Geospatial Information

Technology

in EcoCity Planning

Wendy Guan

2009 International Ecocity Forum

(Huaibei, China)

Location Matters

Learning to Think

Spatially: GIS as a

Support System in the

K-12 Curriculumby Committee on the Support

for the Thinking Spatially: The

Incorporation of Geographic

Information Science Across

the K-12 Curriculum,

Committee on Geography,

National Research Council

2006, National Academy of

Sciences

Geospatial Technology – Its Values

• It provides a framework for us to

organize our knowledge – geographically.

• It reveals patterns, relationships and

processes – broadens our knowledge and

deepens our understanding.

• It helps us conceptualize, represent and

communicate ideas – reconstruct history,

illustrate the present, or plan for the future.

Geographic Information Systems

(GIS) started in the 1960s

Roger Tomlinson developed the Canadian Geographic Information Systems, the first of its kind. He named the field in the early 1960s and has been a leader ever since.

Ian L. McHarg was the founder of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His 1969 book Design with Nature pioneered the concept of ecological planning.

The Harvard Laboratory for Computer

Graphics and Spatial Analysis (1965-

1991) is regarded by many as the

birthplace of GIS

Nicholas Chrisman (Professor, Geomatic Sciences, Université Laval) speaking about the Lab at the CGA launch event in 2006

Innovation in the1960s

• US Bureau of the Census

implemented the GBF/DIME

(Geographic Base File using Dual

Independent Map Encoding) system

in 1967, in preparation for the

automation of geocoding of the 1970

census.

• ESRI (Environmental Systems

Research Institute) and Intergraph,

two major GIS companies, were both

formed in 1969.

Evolution through the Decades

• Computer Mapping in the 1970s– The LandSat program launched its first satellite in 1972

– First International Symposium on Computer-Assisted Cartography (AUTOCARTO) was held in Reston, Virginia in 1974.

• Spatial Database Management in the 1980s– Raster and vector data models

– Topology

– Compression

• Map Analysis and Modeling in the 1990s– Integration with Numerical Models

– Graphic User Interface

– Global Positioning System completed its 24 satellites constellation in 1993

Current Status

• Enterprise and Social GIS in the 2000s

– Server GIS

– Mobil GIS

– Embedded Applications

– Web GIS

– Volunteered GIS (crowd sourcing)

Future Perspective

• Multi-media Mapping

• 4 Dimensions and Beyond

• Fuzzy Spatial Objects

This figure shows the green dots (location

points from which the kernel was created

from using the LSCV) against the

utilization distribution grid.

This figure is a display of the location points

(shown in yellow) within the selected 50, 75,

and 90% probability polygons. Source: RafDouglas Candidi Tommasi Crudeli

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/ske/hab/movement/

animal_mvmt.htm

A Skyful of Satellites

Union of Concerned Scientists, Satellite Database

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/space_weapons/whats-in-space.html

Credit: Union of Concerned Scientists

Credit: New York Times, 2/6/2007

3,100 orbiting satellites

Over 845 844 active satellites

Spatial

Resolution

General Principle:

To resolve an object of

interest (e.g., my 10-inch

diameter head), it is

necessary to obtain

imagery with a spatial

resolution that is one-half

the size of the object’s

greatest dimension (e.g., 5-

inches).

http://gis.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k235&state=popup&topicid=icb.topic543139&view=view.do&viewParam_name=2007_Remote_Sensing&viewParam_fname=

Earth Imaging Storage

Earth Land

1000 510 149

80 79,698 23,272

40 318,791 93,087

20 1,275,164 372,348

10 5,100,656 1,489,391

5 20,402,624 5,957,564

2 127,516,400 37,234,775

1 510,065,600 148,939,100

0.5 2,040,262,400 595,756,400

# of pixel (million) = single

band 8 bit image size (MB)pixel size

(meter)

Improvements in Remote Sensor Resolution

• Spatial - the size of the field-of-view, e.g. 10 10 m.

• Spectral - the number and size of spectral regions

(or frequencies) the sensor records data in,

e.g. blue, green, red, near-infrared, thermal infrared.

• Temporal - how often the sensor acquires data,

e.g., every 30 days.

• Radiometric - sensitivity of detectors to small differences

in electromagnetic energy.

10 m

B G R NIR

Jan

16

Feb

16

10 m

8-bit

(0 - 255)

10-bit

(0 - 1023)

0

0

ruler

Three images of part of the state of

Rondonia in Brazil, for 1975, 1986,

and 1992.

Note the increasing fragmentation of

the natural habitat as a result of

settlement.

Such fragmentation can adversely

affect the success of wildlife

populations.http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/graphics/Rondonia.jpg

Change detection

with time series

image analysis

Lake Chad was once the sixth

largest lake in the world

LandSat images taken in 1972, 1987 and 2002, all in December.http://landsat.usgs.gov/images/gallery/97_M.jpg

Hypothetical Sea Level Rises in the Gulf of Mexico

Source: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/SPAC_GPS_NAVSTAR_IIA_IIR_IIF_Constellation_

lg.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/cat/europe-eu/page/2/&h=800&w=800&sz=246&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=mWMW-

ht9mHEPlM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGPS%2BConstellation%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

The GPS Constellation

Navstar GPS IIF

Navstar GPS IIR-M

Navstar GPS IIA

LPS with cellular

towers, RFID,

wireless networked

sensors, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0849333490/ref=sib_dp_p

t/103-6993360-4148651#reader-link

The possible location of sensors in the first

citywide wireless network in Cambridge

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/04/20/wirelessnetwork_tec_zoom0.html?category=technology&guid=20070420091530

-- to monitor the "health" of the city and investigate

how such networks could be used in the future.

GeoRSS (Geographically Enabled Really Simple Syndication )

Scales of GIS

• Personal GIS – one individual– Desktop or workstation

• Workgroup GIS – a project team– Networked computers

• Enterprise GIS – an agency or business– Client/Server (multi-tier)

• Citrix server

• Application server

• Web (usually an intranet)

• Mobile/Handheld

• Social GIS – the public– Web (usually the Internet)

Geographic Analysis

Location optimization for business

Pintail

Migration

Routes

http://www.w

erc.usgs.go

v/pinsat/

http://www.inn

ovativegis.co

m/basis/MapA

nalysis/Topic2

2/Topic22_file

s/image019.p

ng

http://gis.esr

i.com/library/

userconf/pro

c02/pap070

3/p0703.htm

Through topology rules,

spatial objects in a

geodatabase can have

property driven behaviors

Geodatabase Advancements

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/middleeast/2006/sep-oct/28_2.htm

Through

connectivity rules,

geometric

networks in a

geodatabase can

support modeling

of complex flows

http://amli.usgs.gov/reports/cntc/fig4a.gif

http://edndoc.esri.com/arcobjects/8.3/TechnicalDocuments/Network/ArcGISNetworkModel/ArcGISNetwork.htm

Geospatial Technology

– Summary of Status• Data explosion

– Satellite image resolution changes

– GPS accuracy improves

– Local Positioning Systems (cell phones, RF IDs, networked sensors, etc.)

– Volunteered Geographic Information (crowd sourcing)

• Analytical advancement– Geometry and topology

– Spatial statistics and geo-statistics

– Pattern recognition and feature extraction

• System evolution– From individual/group to enterprise/societal

– From isolated system to server/client to web

Geospatial Technology

– Shared Challenges

• Data volume

• Computational intensity

• Multi-dimensional visualization

• Geo-referencing non-spatial data

• Representing phenomena without finite

geographic location

• Data and System Integration

Land Survey

Regional Planning

Urban Design

Architectural Design

Engineering Construction

Landscaping

Building Management

City Operation

OGC Initiatives

• The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.® (OGC)

– a non-profit, International, voluntary consensus standards organization

– leading the development of standards for geospatial and location based services

• Relevant OGC Initiatives

– Building Information Modeling (BIM)

– OpenGIS® City Geography Markup Language (CityGML)

Building Information Modeling

• BIM is a cumulative digital representation of physical and

functional characteristics of a facility in the built

environment.

• BIM is a shared knowledge resource containing

information about a facility.

• BIM provides a reliable basis for decisions during the

facility's entire life cycle.

• Different stakeholders at different phases of the life cycle

of a facility insert, extract, update or modify information

in the BIM to support and reflect the roles of that

stakeholder.

Source: http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/markets-technologies/bim

Memorial Hall

Harvard University

(Before and after

2001)

City Geography Markup Language

• CityGML is the Encoding Standard for the

representation, storage and exchange of

virtual 3D city and landscape models.

• CityGML is implemented as an application

schema of the Geography Markup

Language version 3.1.1 (GML3).

Source: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/citygml

IFC: Industry Foundation Classes

GSA: U.S. General Service Administration

Geospatial Technology – Its Values

• It provides a framework for us to

organize our knowledge – geographically.

• It reveals patterns, relationships and

processes – broadens our knowledge and

deepens our understanding.

• It helps us conceptualize, represent and

communicate ideas – reconstruct history,

illustrate the present, or plan for the future.

Acknowledgement

Paul Cote, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Architect of the OGC OWS-4 CGB Testbed

– “Integrating Building Information Models with Open Geospatial Web Services”, Open Geospatial Consortium, Interoperability Testbed4 for CAD/GIS/BIM, 2007

– “A Data Model for Representing Cities in Three Dimensions”, ESRI User Conference, 2008

THANK YOU !

Questions ?