Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Geodatabases'

Spatial information is increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is part of the basic infrastructure that needs to be efficiently coordinated and managed in the interests of the nation. However, there is no framework or adequate knowledge available for users, providers and administrators of SDI to collaborate effectively to build National SDI. In countries that are a federation of states, administration is dispersed across multiple tiers of government. The system of governance and constitution in a federated country makes the coordination of spatial activities in the national interest complex. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2006.
The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on February 13, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-229). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2006.
The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on January 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2009.
The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on June 15, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Economics and Dept. of Sociology/Criminal Justice & Criminology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005.
"A dissertation in economics and social science." Advisor: Peter J. Eaton. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed March 12, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-324). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Geomatics, Faculty of Engineering, 2006.
Author's name on spine: K. McDougall. Spine title: Local-State government SDI partnership model. Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-251).

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2009.
The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on March 29, 2010) Includes bibliographical references.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has been widely investigated because of its notable properties as an alternative pasture grass and as an important biofuel source. The goal of this study was to determine soil suitability for Switchgrass in Mississippi. A linear weighted additive model was developed to predict site suitability. Multicriteria analysis and Sensitivity analysis were utilized to optimize the model. The model was fit using seven years of field data associated with soils characteristics collected from NRCS-USDA. The best model was selected by correlating estimated biomass yield with each models soils-based output for Switchgrass suitability. Pearsons r (correlation coefficient) was the criteria used to establish the best soil suitability model. Coefficients associated with the best model were implemented within a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a map of relative soil suitability for Switchgrass in Mississippi. A Geodatabase associated with soil parameters was constructed and is available for future GIS use.

Nature Refuges encompass the second largest extent of protected area estate in Queensland. Major problems exist in the data capture, map presentation, data quality and integrity of these boundaries. The spatial accuracies/inaccuracies of the Nature Refuge administrative boundaries directly influence the ability to preserve valuable ecosystems by challenging negative environmental impacts on these properties. This research work is about supporting the Nature Refuge Programs efforts to secure Queensland’s natural and cultural values on private land by utilising GIS and its advanced functionalities. The research design organizes and enters Queensland’s Nature Refuge boundaries into a spatial environment. Survey quality data collection techniques such as the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are investigated to capture Nature Refuge boundary information. Using the concepts of map communication GIS Cartography is utilised for the protected area plan design. New spatial datasets are generated facilitating the effectiveness of investigative data analysis. The geodatabase model developed by this study adds rich GIS behaviour providing the capability to store, query, and manipulate geographic information. It provides the ability to leverage data relationships and enforces topological integrity creating savings in customization and productivity. The final phase of the research design incorporates the advanced functions of ArcGIS. These functions facilitate building spatial system models. The geodatabase and process models developed by this research can be easily modified and the data relating to mining can be replaced by other negative environmental impacts affecting the Nature Refuges. Results of the research are presented as graphs and maps providing visual evidence supporting the usefulness of GIS as means for capturing, visualising and enhancing spatial quality and integrity of Nature Refuge boundaries.

Thesis (MA)-- tellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa today is facing many social and welfare problems. Three of which are very prominent: named HIV/Aids; unemployment; and sexual and/or violent crimes against woman and children. With churches being some of the biggest and most influential nongovernmental organizations in the country, government is increasingly acknowledging that churches have a very important role to play in order to help curb social and welfare problems in the community. One inhibiting factor keeps churches from playing the role that government is expecting of them: the roles and expected roles of churches have not been quantified sufficiently. A geographical information system was chosen to help in this process of quantification. Previous studies related to GIS being used by social and welfare services showed that this software give these service agencies a powerful new way to analyse services in relation to clients and the communities in which they operate. The crux throughout the study is the process by which it is shown how a GIS can be used and is central from the process of data gathering, storing and manipulation of the gathered data, deriving information from it, through to communicating and visualising the obtained results. Key words: geographical information systems; GIS; ArcGIS; Statistica; Microsoft Access; church; NGO; social services; social problems; welfare services; welfare problems; data base; data base management systems; geodatabase; Factor Analysis; quantification
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hedendaagse Suid Afrika is daar 'n menigte van sosiale en maatskaplike probleme. Drie van die prominentste van die probleme is MN/Vigs, werkloosheid en seksuele en/of geweldsmisdade teen vroue en kinders. Kerke is van die grootste en mees invloedryke nieregeringsorganisasies in Suid Afrika. Die regering besef al meer dat kerke 'n belangrike rol kan speel in die aanspreek van die sosiale en maatskaplike probleme van die land. Daar is egter 'n inhiberende faktor wat kerke daarvan weerhou om dié rol te speel wat die regering van hul verwag; en dit is die feit dat die rol wat kerke speel, en die rol wat die publiek verwag kerke moet speel, nog nie gekwantifiseer is nie. 'n Geografiese inligting stelsel is gekies om te help in die proses van kwantifisering. Vorige studies waar daar gekyk is na die gebruik van GIS deur sosiale en maatskaplike dienste het aangedui dat die sagteware hierdie dienste 'n effektiewe en innoverende wyse gee waardeur hul dienste ontleed en gemonitor kan word. In die studie word gewys hoe 'n GIS gebruik kan word en sentraal is in die prosesse van data insameling, stoor en manipulasie van die ingesamelde data, hoe data omgesit word in inligting en laastens die kommunikasie en visualisering van die resultate wat verkry word.

Thesis (MSc (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
Since mechanised borehole drilling began in South Africa in the late 1800s, over 1 100 000 boreholes have been drilled. As the country’s growing population and the perceived impacts of climate change increase pressure on water surface supplies, attention is turning to groundwater to meet the shortfall in water supply. This will mean even more drilling will take place. Until the introduction of the Standard Descriptors for Boreholes, published in 2003, South Africa has not had a set of guidelines for borehole information capture. This document provides a detailed description of the basic information requirements needed to describe and characterise the process of drilling, constructing, developing, managing and monitoring a borehole. However, this document stands alone as a specification with little or no implementation or interpretation to date. Following the development and publishing of the ArcHydro data model for water resource management by the CRWR based at the University of Texas at Austin, there has been a great deal of interest in object-oriented data modelling for natural resource data management. This thesis describes the utilisation of an object oriented data modelling approach using UML CASE tools to design a data model for South African Boreholes, based on the Standard Descriptors for Boreholes. The data model was converted to a geodatabase schema and implemented in ArcGIS.

Nowadays, the world is facing disasters on an unprecedented scale: millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally each year and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards. Scientific predictions and evidence indicate that global climate changes are increasing the number of extreme events, creating more frequent and intensified natural hazards such as floods and windstorms. Population growth, urbanization and the inability of poor populations to escape from the vicious cycle of poverty are conditions to foresee that there will most likely be an increase in the number of people who are vulnerable to natural hazards, with a resulting increase of natural disasters and environmental emergencies. In recent years, international preoccupation for disasters and their impacts has intensified and risen closer to the top of the development agenda. For many years, response to disasters was largely confined to emergency relief and short-term life-saving actions. But over the last two decades, the critical importance of disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention has been widely recognized. The humanitarian and the United Nations system are therefore called to intensify their efforts to improve their capacity in order to provide support to the countries in need and to be better prepared to intervene. Such request came, amongst others, from the UN General Secretary in various occasions. In the frame of humanitarian operations, the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations is in the front line. The WFP is the biggest UN Agency and responds to more than 120 emergencies per year worldwide. According to the UN reform, WFP is also the leader of logistics for UN and international bodies during emergency response operations. WFP initiated a process to reinforce its capacity to be a leading force in the area of emergency response, improving its Information Management capacity in support to emergency preparedness and response. To do so, an agreement of collaboration with the recently formed Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance Cooperation and Action (ITHACA) Association has been signed and a joint collaboration started in February 2007. One of the objectives of the collaboration is about the use of Geomatics and Information Technology instruments in the Early Warning and Early Impact analysis field. Many worldwide experiences conducted in this area, show that the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies, combined with up-to-date, reliable and easily accessible reference base geographic datasets, constitute the key factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems. As a matter of fact, the unique characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data through space and time, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. Besides its proven value, the geospatial information is an expensive resource and needs to be fully utilized to maximize the return on investment required for its generation, management and use. Reuse and sharing of spatial information for multiple purposes is an important approach applied in countries where investment in spatial data collection and in their appropriate management has advanced on the basis of its known asset value. Very substantial economic benefits have been estimated by countries that have moved in the direction of optimizing data reuse. However, it is still relatively easy to find examples of projects and other development activities from around the globe that required expensive recapture of essential spatial data because they were originally captured in unique or non-standard file formats, or perhaps discarded after initial use. Recapture of data has also been undertaken in many cases simply because its prior existence was known only by its originators. The United Nations has not been immune to this problem, both within and between the multitude of entities that make up the Secretariat and its agencies, funds and programmes. Historically, the production and use of geospatial data within the UN entities has been accomplished by its component organizations, according to their individual needs and expertise. This has resulted in multiple efforts, reduced opportunities for sharing and reuse of data, and a unnecessary cost burden for the UN system as a whole. Thus, a framework data development approach has been considered necessary. This has resulted in the proposal that implement an UN Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The term SDI is used to denote the relevant base collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data. A SDI hosts geographic data and attributes, sufficient documentation (metadata), a means to discover, visualize and evaluate the data (catalogues and Web mapping), and some methods to provide access to the geographic data. Beyond this, it will also host additional services or software to support applications of the data. The concept of developing a Spatial Data Infrastructure to fulfil UN data management needs was duly approved by United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) members in 2005 at their 6th Plenary Meeting in Addis Ababa, in the context of a UN-specific SDI, or UNSDI. The WFP, like all other UN agencies, has been called to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure, according to the UNGIWG recommendations. Therefore, during the last year the different units of WFP involved in the use of geospatial data worked at defining and implementing a WFP SDI with the aim of contributing at the whole UNSDI project. This effort was coordinated and supported by the ITHACA association. Aim of the study The objective of the conducted research has been to investigate the better solution for collecting and organizing geospatial data within a suitable geodatabase with two main purposes:  to support the WFP SDI effort: the development of consistent reusable themes of base cartographic content, known as Framework, Fundamental or Core Data, is recognized as a main and first ingredient in the construction of a SDI. Therefore, the definition of a geodatabase supporting all the WFP units dealing with GIS and geospatial data can be considered a fundamental and necessary step in the whole complex process of the development of the WFP SDI. Common used data provide key for the integration and, in the context of the SDI implementation, the definition of a Core Data geodatabase can be thought as one instrumentality to help improving interoperability, reducing expenses resulting from the inevitable duplications. Moreover, the major aim of the planned geodatabase is to supply all WFP users of a “minimum spatial dataset” which assures valuable geographic analyses and mapping, in support to decision makers during emergencies operations.  to support all activities carried out by ITHACA: the planned geodatabase must constitute a suitable instrument which realizes the integration and the organization of the large geospatial data needed by all ITHACA units in their activities, allowing their effective distribution, sharing and reuse, avoiding any duplication. Moreover, the implemented solution must also guarantee the correct management and updating of the data, keeping their integrity. Finally, this instrument must also allow the easy and fast sharing of necessary information produced by ITHACA during Early Impact activities with the WFP’s users engaged in the emergencies rescue operations. In conclusion, the major expected output of the study carried out, described in this thesis, has been the design and the development of a global database and of related rules and procedures in order to correctly store, manage, and exchange geospatial data needed either by WFP humanitarian workers and ITHACA users. The developed database solution allows integrating and updating globally consistent geographic data coming from different sources in many formats, providing each user with the latest datasets, thus avoiding duplications and mistakes. In methodological terms, the following procedure has been adopted: - defining requirements, identification of all activities supported by the geodatabase, analysis of the data flows expected in all supported activities, examining existing data sources and relevant standards (particularly those proposed by the UNGIWG); - development of the data model. The data model has been shaped according to specific needs and demands of the involved user groups within the different interested organizations. The adopted design techniques do not wander off the techniques proposed in literature for general database design, even if it has been necessary, in some steps, to consider the specific features of geographic data; - geodatabase schema generation and implementation of the defined geographic database model as an ESRI ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase based on Oracle 10g as DBMS.

This thesis presents a method for detailed landscape presentation. The method incorporates both fieldwork-based comprehensive geomorphological description and digital data handling and thus contributes in filling the gap between traditional geomorphological mapping and modern geomorphological studies performed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The main part of the thesis relates to development of a new detailed geomorphological mapping system, constructed to be easy to use and yet present a large amount of geomorphological information. The legend of the mapping system has successfully been applied to various types of landscapes, mapped at various scales between 1:5,000 and 1:50,000 without any modifications needed. The information presented in the map is based on simple descriptive criteria and thus the subjectivity is kept low, which enables a broad field of usage. In parallel with the mapping system a GIS-based geomorphological database has been developed. The structure and data presentation of the new mapping system allows for easy transformation of the data to form part of this database. The selected format of the GIS database is the ESRI ArcGIS^®, Personal geodatabase.

In the development of the geomorphological mapping system four field areas have been mapped in central (Bonäs, Risa and Liden) and northern Sweden (Tarfala). In addition the new legend has been adapted to a field area situated in Vorarlberg, Austria (Upper Gamperdona valley).

In relation to the Tarfala field area an added issue of the project has been to give insights in the effects of physical and chemical weathering on various rock types to see if this can be detected in materials and landforms. The results from this study point at that resistance towards weathering vary among rocks even though they are of same rock type.

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the data quality of OpenStreetMap geodatabase in a GIS environment; the case of study is a region of Sri Lanka. OpenStreetMap (OSM) is one of the most well-known crowd-sourced products, providing a global map base thanks to the mapping activity carried out by volunteers all around the world. As the quality of collected information remains a significant concern for the geospatial information community and in geospatial data management, a qualitative and quantitative assessment of OSM data is of great importance, due to the large diffusion and adoption of this kind of volunteered geospatial information (VGI). This study concerns the OSM dataset currently available for the Mawanella area in Sri Lanka and has been performed in an open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, QGIS. OSM vector files are the raw materials for the analysis. The evaluation has been realized considering the main quality attributes to be maintained in a mapping product, either based on intrinsic properties and on the relationship with official databases available for the same area. The results of the study suggest that the current quality of OSM maps in the study area is fairly good, but completeness is poor and must be improved.

An emerging trend in GIS is the adoption of object oriented concepts for both logical and physical design phases. Extensive research has been conducted on logical design of GIS and several conceptual models have been proposed. Classical data models like the relational data model have proven to be insufficient for the conceptual modeling of spatial data. Therefore among other object oriented modeling tools, a new modeling language, Unified Modeling Language (UML) has also become a popular modeling tool in the GIS domain due to its wide acceptance in industry. In this thesis ArcInfo UML Model, which is an extension of UML and proposed by ESRI is utilized to create analysis pattern of Sanliurfa Harran Plain within the scope of GAP (In Turkish, Gü
neydogu Anadolu Projesi). The proposed analysis pattern mainly characterize the irrigation drainage system, social environment and irrigation management activities of the Sanliurfa Harran Plain and incorporate the interactions between, and among, features of the system. At the implementation phase ESRI'
s geodatabase model is used. This is an object relational spatial database utilizing the full functionalities of the underlying relational DBMS. This hybrid approach claims to be the most promising approach to deal with the complex data types found in GIS applications and allows the storage of spatial and non-spatial data together. Besides many advantages of geodatabase, ability to implement it in a multi-user environment is the most remarkable one. In this thesis both the personal and multi-user approaches, in which the underlying DBMSs are MS access and Oracle, are tested. The multi-user geodatabase is built in three-tier architecture with ESRI'
s ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) as the middleware.

A geodatabase and a data management program have been created to store and manipulate cave and karst feature data from the Bahamas. A geographic information system was used to recognize any spatial patterns in the cave and karst data from San Salvador Island. Elevation data for banana holes, vadose pits and flank margin caves were obtained from a digital elevation model and are consistent with values predicted by the Carbonate Island Karst Model. The slope and aspect of the hill on which a flank margin cave is found showed no relationship to cave sizes and shapes, emphasizing the hypogenic nature of flank margin caves. The digital elevation model further demonstrated the position of lakes on San Salvador Island during the last interglacial (OIS 5e) highstand, and the lack of flank margin caves along the shores of these lakes provides evidence for a paleoclimate on San Salvador Island similar to today?s.

Availability of organized data is required for accurate prediction of structural or functional deterioration in sewer and water pipes. Toward this end, GIS provides a means for viewing, understanding, interpreting, and visualizing complex geographically referenced information to reveal data relationships, patterns, and trends. The primary objective of this research is to develop a standard GIS data model and applications of the model. In the future, these can be used to develop protocols and methods for predicting the remaining life of water and wastewater assets. The source data for this study is the utility data and other publicly available data from resources such as USGS, SSURGO etc. Field mapping files are generated from the source files and the standard data model. These are then programmed to the common Extensible markup Language (XML) file developed as a base which is then converted to the data model where the final form of utility data is stored. The data taken from the utilities is cleansed and analyzed to match the standard data model which is then uploaded through the common XML and stored in the data warehouse as a geospatial database. The geospatial database is an aggregated water and wastewater infrastructure data consisting of the utility data in standard data model format. The data warehouse is developed for utilities to store their data at a centralized server, such as the San Diego Super Computer Center. Web applications demonstrate the publishing, querying and visualization of aggregated data in a map-based browser application. This aggregation of data of multiple utilities will help in providing timely access to asset management information and resources that will lead to more efficient programs. This tool also furnishes the public with a convenient tool to learn about municipal water and wastewater infrastructure systems. This document gives an overview of how this process can be achieved using the above mentioned tools and methodologies.
Master of Science

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Geodemographics has been used extensively as a decision-support tool in both the business sector and the market survey environment in the United States, the United Kingdom and numerous other countries. This has however not been the case in South Africa, partly because of the expense involved in capturing current and complete customer information. As an alternative to capturing all the required customer information, geodemographics has frequently made use of government census data to supplement the organisation-specific data. However, even the census data has its shortcomings. This research has explored a method for building an organisation-specific database using a combination of government census data and organisation-specific data. The organisation-specific data was captured using a questionnaire that was targeted to a specific group of people. The information obtained from the questionnaire and which overlapped with specific census data variables was then used to update the relevant census variables. Cluster analysis was subsequently conducted on the census data in order to identify enumerator areas within the Western Province that had demographic and economic characteristics similar to those of the surveyed areas. Once the appropriate enumerator areas had been identified, the organisation-specific information from the survey was extrapolated to these new areas outside of the surveyed areas. The methodology used in this research provides a process that allows organisations to build a unique geodatabase by making use of the good qualities of both the census data and user-specific data. The resulting geodatabase is one that contains current and pertinent information while also providing complete spatial coverage.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geodemografie word op groot skaal gebruik as n hulpmiddel vir die ondersteuning van besluitneming in die sakesektor en die markopname-omgewing in die Verenigde State, die Verenigde Koninkryk en talle ander lande. Dit is egter nie in Suid-Afrika die geval nie, deels as gevolg van die onkoste verbonde aan vaslegging van die jongste en volledige kliente-inligting. As n altematief vir die vaslegging van al die vereiste kliente-inligting maak geodemografie dikwels gebruik van sensusdata om data eie aan n organisasie aan te vul. Selfs sensusdata het egter tekortkominge. Hierdie navorsing het n metode ondersoek vir die opbou van n databasis eie aan n organisasie deur gebruik te maak van n kombinasie van sensusdata en data eie aan n organisasie. Die data eie aan ri organisasie is vasgele deur gebruik te maak van ri vraelys vir n spesifieke teikengroep. Die inligting wat uit die vraelys verkry is en wat met die spesifieke sensusdataveranderlikes ooreengestem het, is toe gebruik om die relevante sensusveranderlikes by te werk. Skakelingsanalise is daama op die sensusdata uitgevoer ten einde opnemerareas in die Westelike Provinsie te identifiseer wat soortgelyke demografiese en ekonomiese kenmerke gehad het as die areas waarin die vraelysopname gemaak is. Nadat die geskikte opnemerareas gei'dentifiseer is, is die inligting eie aan die organisasie uit die opname geekstrapoleer na hierdie nuwe areas buite die areas waar die opname gemaak is. Die metodologie wat in hierdie navorsing gebruik is, verskaf n metodologie wat organisasies in staat stel om n unieke geodatabasis op te bou deur gebruik te maak van die goeie eienskappe van beide die sensusdata en die data eie aan die gebruiker. Die geodatabasis wat hieruit voortspruit, is een wat die jongste en verbandhoudende inligting bevat en volledige ruimtelike dekking bied.

The Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University contains old water pipelines that are not well documented. Many of the newer water pipelines are not well documented either. A central data storage system that could contain the information with ease of access to update and retrieve information of these waterlines is lacking. There is a need to find a way that existing potable water network data could be represented and stored with GIS. The solution would contribute to the management of the water system on Campus. The aim of this study is to create a seamless geodatabase as a pilot project for the potable water infrastructure at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North West University. The pilot project focuses on buildings E4 and E6. ArcGIS 10 was selected to serve as the key software system that would be applied as a medium to solve and represent the problem. ArcGIS geodatabase serves as a container to store spatial data with. Data with regard to the potable water system was collected from various sources of which available electronic and hard copy CAD data was the general format. A file geodatabase was created in ArcCatalog with a standard co-ordinate system as reference to the data. ArcMap was applied for 2D editing and georeferencing of the CAD drawings which were followed by a composition of attribute data for the created features. The end result was represented in ArcScene for 3D visualization and 3D analysis. It also provided ease of access to the attribute information and relationships and the capability to perform the shortest route analysis.
Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography and Environmental Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

La pianificazione territoriale e le sue specificazioni per settore e per scala (pianificazione urbanistica, progettazione urbana, programmazione integrata, etc.) hanno da tempo fatto ricorso ai sistemi automatizzati di acquisizione e gestione dei dati i Geographical Informations Systems (GIS). L apporto che i GIS hanno fornito alle scienze del piano è assai vario. Nella maggior parte dei casi esso è stato impiegato come strumento per la raccolta e la gestione dei dati in forza della possibilità di assegnare a ciascun oggetto del territorio, rappresentato o tradotto in formato digitale, coordinate geografiche e proprietà discrete, in modo da renderlo adatto alla archiviazione in database relazionali utili alla costruzione di carte tematiche dalla cui sovrapposizione è possibile costruire il parterre di informazioni di volta in volta necessarie alle scelte di piano. Il dibattito sulla automazione delle informazioni ha interessato tanto aspetti etici e professionali dell approccio al territorio coinvolgendo questioni profonde quali quelle del controllo sociale e della violazione della privacy. Diverse professionalità e competenze si sono confrontate nella definizione di modalità d uso e protocolli di gestione dell informazione geografica la quale consente i accrescere le performance della macchina amministrativa e più in generale del territorio. Il GIS è stato utilizzato ampiamente come strumento di rappresentazione, funzione che ha prevalso fino ai nostri giorni. Ultimamente anche il campo delle analisi economiche e immobiliari ha trovato nel GIS una strumentazione di primaria importanza per la definizione di una base valutativa e decisionale. La sperimentazione condotta nella presente ricerca sulla base della letteratura GIS criticamente analizzata nella prima parte, intende fornire una interpretazione diversa del GIS nella pianificazione, evidenziando tra le principali funzioni dei sistemi informativi territoriali quella progettuale. A tal fine, e con riferimento ad un caso di studio che riguarda una porzione della città di Catania soggetta alla revisione dello strumento urbanistico e alla applicazione di forme di perequazione e compensazione urbanistica, si è collegato il GIS con il foglio di calcolo in modo da costruire un sistema bidirezionale di implementazione dei dati e restituzione dei risultati. Il lavoro è consistito nella costruzione di un modello di valutazione Costi-Ricavi del potenziale perequativo dell area di studio e nel collegamento dei valori numerici al database del GIS. Il modello consente di agire sulle singole unità edilizie e gli oggetti urbani attraverso un sistema di input che è contemporaneamente sia grafico sia numerico e che riguarda la forma, la posizione la destinazione e le qualità che caratterizzano questi oggetti calcolandone costi, i valori di mercato, e gli oneri concessori straordinari in modo da potere dimensionare adeguatamente gli eventuali incrementi di cubatura per raggiungere i risultati economici desiderati facendo sempre riferimento alla forma del contesto spaziale che genera questi valori.

This project presents the development and design of a comprehensive interface coupled with a geodatabase (ArcGISwat 2003), for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). SWAT is a hydrologically distributed, lumped parameter model that runs on a continuous time step. The quantity and extensive detail of the spatial and hydrologic data, involved in the input and output, both make SWAT highly complex. A new interface, that will manage the input/output (I/O) process, is being developed using the Geodatabase object model and concepts from hydrological data models such as ArcHydro. It also incorporates uncertainty analysis on the process of modeling. This interface aims to further direct communication and integration with other hydrologic models, consequently increasing efficiency and diminishing modeling time. A case study is presented in order to demonstrate a common watershed-modeling task, which utilizes SWAT and ArcGIS-SWAT2003.

Le città sono ambienti complessi, dove una moltitudine di elementi interagiscono. Un cambiamento del paradigma verso il raggiungimento di obiettivi di sostenibilità, come il limite del consumo di suolo, sta determinando un maggiore utilizzo del sottosuolo, abbandonando così lo sviluppo urbano in senso orizzontale. Ciò si traduce in una crescente interazione tra la falda e le infrastrutture sotterranee. Pertanto, è ragionevole pensare che nei prossimi anni un enorme sforzo sarà dedicato alla ricerca idrogeologica in aree urbane. Tra le città che nel mondo sono state colpite da questo problema, la città di Milano (Nord Italia, Regione Lombardia) ha registrato un forte aumento del livello piezometrico negli ultimi decenni, che hanno portato ad episodi di infiltrazione per diverse categorie di infrastrutture sotterranee. Considerando che è già stato pianificato un futuro sviluppo del sottosuolo, ciò evidenzia l'importanza di adottare strategie integrate nel quadro sia dello sviluppo sotterraneo che della gestione della falda. All'interno di questo schema generale, il presente progetto di dottorato è stato suddiviso in tre parti, per fornire una definizione dettagliata del modello concettuale urbano per la città di Milano, che potrebbe svolgere un ruolo fondamentale per sostenere i processi decisionali nelle politiche di pianificazione urbana. In particolare, la prima parte del progetto riguarda la ricostruzione di un Geodatabase 3D (3D GDB) per le infrastrutture sotterranee (UIs). Utilizzando banche dati di tipo Open come fonte principale, ma non unica, di informazioni, sono state catalogate all'interno del 3D GDB tre categorie di elementi del sottosuolo (parcheggi privati e pubblici, linee metropolitane). Queste informazioni sono state poi combinate con la ricostruzione della tavola d’acqua per condizioni di minimo e massimo idrogeologico per identificare le aree in cui le UIs sono state sommerse dalla falda. Nella seconda parte, sono state applicate tecniche data-driven per analizzare le serie storiche della falda freatica, occupata dagli UI. Sono state utilizzate tecniche statistiche e geo spaziali per raggiungere una migliore comprensione del sistema idrogeologico, individuando le principali variabili che regolano il livello piezometrico. Di conseguenza, sono state identificate quattro aree di gestione che possano fungere da future unità territoriali, definendo specifiche strategie di gestione della falda in relazione alle UIs. Nella terza parte, è stato implementato un modello numerico su scala locale per la parte occidentale della città, al fine di valutare ulteriormente le interazioni tra falda e infrastrutture sotterranee. In particolare, sono state quantificate le infiltrazioni della falda nelle UIs, portando ad una migliore definizione del modello concettuale urbano. Il modello numerico è stato sviluppato utilizzando MODFLOW-USG, adottando il pacchetto HFB, supportato dal pacchetto DRAIN per modellare le infrastrutture sotterranee. I risultati di questo progetto hanno evidenziato come la combinazione di questi diversi strumenti potrebbe essere utile per gestire le interazioni tra la falda e le infrastrutture sotterranee e per sostenere i decisori nella gestione delle acque sotterranee in ambito urbano. In questo modo, potrebbero essere adottate strategie adeguate per progettare in modo sostenibile il futuro sviluppo del sottosuolo della città.
Cities are intricate areas, where a multitude of elements interact. A change in the paradigm towards sustainability goals, as the limit of soil consumption, is determining a greater use of the subsurface, thus abandoning the urban horizontal sprawl. This results in increasing interactions between groundwater and the underground infrastructures. Thus, it is reasonable to think that in the next years a huge effort will be allocated to research in urban hydrogeology. Among the cities that worldwide have been affected by this issue, the city of Milan (Northern Italy, Lombardy Region) experienced a strong groundwater table rise in the last decades, leading to flooding episodes for different categories of underground infrastructures. Considering that a future subsurface development has been already planned, this highlights the importance of adopting integrated strategies in the framework of both underground development and groundwater management. Within this general scheme, the present PhD project has been divided into three parts, to provide a detailed definition of the urban conceptual model for the city of Milan, that could play a pivotal role and support decision-making processes in urban planning policies. More specifically, the first part of the project deals with the reconstruction of a 3D Geodatabase (3D GDB) for urban underground infrastructures (UIs). Using Open Data databases as the primary, but not unique source of information, three categories of subsurface elements (private and public car parks, subway lines) have been gathered within the 3D GDB. This information has been then combined with groundwater table reconstructions of groundwater minimum and maximum conditions to identify the areas where the UIs were submerged by the water table. In the second part, data-driven techniques have been applied to analyse groundwater time-series of the shallow aquifer, occupied by the UIs. Statistical and geospatial techniques were used to reach a better understanding of the hydrogeologic system, pinpointing the main potential variables influencing the water table levels. Consequently, four management areas have been identified to act as future geographic units, defining specific groundwater management strategies in relation to UIs. In the third part, a local scale numerical model was implemented for the western part of the city to further evaluate groundwater/underground infrastructures interactions. In particular, groundwater infiltrations into UIs were quantified, leading to a better definition of the urban conceptual model. The numerical model was developed using MODFLOW-USG, and adopting the HFB package, supported by the DRAIN package to model the UIs. The results of this project pointed out that the combination of these different tools could be beneficial to manage the interactions between groundwater and the underground infrastructures and to support the decision makers in urban groundwater management. In this way, proper strategies could be adopted to sustainably design the future subsurface development of the city.

During the past two decades, University of Kentucky researchers have been acquiring seismic refraction/reflection data, as well as seismic downhole data, for characterizing the seismic velocity models of the soil/sediment overburden in the central United States. The dataset includes densely spaced measurements for urban microzonation studies and coarsely spaced measurements for regional assessments. The 519 measurements and their derivative products often were not in an organized electronic form, however, limiting their accessibility for use by other researchers. In order to make these data more accessible, this project constructed a database using the ArcGIS 9.1 software. The data have been formatted and integrated into a system serving a wider array of users. The seismic shear-wave velocity models collected at various locations are archived with corresponding x-, y-, and z-coordinate information. Flexibility has been included to allow input of additional data in the future (e.g., seismograms, strong ground-motion parameters and time histories, weak-motion waveform data, etc.). Using the completed database, maps of the region showing derivative dynamic site period (DSP) and weighted shear-wave velocity of the upper 30 m of soil (V30) were created using the ArcGIS 9.1 Geostatistical Analyst extension for examination of the distribution of pertinent dynamic properties for seismic hazard assessments. Both geostatistical and deterministic techniques were employed. Interpolation of V30 data yielded inaccurate predictions because of the high lateral variation in soil layer lithology in the Jackson Purchase Region. As a result of the relatively uniform distribution of depths to bedrock, the predictions of DSP values suggested a high degree of accuracy.

Thesis (M.S.)--Marshall University, 2003.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 91 p. including maps and illustrations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39).

L’utilizzo del Multibeam Echo sounder (MBES) in ambienti di transizione poco profondi, con condizioni ambientali complesse come la laguna di Venezia, è ancora in fase di studio e i dati biologici e sedimentologici inerenti ai canali della laguna di Venezia sono attualmente scarsi e datati in letteratura. Questo studio ha lo scopo di mappare gli habitat e gli oggetti antropici di un canale della laguna di Venezia in un intervallo di profondità tra 0.3 e 20 m (Canale San Felice) analizzando i dati batimetrici e di riflettività (backscatter) acquisiti da ISMAR-Venezia nell’ambito del progetto RITMARE. A tale scopo il fondale del canale San Felice (Venezia) è stato caratterizzato dal punto di vista geomorfologico, sedimentologico e biologico; descrivendo anche l’eventuale presenza di oggetti antropici. L’ecoscandaglio utilizzato è il Kongsberg EM2040 Dual-Compact Multibeam in grado di emettere 800 beam (400 per trasduttore) ad una frequenza massima di 400kHZ e ci ha consentito di ricavare ottimi risultati, nonostante le particolari caratteristiche degli ambienti lagunari. I dati acquisiti sono stati processati tramite il software CARIS Hydrographic information processing system (Hips) & Sips, attraverso cui è possibile applicare le correzioni di marea e velocità del suono e migliorare la qualità dei dati grezzi ricavati da MBES. I dati sono stati quindi convertiti in ESRI Grid, formato compatibile con il software ArcGIS 10.2.1 (2013) che abbiamo impiegato per le interpretazioni e per la produzione delle mappe. Tecniche di ground-truthing, basate su riprese video e prelievi di sedimento (benna Van Veen 7l), sono state utilizzate per validare il backscatter, dimostrandosi molto efficaci e soddisfacenti per poter descrivere i fondali dal punto di vista biologico e del substrato e quindi degli habitat del canale lagunare. Tutte le informazioni raccolte durante questo studio sono state organizzate all’interno di un geodatabase, realizzato per i dati relativi alla laguna di Venezia.

1. L.M. Datsenko. Map publishing technology: a textbook. K2020, 187 p .; 2. Reference information on the use of GIS applications [Internet source] URL: https://desktop.arcgis.com/ru/arcmap/10.3/ main/map/what-is-arcmap-.htm; 3. Reference information about SASPlaneta [Internet source] URL: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAS.Планета; 4. Coronavirus in Ukraine - statistics by region: the number of infected, dead, cured [Internet source] URL: https://index.minfin.com.ua/reference/coronavirus/ukraine/2020-08-01/.
Disease mapping is one of the most important processes in studying the spread of certain diseases. This area of mapping is an integral part of medical geography. Modern cartographic works are created as a result of the use of geographic information technologies, which accumulate spatial data on a variety of real-world objects. Computer technology is now the main way to create maps. They allow to form graphic and information databases on various territories, to carry out works on their expansion and updating, use for multifaceted mapping, the decision of analytical problems.
Картографування захворювань є одним із найважливіших процесів при вивченні поширення певних захворювань. Ця галузь картографування є невід’ємною частиною медичної географії. Сучасні картографічні твори створюються в результаті використання геоінформаційних технологій, які акумулюють просторові дані про різноманітні об'єкти реального світу. Зараз комп’ютерні технології є основним способом створення карт. Вони дозволяють формувати графічні та інформаційні бази даних на різних територіях, проводити роботи з їх розширення та оновлення, використовувати для багатогранного картографування, вирішення аналітичних задач.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northwest Missouri State University, 2006.
The full text of the thesis is included in the pdf file. Title from title screen of full text.pdf file (viewed on January 25, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

The diploma thesis deals with the creation of a geographical information system for the city. The theoretical part deals mainly with issues of geographic data, their models with structures and structures. Database systems are geodatabase oriented. The practical part deals with particular projects of GIS creation for the town of Detva using the ArcInfo software. Part of the project is spatial analysis, which aims to find a suitable location for the location of photovoltaic power plants. The resulting project will be used for Detva's needs.

Accelerated soil erosion and the subsequent decline in soil depth has negative environmental, and consequently financial, impacts that have implications across all land cover classifications and scales of land management. Ironically, although attempts to quantify soil erosion nationally have illustrated that soil erosion can occur in the UK, understanding whether or not the UK has a soil erosion problem still remains a question to be answered. Accurately quantifying rates of soil erosion requires capturing both the volumetric nature of the visible, fluvial pathways and the subtle nature of the less-visible, diffuse pathways, across varying spatial and temporal scales. Accordingly, as we move towards a national-scale understanding of soil erosion in the UK, this thesis aims to explore some of the multiple techniques available for developing an understanding of soil erosion in the UK. The thesis first explored the information content of existing UK-based soil erosion studies, ascertaining the extent to which these existing data and methodological approaches can be used to develop an empirically derived understanding of soil erosion in the UK. The second research chapter then assessed which of two proximal sensing technologies, Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Structure-from-Motion Multi-view Stereo (SfM-MVS), is best suited to a cost-effective, replicable and robust assessment of soil erosion within a laboratory environment. The final research chapter built on these findings, using both Rare Earth Oxide tracers and SfM-MVS to elucidate retrospective information about sediment sources under changing soil erosion conditions, also within a laboratory environment Given the biased nature of the soil erosion story presented within the existing soil erosion research in the UK, it is impossible to ascertain if the frequency and magnitude of soil erosion events in the UK are problematic. However, this study has also identified that without ‘true’ observations of soil loss i.e. collection of sediment leaving known plot areas, proxies, such as the novel techniques presented in the experimental work herein and the methods used in the existing landscape scale assessments of soil erosion as included in the database chapter, are not capable of providing a complete assessment of soil erosion rates. However, this work has indicated that despite this limitation, each technique can present valuable information on the complex and spatially variable nature of soil erosion and associated processes, across different observational environments and scales.

Efter ett regeringsuppdrag från socialdepartementet startade projektet Svensk geoprocess. Syftet med Svensk geoprocess var att påskynda övergången till enhetliga referenssystem och utarbeta nationella geodataspecifikationer. Enhetliga referenssystem och geodata kommer bidra till en snabbare samhällsbyggnadsprocess och en mer kostnadseffektiv samverkan över kommun- och länsgränser. Svensk geoprocess har tagit fram geodataspecifikationer för nio olika geodatateman, däribland temat byggnad. Geodataspecifikationen beskriver hur data ska samlas in, lagras och tillhandahållas för en enklare myndighetsservice. I geodataspecifikationen ingår en informationsmodell i form av UML och XML-scheman som är tänkt att kunna användas för lagring och utbyte av geodata. Syftet med denna undersökning var att studera geodataspecifikationen för byggnad och ta fram en metod för hur Svensk geoprocess geodataspecifikationer kan realiseras och skapa en databasmodell som följer informationsmodellen. Syftet var också att undersöka om Karlstads kommuns data kan anpassas till geodataspecifikationerna och leverera en GML-fil enligt Svensk geoprocess. För att skapa en geodatabas utifrån informationsmodellen har de delar som ingår analyserats, översatts och omarbetats för att överensstämma med Esri:s geodatabasformat. I programvaran Enterprise Architect har tre databasmodeller byggts upp. Databasmodellerna har nyttjats för att skapa två olika databaser i ArcGIS som har fyllts med data från Karlstads kommuns befintliga geodatabas. Databasernas funktionalitet kontrollerades genom tester. Programvaran FME användes för att skapa GML-filer från de skapade databaserna. Resultatet visar att informationsmodellen från Svensk geoprocess inte kan följas rakt av utan behöver anpassas för att följa Esri:s geodatabas format. Om Svensk geoprocess geodataspecifikation ska kunna följas fullt ut måste alla delar i informationsmodellen ingå i databasmodellen och därmed också databasen. Karlstads kommuns data kan anpassas till Svensk geoprocess informationsmodell men en GML-fil har inte kunnat skapas för utbyte av data. Metoden som användes för att realisera Svensk geoprocess geodataspecifikation ses ändå som användbar men kräver ytterligare utveckling.

L'obbiettivo primario di questo lavoro e' stato quello di sviluppare uno strumento finalizzato alla raccolta e alla gestione integrata di considerevoli quantita' di dati acquisiti mediante l'esecuzione di differenti tipologie d'indagine. L'opportunita' di mettere in relazione i parametri geofisici con le caratteristiche geo litologiche del sottosuolo ha permesso di focalizzare l'attenzione sullo studio della risposta sismica locale, utilizzando tecniche di sismica passiva sia per ricavare informazioni sul comportamento dinamico del terreno sia per effettuare un'analisi dei processi tettonici recenti ed in oltre far emergere le caratteristiche morfo strutturali dell'area.

2008/2009
Il dottorato di ricerca ha avuto come obiettivo l’individuazione e la realizzazione di una metodologia per l’omogeneizzazione dei dati informatici relativi al catasto dei fenomeni franosi e quello delle opere di difesa esistenti in Friuli Venezia Giulia. E’ stato pertanto necessario creare uno standard informatico di base per i successivi lavori di implementazione, aggiornamento, raccolta dei dati relativi ad eventi franosi di nuova attivazione e monitoraggio dello stato dell’arte delle opere di difesa. La prerogativa del sistema di catalogazione dei dissesti nazionale è stata dettata dalle leggi emanate in seguito all’evento franoso occorso a Sarno nel maggio 1998 (D.L. n. 180/1998 – “Decreto Sarno”, convertito con modificazioni dalla legge n. 267/1998 e D.L. n. 132/1999, convertito con modificazioni dalla Legge n. 226/1999), grazie alle quali sono stati avviati i progetti IFFI (Inventario dei Fenomeni Franosi in Italia) e PAI (Piano stralcio dell’Assetto Idrogeologico). In base a questi progetti sono stati definiti i criteri per la perimetrazione e la catalogazione, in particolare per la definizione del Rischio Idrogeologico associato a ciascun singolo fenomeno, validi (e obbligatori) per l’intero territorio nazionale. La metodologia per l’aggiornamento dei catasti parte dall’esperienza maturata dalla scrivente nell’ambito delle attività inerenti la prevenzione dai dissesti idrogeologici attivate dal Servizio Geologico della Direzione Ambiente e Lavori Pubblici della Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia in convenzione con L’Autorità di Bacino dei fiumi Isonzo, Tagliamento, Livenza, Piave, Brenta - Bacchiglione. Il protocollo operativo ideato e messo a punto durante il dottorato può essere considerato universalmente applicabile in quanto la metodica proposta non rimane legata alle peculiarità della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, ma si prefigge quale possibile base operativa valida anche per altre realtà territoriali nazionali. Nell’ottica dell’aggiornamento continuo dei dati relativi ai dissesti idrogeologici, geostatici e a quelli del catasto opere di difesa, in questo studio sono stati utilizzati i supporti informatici in formato .mdb, .dxf e .shp che vengono supportati dalla maggior parte delle piattaforme informatiche relative a database relazionali, programmi CAD e GIS. I dati relativi alle geometrie e alle posizioni geografiche dei dissesti e delle opere di difesa sono stati trasformati in shapefile e importati in ArcGIS. Per la catalogazione dei dati alfanumerici delle opere di difesa è stato creato un data base in MS ACCESS. La validazione e la verifica dei dati è avvenuta mediante la creazione di un Personal Geodatabase in cui, attraverso l’applicazione delle regole topologiche è stato possibile controllare le irregolarità dovute a errori di digitalizzazione delle forme geometriche. Dopo la validazione dei dati il Geodatabase è uno strumento pronto per l’utilizzo ai fini di elaborazioni statistiche per dare un supporto decisionale nella pianificazione e nella gestione del territorio. Attraverso il costante aggiornamento dei dati si ottiene un’immagine in tempo reale della pericolosità geostatica del territorio e dello stato delle opere di difesa. Il Geodatabase rappresenta un’efficace e obiettivo strumento per gli enti territoriali nell’ambito della pianificazione degli interventi di mitigazione dei dissesti sulla base delle priorità dettate dal grado di pericolosità, concentrazione dei dissesti e infrastrutture antropiche presenti.
XX Ciclo
1970

A expansão urbana resultante do rápido progresso das cidades é um grande desafio para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Deste modo a concepção de modelos computacionais adequados que permitam a simulação, visualização espacializada e análise do processo de crescimento urbano é fundamental. Políticas de gestão de bairros e tipos de crescimento urbano são constituídos por equipamentos representados por diferentes tipos de alvarás ou concessões para abertura e funcionamento de negócios. Também por sistemas viários, sistemas de transporte, limites políticos e administrativos, zoneamento e arruamento. Estes mecanismos podem ser evidenciados em um banco de dados espacial por (a) dados abertos georreferenciados, um termo que caracteriza elementos humanos, informações demográficas, socioeconômicas, infraestrutura, condições ambientais e históricas, (b) diferentes geometrias (ponto, linha e polígono) e (c) utilização de funções espaciais para representar relações topológicas, direcionais ou métricas entre os equipamentos. Para construção e implementação do modelo proposto neste trabalho são utilizados os itens acima descritos (a, b, c) e um conjunto de perguntas elaboradas por especialistas na área de urbanismo, apontadas como conceitos primordiais à área de crescimento urbano. Em relação ao objetivo e a modelagem as mais relevantes contribuições encontram-se: (1) na representação por meio de um pequeno conjunto de primitivas em banco de dados com extensão espacial, (2) na elaboração de um vocabulário ou atribuição de uma semântica ao modelo, (3) na interação entre diferentes conceitos associados ao processo de crescimento urbano, (4) na possibilidade de ampliação e integração de outros domínios de dados georreferenciados e abertos e (5) no tempo de execução inferior a 10 segundos para 70% das consultas espaciais. As contribuições em relação ao experimento com os usuários, considerado a interface web desenvolvida neste trabalho, encontram-se: (1) no fato de que a ferramenta atende as necessidades no tocante a geração e visualização espacializada de dados para 4 de 5 usuários, (2) na interação com dados georreferenciados de alvarás de funcionamento, divisa de bairros e ruas e (3) na visualização dos dados do ponto de vista histórico e espacial.
The resulting urban expansion from the rapid development of cities is a major challenge for sustainable development. Thus, the design of appropriate computational models that enable the simulation, spatialized visualization and analysis of the process of urban growth is critical. Neighborhood Management policies and types of urban growth are made up of equipment represented by different types of permits or concessions for opening and business operation. Also for road systems, transportation systems, political and administrative boundaries, zoning and street layout. It can be demonstrated in a spatial database by (a) georeferenced open data, a term that characterizes human elements, demographic, socio-economic, infrastructure, environmental and historical conditions, (b) different geometries (point, line and polygon) and (c) use of spatial functions for topological relations, directional or metrics between devices. Construction and implementation of the proposed model in this paper are used the above items (a, b, c) and a set of questions prepared by experts in the planning area, identified as primordial concepts to urban growth area. In relation to the goal and modeling the most relevant contributions are: (1) the representation by means of a small set of primitives in a database with spatial extension, (2) the development of a vocabulary or assigning a semantic the model, (3) the interaction between different concepts associated with the process of urban growth, (4) the possibility of expansion and integration of other areas of georeferenced data and open and (5) in the lower run time to 10 seconds to 70% spatial queries. Contributions in relation to the experiment with users, considered the web interface developed in this work: (1) on the fact that the tool covers the needs as regards the generation and spatialized visualization of data for 4 of 5 users, (2 ) interacting with georeferenced data of business licenses, neighborhoods and streets boundary and (3) in the data visualization from the historical and spatial point of view.

The thesis deals with geographical information systems ( GIS) which are nowadays common tools for use in civil service and local administration. The theoretical part is focused on more detailed characterization of these systems including issues concerning geographical data and data base systems. The description of the particular GIS software solution for the selected village of Dolní Újezd in the application of ArcInfo is the main contain of the practical sections. The creation of spatial analysis is a component of the project with the aim of finding a suitable location for benches for public use. The resulting project called “GIS Dolní Újezd”wil be used by the local council in Dolní Újezd.

Anwender aus verschiedensten Fachgebieten stellen weitreichende Anforderungen an die Modellierung der Zeitdimension in den Geoinformationssystemen. Von Interesse ist dabei oft speziell eine Analyse der Dynamik der betrachteten Phänomene. Das Erfordernis, geeignete Methoden zur Erfassung und Verarbeitung von Zeitinformationen bereitzustellen, stand in den letzten Jahrzehnten im Fokus diverser Untersuchungen und Publikationen. Im Kontext dieser Entwicklung ist im Jahr 2002 auch eine ISO-Norm (ISO19108:2002, Zeitliche Schema) zu dieser Thematik erschienen. Die Möglichkeiten, die hinsichtlich dessen von aktuellen Geoinformationssystemen angeboten werden, bleiben im Allgemeinen hinter der genannten Norm zurück. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, inwiefern das Konzept des Zeitlichen Schemas der ISO durch einen Abstrakten Datentyp in einer Geodatenbank umgesetzt werden kann. Es erfolgt die Konzeption hierfür notwendiger Objekte und Funktionen. Ziel ist dabei die integrierte Erfassung, Verwaltung und Analyse von Zeitpunkten, -perioden sowie einfacher zeitlicher Komplexe. Weiter wird für den Informationsaustausch zwischen Nutzer und Datenbanksystem, aufbauend auf bestehenden Standards, eine textuelle Repräsentation der Objekte konzipiert. Die Umsetzbarkeit des Konzepts wurde durch eine prototypische Implementierung, in einer PostgreSQL-Datenbank mit PostGIS-Erweiterung, untersucht. Die prinzipielle Machbarkeit konnte nachgewiesen werden, Details werden in der Arbeit behandelt
Users from various fields of expertise place a wide range of demands on the subject of time modelling in geographic information systems. Of particular interest in this area is often the analysis of the dynamics of spatial features. The demand of providing suitable methods for the collection and processing of time data has been the focus of diverse research projects and publications over the last decades. In the context of the previously mentioned development, an ISO standard (ISO19108:2002, Temporal Schema) regarding this issue was published in 2002. In general, the capabilities of today’s geographic information systems are far behind the theoretical potential provided by this ISO standard. This bachelor thesis examines the feasibility of how the Temporal Schema of the ISO standard can be implemented in a Geodatabase with an abstract data type. Therefore necessary objects and functions are conceptualized. The aim is the integrated capture, management and analysis of instants, periods of time and simple temporal complexes. Furthermore, according to existing standards, a textual representation of objects is designed for the exchange of information between users and database systems. The practicability of the concept is examined with an implementation prototype in a PostgreSQL database, using the PostGIS extension. In summary, it can be said that the theoretical feasibility of this approach is proven, the details are discussed in this thesis

The diploma thesis deals with the creation of a geographic information system for the needs of cycling. The Brno Wine Trail is an area of interest. The whole project is implemented on Esri's ArcGIS platform. Data were collected outdoor using the Collector Classic mobile application and the Trimble R1 GNSS handheld receiver. The project was processed in ArcMap 10.4. and subsequently published on ArcGIS Online. The result of the thesis is a free web application. Users can view the course of the trail according to various criteria and points of interest there. Among other things, the thesis includes basic database queries and simple analytical task on the measured data. A file in the *.kmz format is the one of the outputs for the presentation of data.

2009/2010
Questo dottorato ha avuto lo scopo di utilizzare diversi strumenti messi a disposizione dai software GIS per lo studio e la gestione delle valanghe nel territorio della Regione Autonoma Valle d'Aosta e nel comprensorio sciistico di “Piancavallo” della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia. Come obiettivo e base di partenza per le successive elaborazioni, sempre oggetto di questa tesi, si è creato il geodatabase del Catasto Regionale Valanghe della Valle d’Aosta, suddiviso in diversi raster dataset, feature dataset e feature class relativi alle valanghe perimetrate sul terreno tramite rilievi GPS, alle valanghe desunte da ricerca storica o da foto-interpretazione, e dalle valanghe che insistono sui centri abitati, per cui è stata fatta una modellazione sulla base dei tempi di ritorno e sulle pressioni d’impatto. Il secondo obiettivo (tutt’ora in corso all’interno del progetto transfrontaliero Italia-Svizzera STRADA “Strategie di adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici per la gestione dei rischi naturali”, con termine nel 2013) è stato quello di trovare delle strategie per la mitigazione della pericolosità valanghiva, che coinvolge il territorio e in primis le amministrazioni locali, regionali e diversi enti gestori del territorio, con particolare attenzione alla gestione della viabilità. Spesso infatti i soggetti preposti si trovano costretti a dover ricorrere alla chiusura preventiva delle strade, lasciando isolate intere valli anche per diversi giorni creando disagi enormi alla popolazione e all’industria del turismo. Inoltre mancano delle direttive certe a supporto di scelte decisionali di apertura/chiusura delle strade, e il peso di una simile responsabilità è notevole. Questo lavoro ha messo a punto una procedura ottenuta interpolando, in ambiente di Geoprocessing e tramite query di selezione, feature relative alle valanghe, alla viabilità, e agli edifici fornendo uno strumento valido per quantificare in prima istanza i siti passibili di interventi di distacco artificiale valanghe, evitando così il ricorso alla chiusura preventiva delle strade. Questo tipo di applicazione rappresenta il punto di partenza per ulteriori analisi di dettaglio, fondamentali per fornire elementi decisionali alle amministrazioni locali nella gestione delle emergenze. Infine è stata processata una metodologia che, a partire da modelli digitali del terreno, ha permesso l’individuazione di potenziali aree di distacco di valanghe nel comprensorio sciistico di Piancavallo (Friuli Venezia Giulia), grazie a vari step realizzati sia in ambiente di Geoprocessing tramite ArcToolbox, che tramite file .aml su ArcInfo Workstation. Partendo da questa procedura, tramite modelli di dinamica valanghiva, si arriverà, assieme ai tecnici dell’Ufficio neve e valanghe di Udine, a mitigare la pericolosità sul bacino valanghivo che in alcuni casi ha portato ad avere eventi valanghivi su una pista da sci. Per l’archiviazione, il processamento e l’analisi di dettaglio di tutti i punti sviluppati da questo lavoro sono stati realizzati tre geodatabase che permetteranno di sviluppare diverse applicazioni in ambiente GIS. Il lavoro è stato svolto con ArcView 9.3 e ArcInfo Workstation.
XXIII Ciclo
1976

Planning departments are besieged with temporal/historical information. While for many institutions historical information can be relegated to archives, planning departments have a constant need to access and query their historical information, particularly their historical spatial information such as zoning. This can be a cumbersome process fraught with inaccuracies due to the changing organizational methods and the extended historical legacies of most municipalities. Geographic Information Systems can be a tool to provide a solution to the difficulties in querying spatio-temporal planning data. Using a data model designed specifically to facilitate the querying of historical zoning information, queries can be performed to answer basic zoning questions such as "what is the zoning history for a specific parcel of land?" This work outlines this zoning data model, its implementation, and its testing using queries basic to the needs of planning departments.

In the last few years, the arrangement of GIS platforms inside research projects has considerably increased. A demonstration of that is in the huge number of publications been published since the year 2000 which makes us believe that the statistics produced in 1999 from Mr. Khalid Gourad, about the use of GIS in archeology, are dated . Such increase is due to two main factors: the awareness of not being able to manage in a traditional way the huge quantity of data produced and the acquisition from the archeological community of an interdisciplinary knows how, able to deal in an appropriate way with the planning of territorial databases . Lately also an evolution in software applications has been recorded, able to employ multiple functions to process data, utilizing user friendly interfaces at minimum expenses. All of that has allowed the opportunity to experiment more the application of GIS in different contests of archeological work such as: the archeological excavation, the territory and the architecture. My Phd’s work in facts has been based on the creation of a Territorial Informative System for the study of the historical centre of the city of Padova, inside a research project called ARMEP (Medieval Residential Architectures of Padova). I basically had to deal with the difficulties concerning the study of the urban territory, like the management of archeological evidences, the reading of stratigraphies preserved on architectures, and the preparation of historical maps and iconographies aimed to restore the image of the city through the ages. However, the type of data underlined straight away some differences compared to traditional sources used in usual GIS; for examples the dimensionality of architectures and the mapping of information from historical documents. These issues have been processed in order to a correct translation in computer science, in line with the primary objective of the platform: the historical research. Based on the assumptions highlighted, the thesis is developed in four parts: I) Introduction to the ARMEP project and purpose of research. II) Structure of geodatabase, in which is explained the technology used to make the GIS and the data model created to store and manages information collected. III) The GIS and in particular the arrangement of work plans, the mapping of evidences, logical and topological queries and finally the arrangement of web GIS for on line communication of results. IV) The historical analysis and specifically a preliminary study on medieval subdivisions which uses the historical source, the planimetric data and analysis of events. The present work follows in chapters order to understand better the platform. Chapters II and III deal with the most technical aspects of the work, defining first the technology used, data and its specifics, and after explaining the data model inside the software. The extensive discussion of the archives aims to understand the logic behind the information system and is always discussed according to archeological research needs, to explain and clarify the choices made on the data modeling. Last, theses ends demonstrating the functionality of the archives, discussing the medieval subdivision by analyzing the urban tissue on a sample of three roads of the city of Padova: Via Sperone Speroni, Via del Vescovado, Via Dante. The analysis of the lots involved the use of all the files and has involved a vision of urban space that, departing from the historical source, has remained inside historical maps, floor plans and architectures. Thus the GIS is a powerful instrument for processing that, through measurement of objects, analyses of spatial distribution and the combination of data between them, becomes a pure and simple container of organized information. Ultimate aim is the creation of new data able to support with validity the elaboration of an historical.
Negli ultimi anni la predisposizione di piattaforme GIS all’interno dei progetti di ricerca è aumentata notevolmente. Ne sono una prova l’elevato numero di pubblicazioni edite dal 2000 ad oggi che fanno ritenere le statistiche prodotte nel 1999 da Khalid Gourad, sull’utenza GIS in archeologia, oramai superate . Tale incremento è dovuto a due fattori principali: la consapevolezza dell’impossibilità di gestire in modo tradizionale l’enorme mole di dati prodotti e l’acquisizione da parte della comunità archeologica di un know how interdisciplinare, in grado di far fronte in modo adeguato alla progettazione di basi di dati territoriali . Inoltre ultimamente si è registrata un’evoluzione delle applicazioni software, capaci ormai di impiegare molteplici funzioni di processamento dei dati, utilizzando interfacce user friendly a costi pressoché contenuti. Tutto ciò ha consentito di sperimentare maggiormente le applicazioni del GIS nei diversi contesti in cui opera l’archeologo, quali lo scavo archeologico, il territorio e l’architettura. Il mio lavoro di dottorato si è basato per l’appunto sulla realizzazione di un Sistema Informativo Territoriale per l’analisi del centro storico di Padova, all’interno di un progetto di ricerca denominato ARMEP (Architetture Residenziali Medievali di Padova). Ho quindi affrontato le problematiche inerenti lo studio del territorio urbano come la gestione delle evidenze archeologiche, la lettura delle stratigrafie conservate in elevato, la predisposizione di cartografie storiche e delle iconografie finalizzate a restituire l’immagine della città attraverso i secoli. Tuttavia la tipologia dei dati ha fin da subito evidenziato delle divergenze rispetto alle tradizionali fonti impiegate nei comuni Sistemi Informativi Territoriali, quali ad esempio la tridimensionalità delle architetture e la mappatura delle informazioni provenienti dai documenti storici. Queste tematiche sono state elaborate al fine di una corretta traduzione informatica in linea con l’obiettivo primario a cui è chiamata la piattaforma: la ricerca storica. Sulla base dei presupposti evidenziati la tesi si sviluppa in quattro parti: I) Introduzione al progetto ARMEP e finalità della ricerca. II) Struttura del geodatabase, in cui viene illustrata la tecnologia impiegata nella realizzazione del GIS e il modello dati creato per immagazzinare e gestire le informazioni raccolte. III) Il GIS e in particolare l’organizzazione dei piani di lavoro, la mappatura delle evidenze, le query logiche e topologiche e infine la predisposizione del web GIS per la comunicazione on line dei risultati. IV) L’analisi storica e nello specifico uno studio preliminare sulle lottizzazioni medievali che impiega la fonte storica, il dato planimetrico e l’analisi degli elevati. Il presente lavoro segue nella successione dei capitoli l’ordine di comprensione della piattaforma. Nei capitoli II e III vengono così affrontati gli aspetti più tecnici del lavoro, definendo prima la tecnologia impiegata, i dati e le relative specifiche e successivamente illustrando il modello dati all’interno del software. L’ampia trattazione degli archivi è finalizzata alla comprensione della logica del sistema informativo ed è sempre argomentata alla luce delle esigenze della ricerca archeologica, al fine di motivare e rendere chiare le scelte compiute sulla modellazione dei dati. In ultimo la tesi si conclude dando dimostrazione delle funzionalità degli archivi affrontando il tema della lottizzazione medievale, attraverso un analisi del tessuto urbano su un’area campione di tre vie della città di Padova: via Sperone Speroni, via del Vescovado e via Dante. L’analisi dei lotti ha comportato l’impiego di tutti gli archivi e ha implicato una visione dello spazio urbano che partendo dalla fonte storica, ne ha verificato la permanenza nella cartografia storica, nelle planimetrie e negli elevati. In tal modo il GIS diventa un potente strumento di elaborazione, in cui misurare oggetti, analizzare la distribuzione nello spazio e combinare dati tra loro, al fine di crearne di nuovi in grado di supportare con validità l’elaborazione di un modello storico e non si riduce ad un mero contenitore di informazioni organizzate.

2006/2007
ITALIANO Nel corso degli ultimi 20 anni, intensi fenomeni erosivi hanno interessato gli arenili situati lungo l’arco costiero nord adriatico e tra le soluzioni impiegate per contrastare tali fenomeni la pratica del ripascimento è stata largamente utilizzata, in quanto permette di riportare le spiagge ad un nuovo equilibrio evitando di provocare impatti significativi sul sistema litoraneo. La problematica maggiore connessa a questo tipo di intereventi è legata alla necessità di ingenti quantità di sabbia dalle caratteristiche granulometriche compatibili con quelle delle spiagge in erosione, con il duplice scopo di ridurre gli impatti negativi sul sistema spiaggia e di minimizzare i costi legati alle operazioni di estrazione e sversamento. Le strategie di gestione delle risorse sabbiose vanno assumendo una notevole importanza all’interno degli strumenti di gestione costiera (Finkl, 1994) e tali strategie, oltre a dover essere basate su estese competenze nel campo della geologia e della sedimentologia, devono prendere in considerazione tutti i fattori ambientali che influenzano il sistema e ne sono influenzati. Problematiche attuali quali l’innalzamento del livello marino e gli effetti sui sistemi costieri, i fenomeni erosivi, la progressiva diminuzione di aree utilizzabili come cave di prestito (sia onshore che offshore) e la creazione di impatti conseguenti alle diverse misure di protezione dei litorali richiedono un approfondito interesse e la ricerca di soluzioni innovative. A partire dalla seconda metà degli anni novanta, ingenti quantitativi di sabbia, pari a 8×106m3 (Consorzio Venezia Nuova, 2006), sono stati sversati sulle spiagge presenti lungo l’arco costiero nord adriatico. Gli interventi, attuati tramite il prelievo di sedimenti presso le coltri sabbiose che ricoprono gli alti fondali delle aree residuali di piattaforma, hanno interessato ad esempio le spiagge di Jesolo, Sottomarina, Pellestrina, Isola Verde. Attualmente, secondo quanto previsto dal Magistrato alle Acque di Venezia tramite il suo concessionario Consorzio Venezia Nuova (2006), è previsto l’utilizzo di circa 3×106m3 di sabbia per interventi di mantenimento, tramite ricariche più frequenti e di minore entità. La pratica di approvvigionamento di sabbie presso le aree relitte di piattaforma ha tuttavia lo svantaggio di essere onerosa, a causa dell’impiego di grandi draghe o di lunghe pipeline per coprire le distanze dalla costa. In tale contesto, un’alternativa vantaggiosa può essere rappresentata dalla ricerca e dall’utilizzo di sabbie dai rialzi morfologici associati alle bocche tidali o eventualmente in alternativa dagli apparati di foce fluviale. Le bocche tidali costituiscono le principali vie di comunicazione marittime da e verso le lagune e necessitano di ordinaria manutenzione nei casi in cui il trasporto longshore sia tale da occludere il canale. In questi contesti uno studio morfodinamico rappresenta una base indispensabile per una corretta pianificazione degli interventi finalizzati al mantenimento dell’ officiosità delle bocche lagunari; la funzionalità e la navigabilità possono essere garantite attraverso le operazioni di dragaggio periodico, con prelievo mirato di sabbie nelle aree di accumulo del delta di riflusso (barra lineare di margine di canale e lobo terminale).Questa operazione si configura dunque come soluzione vantaggiosa per le operazioni di ripascimento di litorali in erosione, in quanto i depositi di ebb-tidal delta generalmente presentano caratteristiche granulometriche compatibili con quelle dei litorali adiacenti. La pratica di escavazione dai bassifondi marini o “ebb-shoal mining” viene largamente effettuata negli Stati Uniti, in Florida e New Jersey ad esempio (Cialone & Stauble, 1998). A seguito della raccolta di dati batimetrici e sedimentologici, in parte forniti dal Magistrato alle Acque - Consorzio Venezia Nuova ed in parte acquisiti attraverso ricerche bibliografiche e due campagne di acquisizione di dati, sono state effettuate numerose elaborazioni con lo scopo di definire le potenzialità di prelievo di sabbie da alcuni apparati di delta di riflusso localizzati lungo l’arco costiero nord adriatico. La ricerca ha permesso inoltre di ampliare la base dati già esistente ed approfondire la morfodinamica delle bocche tidali presenti nel contesto ambientale nord adriatico, nonché le caratteristiche morfologiche degli ebb-tidal delta ad esse associati. Massicci interventi antropici, attuati a partire dallo scorso secolo, hanno portato alla modificazione dei litorali e dell’assetto delle bocche tidali, attraverso la costruzione di strutture permanenti a difesa degli arenili e per consentire la navigazione. Pertanto, le analisi sono state effettuate sia su apparati di bocca tidale in condizioni naturali che su bocche tidali stabilizzate da moli foranei. Infine, è stata analizzata l’evoluzione morfologica recente di alcuni apparati di foce fluviale (Adige, Piave e Sile), al fine di indagare l’eventuale possibilità di estrazione di sedimenti dagli scanni sabbiosi prospicienti tali apparati. Parte integrante del lavoro di ricerca è stata la messa a punto di una specifica procedura geostatistica in ambiente GIS (utilizzando il software ESRI ArcGis™), basata sul metodo elaborato in origine manualmente da Dean and Walton (1973). Una dettagliata analisi morfologica e morfodinamica degli apparati di bocca tidale e foce fluviale è stata effettuata attraverso l’elaborazione di modelli digitali del fondale marino (DEMs), consentendo l’elaborazione di alcune relazioni predittive relative a determinati parametri fisici quali prisma tidale, sezione della bocca e volume del delta di riflusso. Tali risultati sono stati messi a confronto con analoghe elaborazioni, relative a differenti contesti costieri come ad esempio le coste statunitensi e neozelandesi, in modo tale da evidenziare locali fattori morfodinamici responsabili dello sviluppo degli apparati di delta di riflusso. Le numerosi analisi metodologiche, condotte tramite l’estensione Geostatistical Analyst all’interno del software ESRI ArcGis™, hanno permesso di ottenere una valida procedura per il calcolo dei volumi di sabbia depositati nelle strutture di delta di riflusso. Infine, attraverso l’integrazione di tutti i dati raccolti, sia di nuova acquisizione che provenienti da fonti preesistenti, è stato predisposto un geodatabase in GIS, denominato Ebb-delta Geodatabase, che raggruppa tutte le potenziali cave di prestito individuate nonché le caratteristiche granulometriche dei depositi. Relativamente agli apparati deltizi del Piave e dell’Adige, dall’analisi è emersa una situazione critica di erosione dei fondali antistanti le foci, da attribuirsi con una certa sicurezza alla drastica diminuzione dell’apporto di materiale grossolano, avvenuta alla fine degli anni ’50 del secolo scorso e causata dagli interventi antropici sulle lungo le aste fluviali. I delta sommersi, privati di una parte consistente del contributo sedimentario, hanno subito un asporto di quantità significative di sedimento ad opera del moto ondoso e delle correnti marine e le occasionali ricariche, dovute agli eventi di piena, non sono sufficienti a riequilibrare il sistema. Su tale situazione insistono inoltre fenomeni puntuali, come nel caso dell’Adige, dovuti alla recente messa in opera di manufatti che hanno ulteriormente accentuato il processo di erosione dei fondali E’stato ritenuto pertanto che, in ragione di una dinamica sedimentaria legata ad eventi discontinui e a cicli stagionali di erosione-deposizione, ed essendo insufficiente l’apporto solido da parte dei corsi d’acqua, l’estrazione di materiale alle foci del Piave e dell’Adige non sia una soluzione praticabile ai fini del ripascimento di litorali in erosione. Diverso è il caso del fiume Sile, per il quale è stato verificato che l’apporto solido è per sua natura scarso, dunque insufficiente a creare significative anomalie deposizionali nell’area di foce. Gli apparati di delta di riflusso associati alle bocche tidali, sia naturali che stabilizzate, rappresentano al contrario significative trappole sedimentarie in ambiente sottocostiero, caratterizzate da volumi di sabbia compresi tra 270.000m3 e 10×106m3. La procedura geostatistica elaborata, definita procedura geostatica semi-automatica (Authomatic Detrending Procedure-ADP), si è rilevata un utile strumento analitico per la valutazione dell’estensione dei depositi sabbiosi e le elaborazioni effettuate hanno consentito di integrare dati provenienti da fonti non omogenee. Inoltre, lo studio della morfodinamica delle bocche tidali di Lido, Chioggia, Malamocco e Buso ha fornito un’interessante analisi relativa all’evoluzione dei delta di riflusso a seguito della costruzione di moli foranei. Come sottolineato da Carr and Kraus (2001), lo sviluppo verso mare e l’estensione degli apparati di delta di riflusso è determinato dall’ampiezza del prisma di marea, dalla pendenza della piattaforma costiera, e dal processo di confinamento del getto tidale da parte dei moli. Nonostante la casistica esaminata nel corso dello studio sia stata limitata a 11 bocche tidali, la correlazione riscontrata tra i valori di prima tidale ed i volumi ottenuti tramite la procedura geostatistica dimostra che nel caso di bocche tidali non armate i processi tidali siano prevalenti sull’azione del moto ondoso nell’influenzare lo sviluppo delle coltri deposizionali. La relazione V-P elaborata per l’area costiera nord adriatica risulta molto simile a quella ottenuta per le bocche tidali neozelandesi da Hicks and Hume (1996) mentre si discosta in maniera significativa da quelle elaborate per le coste statunitensi da Walton and Adams (1976) e Marino and Mehta (1988). L’utilizzo di una procedura standardizzata, come nel caso della procedura geostatica elaborata all’interno del progetto di ricerca qui presentato, ha permesso di ridurre la soggettività nella stima dei volumi che caratterizzava il metodo proposto originariamente da Dean and Walton (1973). Inoltre, tale procedura si è rivelata particolarmente utile nei casi in cui l’assetto morfologico risulti particolarmente complesso, come nel caso delle bocche tidali armate con moli fortemente aggettanti (Lido, Chioggia, Malamocco, Buso). In questi casi infatti è stata verificata una significativa discordanza tra i valori ottenuti tramite l’applicazione delle relazioni predittive e i risultati delle elaborazioni geostatistiche. Prima degli interventi di stabilizzazione, la maggior parte delle bocche tidali nord adriatiche presentava una configurazione marcatamente asimmetrica, dovuta all’ingente contributo del trasporto litoraneo che ha contributo in numerosi casi alla costruzione di lidi sfasati nella direzione sopraflutto (i.e. Punta Sabbioni; Alberoni; etc). A partire dal diciannovesimo secolo, a seguito delle difficoltà riscontrate per la navigazione dovute all’interramento e/o alla migrazione del canale principale, diverse foci lagunari sono state armate e tale intervento ha comportato una drastica modificazione del regime deposizionale nell’area sottocostiera. Di conseguenza, in relazione alla lunghezza dei moli foranei, la struttura deposizionale di delta di riflusso ha subito un processo di riconfigurazione, generalmente attraverso una traslazione verso mare a maggiori profondità, accompagnata da una parziale erosione dell’accumulo pre-esistente. In numerosi casi inoltre la presenza dei moli ha funzionato come sbarramento per il trasporto litoraneo il quale, prima di venire catturato dal getto tidale ed entrare nel by-pass sedimentario della bocca, ha alimentato l’accrescimento dei litorali posti sopraflutto, come ad esempio nel caso del litorale di Punta Sabbioni adiacente alla bocca di porto di Lido. Ciò ha portato alla formazione di differenti tipologie di delta di riflusso, pesantemente influenzate dall’intervento antropico, per le quali il volume di equilibrio teorico potrebbe essere raggiunto solamente a seguito di un ingente contributo del trasporto longshore, in un arco di tempo considerevole. Uno dei risultati di maggior interesse del presente lavoro risiede dunque nella verifica di uno “stato di immaturità” dei delta di riflusso associati alle bocche tidali stabilizzate, come nel caso della bocca di porto di Lido in cui la costruzione dei moli risale a circa un secolo fa. Come evidenziato da Hansen and Knowles (1988), il processo di confinamento da parte dei moli porta il flusso tidale ad abbandonare il canale principale naturalmente scavato, i canali marginali di flusso e la piattaforma di swash, con effetti sulla pre-esistente struttura deposizionali paragonabili a quelli osservati nei processi di rottura naturale dell’ ebb-tidal delta (ebb-tidal delta breaching; Fitzgerald et al., 1978). Al Lido a seguito della costruzione dei moli la maggior parte dei sedimenti in transito nell’area sottocostiera sono stati depositati sulla spiaggia di Punta Sabbioni, con una conseguente diminuzione del carico sedimentario disponibile per la costruzione del delta di riflusso. Poiché il volume stimato a seguito delle recenti indagini risulta corrispondere a solamente il 10% dell’ipotetico volume di equilibrio, il caso del Lido può essere considerato come un caso di delta “immaturo”, in quanto solo dopo l’esaursi dell’ingente fenomeno di accrescimento dell’arenile di Punta Sabbioni (che risale alla fine degli anni ’60) ha potuto intercettare la gran parte del carico sedimentario associato al trasporto longshore. Numerose incertezze permangono allo stato attuale delle indagini per quanto concerne l’effettivo raggiungimento del volume di equilibrio teorico; le annuali operazioni di escavazione effettuate per mantenere l’officiosità del canale, potrebbero difatti portare ad una configurazione stazionaria del deposito, che potrebbe essere confermata solamente attraverso uno specifico piano di monitoraggio. Gli studi effettuati sulle altre bocche tidali armate localizzate all’interno del contesto in esame hanno in ogni caso evidenziato un comportamento morfodinamico simile; i risultati delle elaborazioni confermano una estensione dei delta di riflusso inferiore a quanto previsto dalle relazioni predittive anche alle foci di Malamocco, Chioggia, e Buso. Per concludere, si sottolinea come la messa a punto di uno specifico database in GIS delle caratteristiche sedimentologiche delle morfologie oggetto di indagine costituisca un efficace strumento di gestione, che permette di associare ai diversi tipi di deposito le informazioni più significative riguardanti la localizzazione; i volumi utilizzabili, etc. Conoscendo le caratteristiche granulometriche dell’arenile da sottoporre all’intervento di ripascimento, un’interrogazione al database permette di identificare le potenziali cave di prestito compatibili, per poi progettare gli interventi più idonei, come ad esempio il prelievo di sedimenti dal canale principale nei casi in cui vi sia un surplus che provoca intralcio alla navigazione, oppure l’estrazione di sabbia nelle aree del delta di riflusso a maggior tasso di crescita (canali marginali flusso e/o lobo terminale). In ogni caso, l’estrazione deve essere limitata sia in estensione che per quanto riguarda lo spessore, per evitare effetti negativi e significativi disequilibri sui fenomeni di rifrazione delle onde e sulla dinamica sedimentaria. Non vi è alcun dubbio che un’attuazione sconsiderata della pratica di estrazione di sabbie dai delta di riflusso possa comportare conseguenze negative sui fondali ed i litorali adiacenti, d’altra parte come suggerito da Hansen and Work (1999) se gli interventi vengono pianificati in modo tale da rimuovere una frazione ridotta del deposito mantenendo così i naturali processi di scambio sedimentario, gli impatti sui litorali adiacenti possono essere di minima portata. La preservazione dell’assetto generale del delta, attraverso l’escavazione di sedimento nella parte terminale verso mare su un’area più estesa in superficie e meno in profondità, può efficacemente ridurre l’alterazione dei pattern di rifrazione delle onde e dei meccanismi di trasporto dei sedimenti.
ENGLISH Beach erosion has strongly affected a large number of beaches along the northern Adriatic coastal area over the past 20 years. Among the different engineering solutions available to contrast coastal erosion, the soft-engineering practice of beach re-nourishment is widely recognized to be a good compromise between desired outcomes and negative environmental impacts. One of the major issue concerning beach nourishment activities is the necessity to find suitable sources of sand, with the purpose of both reducing costs and minimizing environmental impacts. As stated by Finkl (1994), strategies for sand management are becoming increasingly more important as a coastal management tool. Also, the same author suggests that new sand management strategies, based on sound geological principles, must reflect sensitivity to environmental concerns. Rising sea levels, increased shore erosion, decreasing supplies of suitable fill materials (both on-and off-shore) and increasing concerns over environmental impacts associated with coastal protection measures (Finkl, 1994), are some of the reasons for a significant interest in these coastal problems. Along the Venice lagoon barrier islands and adjacent beaches (i.e. Jesolo, Sottomarina, Pellestrina, Isola Verde), 8×106m3 of sand have been extracted and placed for nourishment projects starting from the 1990s. Nowadays the Venice Water Authority (Magistrato alle Acque through its concessionary Consorzio Venezia Nuova, 2006) plans the placement of a total volume of 3 x 106 m3 of sand for beach maintenance, suggesting that critical beach erosion can be mitigated by smaller but more frequent nourishments. Previous re-nourishment projects were carried out through the utilization of sand borrow areas located offshore, at a distance of approximately 20km from the coast, a solution that has high operational costs. An alternative solution may be represented by the use of nearshore sand deposits, located in the proximity of tidal inlets or within the delta front area outside river mouths. Since inlets are the only access pathways between a lagoon and the sea, one of the major problems in terms of navigability is their intrinsic incapacity to maintain a predetermined configuration. Due to the longshore drift, the channel can shift and cause continuous filling of abandoned routes. Moreover, during storms landward pushes can increase the natural rise of the terminal lobe of the ebb delta, enhancing the phenomenon of shoaling at the channel entrance. During the last decades, the practice of ebb-tidal delta mining (Cialone and Stauble, 1998) has been progressively increasing, with the rising demand for suitable beach fill material along barrier islands. Ebb-tidal delta mining gives a new outlook on beach re-equilibrium projects since a large amount of sand, well compatible to native adjacent beaches, is stored by the ebb-tidal delta and easily mined at low cost. Dredging of an inlet opening and channel may also represent a good compromise between navigational needs and the rational use of dredged material. Several potential borrow areas were analysed in the present study, focussing on the evaluation of sand volumes deposited outside tidal inlets and river mouths, as a consequence of existing local hydrodynamic conditions. The coastal area object of the investigation is the northern Adriatic coastal area between the Isonzo and Po rivers, consisting of lagoon-river delta systems fronted by barrier islands and sandbars fed by tidal inlets. New data were collected through bathymetric surveys and sediment sampling and integrated with data from older surveys, thus obtaining a rather complete and uniform catalogue of sand resources. The development of a specific geostatistical procedure was also a main objective of the research, aimed at obtaining reliable results concerning ebb-tidal delta volumes. Considerable changes on the northern Adriatic barrier island systems and associated inlets have occurred over the last century as a result of intense human activity, including construction of permanent structures on both the barriers and the inlets. Those structures are mainly seawalls and groins designed to fix the shoreline and jetties to keep inlets from migrating and to maintain a given channel depth. Both natural and stabilized inlets were investigated, leading to a specific analysis concerning the morphodynamics of stabilized inlets. The present research has been developed through several phases. A detailed analysis of the overall morphology of different nearshore features such as natural and stabilized inlets and river mouths has been conducted, mainly through ESRI ArcGIS™ software, followed by elaborations of predictive numerical relationships concerning inlet parameters (i.e. tidal prism, cross-sectional area and ebb-tidal delta volume). The results obtained were then discussed and compared with analogue relationships elaborated for other environmental settings (i.e. the U.S.A and New Zealand coasts), highlighting the influence of local morphodynamic factors in determining ebb-tidal delta growth along the northern Adriatic coastal area. Methodological analyses concerned a large number of geostatistical tests through ESRI ArcGIS™ Geostatistical Analyst extension, that allowed to obtain a specific procedure for calculating ebb-tidal delta volumes. Finally, with the aim to provide a useful and agile tool for sand resources management, all results were integrated into a GIS geodatabase, named Ebb-delta Geodatabase, which includes the individuated potential sand borrow areas with associated grain size characteristics. The major outcomes of the research are the followings: 1) the seafloor morphologies facing the Piave and Adige river mouths exhibit strong erosional patterns over the last thirty years, possibly as a consequence of a decrease in sediment supply from rivers. Therefore, these areas were not considered suitable sand resources for beach nourishment projects, whereas their morphological evolution testifies that a disequilibrium in sediment supply and deposition is occurring; 2) ebb-tidal deltas represent significant sand sinks along the northern Adriatic coastal area, both the natural and the stabilized ones, with volumes comprised between c.a 270.000m3 and c.a. 10×106m3. 3) the newly-developed semi-authomatic procedure (ADP) provided to be a useful analytical tool for the evaluation of ebb-tidal delta volumes; the development of agile geostatistical procedures allowed the integration and processing of newly collected and older bathymetric and grain size data. Additionally, the study of the morphodynamics of Lido, Chioggia, Malamocco and Buso inlet, provided an analysis of ebb-tidal delta volumes and jetty effects. According to Carr and Kraus (2001) the offshore extent and dimension of the ebb-tidal delta is in great part determined by the magnitude of the tidal prism, the slope of the nearshore shelf, and the ebb-jet confinement caused by jetties. Notwithstanding the limited statistics, the direct proportionality between tidal prism and ebb-tidal delta volumes obtained from the application of the ADP on the bathymetric dataset, as well as the high correlation coefficient, demonstrates that natural or almost natural inlets in the northern Adriatic tend to build ebb-tidal deltas which are strongly influenced by tidal processes. Thus the effects of storm induced wave winnowing and longshore sedimentary drift may be considered uniformly distributed, since scattering in the prism vs. ebb-tidal delta volumes relationship is negligible. The V-P relationship of ebb tidal delta volumes in the northern Adriatic is very similar to that obtained by Hicks and Hume (1996), but significantly different from that found by Walton and Adams (1976) and Marino and Mehta (1987) in the United States. The use of a standardized procedure, as in the case of the geostatistical application here proposed, reduces the subjectivity in the calculation of the ebb-tidal deltavolume which occurs when using the Dean and Walton method (1973). The ADP could also be a useful method for a step-by-step preliminary test on ebb-tidal delta structure determination as in the case of complicated bathymetric frameworks. Equilibrium conditions based on delta volume vs. tidal prism relationships constructed for natural or almost natural northern Adriatic inlets, may be used to infer the hypothetical delta volume also for jettied inlets. During the past, many northern Adriatic inlets were strongly asymmetrical, because of significant longshore transport processes that gave rise to large up-drift coastal offset. Since the 19th Century, owing to great difficulties in navigation through the main channel, some inlets were fixed by jetties. Depending on the jetty length, precisely on the offset between shoreline and jetty apex, the ebb-tidal delta may re-shape or completely erode, and thus begin to re-form offshore, shifting to a distance equal to that of the jetty length. This may cause a delay in ebb-tidal delta formation, since the longshore sediment input is not immediately captured by the inlet system and stored in the ebb delta. In fact, the up-drift beach will accrete until the sediments are able to by-pass the jetty, thus entering in the inlet sedimentary budget. What can be observed is a large variety of new “human-induced” ebb deltas, whose equilibrium volumes may be reached only when a large amount of transported long-shore sediment has been trapped for long time. The “immaturity” status of the new ebb-tidal deltas is a major result, for the case of Lido inlet, the largest in the north Adriatic, where jetties were constructed about one century ago. According to Hansen and Knowles (1988) confinement of the flow by jetty construction has resulted in tidal flow abandonment of the natural main ebb channel, swash platform and marginal flood channels, resulting in effects similar to those observed in natural ebb-tidal delta breaching (Fitzgerald et al., 1978). After jetty construction, sediments were stored in the up-drift area of Punta Sabbioni and caused the accretion of that beach, resulting in a starved status of the ebb-tidal delta potential area. Considering that the present ebb-tidal delta volume accounts for only 10% of the equilibrium hypothetical volume, Lido inlet can be seen as a typical case of immature ebb-tidal delta, which only recently has significantly grown offshore due to the jetty fixation. Some doubts arise from the possibility that the delta volume will increase, owing to the periodic dredging operations that are done for navigational improvement. This practice may lead to a stationary configuration of the ebb tidal delta, that can be tested only through a specific monitoring plan. Additional studies concerning the behaviour of jettied inlets provided similar results in the cases of Malamocco, Chioggia and Buso inlets. Data analysis confirms the limited ebb-tidal delta extension also in these latter cases, and a morphodynamic response comparable to the one observed at Lido. The ebb-tidal delta sediment inventory that was processed through GIS has very high versatility and can associate type of deposits (grain-size, sorting) with its location and volume “excess”. Once the required physical parameters of the material are known for a beach that needs to be re-nourished, a GIS query could identify different potential borrow areas and subsequent actions can be planned. The suitability of a morphological artificial re-shaping may be planned, by mainly using sand from growing areas, i.e. the channel margin linear bar and terminal lobe, as well as the sedimentary surplus from navigational maintenance located inside the outer part of the main ebb channel. In any case, dredging must be limited both in extension and thickness, in order to minimize the already cited effects on wave and sedimentary dynamics. The use of ebb-tidal delta sediment as a source for beach nourishment material has and will be controversial. However, as suggested by Hansen and Work (1999) there is a natural variability to these inlets systems, and if artificial bypassing practices mimic the natural processes by removing a small percent of the delta on an annual basis, there is likely to be minimal adverse impact to adjacent shorelines. Mining the seaward edge of the delta over a large area would maintain the overall geomorphology of the inlet and would reduce the possibility of severely altering nearshore refraction and sediment transport patterns
XX Ciclo
1976

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires the development of Regional and Area Contingency Plans. For more than 20 years, the State of Florida, under both the Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, has worked closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop these plans for coastal and marine oil spill response. Current plans, developed with local, state and federal stakeholder input, use geographic information systems (GIS) data such as location and extent of sensitive ecological, wildlife, and human-use features (termed Environmental Sensitivity Index data), pre-defined protection priorities, and spatially explicit protection strategies to support decision-making by responders (termed Geographic Response Plans). However, they are long overdue for improvements that incorporate modern oceanographic modeling techniques and integrated data from coastal ocean observing systems. Better understanding of circulation in nearshore and estuarine waters, at a scale consistent with other spatial data, is especially lacking in Area Contingency Plans. This paper identifies the gaps in readily available information on the circulation-driven causes and effects missing in current oil spill contingency planning and describes a sample methodology whereby multiple coastal and ocean spatial science disciplines are used to answer questions that no single, non-integrated discipline can answer by itself. A path forward for further integration and development of more comprehensive plans to better support coastal protection in Florida is proposed. The advances made here are applicable to other coastal regions of the world.