Esri Association With Open Source

Everyone involved in geospatial information systems has heard of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri)company. Most people have tried ArcGIS software at least for one time. Esri has been the pioneer in this industry for a long time; it also defines the future of geospatial trends. In this chapter, the author adopts a neutral position to discuss the relation of Esri and open-source community. They cover almost every aspect where Esri and open source co-occur. Even the latest achievement of Esri, which is R-bridge, is discussed here. Going into the details of everything is not the goal of the chapter; however, a minimum description is provided for each section. Proper references are given to the reader for further study.

Investigating the Impacts of DEM Type, Resolution, and Noise on Extracted Hydro-Geomorphologic Parameters of Watersheds via GIS

Water resources management is dependent on knowledge and understanding of water quantity and quality information with the latest developments in information technology such as geographic information system (GIS) to develop effective hydrological modeling within the water-based systems. The efficiency of such hydrological modeling relies on the accuracy of applied data. In this way, the application of low-quality data in developing models for integrated management of water resources can impose irreparable financial and human resources and environmental costs in the catchment area. Thus, in regions that shortage of data is the issue, semi-distributed modeling is a useful tool. In this chapter, three aims are followed: (1) effect of digital elevation model (DEM) type and resolution on extracted hydro-geomorphologic parameters, (2) effect of wavelet-based de-noising method on extracted hydro-geomorphologic parameters, (3) determination of the optimal cell size to extract topographic attributes with good agreement to the real features.

Nurturing a Geospatially Empowered Next Generation

For new generations of citizens in all countries, a level of proficiency in geospatial concepts and skills will be required to realize the potential of professional and developmental opportunities. The teaching of geospatial skills links into traditional science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum objectives, community-wide concerns and initiatives, and global citizenship. Therefore, by the pre-university and undergraduate level, it is desirable for each student to have acquired such competencies. Free and open-source tools that are accessible and affordable in most areas of the world, along with data availability, offer an opportunity to support teaching such a curriculum. Here, core geospatial concepts are introduced, along with available data and tools. Then, using three scenarios, it is shown how the core concepts can be applied to different settings for educational purposes.

Keyword Search Mechanisms in Geo-Spatial Databases

Most web and mobile applications are based on searching the location-based objects called spatial objects. In spatial database systems, searching such objects is a challenging task since it deals with geo-spatial capabilities. Sometimes, the spatial queries are associated with text information in order to obtain the most relevant answers nearest to the given location. Such queries are called spatial textual query. Conventional spatial indexes and text indexes are not suitable for resolving such queries. Since these indexes use various approaches to perform searching, they can cause performance degradation. Effective processing of the query mainly depends on the index structure, searching algorithms, and location-based ranking. This chapter reviews the different hybrid index structures and search mechanisms to extract the spatial objects, the different ranking model it supports, and the performance characteristics.

Role of Free and Open Source GIS in River Rejuvenation

Rivers represent one of the sources of freshwater. The existence and survival of humanity is intricately connected with the availability of freshwater resources. It is valuable to provide comprehensive information of all water resources through online geo-visual interfaces. Specific web slices can be of use, such as the illustration of headwater sources along with details of streams of various orders and tributaries up to the point of merging with the sea downstream. Since the local self-government departments, Grama Panchayat, can play a crucial role, they too are eager to know the details of the drainage network flowing within each administration unit. The possibilities emerging out of integration of free and open source GIS is enormous and can eventually succeed in bringing forth a ray of hope to the forlorn riverine ecosystem.

Spatial Data Mining, Spatial Data Warehousing, and Spatial OLAP

Data mining is one of the current vital fields for all types of data including spatial data. An example of useful extracted patterns from spatial data is to describe changes in metropolitan poverty rates based on city distances from major highways. Geospatial is a term that has recently been gaining in popularity; moreover, many applications on geospatial have different uses in different fields such as geo-tagging, geospatial technology, and geo-fencing. Analyzing spatial data is considered a complex task due to its details as it is related to locations with a special representation such as longitude and latitude. Other attributes are involved in the description of objects which can be analyzed using different data mining techniques. In this chapter, a demonstration of the basic information is performed considering spatial data and spatial data mining including all aspects such as the different type of data, different methods of analysis, different mining techniques, and other related topics.

Development of Assessment Criteria for Various Open Sources GIS Software Packages

There has been a significant development in the area of free and open source geospatial software. Research has flourished over the decades from vendor-dependent software to open source software where researchers are paying increasing attention to maximize the value of their data. It is often a difficult task to choose particular open source GIS (OGIS) software among a number of emerging OGIS software. It is important to characterise the projects according to some unified criteria. Each software has certain advantages and disadvantages and it is always time consuming to identify exactly which software to select for a specific purpose. This chapter focuses on the assessment criteria enabling developers, researchers, and GIS users to select suitable OGIS software to meet their requirements for analysis and design of geospatial application in multidisciplinary fields. This chapter highlights the importance of assessment criteria, followed by an explanation of each criteria and their significance with examples from existing OGIS software.

Free and Open Source Tools for Volunteer Geographic Information and Geo-Crowdsourcing

The availability of new mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) equipped with many sensors is changing or, better, enriching the way we monitor and sense the world that surrounds us. The internet has permeated completely not only our scientific and technological development, but also our life. Only some years ago, we used geospatial data and GIS software installed within our computers. Nowadays, data and operators are provided via the net by means of distributed and shared geo-services and a simple and powerless mobile device is enough to connect them. The possibility of interaction has become not only faster and more user friendly but also active, being individuals and communities free of adding, deleting, and changing contents in real time in the new GeoWeb2.0. This chapter explores GeoWeb2.0.

Use of Cloud, Multimedia, and QR Codes to Enhance Print Maps

Quick response (QR) codes are two-dimensional codes. They are machine-readable optical labels which contain information of the object on which they are attached. Due to their large storage capacity and faster readability, they are becoming more popular than one-dimensional bar codes. They are widely used in creation of inventories, product tracking, document management, etc. With the widespread use of smart phones, QR codes are becoming more popular. QR code interpreting apps are freely available and all modern smartphones are equipped with a camera and internet to process and interpret these codes. The value of printed maps can also be enhanced by using QR codes. This chapter reviews how the value of printed or hard copy maps can be enhanced by adding QR codes that have multimedia content placed on the Cloud.