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In successful geoinformatics education, students' active role in the learning process, e.g. through applying self-assessment, show an increasing interest but the evidence of benefits and challenges of self-assessment are sporadic. In this article, we examine the usefulness of an online self-assessment tool developed for geoinformatics education. We gathered data in two Finnish universities on five courses (n = 11–73 students/course) between 2019 and 2021. We examined 1) how the students' self-assessed knowledge and understanding in geoinformatics subject topics changed during a course, 2) how the competencies at the end of a course changed between the years in different courses, and 3) what was the perceived usefulness of the self-assessment approach among the students. The results indicate support for the implementation of self-assessment, both as a formative and summative assessment. However, it is crucial to ensure that the students understand the contents of the self-assessment subject topics. To increase students' motivation to take a self-assessment, it is crucial that the teacher actively highlights how it supports their studying and learning. As the teachers of the examined courses, we discuss the benefits and challenges of the self-assessment approach and the applied tool for the future development of geoinformatics education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The different morphotectonic parameters have been analyzed for estimating tectono-geomorphic anomaly index (TGAI). The analysis of river long cross-profile and hypsometric curve has been integrated with the TGAI and epicenter distribution for monitoring tectono-geomorphic anomaly in Lower Tista sub-basin, India. Higher value of TGAI is observed in Rathong chhu, Rel chhu, Upper rangpo chhu, and Great Rangit micro-basin region which shows anomaly of basin tilt, stream segmentation, compressed meander, and topographic curvature. Number of earthquake is much higher (17) between 2000 and 2022 when compared with the status before 2000 in this region. The foothill region is associated with moderate TGAI, which shows the anomaly of resistance difference in soft sedimentary rock, stream migration, upliftment, drainage deflection, and rejuvenation. In moderate region, number of earthquake is 22 between 2000 and 2022 which is twice than the past (11). The signature of tectono-geomorphic anomaly suggests that the activation of thrust fault and resultant few earthquake indicating the strain of the exiting thrust continuously building in the sub-surface, which have not released as expected. As a result, moderate and low TGAI region have not produced any major earthquake at present and may expect severe seismic hazard in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making paleoecological data accessible, usable, and useful to a global and diverse community of researchers, educators, and students across Earth sciences is an essential yet challenging task. Multiple data access and discovery tools must co-evolve with ever-changing user needs through an iterative, open-ecosystem software development approach. We employ a user-centered design study to evaluate one such ecosystem, the Neotoma Paleoecology Database, whose mission is to advance understanding of global-change processes by providing an expertcurated data resource. Neotoma contains over 11 million observations from 30,000 + datasets across 20,000 + sites, representing proxies of environmental and ecological conditions of the past. Neotoma comprises three interrelated software components -- an interactive web mapping application, statistical programming package, and API -- that provide different levels of functionality to different audiences. Although development efforts of these software components have involved the user community, Neotoma lacks a systematic evaluation process, which is important for informing the gap between perceived potential and actual utility. We address this knowledge gap using scenario-based design exercises and a usability/utility assessment. Major contributions include actionable insights for enhancing Neotoma's user experience and a user-centered design model that can be adapted to advance the development of other Earth and environmental science software ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly presents the current influence of geoinformatics on geography teaching in the Hungarian secondary schools. First, the main characteristics of geography teaching at both levels (elementary and secondary) are described, then the skills and competences that geography should develop at this level and how geoinformatics can help develop them. This is followed by an overview the current presence of basic cartographic and geoinformatics concepts found in the Geography textbooks and some examples of Hungarian research on the subject. Finally, some ideas are proposed to increase the presence of geoinformatics in secondary geography teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the authors' experiences in designing a storytelling map guide for the botanical gardens of Palacký University, Czech Republic, from a pedagogical point of view. The authors introduce a three-pillared original concept. The overall educational contribution is a combination of educational, thematic and technological knowledge which supports successful engagement in the storytelling process. In the Storytelling Map Guide for the Botanical Gardens and Greenhouse Collections, the first pillar represents the educational aspect. Botanical knowledge and familiarity with the study area, i.e. the Palacký University Botanical Gardens, represent the thematic pillar. The technological pillar is covered by knowledge of software, cartography and application design skills, including an overview of contemporary storytelling applications. Finally, the educational impact and benefits to students of geoinformatics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geographical information systems (GISs) for making sense of geospatial data has a long history at Stellenbosch University's Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and has become an anchor identity of the department. As part of the department's centennial celebrations, this article reflects on the circumstances and events that contributed to the evolution of GIS at Stellenbosch University (SU) by highlighting some milestones and achievements. Within this historical context, the paper provides a review of the current state of geographical information science (GISc) training and research at SU and attempts to forecast the role of geographers and GISc practitioners in the fourth industrial revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial analyses involving binning often require that every bin have the same area, but this is impossible using a rectangular grid laid over the Earth or over any projection of the Earth. Discrete global grids use hexagons, triangles, and diamonds to overcome this issue, overlaying the Earth with equally-sized bins. Such discrete global grids are formed by tiling the faces of a polyhedron. Previously, the orientations of these polyhedra have been chosen to satisfy only simple criteria such as equatorial symmetry or minimizing the number of vertices intersecting landmasses. However, projection distortion and singularities in discrete global grids mean that such simple orientations may not be sufficient for all use cases. Here, I present an algorithm for finding suitable orientations; this involves solving a nonconvex optimization problem. As a side-effect of this study I show that Fuller's Dymaxion map corresponds closely to one of the optimal orientations I find. I also give new high-accuracy calculations of the Poles of Inaccessibility, which show that Point Nemo, the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, is 15 km farther from land than previously recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to assess groundwater pollutants and perform their spatial mapping in Mitrovica, Republic of Kosova. Samples were collected from ten different locations in 2018 and various physical and chemical constituents were measured, such as temperature, pH, EC, TDS, major ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, SO42-, HCO3-, Cl-, NO3-) and heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd). The water suitability for drinking was assessed by Pollution Index (PI), Nemerow's Integrated Pollution Index (NIPI), Heavy Metal Evaluation Index (HEI), Ecological Risk Index (ERI), Overall Index of Pollution (OIP), Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) and Metal Index (MI). The majority of indices show that the water is moderately polluted, whereas certain indices show it is severely polluted. Further, factor analysis was performed to know the source of the pollutant, factor 1 (22.408 %), factor 2 (21.2999 %), factor 3 (10.821 %), factor 4 (14.859 %), factor 5 (10.743 %) and factor 6 (13.183 %), the cumulative percent of total variance explained by all the factor is (93.313 %) suggest that heavy metals enter the water system due to anthropogenic activities. Cluster analysis show three dominant groups, whereas factor analyses show six dominant factors. Additionally, spatial interpolation techniques were applied to generate thematic maps of 10 m resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing availability of devices to capture the position of moving objects (and other environmental information) leads to a very large amount and variety of mobility data. In order to obtain important information about the objects, their behavior or the environment of the objects, an automatic analysis is required. This article highlights current research questions in the context of the analysis of mobility data and presents them on the basis of work carried out at the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics (ikg) at Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany. A focus is put on the analysis and exploitation of information from Mobile Mapping vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the European Parliament established the Directive 2007/2/EC for the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE). The goal of this Directive was to implement specific technical rules for the interoperability and harmonization of spatial data-sets and services based on the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) of each Member State. This article describes the results of a survey for the use of Geoinformatics and the maturity level of the INSPIRE Directive within Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. The survey contacted between March 2017 and December 2017. An online survey was sent through mail to the Geographic Information System (GIS) technical staff of the Statistical Institutes (SI) of the EU and EFTA countries. In total, 17 EU countries and 2 EFTA countries responded to the invitation for the survey. The analysis of the responses in this questionnaire demonstrated that the state of implementation of INSPIRE still displays dissimilar levels of maturity across the SIs, while the degree of using geospatial technologies differs from service to service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an update on some of the activities that have taken place since a World Bank report; "Guidelines for Education and Training in Environmental Information Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Key Issues" was published and provides details on the current situation. It shows how organizations such as the African Association on Remote Sensing of Environment, International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, Group on Earth Observation, and several others have helped to increase manpower resources in the region and strengthened institutional capacity in the field of geoinformatics, through capacity building, technology transfer, international cooperation and the provision of internal African resources. After reviewing what has happened in the field of geoinformatics education and training, we focused on current initiatives taken and challenges in five Sub-Saharan countries: Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. We reviewed GIS education and training in the private sector, government, information communications technology in higher education institutions, GIS application areas and challenges facing GIS education and training. Findings show that; change should involve education stakeholders in all levels of education and curriculum quality, regional and international cooperation through exchange programs, should be a priority for Sub-Saharan Africa countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sedimentation of water bodies is governed by the erosional processes occurring at the watershed level. In this research, a method is proposed for assessing the sediment yield of the mountainous watersheds surrounding the Wular lake in Kashmir Himalaya, using geoinformatics and geostatistics. This method is empirical and semi-quantitative in approach and takes into account the weightage-based influence of the parameters governing the watershed sediment yield. The results of this study reveal that out of the six surrounding watersheds of the Wular Lake, Madhumati watershed with the highest sediment yield index, SYI (39.78) drains maximum sediments into the Lake followed by Arin (39.27), Ferozpur (34.30), Wular II (32.53), Wular I (24.65) and Gundar (23.43) in the event of a same intensity storm. The proposed method is reasonably a better approach in the data-scarce Himalayan region and shall be a useful tool for watershed management in other regions with similar geographic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of the satellite monitoring of oil spills in the Barents Sea are analysed and discussed. For the first time, in 2015-2016, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images occurred regularly using the European Space Agency Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B satellites. To effectively analyse the SAR images and their detected dark patches, a geoinformation approach, specifically, a web-based GeoMixer application, was used. This involves the creation of a dedicated geoportal with a large volume of oceanographic, physical-geographical, and industrial information about the water basin, including the offshore oil and gas infrastructures and coastal vulnerability. Using this approach, as well as data from automatic ship identification systems, it is shown that the main sources of oil pollution (spills from 0.5 to 90 km2) are cargo shipping and fishing fleets. Summary maps of the detected and identified oil spills are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today’s workforce environments are steadily becoming more distributed across the globe, calling for improved ways of facilitating collaborations at a distance, including geo-collaborations or collaborations at critical locations. Newer technology is allowing distributed teams to move away from traditional conference rooms, taking collaborations into the field and giving remote teams more information about the environment. This idea of situating a remote collaborator’s experiences in the field, virtually, promises to enhance the understanding of geographically remote spaces. Newer technologies in virtual reality (VR) hold promise for providing mobile spatial experiences in real-time, without being tied to fixed hardware, such as systems in conference rooms. An exploratory study using VR technology on remote user experiences in a collaboration was conducted to identify the added value for remote collaborators. The findings suggest immersive capabilities improve feelings of presence in the remote locations and perceptions of being in the remote location increase feelings of team membership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address two challenging issues underlying spatial simulation using software agents immersed in virtual geographic environments (VGE). First, the way to describe virtual VGE models using accurate spatial decomposition approaches structured using graph theory techniques. Second, the use of graph abstraction techniques to support realistic and advanced navigation and path planning capabilities for software agents considering the VGE's characteristics. In order to illustrate our contributions to the growing field of spatial simulations, we present and discuss a case study involving an urban VGE model populated with agents who autonomously and differently interact with multiple abstractions of the same physical environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been two decades since virtual geographic environments (VGEs) were initially proposed. While relevant theories and technologies are evolving, data organization models have always been the foundation of VGE development, and they require further exploration. Based on the comprehensive consideration of the characteristics of VGEs, geographic scene is proposed to organize geographic information and data. We empirically find that geographic scene provides a suitable organization schema to support geo-visualization, geo-simulation, and geo-collaboration. To systematically investigate the concept and method of geographic scene, Geographic Scenario is proposed as the theory on developing geographic scene, and corresponding key issues of the Geographic Scenario are illustrated in this article. Prospects of the proposed method are discussed with the hope of informing future studies of VGEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several parametric and nonparametric tests of independence between two random vectors are available in the literature. But, many of them perform poorly for high-dimensional data and are not applicable when the dimension exceeds the sample size. In this article, we propose some tests based on ranks of nearest neighbors, which can be conveniently used in high dimension, low sample size situations. Several simulated and real datasets are analyzed to show the utility of the proposed tests. Codes for implementation of the proposed tests are available as supplementary materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coastlines are dynamic environments, with their Eco-geomorphology controlled by a complex range of natural and anthropic processes. Estuarine environments and associated wetland ecosystems are a critical shoreline types with regards to biodiversity, and are particularly susceptible to the influence of sea-level rise. This project applied future sea-level rise of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) hydro-scenarios to assess its impact on the eco-geomorphic aspects of coastal ecosystems in terms of risk assessment and sustainability. Comerong Island is used as a case study and is compared with other surrounding ocean-influenced and lagoonal deltas to assess the regional effects of sea-level rise. Applying the IPCC scenarios to the chosen geomorphic coastal data-sets resulted in a hydro-geomorphic model that shows the study site was already under pressure in 2015, with significant land area projected to be lost by 2050 and 2100. These findings are also expected to occur across the remaining estuaries in southeastern Australia. Applying this broad-scale, multi-strand application of geoinformatics simulation (GIS & RS), together with the various IPCC sea-level rise scenarios, will be necessary to assess future ecosystem sustainability management plans for coastal zones worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and assessing the landslides is immensely important to scientists and policy-makers alike. Remote sensing conventional methods and modelling approaches in geographical information system (GIS) tend to be limited to authentic quality and spatial coverage. This study aims to identify challenges and quality of landslides assessment based on remotely sensed data by the mean of existing works of the literature and practices we attempted in the Zagros and Alborz Mountains in Iran and the red rock shield Lake, China. Remote sensing data for landslides investigations require a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) from either aerial photography, satellite images, airborne laser scanning (ALS) or terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) derived in order to enable a reliable and valid output performance. This paper presents weaknesses and strengths of the existing remote sensing techniques in the last decades and further provides recommendations for a reliable approach to the future landslide studies. Also, this study estimates the operational use of state-of-the-art technologies (i.e. unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV)) for landslides assessment in the near future that is a realistic ambition if we can continue to build on recent achievements. However, this paper does not deliver a detailed methodology of a DEM generation from the remote sensing approach for landslides assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this opinion paper, we, a group of scientists from environmental-, geo-, ocean- and information science, argue visual data exploration should become a common analytics approach in Earth system science due to its potential for analysis and interpretation of large and complex spatio-temporal data. We discuss the challenges that appear such as synthesis of heterogeneous data from various sources, reducing the amount of information and facilitating multidisciplinary, collaborative research. We argue that to fully exploit the potential of visual data exploration, several bottlenecks and challenges have to be addressed: providing an efficient data management and an integrated modular workflow, developing and applying suitable visual exploration concepts and methods with the help of effective and tailored tools as well as generating and raising the awareness of visual data exploration and education. We are convinced visual data exploration is worth the effort since it significantly facilitates insight into environmental data and derivation of knowledge from it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Spatial online analytical processing (OLAP) and spatial data warehouse (SDW) systems are geo-business intelligence technologies that enable the analysis of huge volumes of geographic data. In the last decade, the conceptual design and implementation of SDWs that integrate spatial data, which are represented using the vector model, have been extensively investigated. However, the integration of field data (a continuous representation of spatial data) in SDWs is a recent unresolved research issue. Enhancing SDWs with field data improves the spatio-multidimensional analysis capabilities with continuity and multiresolutions. Motivated by the need for a conceptual design tool and relational online analytical processing (ROLAP) implementation, we propose a UML profile for SDWs that integrates a regular grid of points and supports continuity and multiresolutions. We also propose an efficient implementation of a ROLAP architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geoinformatics education is a key factor for sustainable development of geo-spatial sciences and industries. There have been a variety of educational activities focusing on education and training, technology transfer, and capability building in photogrammetry, remote sensing, and spatial information science, together known as Geoinformatics. Geoinformatics education is an essential mission and even determinant in the ISPRS society. The paper discusses key issues in Geoinformatics education. It reviews educational activities from the ISPRS perspective and summarizes lessons learned from these actions. A vision towards future trends of Geoinformatics education in the ISPRS is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, we have investigated the use of the plumb line direction from Global Gravity Earth Model EGM2008 in the 3D integrated TotalStation/GNSS positioning. Our study shows that measurements along a total station traverse provides more accurate positioning results if the vertical deflection of plumb line is retrieved from EGM2008, than positioning with unknown deflection. The use of EGM2008 model improves the 3D coordinates accuracy to the level of precise GNSS measurements, while lack of this data introduce spatial displacements of the measured points, up to 26 cm. Hence our method can be useful for building precise 3D models of terrestrial objects in the GRS80 geocentric coordinate system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Big Data has emerged in the past few years as a new paradigm providing abundant data and opportunities to improve and/or enable research and decision-support applications with unprecedented value for digital earth applications including business, sciences and engineering. At the same time, Big Data presents challenges for digital earth to store, transport, process, mine and serve the data. Cloud computing provides fundamental support to address the challenges with shared computing resources including computing, storage, networking and analytical software; the application of these resources has fostered impressive Big Data advancements. This paper surveys the two frontiers – Big Data and cloud computing – and reviews the advantages and consequences of utilizing cloud computing to tackling Big Data in the digital earth and relevant science domains. From the aspects of a general introduction, sources, challenges, technology status and research opportunities, the following observations are offered: (i) cloud computing and Big Data enable science discoveries and application developments; (ii) cloud computing provides major solutions for Big Data; (iii) Big Data, spatiotemporal thinking and various application domains drive the advancement of cloud computing and relevant technologies with new requirements; (iv) intrinsic spatiotemporal principles of Big Data and geospatial sciences provide the source for finding technical and theoretical solutions to optimize cloud computing and processing Big Data; (v) open availability of Big Data and processing capability pose social challenges of geospatial significance and (vi) a weave of innovations is transforming Big Data into geospatial research, engineering and business values. This review introduces future innovations and a research agenda for cloud computing supporting the transformation of the volume, velocity, variety and veracity into values of Big Data for local to global digital earth science and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Various land use/cover types exhibit seasonal characteristics which can be captured in remotely sensed imagery. This study examined how different seasons of Radarsat-2 data influence land use/cover classification accuracies for two study sites. Two dates of Radarsat-2 C-band quad-polarised images were obtained for Washington, DC, USA and Wad Madani, Sudan. Spectral signatures were extracted and used with a maximum likelihood decision rule for classification and thematic accuracies were then determined. Both despeckled radar and derived texture measures were examined. Thematic accuracies for the two despeckled image dates were similar with a difference of 3% for Washington and 6% for Sudan. Merging the despeckled images for both seasons increased overall accuracy by 2% for Washington and 9% for Sudan. Further combining the original radar for both seasons with derived texture measures increased overall accuracies by 9% for Washington and 16% for Sudan for final overall accuracy values of 73 and 82%. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the impact of geoinformatics on tourism and the future of tourism geography research. Topics include the rapid advancement in the collection and utilization of high-resolution data on tourist mobility, the availability of tracking technologies which revolutionizes the accuracy of time or spatial information on the whereabouts of tourists in destinations and the growing of tracking technologies in different areas which offer new avenues for tourism research.

In recent years, the concepts of usability, user experience, and user-centricity have gained in interest. Digital applications, developed in line with criteria related to these approaches, ask for a deeper understanding of users and their requirements. But, even though there is a wide range of methods available, the creation of user-centric applications with good usability and user experience still poses great challenges for developers. This is also true for web maps, i.e. web map applications, which today are ubiquitous on the Internet. They have evolved into an important information and communication tool and address users who do not possess any specific knowledge of Geoinformatics (GI) or Cartography. Despite the efforts made to meet the requirements and preferences of laymen, these users still often face problems when dealing with web map applications. This refers to aspects of design, content, and functionality. Here, participatory design, which is well-known in the field of Software and Web Engineering, might provide a suitable means. By engaging users directly and actively in the application development process, developers are able to gain a profound understanding of the users and their needs. However, there are several open questions regarding the use of participatory design for designing and implementing web map applications: What does the use of participatory design in web map development processes look like in detail? How and to what degree can users be involved in the development processes? Which added values exist? These questions are addressed by the project YouthMap 5020, whose main goal it was to create a prototype youth-centric web map for the Austrian city of Salzburg (zip code 5020). Applying the approach of participatory design, about 120 teenage pupils from several local schools were involved in all kinds of tasks related to the phases of generating the youth-centric Salzburg web city map. Experience and knowledge gained thereby allowed elaborating recommendations generally useful for generating youth-centric web map applications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Groundwater potential in a basin is controlled by the amount of precipitation, nature of infiltration, lithology, geomorphology, soil and structure. Sustainable groundwater potential mapping emphasizes not only location of the potential groundwater zones, but also the optimum utilization of resources without affecting the aquifer systems. The Uppar Odai sub-basin in the Amaravati River basin, located in southern India, was selected for sustainable groundwater potential mapping through geoinformatics. In the present case, geomorphology, subsurface layer information derived from electrical resistivity data and lineaments were integrated for sustainable groundwater potential mapping. The structure contours indicate apparent resistivity zones at different depth configurations. The data were analysed at different depth perceptions of 25, 50, 75 and 100 m depth below ground level (b.g.l.). In order to assess the overall configuration of aquifer zones, profiles were plotted across the sub-basin in different directions. The geomorphology and lineaments interpreted from IRS P6 LISS III satellite data were integrated with resistivity data for the generation of a sustainable groundwater potential map. Ranking and weight were assigned for all thematic layers based on their importance in controlling the occurrence of groundwater. The spatial integration was carried out using ArcGIS 9.3 software. The integrated map shows three different potential zones as highly favourable, moderately favourable and least favourable groundwater potential zones. The results obtained through the GIS spatial integration are validated with water level data. Based on the present groundwater draft in the sub-basin, a sustainable groundwater plan is suggested.Editor D. Koutsoyiannis Associate editor S. Grimaldi [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Geographic information has a great potential to be re-used when supported by mechanisms for its discovery. Above all, the quality of a catalogue service is the key feature supporting users in the discovery process. So far, there have been in existence various methodologies dealing with the normalized evaluation of quality with respect to catalogue services. Their biggest weakness seems to be in the depth of quality testing, i.e. some influences are beyond the scope of evaluation of these methodologies with respect to quality in catalogue services. In this study, the quality of 45 catalogue services across Europe was verified with the proposed normalized evaluation methodology originating from documents within the INfrastruture for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe (INSPIRE) framework. This paper discusses the (statistical) influence of factors that may significantly change the results of catalogue service testing. The proposals for improving the existing INSPIRE normalized evaluation procedure are applicable for any spatial data infrastructure and/or Digital Earth component using the Open Geospatial Consortium Catalogue Service for the Web as a basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper gives an overview of the current status of education in geoinformatics in China. First, the paper provides a brief introduction to the history of geoinformatics education in China and a general review of the scientific and technological development. It then presents how the development affects the education and training in China. In the paper, universities and institutes in China that can award academic degrees related to geoinformatics are summarized, and undergraduate majors are briefly introduced. Next, the paper reports the work having been done by the national expert group on Surveying and Mapping, including the revision of discipline catalog and guide for graduate education and requirements. A list of typical curricula in geoinformatics education is suggested. Activities on promoting the graduate student exchange platform are presented. Finally, a case study of geoinformatics education in Wuhan University is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The open service network for marine environmental data (NETMAR) project uses semantic web technologies in its pilot system which aims to allow users to search, download and integrate satellite, in situ and model data from open ocean and coastal areas. The semantic web is an extension of the fundamental ideas of the World Wide Web, building a web of data through annotation of metadata and data with hyperlinked resources. Within the framework of the NETMAR project, an interconnected semantic web resource was developed to aid in data and web service discovery and to validate Open Geospatial Consortium Web Processing Service orchestration. A second semantic resource was developed to support interoperability of coastal web atlases across jurisdictional boundaries. This paper outlines the approach taken to producing the resource registry used within the NETMAR project and demonstrates the use of these semantic resources to support user interactions with systems. Such interconnected semantic resources allow the increased ability to share and disseminate data through the facilitation of interoperability between data providers. The formal representation of geospatial knowledge to advance geospatial interoperability is a growing research area. Tools and methods such as those outlined in this paper have the potential to support these efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the service-oriented infrastructure within the Wide Area Grid project that was carried out within the Working Group on Information Systems and Services of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. The developed infrastructure integrates services and computational resources of several regional and national Grid systems: Ukrainian Academician Grid (with satellite data processing Grid segment, UASpaceGrid) and Grid system at the Center on Earth Observation and Digital Earth of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study focuses on integrating geo-information services on flood mapping provided by Ukrainian and Chinese entities to benefit from information acquired from multiple sources. We also describe services for workflow automation and management in Grid environment and provide an example of workflow automation for generating flood maps from optical and synthetic-aperture radar satellite imagery. We also discuss issues of enabling trust for the infrastructure using certificates and reputation-based model. Applications of utilizing the developed infrastructure for operational flood mapping in Ukraine and China are given as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security has recently become a major concern in distributed geo-infrastructures for spatial data provision. Thus, a lightweight approach for securing distributed low-power environments such as geo-sensor networks is needed. The first part of this article presents a survey of current security mechanisms for authentication and authorisation. Based on this survey, a lightweight and scalable token-based security infrastructure was developed, which is tailored for use in distributed geo-web service infrastructures. The developed security framework comprises dedicated components for authentication, rule-based authorisation and optimised storage and administration of access rules. For validation purposes, a prototypical implementation of the approach has been created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the understanding of local and regional effects of climate change, the UK government supported the development of new climate projections. The Met Office Hadley Centre produced a sophisticated set of probabilistic projections for future climate. This paper discusses the design and implementation of an interactive website to deliver those projections to a broad user community. The interface presents complex data sets, generates on-the-fly products and schedules jobs to an offline weather generator capable of outputting gigabytes of data in response to a single request. A robust and scalable physical architecture was delivered through significant use of open source technologies and open standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crisis and disaster management has become an important research field in GIS during recent years. Risk assessment and situation picture-related work are particularly important areas of interest. There are distinct phases in different crises; these can be roughly divided into mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. In this paper a general classification of methods in each phase is given with examples on recent or ongoing research projects. The framework is based on literature and experiences from crisis and disaster-related exercises. Three case studies are based on those exercises. The goal is to clarify the role and usability of various GI-supported methods in the crisis management process by outlining a theoretical framework and presenting examples of the developed methods. Continuously increasing amount of spatially related geographic information is a huge potential to the GI analysis and modeling methods; the concept of digital earth is the underlying mainstream that gives lots of promise to the research and development work in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk communication is a significant challenge in risk management. It serves different purposes; an important one is to improve the public risk awareness and mitigation. Because of the strong spatio-temporal component of natural hazards, maps can play a decisive role in communicating risk information. The application and design of maps for risk communication especially to the public has not been investigated comprehensively. Specific constraints and challenges of risk communication have not been considered systematically in the map design process so far. This study aims at developing a frame for the application and design of interactive risk and hazard maps for the public which is based on the specific constraints and challenges of risk communication. In a literature review it introduces concepts and methods from social sciences and psychology, which have been assessed as important for communicating risk information. The concepts and methods are adapted to map-mediated risk communication according to the approaches of Activity Theory. Communication objectives and tasks which are essential to improve risk mitigation are identified and geovisualization methods for information presentation are related according to the degree which they are able to serve them. Based on this, some principles for map-based risk communication are established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We can adequately study broad global issues and policies only by taking geosciences into account. Our research and decision-making must share and make effective use of interdisciplinary data sources, models, and processes. Non-interoperability impedes sharing of data and computing resources. Standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and other organizations are the basis for successfully deploying a seamless, distributed information infrastructure for the geosciences. Several specifications now adopted by the OGC consensus process are the result of OGC interoperability initiatives. The OGC standards, deployment architectures, and interoperability initiatives are described showing how the OGC standards baseline has been developed and applies to the geosciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Geoscience Markup Language (GeoSciML) has been developed to enable the interchange of geoscience information, principally that portrayed on geological maps as well as boreholes. A GeoSciML testbed was developed both to test the implementation of the data model and its application in web services. The OneGeology-Europe project aims to use the GeoSciML data model, and build on the experience of the GeoSciML testbed, in implementing a geoportal for a harmonised geological map of Europe at 1:1 million scale. This involves the integration of web services from 20 participating organisations. An important objective of OneGeology-Europe is to contribute to Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), both through the development of a geological data specification and the use of the INSPIRE technical architecture. GeoSciML and the OneGeology-Europe project are also steps towards incorporating geoscience data into a Digital Earth. Both the development of GeoSciML and the implementation of web services for GeoSciML and OneGeology-Europe, have followed a standards-based methodology. The technical architecture comprises a geoportal providing access to a Catalogue Service for the Web for metadata describing both the data and services available. OneGeology-Europe will provide both Web Map Services view and Web Feature Services download services, which aim to be compliant with the INSPIRE implementing rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vectors and periodic phenomena, e.g. traffic versus time, have direction on a circular scale of 360°. An overview of existing methods for the display of circular-spatial and vectorial-spatial data, such as arrow plots, is given. We introduce the circular dataimage, a new type of graphic for the display of circular-spatial data. It is defined by encoding direction in a spatial display by using colors from a color wheel constructed by connecting three or more two-color gradients with color continuity at the connections. Therefore, image discontinuity from using a single-color gradient, e.g. blue-red, does not occur. High-resolution global views of ocean wind direction are used as a running example throughout the paper. Advantages and disadvantages of circular dataimages compared to arrow plots were obtained from a usability study. Circular dataimages provide for simultaneous recognition of fine structure on a small-scale and large-scale structure on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, mainly GIS software is used for exploration and visualization of spatially distributed data. At the same time an approach based on the combination of advanced web technologies along with the standard rules of information-computational system development is more suitable for performing tasks requiring more sophisticated data analysis. In this report, functional capabilities of the information-computational system created for meteorological and climatic data processing and online visualization are introduced. The system represents a dedicated web-interface, which allows performing of mathematical and statistical operations on the diverse observational and model data and to determine characteristics of global and regional climate changes. Currently such datasets as NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, ECMWF ERA-40 Reanalysis, etc. are available for processing. In particular, the system allows calculating of temporal average and extremum values, time trends, etc. at arbitrary spatial and temporal ranges for different meteorological parameters. The possibility of online intercomparison of meteorological characteristics calculated for different datasets is also realized in the system. The final version of the system being developed is supposed to find application in meteorological and climatological investigations and should help researchers to save time during performing routine analytical tasks by simplifying handling of huge arrays of spatially distributed meteorological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of data across multiple independently developed data sources can be challenging due to a variety of heterogeneities that exist across such systems. Data mediation technologies provide approaches for overcoming these heterogeneities. Standards such as Geoscience Markup Language can address some of the heterogeneity issues by providing schema standards which sources can adhere to. This article addresses the issue of semantic heterogeneity across information resources by using domain ontologies and registering schema elements and data values to such ontologies. Registering data to ontologies provides a powerful search and data integration capability across disparate geoscience information resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Geosciences Network (GEON) project has been developing cyberinfrastructure for data sharing in the Earth Science community based on a service-oriented architecture. The layered architecture consists of Core, Middleware, and Applications services. Core services provide system-level functions (e.g. user authentication), Middleware services provide generic capabilities (e.g. catalog search), and Application services provide functions that users directly interact with, including applications that are specific to Earth Sciences. The GEON 'service stack' includes a standardized set of these services and the corresponding software modules. The GEON Portal provides Web-based access to these services via a set of portlets. This service-oriented approach has enabled GEON to expand to new partner sites and leverage GEON services for other projects. To facilitate interoperation in a distributed geoinformatics environment, GEON is focusing on standards for distributed search across federated catalogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of Geoinformatics as a new scientific discipline designed for handling of geospatial information. Depending on the scientific background of the people involved in shaping the emerging discipline, emphasis may be placed on different aspects of Geoinformatics. Applications and developments may address geoscientific, spatial planning, or computer science related matters. The scientific field of Geoinformatics encompasses the acquisition and storing of geospatial data, the modelling and presentation of spatial information, geoscientific analyses and spatial planning, and the development of algorithms and geospatial database systems. It is the position of the author that these tools from Geoinformatics are necessary to bridge the gap between Digital Earth models and the real world with its real-world problems ('connecting through location'). It is, however, crucial that Geoinformatics represents a coherent integrated approach to the acquisition, storage, analysis, modeling, presentation, and dissemination of geo-processes and not a patchwork solution of unconnected fields of activity. Geoinformatics is as such not a part of Geography, Surveying, or Computer Science, but a new self-contained scientific discipline. The current paper highlights international and national trends of the discipline and presents a number of Geoinformatics initiatives. The research and teaching activities of the newly formed Institute for Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing (IGF) at the University of Osnabrueck serve as an example for these initiatives. All these developments have lead to the long overdue formation of a scientific 'Society for Geoinformatics' (German: Gesellschaft fur Geoinformatik - GfGI) in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jordanian government has encouraged irrigated agriculture since the early 1990s by providing low cost loans to drill private wells. The impacts of this practice on land use change were examined within a small (362 km²) area of the Jordanian Badia using Geoinformatics. Aerial photographs, SPOT and Landsat TM imageries were used, in a GIS environment, to map and examine changes in the fanning patterns since 1990. Field surveys and questionnaires were used to ground truth the remotely sensed data. The results indicate that the cultivated area has increased from just 28.5 ha in 1990 to over 1000 ha in 2000 and that the number of farms has increased from 2 to 32 over the same time period. Furthermore, farm locations are moved annually restricted by the position of the well and land availability; this also causes land use change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]