439 research outputs found
Assessing Geographic Information Enhancement
No full textAssessment of geographic information infrastructures (or spatial data infrastructures) is increasingly attracting the attention of researchers in the Geographic information (GI) domain. Especially the assessment of value added GI appears to be complex. By applying the concept of value chain analysis to GI, this paper provides a research framework for unambiguously assessing GI value adding. The paper details the enhancing process that must be employed to turn raw geographic information into new services and products regardless of the organisation performing the enhancement. Not only the differences in technical characteristics of data sets are identified, also the roles in a value chain of government organisations and commercial organisations were explored. The framework is applied to two types of GI in the United States and Europe. The presented research shows that the framework allows for true comparison of GI enhancement in different jurisdictions. This should result in better understanding of the level of GI enhancement in a specific jurisdiction and accordingly in effective decisions stimulating GI enhancement, geographic information infrastructures and information societies.Built EnvironmentOTB Research Institute for the Built Environmen
Toward a kinetic-based probabilistic time geography
No full textTime geography represents a powerful framework for the quantitative analysis of individual movement. Time geography effectively delineates the space–time boundaries of possible individual movement by characterizing movement constraints. The goal of this paper is to synchronize two new ideas, probabilistic time geography and kinetic-based time geography, to develop a more realistic set of movement constraints that consider movement probabilities related to object kinetics. Using random-walk theory, the existing probabilistic time geography model characterizes movement probabilities for the space–time cone using a normal distribution. The normal distribution has a symmetric probability density function and is an appropriate model in the absence of skewness – which we relate to an object’s initial velocity. Moving away from a symmetric distribution for movement probabilities, we propose the use of the skew-normal distribution to model kinetic-based movement probabilities, where the degree and direction of skewness is related to movement direction and speed. Following a description of our model, we use a set of case-studies to demonstrate the skew-normal model: a random walk, a correlated random walk, wildlife data, cyclist data, and athlete movement data. Our results show that for objects characterized by random movement behavior, the existing model performs well, but for object movement with kinetic properties (e.g., athletes), the proposed model provides a substantial improvement. Future work will look to extend the proposed probabilistic framework to the space–time prism.Peer reviewe
Techniques for Representation of Regional Clusters in Geographical In-formation Systems
No full textThis paper provides an overview of visualization techniques adapted for regional clusters presentation in Geographic Information Systems. Clusters are groups of companies and insti-tutions co-located in a specific geographic region and linked by interdependencies in providing a related group of products and services. The regional clusters can be visualized by projecting the data into two-dimensional space or using parallel coordinates. Cluster membership is usually represented by different colours or by dividing clusters into several panels of a grille display. Taking into consideration regional clusters requirements and the multilevel administrative division of the Romania’s territory, I used two cartograms: NUTS2- regions and NUTS3- counties, to illustrate the tools for regional clusters representation.Geographic Information Systems, Regional Clusters, Spatial Statistics, Geographic Data Visualisation
Location, location, location: A librarians guide to isolation
No full textThe library and information services profession faces many challenges in developing leaders and leadership potential. Such challenges can be particularly confronting to those living and working in geographically remote regions. This paper uses examples from a geographically remote region in Australia to outline possible approaches to attracting, retaining and developing leaders. The author fills a senior leadership role at the University of Western Australia (UWA) Library in Perth, one of the most remote capital cities in the world. Attracting, retaining and developing leaders in the library profession in Perth can be challenging. In response to the challenge of geographic remoteness, the author describes an initiative adopted by the UWA Library to develop leadership. In a fast changing and demanding environment, it is essential that all managers be forward thinking, pro-active and ready to lead others. 'Taking the Lead' is a programme designed to provide continuing professional development opportunities for senior library staff in leadership positions. The author also outlines some of the strategies adopted by the library professional association in Western Australia. The author is convenor of one of the local groups which coordinates and communicates strategic professional issues and organises continuing professional development activities state-wide and sector-wide
Data dissemination in delay tolerant networks with geographic Information
No full text© The Author(s) 2015. “Unstable Network” is one of the most important features of delay tolerant networks (DTNs), where most of services or data dissemination are processed in a mobile environment. Geographic information, therefore, is an important factor needed to be carefully analyzed to overcome this “unstable” environment. In this chapter, how to use geographic information to improve data dissemination in DTNs is presented and two DTN applications based on geographic information are illustrated. The first one is vehicle based DTNs, where the vehicle is a carrier to disseminate data. The second one is human associated DTN, where the human is the carrier
Cluster Analysis using Microgreographic data
No full textIn this paper we try to identify manufacturing and service clusters in Spain, using data from Mercantile Registers of 2006. The proposed methodology partially follows contributions of Duranton and Overman (2005), Brenner (2003 and 2004) and Ellison and Glaser (1997), but departing from them we improve such approaches by several ways. In order to sum up, we can detail our approach and divide it into five stages. Firstly, we divide space into homogeneous cells. Secondly, we create industry specific maps departing from firms’ georeferenced data. Thirdly, we create multiple random industry specific maps under two conditions: i) total number of firms at each industry remains constant and ii) total number of firms at each cell remains constant. Fourthly, we compare the observed spatial distribution of firms with random simulations of such distribution and we check if there is some kind of concentration compared to the random distribution. Fifthly, for each industry we map the areas where the concentration of firms is significantly higher than expected. Previous scheme allows us to identify real clusters (of different shapes and sizes) for all range of manufacturing and service activities and to use this information to design public policies related to such industries. Keywords: cluster analysis, geographic data, microeconomics, regional economics.
Volunteered geographic information in Wikipedia
No full textVolunteered geographic information (VGI) refers to the geographic subset of online user-generated content. Through Geobrowsers and online mapping services, which use geovisualization and Web technologies to share and produce VGI, a global digital commons of geographic information has emerged. A notable example is Wikipedia, an online collaborative encyclopedia where anyone can edit articles, including those about place. Wikipedia’s editorial transparency and integration with online mapping services make it well suited for studying VGI production. My dissertation contributes empirical evidence and quantitative methods to an emerging area of study—the efficacy and use of VGI—and I focus on spatial behavior in VGI production, which is largely unknown. In particular, the capacity of a ubiquitous Internet to reduce communication costs has raised questions of whether geographic distance matters in information and economic production. My research tests whether proximity matters in VGI production. That is, do VGI contributors write about nearby places? Moreover, what are suitable research methods to study large-scale VGI system with millions of contributors like Wikipedia? For my study, I collect a corpus of 32 million contributions to 1 million geotagged Wikipedia articles over 7 years (2001–2008). I use data mining and IP geolocation methods on the corpus to select a sample dataset that includes 7.3 million contributions by 2.8 million anonymous contributors to 0.4 million geotagged articles in 21 languages. To measure the proximity effect between articles and contributors, I develop a “signature distance” metric, which is a weighted average of distances between author and article. To model spatial interaction behaviors of contributors, I use a probabilistic invariant gravity model with an exponential distance decay function. My primary findings indicate that anonymous contributors write about nearby places, and that the influence of proximity decays exponentially and varies categorically. Keywords. Distance decay; Geotagging; User-generated content; Volunteered geographic information; Wikipedia
Multi-Domain Master Spatial Information Management for Open SDI in Indonesian Smart Cities
No full textSpatial Information Infrastructure (SDI) has great potential to support smart city by providing framework dataset and real-time information services in urban informational infrastructure, the social infrastructure and citizen's participation practices. Bandung City and Jakarta City are maintaining their SDI for various kinds of decision-making at different domain within their jurisdiction. In smart cities, it is crucial to have a data management systems which allow more stakeholders to participate in collecting, updating, maintaining, evaluating and utilizing urban information. A smart city should open their data to its citizen following Open Government Data (OGD) principles through SDI. As a member of Open Government Partnership, Indonesia is in the beginning phase of extending its SDI systems not only to serve government entities but also to citizens, academia, and private sectors. In reality, smart cities cannot rely on government entities only in producing spatial information. Heterogeneity of spatial information quality produced by citizens, academia, and private sectors create some difficulties in urban data management. However, most of the smart cities in Indonesia, namely Bandung City and Jakarta City, have not yet connected their SDI to their Smart City system due uncoordinated policies and technical limitation. Specification of Multi-domain Master Spatial Information Management (MSIM) will be the key factor for improving SDI in Indonesian Smart Cities to able to accommodate citizens, academia, and private sectors to enrich urban information. This paper proposes master data management solution for a multi-domain environment and Open SDI in a smart city.Short paper.OLD Department of GIS TechnologyOLD Geo-information and Land Developmen
The expanding geographic reach of retail banking markets
No full textIn the view of most policymakers and economists, competition in retail banking takes place in local markets the size of a single county or metropolitan area. This article presents evidence that the locus of banking competition has in recent years shifted to larger geographic arenas. The author's review of 1997 survey data reveals that many banks set uniform rates for both deposits and retail loans across an entire state or broad regions of a large state. Regression analysis of the relationship between retail deposit rates and measures of market concentration further supports this expansion in market size: the clear relationship that earlier studies detected between individual banks' deposit rates and measures of concentration at the local level is no longer evident, while a relationship does emerge at the state level.Bank competition ; Bank deposits ; Retail trade ; Local finance
Commercially-and-socially-oriented postal services
No full textThe main goal of this paper is show how postal communication service, which has been strengthened with the technology development in the last century, is nowadays commercially-and-socially-oriented very important for human life. Furthermore, I will prove how postal service becomes overwhelming for some not communicated, far and isolated geographic areas in developing countries, to get in touch with people and businesses from around the world. Over one hundred of Postal Operators were interviewed in Peru between 2004 and 2006, around 25% of total, which said that distance and security are not longer considered as a challenge for postal services thanks to new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Internet; which in turn has facilitated (i) social communication, (ii) financial services, (iii) e-commerce and (iv) international business, bolstered by postal services. This last issue can be proved with high correlation statistics between the international postal (and courier) shipments and the exportation of non traditional goods, as well as importation of goods in Peru; moreover, some international remittances from around the world are making through the postal transferences. Consequently, Peruvian authorities, especially from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, must consider the importance of postal and/or courier services in the elaboration of public policies to pursuit the socioeconomic development.Postal services; financial postal; international business; communication; e-commerce;
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