Geographic Knowledge Infrastructure


Book Description

Geographic Knowledge Engineering: Applications to Territorial Intelligence and Smart Cities studies the specific nature of geographic knowledge and the structure of geographic knowledge bases. Geographic relations, ontologies, gazetteers and rules are detailed as the basic components of such bases, and these rules are defined to develop our understanding of the mechanisms of geographic reasoning. The book examines various problems linked to geovisualization, chorems, visual querying and interoperability to shape knowledge infrastructure for smart governance. - Provides geographic business rules - Presents information on multi-actor, multicriteria decision support systems - Examines various problems linked to geovisualization, chorems, visual querying and interoperability




Handbook on Geospatial Infrastructure in Support of Census Activities


Book Description

The handbook demonstrates how the use and application of contemporary geospatial technologies and geographical databases are beneficial at all stages of the population and housing census process.




Geographic Information Systems to Spatial Data Infrastructures


Book Description

This book draws on author’s wealth of knowledge working on numerous projects across many countries. It provides a clear overview of the development of the SDI concept and SDI worldwide implementation and brings a logical chronological approach to the linkage of GIS technology with SDI enabling data. The theory and practice approach help understand that SDI development and implementation is very much a social process of learning by doing. The author masterfully selects main historical developments and updates them with an analytical perspective promoting informed and responsible use of geographic information and geospatial technologies for the benefit of society from local to global scales. Features Subject matter spans thirty years of the development of GIS and SDI. Brings a social science perspective into GIS and SDI debates that have been largely dominated by technical considerations. Based on a world-wide perspective as a result of the author's experience and research in the USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Peru, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, and Japan as well as most European countries. Draws upon professional and academic experience relating to pioneering UK and European GIS research initiatives. Includes updated historical material with an analytical perspective explaining what was done right, and what didn't work.




Scales of the Earth


Book Description

Exploring the impact of the new "geography from above" made possible by advances in satellite imagery, contributors discuss how satellite imagery reframes contemporary debates on design, agency, and territory.




Manual of Digital Earth


Book Description

This open access book offers a summary of the development of Digital Earth over the past twenty years. By reviewing the initial vision of Digital Earth, the evolution of that vision, the relevant key technologies, and the role of Digital Earth in helping people respond to global challenges, this publication reveals how and why Digital Earth is becoming vital for acquiring, processing, analysing and mining the rapidly growing volume of global data sets about the Earth. The main aspects of Digital Earth covered here include: Digital Earth platforms, remote sensing and navigation satellites, processing and visualizing geospatial information, geospatial information infrastructures, big data and cloud computing, transformation and zooming, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and social media. Moreover, the book covers in detail the multi-layered/multi-faceted roles of Digital Earth in response to sustainable development goals, climate changes, and mitigating disasters, the applications of Digital Earth (such as digital city and digital heritage), the citizen science in support of Digital Earth, the economic value of Digital Earth, and so on. This book also reviews the regional and national development of Digital Earth around the world, and discusses the role and effect of education and ethics. Lastly, it concludes with a summary of the challenges and forecasts the future trends of Digital Earth. By sharing case studies and a broad range of general and scientific insights into the science and technology of Digital Earth, this book offers an essential introduction for an ever-growing international audience.




Re-visioning Geography


Book Description

Geography is a discipline with a profound interdisciplinary character focusing on studying the complex interactions between nature and society. Geography can advance the level of knowledge and awareness and provide important contributions to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. This book explores some of these issues, while also disseminating and supporting the efforts of geographers worldwide to promote the implementation of the SDGs. It offers local and global perspectives to a variety of topics covered by the SDGs, such as: How do different actors such as universities, companies and education actors respond to Sustainable Development Goals, especially during the complex context of the COVID pandemic? What is the role of novel spatial technologies and open/big data in achieving SDGs and how can Geography assist? How are new eco-social challenges positioned in a post-pandemic global change? What are novel educational contexts and resources that can be used to transform society toward sustainability of socioecological systems? What conceptual frameworks and strategies can contribute to the construction of societies based on human welfare and the care of nature? This book is focused on innovative sustainability-oriented geographical research on the above (and more) topics that explore the diverse social, environmental, economic and cultural contexts at various spatial scales. It also includes chapters that report on geographical education initiatives in schools and universities, the implication of geographers in community-based learning and increasing community's awareness in terms of environment, climate change and sustainable development as well as chapters that make use of geospatial technologies (e.g., remote sensing, GIS, etc.) both in geographical research and education for sustainable development are particularly relevant for the book.




Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge


Book Description

The phenomenon of volunteered geographic information is part of a profound transformation in how geographic data, information, and knowledge are produced and circulated. By situating volunteered geographic information (VGI) in the context of big-data deluge and the data-intensive inquiry, the 20 chapters in this book explore both the theories and applications of crowdsourcing for geographic knowledge production with three sections focusing on 1). VGI, Public Participation, and Citizen Science; 2). Geographic Knowledge Production and Place Inference; and 3). Emerging Applications and New Challenges. This book argues that future progress in VGI research depends in large part on building strong linkages with diverse geographic scholarship. Contributors of this volume situate VGI research in geography’s core concerns with space and place, and offer several ways of addressing persistent challenges of quality assurance in VGI. This book positions VGI as part of a shift toward hybrid epistemologies, and potentially a fourth paradigm of data-intensive inquiry across the sciences. It also considers the implications of VGI and the exaflood for further time-space compression and new forms, degrees of digital inequality, the renewed importance of geography, and the role of crowdsourcing for geographic knowledge production.




Geographic Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery


Book Description

The Definitive Volume on Cutting-Edge Exploratory Analysis of Massive Spatial and Spatiotemporal DatabasesSince the publication of the first edition of Geographic Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, new techniques for geographic data warehousing (GDW), spatial data mining, and geovisualization (GVis) have been developed. In addition, there has bee




The Philosophy of Geography


Book Description

The relationship between geography and philosophy is still largely in need of being explored. Geographers and philosophers share the responsibility for that. On the one hand, geographers have considered as a dangerous deviation any attempt to elaborate an image of the Earth which was not a mere replica of a cartographic representation. On the other hand, philosophers have generally been uninterested in a discipline offering little chance for critical reflection. In light of these considerations, the purpose of this book is to identify some fundamental philosophical issues involved in the reflection of geography by adopting a perspective which looks at the discipline with a specific focus on its fundamental concepts and distinctions.




The Geography of Small Firm Innovation


Book Description

It has long been recognized that advances in science contribute to economic growth. While it is one thing to argue that such a relationship exists, it is quite another to establish the extent to which knowledge spills over within and between sectors of the economy. Such a research agenda faces numerous challenges. Not only must one seek measures of inputs, but a measure of output is needed as well to estimate the knowledge production function. The identification of such a measure was a compelling goal for Zvi Griliches, if not the holy grail: “The dream of getting hold of an output indicator of inventive activity is one of the strong motivating forces for economic research in this area.” (Griliches 1990, p. 1669). Jaffe (1989) made a significant contribution to estimating the knowledge production function when he established a relationship between patent activity and R&D activity at the state level. Feldman and coauthors (1994a, 1994b) added considerably to this line of research, focusing on innovation counts as the dependent variable instead of patent counts. This work was particularly important given that many innovations are never patented. Feldman’s work also differentiated by firm size and showed that knowledge spillovers from universities play a key role as sources of knowledge for small firms.