and made accessible for research projects, data, and publications. An entity relationship diagram was created for the fields to be included in the database. These fields were structured as tables using structured query language (SQL) queries in PgAdmin. A workspace and storage area were created in GeoServer, and a connection was established with PostGIS. Layers of spatial and nonspatial data from the PgAdmin application were added to the GeoServer workspace. The data transferred to GeoServer were presented in an OpenLayers web map with Web Map Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) according to Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. Additionally, a mini web map was designed using the desktop Quantum GIS (QGIS) application and GIS Cloud collaboration, displaying GNSS and meteorological (weather) observation stations on the continent. A dynamic web project was employed for coding in Eclipse software, where backend coding was done with JavaScript. SQL was used as a part of the backend to integrate data from the database per request. Frontend coding for the website's visual side was completed with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. As a result, a WebGIS platform was developed where researchers can register, add projects, and publications, and view data on a map. Users can download, analyze, and utilize the available data. The data center's existence underscores the importance of polar science and serves as an incentive for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development procedure and significance of a web mapping application designed for disseminating, exploring, and analyzing Kaupert's 19th-century Maps of Attica, Greece. The application facilitates historical and geographical study by providing access to high-resolution map images and overlaying multiple vector layers of geospatial data. The paper outlines the methods used to create the application, which includes the process of interpreting, digitizing, and organizing the original mapped data, georeferencing the historical cartographic sheets, and developing the web-based mapping application. The results of this work include a comprehensive and interactive digital reference tool for studying the ancient topography of Attica, as well as a framework for future research. Overall, this work highlights the potential of digital technologies to transform the way we approach and study historical maps and other cultural artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of historical urban centres progressively needs a strategic improvement in methods and the scale of knowledge concerning the vulnerability aspect of seismic risk. A geographical multi-scale point of view is increasingly preferred in the scientific literature and in Italian regulation policies, that considers systemic behaviors of damage and vulnerability assessment from an urban perspective according to the scale of the data, rather than single building damage analysis. In this sense, a geospatial data sciences approach can contribute towards generating, integrating, and making virtuous relations between urban databases and emergency-related data, in order to constitute a multi-scale 3D database supporting strategies for conservation and risk assessment scenarios. The proposed approach developed a vulnerability-oriented GIS/HBIM integration in an urban 3D geodatabase, based on multi-scale data derived from urban cartography and emergency mapping 3D data. Integrated geometric and semantic information related to historical masonry buildings (specifically the churches) and structural data about architectural elements and damage were integrated in the approach. This contribution aimed to answer the research question supporting levels of knowledge required by directives and vulnerability assessment studies, both about the generative workflow phase, the role of HBIM models in GIS environments and toward user-oriented webGIS solutions for sharing and public use fruition, exploiting the database for expert operators involved in heritage preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in Computer Science and the spread of internet connection have allowed specialists to virtualize complex environments on the web and offer further information with realistic exploration experiences. At the same time, the fruition of complex geospatial datasets (point clouds, Building Information Modelling (BIM) models, 2D and 3D models) on the web is still a challenge, because usually it involves the usage of different proprietary software solutions, and the input data need further simplification for computational effort reduction. Moreover, integrating geospatial datasets acquired in different ways with various sensors remains a challenge. An interesting question, in that respect, is how to integrate 3D information in a 3D GIS (Geographic Information System) environment and manage different scales of information in the same application. Integrating a multiscale level of information is currently the first step when it comes to digital twinning. It is needed to properly manage complex urban datasets in digital twins related to the management of the buildings (cadastral management, prevention of natural and anthropogenic hazards, structure monitoring, etc.). Therefore, the current research shows the development of a freely accessible 3D Web navigation model based on open-source technology that allows the visualization of heterogeneous complex geospatial datasets in the same virtual environment. This solution employs JavaScript libraries based on WebGL technology. The model is accessible through web browsers and does not need software installation from the user side. The case study is the new building of the University of Twente—Faculty of Geo-Information (ITC), located in Enschede (the Netherlands). The developed solution allows switching between heterogeneous datasets (point clouds, BIM, 2D and 3D models) at different scales and visualization (indoor first-person navigation, outdoor navigation, urban navigation). This solution could be employed by governmental stakeholders or the private sector to remotely visualize complex datasets on the web in a unique visualization, and take decisions only based on open-source solutions. Furthermore, this system can incorporate underground data or real-time sensor data from the IoT (Internet of Things) for digital twinning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the State Border Geoinformation System of the Republic of Croatia (SBGiS), based on opensource technologies, has facilitated and accelerated the storage, processing, handling, analysis and visualization of large amounts of spatial data used in open border issues, as well as standard affairs on maintaining the regulated state border of the Republic of Croatia. Centralized data storage and their spatial visualization through an interactive map allows citizens to see the situation at the state border in real time, which significantly increases the safety of movement in the border zone, but also aids in the prevention of state border breaches. The SBGiS is the only system that has been established not only for maintaining a regulated state border but also for resolving border disputes and delimitation procedures. At the end of the paper, a proposal for future system upgrades is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, soybean production almost doubled in Brazil, reaching 122 million tonnes, and it is expected to increase even more. Brazil is the world's largest producer and is primarily an exporter. From a sustainability point of view, soy production has been strongly criticized mainly in relation to deforestation, albeit for indirect effects. Soybean oil is a potential feedstock for the production of bio-jet fuels, which needs to be sustainable according to international criteria (sustainable aviation fuels—SAF). This paper aims to estimate the areas still available for soy expansion in Brazil, considering conditions that would allow the production of SAF. We used the SAFmaps platform, a geospatial database with information on the most promising bioenergy crops for SAF and their supply chains. Just by displacing pastures and observing a set of constraints, the total area available for expansion was estimated at 192.8 thousand km2, of which 43% is of high suitability. These areas are concentrated in the Center-West region. Assuming a vertical supply chain, the results of the case studies of SAF production indicate potential feasibility, but some hypotheses considered are optimistic. Moreover, the results indicate that there can be sustainable production of soybean oil and contribution to the production of SAF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the establishment of a webGIS pilot project in the city of Sinj, based on the research of the development of local spatial data infrastructure (LSDI) as described in the doctoral thesis (Marasović 2020). A set of LSDI development indicatorswere tested in the pilot project. The indicators to be tested were discovered in the mentioned doctoral thesis using statistical regression, statistical correlation and focus groups. The following key indicators have been identified: 1) funding from the local level, 2) awareness, 3) support for development from the decision makers, and 4) administration and citizens recognized as the main LSDI user groups. As an example of LSDI, most main stakeholders of the city of Sinj were interviewed and mapped according to their relevant capabilities, working processes and interaction between the main stakeholders. All the identified indicators were confirmed. The pilot project confirmed that the decision on investment in LSDI from the local level decision makers is essential for its implementation. For such a decision, raising the awareness of the decision makers and citizens about the benefits of LSDI is vital. Citizens and city administration were mapped as two stakeholders which interact most among the stakeholders. Delegating an employee responsible for the implementation and support from the decision makers during the implementation process are essential for success. Human Resources and Public Relationships management activities were recognized as very important in the process of raising awareness of LSDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is analyzing the use of WebGIS for tourism development in historic Cairo which is considered as an open-air museum, designing the touristic map and publishing it on the web as an interactive map. ArcGIS Server and WebGIS were used to create and promote a platform guide for tourists enabling them to find the touristic places and services in an easy and quickly manner. Therefore, by using the WebGIS, the digitization of the cultural heritage will create a large quantity of digital images and maps of the study area, leading to an easy and accurate identification, analysis and interpretation of geographical data and touristic places attributes. The research results will contribute to local authorities better planning and decision-making process, having good impacts on the touristic development of Egypt in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil liquefaction is a well-known ground instability phenomenon that may occur during earthquakes. This paper presents a novel catalogue of earthquake-induced manifestations of soil liquefaction occurred in Europe in the latest 1000 years or so. This unique digital archive, named "European interactive Catalogue of earthquake-induced soil Liquefaction phenomena" ECLiq, contains documented historical information regarding liquefaction-related phenomena (e.g. sand ejecta and boils, soil settlements and lateral spreading, ground and structural failures) triggered by seismic activity in continental Europe. It is publicly available as web-based GIS (Geographical Information System) platform at the link http://ecliq.eucentre.it/. Data and metadata were gathered within the time window 1117–2019 AD and include: the main seismological characteristics of the earthquake (e.g. UTC date, epicentre coordinates, magnitude, etc.), location of the site where liquefaction phenomena were documented, a description of the features of ground failure. The archive was built within the framework of LIQUEFACT, a 3.5-year research project funded under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. LIQUEFACT is the largest research project on the assessment and mitigation of risks associated with earthquake-induced soil liquefaction ever funded by the European Commission. Indeed, data and information have been retrieved, collected, critically reviewed and harmonized to compile a composite, homogeneous, and well-documented catalogue of earthquake-induced liquefaction occurrences in Europe. ECLiq is built as an interactive digital archive fully accessible as WebGIS and, as such, it will be useful to a broad range of stakeholders and end-users. ECLiq may help decision makers in identifying urban areas susceptible to undergo liquefaction-induced damage. Furthermore, it may also encourage the scientific community to upgrade soil liquefaction risk models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

QGIS is a free and open-source software that allows viewing, editing, and analyzing georeferenced data. It is a Geographic Information System (GIS) software composed by tools that allow to manipulate geographic information and consequently to create maps which help to get a better understanding and organization of geospatial data. Unfortunately, maps created directly in the GIS desktop software are not automatically transferred to a website. This research aimed to compare publishing capabilities in different QGIS plugins to create Web Maps. This study analyzes four QGIS plugins (QGIS2Web, QGIS Cloud, GIS Cloud Publisher and Mappia Publisher), performing a comparison between them, considering their advantages and disadvantages, the free and subscription plans, the tools offered by each plugin and other generic aspects. The four plugins were tested in a specific case study to automatically obtain differentWeb Maps. This study could help users to choose the most adequate tools to publishWeb Maps under QGIS software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversation with Umberto Trivelloni, Head of the IDT of the Veneto Region, Delio Brentan, P.M. for the IT part of the IDT, and Andrea Semenzato Analyst GIS Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, information technology has been widely used in the construction quality control of hydropower stations, and a series of construction management systems based on the internet of things (IOT) have been produced. However, the existing systems are usually aimed at specific construction quality control factors, leading to the independence of all kinds of monitoring information, which also makes it impossible to directly evaluate the causes of quality problems after they occur. Manual multifactor analysis and evaluation are still needed. Based on a roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam as an example, the construction quality control method is achieved by using WebGIS technology, image recognition technology, voxelization technology, and data mining analysis, which can quickly evaluate the causes of quality problems and integrate all kinds of monitoring information of different orders of magnitude into a presentation scene. This method makes the project quality management process more effective and cooperative. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge of the quality control method based on informatization in construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous improvement of user needs and the continuous enrichment of spatial data, the same geospatial scope includes different types of spatial data such as terrain, remote sensing images, and 3D models of oblique photogrammetry. 3D WebGIS cannot effectively load different types of spatial da⁃ ta in the same scene . This paper proposes a spatial data loading optimization method for 3D WebGIS to op⁃ timize the efficient loading of multiple types of spatial data. First, using the structural features of 3D Tiles with regular enclosing volume shapes and overlapping regions, a fast growth algorithm based on binary tree is proposed to locate and extract the outer boundary of 3D model. Then, there were jagged protrusions on the outer boundary of the roughly extracted polygon. In order to solve the problem, a polygon simplification method based on two neighboring points was proposed to optimize the outer boundary of the polygon to achieve accurate extraction of the outer boundary of the 3D model. Finally, by judging the inclusion of map tile and terrain tile data relationship to achieve selective loading of tile data. Experiments show that when the viewpoint height is below 300 meters, the total load of map tile data can be reduced by about 40%, indi⁃ cating that the optimization method in this paper can significantly improve the data loading efficiency of the system without affecting the visualization of 3D WebGIS . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Third Industrial Revolution evolved through the development of technology in the 1960s and has been mirrored in other professions as well as cartography. The first maps on the Internet for mass use appeared in the late 1990s. In the beginning, they were simple and modest. Computer development was also reflected in the development of digital cartography, and maps become interactive with users. Technology has made collecting spatial data easier and cheaper, and cartography has become available to ordinary users through various tools and services. Accordingly, emerging concepts and terms related to digital cartography are sometimes identical or match part of their domain of meaning. This article offers a review and analysis of keywords pertaining to digital cartography on the Internet. Different indicators are used to show trends in selected keywords' appearance and, thus, trends in cartography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meteorological service and meteorological information officer management business platform based on WebGIS information interaction is designed and realized. Firstly, the goals of system construction are introduced, and then the features of the system is analyzed. Finally, the subsystems of the system are studied, such as geographic information subsystem, information officer management subsystem, information release subsystem, information feedback and evaluation subsystem, radar analysis subsystem, time traceback subsystem, integrated display subsystem, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are valuable for displaying and analyzing spatial data, revealing spatial patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed. The ubiquity of web and mobile platforms, used to create and share geographic information has reified the value of GIS to a wider audience bringing new popularity to GIS. As a result, GIS and Geographic Information Science (GIScience) are becoming increasingly sought after in interdisciplinary research, which often addresses multifaceted, real-world problems. To understand the necessary level of GIS expertise for a specific interdisciplinary research project, we suggest that the team early on identify the role of GIS within the research. Is it simply the use of GIS as a Tool, employing a GIS Toolmaker for bespoke applications or a GIScientist for new forms of spatial analyses and guidance on social, ethical and spatial ambiguities? To allay future challenges and miscommunication in interdisciplinary research involving GIS, three case studies are presented and common themes related to challenges for the GIScientists are shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the demand of soil moisture content monitoring on a national scale, at the level of data acquisition, a soil moisture content data acquisition and perception technology system based on in-situ monitoring of automatic soil moisture content monitoring station and multi-source heterogeneous thematic data was constructed in this study, which realized the online monitoring of soil moisture content and multi-source data fusion. Further in terms of data quality control in the soil moisture data quality control strategy was proposed for data cleaning and established the soil moisture content data correction and interpolation model, in the cloud background received by the TCP/IP protocol of the Internet of things device came back after the packet data parsing and quality judgment. For abnormal or missing data, through the calibration data interpolation model to predict, avoided the interruption problem caused by the missing data, ensured data accuracy, integrity, and availability. Moreover, the soil moisture content data correction and interpolation model adopted the deep learning algorithm and the Stacking strategy to merge the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) networks. The soil moisture content monitoring system facing the national scale had the characteristics of a large number of automatic station devices, massive user visits, and vast amounts of data computation, and had the characteristics of high frequency, high concurrency, and continuous growth. The ordinary web architecture could not ensure the stable and reliable operation of the system. Therefore, the system adopted the cloud-native technology system suitable for the cloud computing characteristics, used the micro-service architecture and the container technology to construct a flexible development model, and improved the efficiency of computing resource utilization. The system architecture design was based on the cloud-native technology, the module of the system was flexibly developed and deployed in the form of micro-services, the independent instance of packaging and running container technology was used to solve the problem of environmental configuration and resource utilization efficiency, and the container was dynamically scheduled to optimize the utilization of cloud computing resources. The core modules such as soil moisture content data reporting collection, soil moisture content data visualization analysis, and soil moisture content data mining application were arranged in the system. Based on GIS (Geographic Information System) spatial analysis and WebGL technology, the front-end 3D WebGIS data analysis function module was developed, and the collaborative Kriging interpolation method was used to realize the online analysis and visual mapping of collaborative soil moisture content, land use types, altitude, and other multi-source data. The system mined the data value deeply and utilized the deep learning algorithm to realize the soil moisture content prediction service which used the data of the past 8 days to predict the data of the next day. Based on the principle of water balance, the application service of irrigation decision was realized. By selecting the crop coefficient recommended by FAO and the growth stage of the corresponding planting crops, the water demand of crops was calculated, and the water balance analysis was realized and the reference irrigation water quantity was recommended. Since its application, the system had been deeply applied in more than 21 provinces, 970 automatic monitoring stations had been established, and more than 60 million automatic moisture monitoring stations had been collected. The system provided reliable data sources and technical support for decision-making departments, agricultural technicians, researchers, and other users to master the current situation of soil moisture content, guide agricultural water-saving irrigation, and obtain accurate and continuous soil moisture content scientific research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Geographical information systems (GIS) are increasingly being seen in school geography classrooms, there remains significant reluctance among teachers to engage with the technology (e.g. Hong, 2017), as well as limited consideration of students' perspectives on GIS. In response to this, we have undertaken research to explore how a programme of GIS training, integrated within a two-year A-Level examination course, develops students' perceptions of the value and nature of GIS, their subsequent engagement with it, and its impact on their geographical knowledge. This paper reports on one strand of the longitudinal research which focuses on how tapping into the expertise of real-world, industry experts can affect students' perceptions of the relevance of GIS to geography and support their acquisition of geographical knowledge. The project, an interpretive case study, used questionnaires, interviews and analysis of students' work to elicit students' developing perceptions of and engagement with GIS, as well as changes in their geographical knowledge. Results suggest that engagement with industry experts aids students' understanding of what GIS is, allowing them to develop a more nuanced appreciation of its real-world applications; this then appears to play both a direct and indirect role in the subsequent development of students' geographical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To ensure further genetic gain, genomic approaches in plant breeding rely on precise phenotypic data, describing plant structure, function and performance. A more precise characterization of the environment will allow a better dealing with genotype-by-environment-by-management interactions. Therefore, space and time dependencies of the crop production processes have to be considered. The use of novel sensor technologies has drastically increased the amount and diversity of phenotypic data from agronomic field trials. Existing data management systems either do not consider space and time, are not customizable to individual needs such as field trial handling, or have restricted availability. Hence, we propose an integrative data management and information system (DMIS) for handling of traditional and novel sensor-based phenotypic, environmental and management data. The DMIS must be customizable, applicable and scalable from individual users to organizations. Results: Key element of the system is a dynamic PostgreSQL database with GIS-extension, capable of importing, storing and managing all types of data including images. The database references every structural database object and measurement in a threefold approach with semantic, spatial and temporal reference. Timestamps and geo-coordinates allow automated linking of all data. Traits can be precisely defined individually or uploaded as predefined lists. Filtering and selection routines allow compilation of all data for visualization via tables, charts or maps and for export and external statistical analysis. New possibilities of environmental information-based planning of field trials, weather-guided phenotyping and data analysis for outlier or hot-spot detection are demonstrated. Conclusions: The DMIS supports users in handling experimental field trials with crop plants and modern phenotyping methods. It focuses on linking all space and time dependent processes of plant production. Weather, soil and management, as well as growth and yield formation of the plants can be depicted, thus allowing a more precise interpretation of the results in relation to environment and management. Breeders, extension specialists, official testing agencies and agricultural scientists are assisted in all steps of a typical workflow with planning, designing, conducting, controlling and analyzing field trials to generate new information for decision support in the crop improvement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Population health measurements are recognised as appropriate tools to support public health monitoring. Yet, there is still a lack of tools that offer a basis for policy appraisal and for foreseeing impacts on health equity. In the context of persistent regional inequalities, it is critical to ascertain which regions are performing best, which factors might shape future health outcomes and where there is room for improvement.Methods: Under the EURO-HEALTHY project, tools combining the technical elements of multi-criteria value models and the social elements of participatory processes were developed to measure health in multiple dimensions and to inform policies. The flagship tool is the Population Health Index (PHI), a multidimensional measure that evaluates health from the lens of equity in health determinants and health outcomes, further divided into sub-indices. Foresight tools for policy analysis were also developed, namely: (1) scenarios of future patterns of population health in Europe in 2030, combining group elicitation with the Extreme-World method and (2) a multi-criteria evaluation framework informing policy appraisal (case study of Lisbon). Finally, a WebGIS was built to map and communicate the results to wider audiences.Results: The Population Health Index was applied to all European Union (EU) regions, indicating which regions are lagging behind and where investments are most needed to close the health gap. Three scenarios for 2030 were produced - (1) the 'Failing Europe' scenario (worst case/increasing inequalities), (2) the 'Sustainable Prosperity' scenario (best case/decreasing inequalities) and (3) the 'Being Stuck' scenario (the EU and Member States maintain the status quo). Finally, the policy appraisal exercise conducted in Lisbon illustrates which policies have higher potential to improve health and how their feasibility can change according to different scenarios.Conclusions: The article makes a theoretical and practical contribution to the field of population health. Theoretically, it contributes to the conceptualisation of health in a broader sense by advancing a model able to integrate multiple aspects of health, including health outcomes and multisectoral determinants. Empirically, the model and tools are closely tied to what is measurable when using the EU context but offering opportunities to be upscaled to other settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At this stage, with the continuous development of data acquisition technology, the mining of high-dimensional spatial data has become a hot issue. And so on. The spatial data mining component studied in this paper is part of the spatiotemporal data middleware. The main research result is to propose a density-based and grid-based extended adjacent spatial clustering method and apply this method to the space for agricultural informatition. In data mining, we also used the middleware technology to complete the agricultural geographic information system based on MapXtreme, and applied the spatial data mining for agricultural informatization to develop the middleware of agricultural variety division, which solved the agricultural informatization. The practical application is of our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the contradiction between the extensive demand of WebGIS and the high development cost, the SAAS mode is proposed for WebGIS scheme. The scheme can satisfy user customization, ease of use, and guarantee the performance of the server. The key technology is to use service-oriented architecture to modularized services that are commonly used, and distribute them reasonably in server and browser side. The user customizes the user interface and business logic through the configurator, and stores the corresponding files into the metadata. The process control engine on the browser side creates instances and completes customized implementations by reading the business rules files in XML format. Finally, the feasibility of the system is verified by the establishment of two examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of the surroundings of the Melka Kunture prehistoric site, Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia, were studied intensively in the last decades. Nonetheless, the area was mainly characterized under a stratigraphic/geological and archaeological point of view. However, a detailed geomorphological map is still lacking. Hence, in this study, we identify, map and visualize geomorphological forms and processes. The morphology of the forms, as well as the related processes, were remotely sensed with available high-resolution airborne and satellite sources and calibrated and validated through extensive field work conducted in 2013 and 2014. Furthermore, we integrated multispectral satellite imagery to classify areas affected by intensive erosion processes and/or anthropic activities. The at 1:15,000 scale reveals structural landforms as well as intensive water-related degradation processes in the Upper Awash Basin. Moreover, the map is available as an interactive WebGIS application providing further information and detail (). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic information systems (GIS) are a widely used approach for geodata manipulation, analysis, and geoinformation visualization. Although the issue of semantic heterogeneity for GIS applications has been widely addressed, the development of flexible semantic GIS systems can still be improved, and GIS interfaces can be further unified to enhance system understanding among users of various GIS systems. This study proposes an ontology-based semantic GIS conceptual framework that can seamlessly combine ontology models, GIS elements and user actions for semantic GIS application development. In addition, a GIS components ontology that encompasses the five fundamental components of GIS is proposed to integrate GIS elements that can perceive GIS operations and processes semantically and to support customized GIS system designs. Moreover, a semantic WebGIS implementation framework is designed on the basis of the proposed conceptual framework to facilitate semantic WebGIS development. The implementation uses two common application scenarios regarding urban change analysis and user interaction. The former performs semantic retrieval for urban change analysis with system understanding, whereas the latter conducts online thematic mapping with semantic interpretation. The study contributes in terms of innovation in the design of a unified GIS components ontology and successful implementation of a semantic GIS system using the ontology-driven approach, thereby providing a convincing demonstration of the latter and showing the potential for semantic GIS application paradigms. • An ontology-based GIS conceptual framework is proposed for semantic GIS development and understanding. • A GIS components ontology encompassing five components of GIS for semantic interoperability among GIS systems is designed. • A semantic WebGIS implementation framework is proposed to further semantic WebGIS development. • Urban change analysis and online thematic mapping with semantic interaction, are conducted for demonstration purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damage scenarios for the main events of the 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence have been simulated. In order to describe the seismic performance of the as-built in the area, the mechanic based method simplified pushover-based earthquake loss assessment has been adopted. This methodology has been extensively validated by means of comparison between numerically calculated damage scenario and observed damage. These data have been collected during the surveys in areas hit by earthquakes in Italy in the last 40 years (starting form 1976 Friuli earthquake until 2012 Emilia earthquake). The calculation of damage scenario has been performed in a user friendly WebGIS platform developed for the Italian Department of Civil Protection. The paper gives an overview of methods and informatics tools prior to present the results of the damage scenario. The results of damage scenarios are summarized in tables, charts and maps. Further, improvements of the tools now available are also identified for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of computer technology, communication technology and network technology, information has become an important core of productivity and a national reserve resource. Marine information is widely used in marine management, national defense construction, and marine economic development. It is of great practical significance to build a data sharing platform that can release marine information in real time and dynamically. This article first briefly introduces the concept of WebGIS and the WebGIS software platform. Then the scheme of building a marine environment information sharing and publishing system based on WebGIS and the overall design and function of the marine information system platform are proposed. Finally, the specific design of the WebGIS-based ocean forecast information sharing platform is taken as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of changes in seismicity in the Groningen area, a need has arisen to be able to rapidly assess and prioritize entire inventories of unreinforced masonry churches. As a part of being able to provide resource optimization to determine which structures are in most need of intervention, a multilevel methodology to assess seismic performance is presented. The process involves both data collection and vulnerability assessments. This multilevel approach involves progressive refinements to the data collected and to the complexity of the analyses conducted. Five data collection phases are used in conjunction with three progressively more complex methods for the seismic assessment. The first level of assessment uses only statistical information of the structures with information that can be obtained through desktop reviews. The second level of analysis uses key characteristics of wall thickness and height to develop simple models for each wall in each church. This level of analysis requires at least a preliminary site visit. In the third level of analysis, a more refined model of the church is developed from detailed site surveys of the structure where each wall is modelled and assessed. The process involves the assessment of the in-plane behaviour of either whole churches or single walls (global response) and the out-of-plane behaviour of single elements (local response). The study applies the approaches outlined in the NEN NPR9998 2017 combined with the Italian Standards for the cultural heritage. This paper outlines this Seismic Multilevel Assessment of Churches methodology and how it applies to an inventory of 52 unreinforced masonry churches in the Groningen area, The Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Via field investigation and data collection in the Longgang River basin, input data for SWAT watershed hydrological model were obtained. Sub-basin's boundary was calculated and divided by spatial analysis, and meteorological input conditions were used to drive example simulation, such as rainfall and temperature. Watershed database was established in the backend of server, and GIS resources were provided by issuing GIS service, and WebGIS platform was developed in front of the browser. Executive file was generated by compiling source file of SWAT model, and input file and parameter modification, model operation and calculation, and result extraction and transmission were conducted via PHP, to realize the coupling of SWAT model with WebGIS platform, and enhance display effects of model input conditions and simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing dissemination of geographic information systems (GIS) in recent years has increased the availability and use of geospatial tools. Despite this trend in GIS, usability is often not considered, and studies on usability are relatively rare. However, it has been shown that the effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction of these tools when used for geospatial tasks may be impacted by their design and terminology. In this article, we present a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. We analyze and compare publications of GIS usability evaluations, the methods that were used, and the findings reported. We thus produce a more detailed picture of GIS usability evaluations. Our contributions are (1) an overview of methods applied in case studies for evaluating the usability of GIS; (2) the identification of gaps and resulting weaknesses of previous studies; and (3) challenges and opportunities for future GIS usability studies. Our findings reveal a lack of usability guidelines for GIS, a lack of methods for analyzing complex workflows, and a lack of usage studies over longer periods of time. These contributions can help GIS developers and designers to improve the usability of their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marine biodiversity program of CENAIM-ESPOL focuses on sessile invertebrates from the "'El Pelado' marine reserve". The present study aims at understanding the different hierarchical levels of biodiversity found at the "El Pelado" and to guide biodiscovery initiatives. Generated biodiversity data were systematized in a database (Darwin Core standard) and integrated into a geographic information system that uses webGIS as a search engine. In this way, the information becomes available to the academy and entities involved in the management of coastal resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution summarizes the multiple uses of 3D web technologies in commercial archaeology. Considering the breadth of this topic, we will describe each different branch of these technologies with the example of case studies based on work of the Italian company Arc-Team. Our overview begins with 3D visualization for scientific purposes, showing a project funded by the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol (Italy) in order to improve knowledge about WWI. Second, we analyze a similar project, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trentino (Italy), but with the aim to increase tourism at a high alpine WWI site. The third example is the development of another prototype for tourism: a 3D web-map for the cultural valorization of the historical border (1753) between the region Tyrol and the Most Serene Republic of Venice. In the forth case study, we discuss the implementation of 3D within web platforms for archaeological project management of RAPTOR (Ricerca Archivi e Pratiche per la Tutela Operativa Regionale), a webGIS developed to aid in preservation and conservation efforts of cultural heritage for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT). Fifth, we explore recent uses of 3D models for web-coworking during the process of excavation management, thanks to the developments of real-time 3D acquisition techniques based on SLAM algorithms and archeorobotic devices. Finally, 3D web-coworking is also analyzed illustrating some simple web tools that afford rapid feedback in data visualization, considering not only excavation field-work but also exploration projects. This overview, based on six different case studies, represents the four fields in which 3D web technologies are currently used in commercial archaeology: scientific communication; tourism improvement; preservation of cultural heritage; and real time field-work management. Some specific topics such as tourism improvement and field-work management are investigated in greater depth in order to allow us to analyze variables deriving from customer requests (e.g. restrictions regarding sensitive geolocation or preferences for specific web platforms) and from differences among data acquisition technologies based on various sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring the dynamic changes information of water, nutrient and salinity, analyzing and diagnosing, and putting forward regulation and control plan, are the basement of improving the production management level of saline alkali farmland. This paper developed a monitoring and regulation management system of water-nutrient-salt in saline alkali farmland based on WebGIS platform, Silverlight 5 and WCF (windows communication foundation) technology. And the technologies of point data monitoring, spatial analysis, and visualization were fused in the system. A series of models that included 15 models (3 kinds) for characteristics analysis, diagnosis and early warning, and control decision of farmland soil water, fertilizer, saline and alkali were set up. And the models were constructed based on the principle of statistics, the principle of water, fertilizer, salt and alkali balance of crop, and the stress response principle of crop to soil water, nutrient, salt and alkali. The system and the models were integrated and applied. The results showed that a whole process optimization management system of “integration of six aspects” was formed, providing an effective assistant decision-making tool for the production management of saline alkali farmland. The system integrated data collection, data management, statistical analysis, diagnosis and early warning, control and decision-making technology and implementation management measures. The results of data processing and analysis of the models were proved to be scientific and effective, and the system application decision was proved to be realistic. The system was applied in Wudi County, Shandong Province, China. The application results showed that the management plan proposed by the system effectively alleviated the salt and water restriction, and the desalination rate of soil salt reached 12.86% in 3 years. The scheme promoted the role of nutrient regulation and fertilizer reduction decision-making measures, and soil nutrient tended to be stable and balanced in space in general. The input-output benefits and production decision efficiency of agricultural production had been significantly improved. The comprehensive water saving rate in the years of 2014-2016 was up to 31.02%, and the nutrient saving rates of N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus) and K (potassium) were 28.69%-63.14%, 10.07%-67.98%, and 97.98%-100% respectively. Wheat and corn yield increased respectively by 10.60% and 16.36% annually, which were close to the expected. The study also found that soil salinity and pH value showed a phenomenon of “salt lowering and alkali rising”. Soil moisture had a negative correlation with pH value, but it was not a simple functional relationship. The organic matter increased under the effect of applying organic manure, especially the double-season crop straw returning to field, but its later growth rate was slowed down rapidly, which was related to the raising of corn silage and the decrease of organic matter returning to field. The effective nutrient was affected by the amount of fertilizer, the way of fertilization and the absorption and loss of crops, and the fluctuation was large. So regulatory intention in short term was difficult to be realized. All these phenomena need to be further studied and discussed. In addition, due to the low reliability of the Yellow River’s water sources, the role of the system was limited. It is suggested that reservoirs or river interception should be used to store water. The research is helpful to explore the dynamic rule of water, nutrient and salinity in saline alkali soil by means of information technology and improve the precision management in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problems that data are difficult to save, planting structure map is difficult to draw manually, and the existing management system does not match the demand in the present stage of farm management, an agricultural production management information system is designed and developed based on WebGIS technology, aimed at meeting the request of agricultural production management for large or medium-sized farms with the mode of “farm + production team”. The system is developed with Browser/Server software architecture by using Java as development language. The database is designed as attribute database and spatial database thinking about the multilevel and spatiotemporal characteristics of farm data. The attribute database is created by MySQL database management system. ArcGIS platform is used to construct spatial database, and publish maps as services to ArcGIS Server sites. The development environment integrates Spring MVC (model-view-controller), JPA (Java persistence API), and Hibernate, so as to achieve the effect of layered development. WebGIS front-end development is implemented by ArcGIS API for JavaScript. Bootstrap response design is adopted to support user access to the system through mobile terminals such as smartphones, and tablets. The implementation of the system is divided into 2 steps. Firstly, we give structural expression and management for the factors such as the general situation of the farm, the establishment of the organization, the production resources, the planting structure and the field management process. Secondly, the farm on the ground is managed and displayed on the Internet. The goal is to realize the whole process information management of crop production. The process is from pre-sowing to the field management and then to the harvest, and so on. Farm managers can report and examine this information at any time and anywhere. The main functional modules include farm organization management, production material management, production datum reporting, thematic analysis, information service publication and system management. Production materials include farmer, agricultural machinery and arable land. The production datum consists of planting plan, farming activity, farming progress, disease and insect, and disaster situations. Based on the datum of the production datum reporting module, farm planting structure map (pie chart), production team planting structure map (histogram), and field planting distribution map can be dynamically generated. System management includes user management, crop management and module management. Three types of users named system administrator, farm user and production team user, are designed in the system. Each type of user has different functional rights and is set up through the user management module. Crop management module provides a way for farm user to manage the crops grown on their own farm, including the setting of the display attributes of different crops on the map. Module management allows different users to customize the functional modules they need. At present, the system has been successfully applied in some farms or agricultural bases, such as Longkang Farm in Anhui Province, Xeltala Farm and Tenihe Farm in Hulunbuir City, academician workstation, and so on. Practical applications show that the system has the advantages of being easy to use, strong universality and good extensibility. For example, data flows and thematic maps are independent, so the information management function is not affected when some farms fail to customize the farm space database. The system is also applicable for those farms such as agricultural research stations, cooperatives, and family farms, in which farmers manage the field directly. The system can assist the farm managers to work scientifically, conveniently and efficiently, so as to improve the informatization and modernization level of farm production management, also enhance leaders’ macro decision-making ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, a novel trend shifting paradigms towards opening - to share, access, analyse and exploit spatial information across communities and technical platforms - can be observed. This opening technically driven by leveraging service-oriented (geographic) information infrastructures which are used to create nationally and internationally connected spatial data infrastructures (SDI). To achieve this goal, efforts are being joined across the globe to create technical standards for managing, sharing and exchanging geo-information. Additional efforts are also put into enhancing the semantic interoperability of geo-information content using harmonized data specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global challenges, such as chronic hunger in developing and developed regions, loss of wildlife habitat, and the continuing rise of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, can be addressed only through an integrated approach. The telecoupling concept is one such approach: it explores socioeconomic and environmental interactions among coupled human-natural systems over distances. The telecoupling framework is therefore well-positioned to provide new insights to persistent global sustainability challenges. To operationalize the framework, we have developed the Telecoupling GeoApp, a new web-based component of the Telecoupling Toolbox that provides researchers and practitioners with a useful platform to address globally important issues such as international trade, species invasion, biodiversity conservation, and land-use change. The GeoApp features mapping and geospatial analysis tools to visualize and quantify the five major interrelated components of the telecoupling framework (systems, flows, agents, causes, and effects). In this paper, we demonstrate the GeoApp's functionality by applying it to a case study in which distant systems interact across space and time: the Brazil-China soybean telecoupling. We conclude by highlighting the advantages of the Telecoupling GeoApp in addressing global sustainability challenges. It is our hope that this web application will be valuable to a range of users exploring telecouplings and outcomes across distant coupled human-natural systems for achieving sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the problems existing in the management of underground pipelines in Shanghai, and develops the underground pipeline life cycle geo-information system in combination with the underground pipeline life cycle planning management institution and pipeline comprehensive database, based on the industry-leading WebGIS technology. It realizes the entire life cycle management during planning approval, engineering licensing, verification management, and operation and maintenance of the pipeline and provides data services for the emergency protection and safe operation of underground pipelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in webGIS are transforming how geospatial information can be used in schools. Smart mapping, mobile applications, editable feature services (EFS) and web map services (WMS) are all now more freely available. These have made prior technological, cost and access challenges for teachers largely redundant but are only part of ensuring that geospatial information is used to its full educational potential in geography education. This paper argues that drawing on a GeoCapabilities approach can enhance teacher's use of webGIS in deepening their student's abilities to think and reason with geographical knowledge and ideas. To illustrate this line of argument, a geography curriculum artefact constructed in ArcGIS Online is presented and analysed. The discussion identifies a range of specific educational benefits of geography teachers adopting a GeoCapabilities approach to using webGIS including how powerful disciplinary knowledge (PDK) can be constructed. The discussion also identifies a number of significant implications for teacher education of adopting such a methodology. The paper concludes with recommendations for the future use of webGIS in schools and geography teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how to reduce the amount of data to improve the user experience from data compression and network transmission technology according to the characteristics of map tile technology. The former mainly reduces the amount of data itself through the elimination of redundant data of PNG files and lossless compression. The latter reduces the amount of data in network transmission through the GZIP compression technology to achieve dynamic compression before the vector block data transmission thus effectively reducing the amount of data in network transmission while saving data transmission time. Experiments and applications show that the above two methods can greatly improve data transmission performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a spatial information system (SIS) developed in the research project, "Tecniche murarie tradizionali: conoscenza per la conservazione ed il miglioramento prestazionale" (Traditional building techniques: from knowledge to conservation and performance improvement), with the aim of archiving and managing the data derived from the project. The research project has the purpose of studying the building techniques of the 13th-18th centuries in the Sardinia region (Italy) for their knowledge, conservation, and promotion. The research is founded on a multidisciplinary approach involving several specialists integrating their expertise and providing their input to the knowledge of the dimensional, technical constructive, mensiochronological, materials, physical-mechanical, and energy performance features. This multidisciplinary approach is used to define the peculiarities and behavior of the examined structures, including their performance levels, and then direct the interventions toward innovative, mindful, and ethically correct solutions. The management of the huge amount of data produced during the research required the building of a SIS composed of a geodatabase connected to a GIS and aWebGIS through aWeb Map Service (WMS). The entire infrastructure is developed and implemented using open source software components, and will make the research data available to the scientific and professional communities, both for further development and for technical uses. As of today, we surveyed and archived more than 500 buildings belonging to the Sardinia region architectural heritage, and classified them into four main macro categories: defensive architectures, religious architectures, residential architectures, and industrial architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change may result in reduced water supply from the Alps – an important water resource for Europe. This paper presents a multilingual platform that combines spatial and multi-criteria decision-support tools to facilitate stakeholder collaboration in the analysis of water management adaptation options. The platform has an interactive map interface that allows participants to select a location of their interest within the Alpine Arc. By utilising the decision-support tool, stakeholders can identify suitable adaptation solutions for different geographical units, according to their experience and preference. The platform was used to involve experts across Alpine borders, domains and decision-making levels, as well as a group of university students. The experts favoured the planning instruments for saving water, while the students inclined towards the measures that would improve water conservation. The initial results confirmed the suitability of the platform for future involvement of decision-makers in spatio-temporal analyses of adaptation pathways in the Alps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years many activities were conducted to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the First World War (WWI) outbreak. Among these, the valorisation of history and landscape (VAST) project ( http://vast.fbk.eu ) was part of the initiatives promoted by the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) as a tribute to WWI events in the region. The project was primarily aimed to document and promote, through 3D digitization approaches, ICT technologies and communication material, the memory of sites, theatre of the world conflict. The Trento's area was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of WWI and on the border with the Italian Kingdom. The area represented a crucial and bloody war front between the Austrian and Italian territories. It was thus constellated of military fortresses, trenches and tunnels, most of them now ruined and at risk to slowly disappear. 3D surveying and modelling techniques were exploited to produce 3D digital models of structures and objects, along with virtual tours, dissemination material and a WebGIS of the area. All the products are now used for restoration, valorisation, educational and communication purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of open-source tools for hyperspectral data visualization and analysis creates a demand for new tools. In this paper we present the new PlanetServer, a set of tools comprising a web Geographic Information System (GIS) and a recently developed Python Application Programming Interface (API) capable of visualizing and analyzing a wide variety of hyperspectral data from different planetary bodies. Current WebGIS open-source tools are evaluated in order to give an overview and contextualize how PlanetServer can help in this matters. The web client is thoroughly described as well as the datasets available in PlanetServer. Also, the Python API is described and exposed the reason of its development. Two different examples of mineral characterization of different hydrosilicates such as chlorites, prehnites and kaolinites in the Nili Fossae area on Mars are presented. As the obtained results show positive outcome in hyperspectral analysis and visualization compared to previous literature, we suggest using the PlanetServer approach for such investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]