The explosion of public interest in the natural environment can, to a large extent, be attributed to greater public awareness of the impacts of global warming and climate change. This has led to increased research interest and funding directed at studies of issues affecting sensitive, natural environments. Not surprisingly, much of this work has re

The creation of metropolitan areas is influenced by a wide array of factors, both practical and ecological. They can also be influenced by immaterial characteristics of a given area. The Handbook of Research on Perception-Driven Approaches to Urban Assessment and Design is a scholarly resource that assesses metropolitan development and its relation to the ecological and sustainability issues these areas face. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as user-centered urban planning, perception of urban landscapes, and thermal comfort in urban contexts, this publication is geared toward professionals, practitioners, researchers, and students seeking relevant research on the effective planning of metropolitan areas and their relation to the ecological and sustainability issues that face such areas.

Increasingly used to represent climatic, biogeochemical, and ecological systems, computer modeling has become an important tool that should be in every environmental professional’s toolbox. Environmental Modeling: A Practical Introduction is just what it purports to be, a practical introduction to the various methods, techniques, and skills required for computerized environmental modeling. Exploring the broad arena of environmental modeling, the book demonstrates how to represent an environmental problem in conceptual terms, formalize the conceptual model using mathematical expressions, convert the mathematical model into a program that can be run on a desktop or laptop computer, and examine the results produced by the computational model. Equally important, the book imparts skills that allow you to develop, implement, and experiment with a range of computerized environmental models. The emphasis is on active engagement in the modeling process rather than on passive learning about a suite of well-established models. The author takes a practical approach throughout, one that does not get bogged down in the details of the underlying mathematics and that encourages learning through “hands on” experimentation. He provides a set of software tools and data sets that you can use to work through the various examples and exercises presented in each chapter, as well as presentational material and handouts for course tutors. Comprehensive and up-to-date, the book discusses how computational models can be used to represent environmental systems and illustrates how such models improve understanding of the ways in which environmental systems function.

This book aims to promote the synergistic usage of advanced computational methodologies in close relationship to geospatial information across cities of different scales. A rich collection of chapters subsumes current research frontiers originating from disciplines such as geography, urban planning, computer science, statistics, geographic information science and remote sensing. The topics covered in the book are of interest to researchers, postgraduates, practitioners and professionals. The editors hope that the scientific outcome of this book will stimulate future urban-related international and interdisciplinary research, bringing us closer to the vision of a “new science of cities.”

Statistical Geoinformatics for Human Environment Interface presents two paradigms for studying both space and interface with regard to human/environment: localization and multiple indicators. The first approach localizes thematic targets by treating space as a pattern of vicinities, with the pattern being a square grid and the placement of vicinities centrically referenced. The second approach explores human/environment interface as an abstraction through indicators, neutralizing the common conundrum of how to reconcile disparate spatial structures such as points, lines, and polygons. These paired paradigms enable: The capacity to cope with complexity Systematic surveillance Visualization and communication Preliminary prioritization Coupling of GIS and statistical software Avenues for automation Illustrating the interdisciplinary nature of geoinformatics, this book offers a novel approach to the spatial analysis of human influences and environmental resources. It includes practical strategies for statistical and spatial analysis.

This book is an important volume in the series on the state-of-art research in Cartography and GI Science. It is a collection of selected peer-reviewed papers organized into contemporary topics of research, presented at the 27th International Cartographic Conference (ICC) in Rio de Janeiro. This is the 3rd edition of selected ICA conference papers published by Springer Lectures in Geoinformation and Cartography. The conference topic is “maps connecting the world,” and Brazilian cartographers and geo-information scientists are honored to welcome their peers from all over the world to the event, which will present some of the most important recent advances in cartography research and GI science. The most relevant papers will be selected for the Springer book and these will be organized into five sections according to topic area to provide a valuable cartography and GI science reference work

Digital Soil Mapping is the creation and the population of a geographically referenced soil database. It is generated at a given resolution by using field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships. Digital soil mapping is advancing on different fronts at different rates all across the world. This book presents the state-of-the art and explores strategies for bridging research, production, and environmental application of digital soil mapping.It includes examples from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The chapters address the following topics: - evaluating and using legacy soil data - exploring new environmental covariates and sampling schemes - using integrated sensors to infer soil properties or status - innovative inference systems predicting soil classes, properties, and estimating their uncertainties - using digital soil mapping and techniques for soil assessment and environmental application - protocol and capacity building for making digital soil mapping operational around the globe.