GIS of the chora of Cyrene: fortifications and Christian buildings in Late Antiquity

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 31-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Abdalrahim Sheriff Saad ◽  
S. Farag Abdel Hati ◽  
Sonia Antonelli ◽  
Oliva Menozzi ◽  
Veronica Petraccia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Gis Mapping ◽  
Differential Gps ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Traditional Research

AbstractThe project of mapping the chora of Cyrene, for the team of Chieti University, started between 1999 and 2001 as a layer of a ‘macro-GIS’ of the area to the east of Cyrene, that is, the transect between Cyrene and El-Gubba/Qubbah. Because of the large scale of the area and the monumentality of the sites, the team is composed of several research units based around a large number of scholars and technicians. The project employs a suite of traditional methodologies for the study of landscape archaeology (surveys, GIS mapping, differential GPS, excavations), in combination with technologies integrating the knowledge of the territory (remote sensing on HD satellite photos, geomorphological reconstruction, laser scanning, archaeometric analysis, non-invasive geophysical prospection and infrared diagnostic analysis). The large quantity of data coming from this wide approach has been organised into a flexible and multilayer GIS. A joint team of Libyan and Italian archaeologists and technicians is testing a common protocol for monitoring the monuments and sites in the territory, using surveys and remote sensing analysis, which has intensified during these problematic periods, and regularly analysing satellite sets over the past four years.The project aims to map and document as much as possible in this territory, to identify the location of the region's so-called ‘minor sites’, which are numerous and almost unknown. They were, from the Late Classical to the Islamic periods, vital sites for the management of the local economy. This paper presents the main issues relating to settlements and sites in Late Antiquity, concentrating mainly on fortifications along the limes and basilicas within the area of the transect. Moreover, in the presentation of the data, the GIS approach has been integrated here with data coming both from the remote sensing and from more traditional research approaches, such as planimetrical and typological analysis of the buildings, study of the sources and detailed mapping of the building techniques.

scholarly journals Integrated Archaeological Research: Archival Resources, Surveys, Geophysical Prospection and Excavation Approach at an Execution and Burial Site: The German Nazi Labour Camp in Treblinka

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 336
Author(s):  
Sebastian Różycki ◽  
Rafał Zapłata ◽  
Jerzy Karczewski ◽  
Andrzej Ossowski ◽  
Jacek Tomczyk
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Burial Site ◽  
Sensing Data ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Geophysical Surveys ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Labour Camp

This article presents the results of multidisciplinary research undertaken in 2016–2019 at the German Nazi Treblinka I Forced Labour Camp. Housing 20,000 prisoners, Treblinka I was established in 1941 as a part of a network of objects such as forced labour camps, resettlement camps and prison camps that were established in the territory of occupied Poland from September 1939. This paper describes archaeological research conducted in particular on the execution site and burial site—the area where the “death pits” have been found—in the so-called Las Maliszewski (Maliszewa Forest). In this area (poorly documented) exhumation work was conducted only until 1947, so the location of these graves is only approximately known. The research was resumed at the beginning of the 21st century using, e.g., non-invasive methods and remote-sensing data. The leading aim of this article is to describe the comprehensive research strategy, with a particular stress on non-invasive geophysical surveys. The integrated archaeological research presented in this paper includes an analysis of archive materials (aerial photos, witness accounts, maps, plans, and sketches), contemporary data resources (orthophotomaps, airborne laser scanning-ALS data), field work (verification of potential objects, ground penetrating radar-GPR surveys, excavations), and the integration, analysis and interpretation of all these datasets using a GIS platform. The results of the presented study included the identification of the burial zone within the Maliszewa Forest area, including six previously unknown graves, creation of a new database, and expansion of the Historical-GIS-Treblinka. Obtained results indicate that the integration and analyses within the GIS environment of various types of remote-sensing data and geophysical measurements significantly contribute to archaeological research and increase the chances to discover previously unknown “graves” from the time when the labour camp Treblinka I functioned.

scholarly journals Radar vision in the mapping of forest biodiversity from space

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soyeon Bae ◽  
Shaun R. Levick ◽  
Lea Heidrich ◽  
Paul Magdon ◽  
Benjamin F. Leutner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
External Validation ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Forest Regions ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Derived Data

Abstract Recent progress in remote sensing provides much-needed, large-scale spatio-temporal information on habitat structures important for biodiversity conservation. Here we examine the potential of a newly launched satellite-borne radar system (Sentinel-1) to map the biodiversity of twelve taxa across five temperate forest regions in central Europe. We show that the sensitivity of radar to habitat structure is similar to that of airborne laser scanning (ALS), the current gold standard in the measurement of forest structure. Our models of different facets of biodiversity reveal that radar performs as well as ALS; median R² over twelve taxa by ALS and radar are 0.51 and 0.57 respectively for the first non-metric multidimensional scaling axes representing assemblage composition. We further demonstrate the promising predictive ability of radar-derived data with external validation based on the species composition of birds and saproxylic beetles. Establishing new area-wide biodiversity monitoring by remote sensing will require the coupling of radar data to stratified and standardized collected local species data.

Developing statistically driven eco-engineering designs from LiDAR and structure from motion surveys for marine artificial structures.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lawrence ◽  
Ally Evans ◽  
Paul Brooks ◽  
Tim D'Urban Jackson ◽  
Stuart Jenkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Structure From Motion ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Ecological Design ◽  
Artificial Structures ◽  
Engineering Research

<p>Coastal ecosystems are threatened by habitat loss and anthropogenic “smoothing” as hard engineering approaches to sea defence, such as sea-walls, rock armouring, and offshore reefs, become common place. These artificial structures use homogenous materials (e.g. concrete or quarried rock) and as a result, lack the surface heterogeneity of natural rocky shoreline known to play a key role in niche creation and higher species diversity. Despite significant investment and research into soft engineering and ecologically sensitive approaches to coastal development, there are still knowledge gaps, particularly in relation to how patterns that are observed in nature can be utilised to improve artificial shores.</p><p>Given the technical improvements and significant reductions in cost within the portable remote sensing field (structure from motion and laser scanning), we are now able to plug gaps in our understanding of how habitat heterogeneity can influence overall site diversity. These improvements represent an excellent opportunity to improve our understanding of the spatial scales and complexity of habitats that species occur within and ultimately improve the ecological design of engineered structures in areas experiencing “smoothing” and habitat loss.</p><p>In this talk, I will highlight how advances in remote sensing techniques can be applied to context-specific ecological problems, such as low diversity and loss of rare species within marine infrastructure. I will describe our approach to combining large-scale ecological, 3D geophysical and engineering research to design statistically-derived ecologically-inspired solutions to smooth artificial surfaces. We created experimental concrete enhancement units and deployed them at a number of coastal locations. I will present preliminary ecological results, provide a workflow of unit development and statistical approaches, and finally discuss how these advances may improve future ecological intervention and design options.</p>

scholarly journals Assessment of Close-Range Remote Sensing Methods for DTM Estimation in a Lowland Deciduous Forest

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2063
Author(s):  
Luka Jurjević ◽  
Mateo Gašparović ◽  
Xinlian Liang ◽  
Ivan Balenović
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Pedunculate Oak ◽  
Absolute Deviation ◽  
Close Range ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques

Digital terrain models (DTMs) are important for a variety of applications in geosciences as a valuable information source in forest management planning, forest inventory, hydrology, etc. Despite their value, a DTM in a forest area is typically lower quality due to inaccessibility and limited data sources that can be used in the forest environment. In this paper, we assessed the accuracy of close-range remote sensing techniques for DTM data collection. In total, four data sources were examined, i.e., handheld personal laser scanning (PLShh, GeoSLAM Horizon), terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, FARO S70), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry (UAVimage), and UAV laser scanning (ULS, LS Nano M8). Data were collected within six sample plots located in a lowland pedunculate oak forest. The reference data were of the highest quality available, i.e., total station measurements. After normality and outliers testing, both robust and non-robust statistics were calculated for all close-range remote sensing data sources. The results indicate that close-range remote sensing techniques are capable of achieving higher accuracy (root mean square error < 15 cm; normalized median absolute deviation < 10 cm) than airborne laser scanning (ALS) and digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) data that are generally understood to be the best data sources for DTM on a large scale.

scholarly journals Prehistoric Human Tracks in Ojo Guareña Cave System (Burgos, Spain): The Sala and Galerías de las Huellas

2021 ◽  
pp. 317-342
Author(s):  
Ana I. Ortega ◽  
Francisco Ruiz ◽  
Miguel A. Martín ◽  
Alfonso Benito-Calvo ◽  
Marco Vidal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Soft Sediment ◽  
Digital Photogrammetry ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Intensive Use ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Optical Laser

AbstractIn 1969, members of Grupo Espeleológico Edelweiss discovered the Sala and Galerías de las Huellas in Ojo Guareña Cave system (Burgos, Spain). These contained hundreds of ancient human footprints, preserved in the soft sediment on the floor. These footprints represent the tracks of a small group of people who walked barefoot through these complex passages in the cave. Owing to the difficult compatibility of the documentation and preservation of these prints, it was not possible to study them before the development of new non-invasive remote sensing techniques. However, since 2012 optical laser scanning and digital photogrammetry have been used in Galerías de las Huellas, in combination with GIS techniques, to obtain a model of the cave floor, where the footprints and their internal morphology can be observed in detail. We have identified over 1000 prehistoric human footprints and at least 18 distinct trackways through the passages, which could have been left by around 8–10 individuals. Since 2016, an archaeological field study has been conducted in this sector, in order to determine and explore its surrounding area and find other archaeological evidence that may be directly associated with these tracks. Numerous remains of torches are preserved on the walls and floor in the immediate surroundings of the footprint sites. Some of them have been dated, which has revealed the intensive use of this underground landscape from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic-Neolithic. However, the remains in Sala and Galerías de las Huellas date solely to the Chalcolithic, around 4300 calBP.

Structure-level fuel load assessment in the wildland–urban interface: a fusion of airborne laser scanning and spectral remote-sensing methodologies

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas S. Skowronski ◽  
Scott Haag ◽  
Jim Trimble ◽  
Kenneth L. Clark ◽  
Michael R. Gallagher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Airborne Laser Scanning ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Spatial Averaging ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Airborne Laser

Large-scale fuel assessments are useful for developing policy aimed at mitigating wildfires in the wildland–urban interface (WUI), while finer-scale characterisation is necessary for maximising the effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments and directing suppression activities. We developed and tested an objective, consistent approach for characterising hazardous fuels in the WUI at the scale of individual structures by integrating aerial photography, airborne laser scanning and cadastral datasets into a hazard assessment framework. This methodology is appropriate for informing zoning policy questions, targeting presuppression planning and fuel reduction treatments, and assisting in prioritising structure defence during suppression operations. Our results show increased variability in fuel loads with decreasing analysis unit area, indicating that fine-scale differences exist that may be omitted owing to spatial averaging when using a coarser, grid-based approach. Analyses using a local parcel database indicate that approximately 75% of the structures in this study have ownership of less than 50% of the 30 m buffer around their building, illustrating the complexity of multiple ownerships when attempting to manage fuels in the WUI. Our results suggest that our remote-sensing approach could augment, and potentially improve, ground-based survey approaches in the WUI.

scholarly journals Entwicklungen im Bereich der Fernerkundung für forstliche Anwendungen

2017 ◽  
Vol 168 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-126
Author(s):  
Christian Ginzler ◽  
Lars T. Waser
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
National Level ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Aerial Image ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Daily Work

Progress in remote sensing for forestry applications Over the past ten years significant advances have been made in remote sensing data and methods for forestry applications. In many cases datasets are no longer limited to use for case studies or the development of methods, but are available for large area applications, often with high temporal resolution. Aerial image acquisition, including in near infrared, has become standard thanks to the use of digital cameras. Colour infrared orthophotos are easily embedded into GIS applications at the cantonal and national level. Aerial laser scanning data has almost become the norm for many applications. Tools integrated into common working environments are available which allow for the efficient analysis of 3-D point clouds and the realisation of valuable products describing forested areas. Terrestrial laser scanning is also nearing operational applicability for many purposes. Remote sensing is continually developing into a practical instrument for daily work. As long as users are aware of the possibilities and also the limitations, remote sensing offers substantial potential to support and optimise terrestrial inventory and for the generation of additional large-scale values.

MILL: Channel Attention–based Deep Multiple Instance Learning for Landslide Recognition

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2s) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Xiaochuan Tang ◽  
Mingzhe Liu ◽  
Hao Zhong ◽  
Yuanzhen Ju ◽  
Weile Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Remote Sensing Image ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Multiple Instance Learning ◽  
Remote Sensing Images ◽  
Loess Area ◽  
Remote Sensing Image Classification ◽  
Natural Disaster Risk

Landslide recognition is widely used in natural disaster risk management. Traditional landslide recognition is mainly conducted by geologists, which is accurate but inefficient. This article introduces multiple instance learning (MIL) to perform automatic landslide recognition. An end-to-end deep convolutional neural network is proposed, referred to as Multiple Instance Learning–based Landslide classification (MILL). First, MILL uses a large-scale remote sensing image classification dataset to build pre-train networks for landslide feature extraction. Second, MILL extracts instances and assign instance labels without pixel-level annotations. Third, MILL uses a new channel attention–based MIL pooling function to map instance-level labels to bag-level label. We apply MIL to detect landslides in a loess area. Experimental results demonstrate that MILL is effective in identifying landslides in remote sensing images.

scholarly journals GIANA allows computationally-efficient TCR clustering and multi-disease repertoire classification by isometric transformation

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyi Zhang ◽  
Xiaowei Zhan ◽  
Bo Li
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
T Cell Receptor ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cell Receptor ◽  
Alignment Algorithm ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Antigen Specificity ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Isometric Transformation ◽  
Specific Receptors

AbstractSimilarity in T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences implies shared antigen specificity between receptors, and could be used to discover novel therapeutic targets. However, existing methods that cluster T-cell receptor sequences by similarity are computationally inefficient, making them impractical to use on the ever-expanding datasets of the immune repertoire. Here, we developed GIANA (Geometric Isometry-based TCR AligNment Algorithm) a computationally efficient tool for this task that provides the same level of clustering specificity as TCRdist at 600 times its speed, and without sacrificing accuracy. GIANA also allows the rapid query of large reference cohorts within minutes. Using GIANA to cluster large-scale TCR datasets provides candidate disease-specific receptors, and provides a new solution to repertoire classification. Querying unseen TCR-seq samples against an existing reference differentiates samples from patients across various cohorts associated with cancer, infectious and autoimmune disease. Our results demonstrate how GIANA could be used as the basis for a TCR-based non-invasive multi-disease diagnostic platform.

scholarly journals Alien Wood Species as a Resource for Wood-Plastic Composites

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Sergej Medved ◽  
Daša Krapež Tomec ◽  
Angela Balzano ◽  
Maks Merela
Keyword(s):  
Wood Species ◽  
Dimensional Stability ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Wood Plastic Composites ◽  
Plastic Composites

Since invasive alien species are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss in the region and thus of changes in ecosystem services, it is important to find the best possible solution for their removal from nature and the best practice for their usability. The aim of the study was to investigate their properties as components of wood-plastic composites and to investigate the properties of the wood-plastic composites produced. The overall objective was to test the potential of available alien plant species as raw material for the manufacture of products. This would contribute to sustainability and give them a better chance of ending their life cycle. One of the possible solutions on a large scale is to use alien wood species for the production of wood plastic composites (WPC). Five invasive alien hardwood species have been used in combination with polyethylene powder (PE) and maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (MAPE) to produce various flat pressed WPC boards. Microstructural analyses (confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy) and mechanical tests (flexural strength, tensile strength) were performed. Furthermore, measurements of density, thickness swelling, water absorption and dimensional stability during heating and cooling were carried out. Comparisons were made between the properties of six WPC boards (five alien wood species and mixed boards). The results showed that the differences between different invasive alien wood species were less obvious in mechanical properties, while the differences in sorption properties and dimensional stability were more significant. The analyses of the WPC structure showed a good penetration of the polymer into the lumens of the wood cells and a fine internal structure without voids. These are crucial conditions to obtain a good, mechanically strong and water-resistant material.

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