The motivation for the research described in this thesis is the imperative to minimise energy consumption of buildings in the urban environment. A comprehensive approach to analysing energy usage involves the whole life cycle of buildings and infrastructure including embodied energy consumption. Embodied energy represents all of the energy consumed in the production of building materials and components, as well as the energy used to assemble them into the built form. This thesis describes the development and application of a model which spatially depicts embodied energy as a basis for undertaking more holistic analyses of urban energy consumption. The need for comprehensive analyses of energy consumption is initially explored. Such analyses would enable more favourable energy outcomes to be achieved when making decisions about urban planning and development. Research on the value of representing energy usage in a spatial format is reviewed and the case is made for modelling the embodied energy as a contribution to the broader understanding of urban energy consumption. This thesis concentrates on residential areas of the urban environment. The model for spatially representing the embodied energy consumption of residential areas has three components which are embodied energy theory, property register data and geographical information software. A methodology is described which commences with hybrid embodied energy coefficients, integrates these with property register data for a metropolitan area and displays the results using GIS techniques in the form of maps. The model is general but developed using information pertaining to the Adelaide metropolitan area and tested using data from both Adelaide and Sydney. To show that the model can usefully contribute to life cycle energy analyses in the urban environment, it is applied to three case studies involving current urban planning issues involving the densification of dwellings in cities and the redevelopment of older residential areas. These show that such analyses can represent embodied energy spatially and with sufficient accuracy to inform urban planning and development decisions aimed at reducing overall energy usage. In summary, the research has extended knowledge on the embodied energy of the built form by focusing on residential areas which include urban infrastructure rather than just individual buildings. It has provided new insights into the significance of embodied energy of the existing built form by considering it as a ‘sunk cost’ which may be partially recovered and form part of the energy flows in the urban environment. The mapping of embodied energy of the existing built form also offers the potential for quantifying resources which can be re-used to modify total energy consumption of new developments. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1311795 / Thesis(Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, 2008

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

<p>In planning a suitable road network, planners put into consideration factors like gradients or slope of the area, available land-use and soil type, community or national landmarks and governmental interest. These different considerations and interest make the planning process complex and as such there might be confusion of interest in the decision making. The use of GIS and Multi-criteria analysis has helped planners to achieve desired and more accurate results and as such reducing the complex nature in the planning process allowing different stakeholders to reach a general conclusion.</p><p>Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) prevents the imposition of limit on the form of criteria and gives opportunity to decision makers to enter their own judgments. This provides a better communication among the decision makers and the entire community and as such creating a more open choice for analysis and possible changes if necessary. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the possibility of using GIS and MCA in road path planning in Nigeria, using Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state as a case study.</p><p>In actualizing the aim, satellite images of the area of study was obtained from the Landsat home page and analyzed to derive the land-use map. The land-use over the area of study was classified into five different classes using the unsupervised method of classification. A DEM over the area of study was downloaded from the website of the Consortium of Spatial information (CSI) and the DEM was used to derive the slope map over the area of study and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used in weighting the criterions according to preference.</p><p>As the conclusion of the analysis, a road path between two points was obtained. The start point of the road was located on an approximate coordinate of 219002, 958986 meters and the destination point on an approximate coordinate of 320322, 878101 meters. The start and destination point were selected randomly without any pre-knowledge of the area. The thesis has succeeded in showing that it is possible to determine a road path between two points using Geographic information system (GIS) and Multi-criteria analysis in Nigeria.</p>

The GRASS (V. 4.0) geographical information system (GIS) was used to test the hypothesis that pheromone trap based predictions of Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) damage in processed sweet corn could be improved by considering spatial patterns of corn plantings and wind blocking features around the trap. Wind blocking features include: tree rows, wooded areas, large buildings close to the trap, and abrupt hillsides. Pheromone traps were monitored at 29 and 30 sites in 1990 and 1991. Corn development through the year and damage levels at harvest (percent infestation) were also recorded for these locations. Maps of all corn plantings and wind blocking features within 2.5 kilometers of the trap were created, digitized, and entered into the GIS for each site. A stepwise regression analysis considering 18 spatial and two non-spatial variables resulted in a highly significant (P<0.001) four variable regression model with an R�� of 0.82. Spatial input variables used in this model included the total number of hectares of corn within 2.0 kilometers of the trap as well as the average distance to wind blocking features on the north side of the trap. The non-spatial variables used were cumulative trap catch and date of first silk. A dynamic simulation model was also created. This was designed to filter from the trap catch those moths coming from plantings outside of the trapped planting. This model functioned by creating map surfaces in the GIS showing for each day the relative contribution to catch for each location around the trap. This map surface was the product for each location of relative moth population levels and the likeliness that a moth positioned there would be captured by the trap. The modified cumulative trap catch was expected to correlate more strongly to damage levels than the unmodified trap catch, but no run of the model produced a significant improvement in the correlation. In the process of collecting data for this project, circumstantial evidence was obtained which indicated that high synchrony between valley-wide moth catch levels and valley-wide timings of silking in corn could be used as an indicator of high damage years. / Graduation date: 1994

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

In planning a suitable road network, planners put into consideration factors like gradients or slope of the area, available land-use and soil type, community or national landmarks and governmental interest. These different considerations and interest make the planning process complex and as such there might be confusion of interest in the decision making. The use of GIS and Multi-criteria analysis has helped planners to achieve desired and more accurate results and as such reducing the complex nature in the planning process allowing different stakeholders to reach a general conclusion. Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) prevents the imposition of limit on the form of criteria and gives opportunity to decision makers to enter their own judgments. This provides a better communication among the decision makers and the entire community and as such creating a more open choice for analysis and possible changes if necessary. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the possibility of using GIS and MCA in road path planning in Nigeria, using Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state as a case study. In actualizing the aim, satellite images of the area of study was obtained from the Landsat home page and analyzed to derive the land-use map. The land-use over the area of study was classified into five different classes using the unsupervised method of classification. A DEM over the area of study was downloaded from the website of the Consortium of Spatial information (CSI) and the DEM was used to derive the slope map over the area of study and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used in weighting the criterions according to preference. As the conclusion of the analysis, a road path between two points was obtained. The start point of the road was located on an approximate coordinate of 219002, 958986 meters and the destination point on an approximate coordinate of 320322, 878101 meters. The start and destination point were selected randomly without any pre-knowledge of the area. The thesis has succeeded in showing that it is possible to determine a road path between two points using Geographic information system (GIS) and Multi-criteria analysis in Nigeria.

The concept of quality of life (QOL) has been addressed for decades. It was not until recent times when geographical information systems (GIS) have become available that a locale-specific approach could be enabled. Even then, analysis to date has been conducted mostly at the resolution of city or county level. The study presented describes an innovative methodology that may appraise QOL at finer resolutions, i.e. more localespecific. The new approach is called Spatial Appraisal and Valuation of Environment and Ecosystems, or SAVEE. This thesis research is a proof-of-concept study as the first account of the SAVEE methodology. It is to set the stage for future studies toward a more comprehensive framework. In this preliminary study of locale-specific QOL, the SAVEE methodology was used to illustrate the possibility of handling QOL factors in a dynamic manner. The assessment includes three major steps: 1) data preparation, 2) data conversion and normalization, and 3) combining contributions of factors being considered. In the first step, the geospatial data layer of a factor in consideration was input into GIS to plot a proximity map of the feature, e.g. parks or fire stations. In Step Two, each factor was first assigned a range of weight according to the location of a site on a proximity map in terms of the factor’s favorability-unfavorability. In the third step, weights from each factor were combined in a pair-wise manner, e.g. park and fire station proximities, or two factors at a time. The weight combining is done by deploying map algebra formula derived from the expert system algorithm EMYCIN. The computation was done iteratively until all factors were exhausted. The final results were coded as a gradient map of an integrated and locale-specific QOL index in the range of (-1, 1). In this preliminary study, the City of College Station, Texas was used as the study site. A set of factors and their respective ranges of weight were used in the study. By adjusting the incorporation of various factors and their ranges, a series of QOL maps for the city was generated. The resulting QOL maps indicate what factors and ranges may or may not have contributions toward a holistic overall picture of the QOL of a city in the locale-specific context. The SAVEE methodology proved to be successful in handling qualitative hedonic factors in a locale-specific quantitative manner through the GIS interface.

Geographic Information System (GIS) based computer applications are becoming increasingly popular for delivering, visualizing and analyzing spatial databases. Driven by advances in computing technologies, GIS applications are increasingly used by non- GIS experts as knowledge support tools that allow instant access and visualization of spatial data across the internet. The American Viticultural areas of Texas (AVATXIS) is an example of a web-based GIS tool that we have developed to help viticulturists better understand wine growing regions in Texas. The application allows users to spatially query and visualize a range of edaphic and climatic factors that influence vine growth and grape production. By providing growers a wide variety of climatic and edaphic data sets and an intuitive, easy to use interface for visualizing and downloading this data, AVATXIS serves as an effective tool for characterizing the Texas wine regions. Research in the field of viticulture states that ?Climate governs whether grapes will survive and ripen, what varieties do best where, and some of the characteristics of the resulting wines?. For AVATXIS, a number of specific climate indices critical to wine production were identified through the current viticulture literature and by consulting with experts. These indices include monthly summaries of maximum, minimum and mean temperature, precipitation and Growing Degree-Days (GDD). Publicly available climate data was used to create novel GIS layers for each of these indices. Similarly the importance of soil type to vine growth is recognized, but its relationship to wine quality remains controversial. Publicly available soil data were used to create GIS layers representing simple soil indices (pH, soil texture, depth to bedrock, permeability, available water capacity, and bulk density) useful to the wine grower. These climate and soils data form the central database used by AVATXIS. The intuitive, user interface allows any combination of these GIS layers to be rapidly retrieved and visualized through a standard web-browser by any user of the AVATXIS system.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 114 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Marshall University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains vi, 43 p. Includes bibliographical references p. 41-43.