<p>School bus routing and scheduling are among the major problems because school bus transportation needs to be safe, reliable and efficient. Hence, the research question for this thesis is to answer how to transport students in the safest, most economical and convenient manner. The objective of this thesis is to create a GIS based school transport management system which helps in bus-stop allocation, design fastest and safest bus routes with AVL facility. This thesis also aims to investigate how a school transportation management system may improve the transportation security. The result from this study has helped to develop a school bus routing and scheduling prototype model for Sujatha High School, Hyderabad. This prototype model will help the school transportation management to design shortest and fastest school bus routes and they can also allocate bus stops, which will help them in selecting the pick-up stops for the students and staff, according to their concentration in the areas. This thesis has also, through literature study, investigated how a school transport management system can improve the transportation security. For the time being, there is a general belief that ICT contributes to improving the security, although a quantification of such improvements are lacking. The user interface application has been developed by using VBA and ArcGIS 9.1 Network Analyst provided by Environmental Science Research Institute and it has been evaluated by GIS users.</p>

Pinellas County is located on a peninsula in Florida that experiences daily patterns of sea breeze associated rainfall mainly during the summer months of June through August. Previously, rainfall patterns, amounts and timing and severe weather in Pinellas County have not been examined considering dominant wind flow patterns, sea breeze circulations and other atmospheric variables. To improve forecasting of local mesoscale phenomena, this project examined the rainfall patterns, amounts and timing and severe weather occurrences that occur as a result of sea breezes and associated prevailing wind regimes within Pinellas County for the months of June, July and August for the years 1995-2009. Other atmospheric variables are also considered. Through the use of sounding data from the Ruskin, FL National Weather Service (NWS) Station, Pinellas County rainfall station data, and radar-estimated rainfall totals data from the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, the following meteorological parameters were examined: dominant wind direction and speed, stability (convective available potential energy, CAPE and CAPEV; CAPEV is CAPE calculated using virtual temperature). Composites were made of radar-derived rainfall estimates to show where the dominant rainfall occurs in relation to the sounding classifications of dominant wind flow for that day using ArcGIS as an analysis tool. Composite maps of precipitation indicate that the largest range of precipitation across Pinellas County occurs when winds are from the 241-300° direction category. The soundings were also used to classify days by CAPE, wind speed, and precipitable water. Precipitable water had a significant positive correlation with precipitation amounts in four of the five wind direction categories. Wind speed had significant positive relationships with a southerly wind direction. In order to examine the timing of rainfall associated with each wind direction category, Gr2Analyst was used. Gr2Analyst indicated rainfall occurred earlier in days featuring a westerly flow, and later in days with an easterly flow. Severe weather is also influenced by wind regimes and other atmospheric variables. Wind direction, wind speed, CAPE, precipitable water, and the United States Air Force Severe Weather Threat Index (SWEAT) indices were examined in relation to severe weather. The likelihood of severe weather was related to wind direction, with more events occurring during days with a more easterly flow than westerly. Atmospheric parameters were also examined in relation to each severe weather event.

Central New York is located in one of the snowiest regions in the United States, with the city of Syracuse, New York the snowiest metropolis in the nation. Snowfall in the region generally begins in mid-November and lasts until late-March. Snow accumulation occurs from a multitude of conditions: frontal systems, mid-latitude cyclones, Nor'easters, and most notably lake-effect storms. Lake effect snowfall (LES) is a difficult parameter to forecast due to the isolated and highly variable nature of the storm. Consequently, studies have attempted to determine changes in snowfall for lake-effect dominated regions. Annual snowfall patterns are of particular concern as seasonal snowfall totals are vital for water resources, winter businesses, agriculture, government and state agencies, and much more. Through the use of snowfall, temperature, precipitation, and location data from the National Weather Service's Cooperative Observer Program (COOP), spatial and temporal changes in snowfall for Central New York were determined. In order to determine climatic changes in snowfall, statistical analyses were performed (i.e. least squares estimation, correlations, principal component analyses, etc.) and spatial maps analyzed. Once snowfall trends were determined, factors influencing the trends were examined. Long-term snowfall trends for CNY were positive for original stations (~0.46 +/- 0.20 in. yr-1) and homogenously filtered stations (0.23 +/- 0.20 in. yr-1). However, snowfall trends for shorter time-increments within the long-term period were not consistent, as positive, negative, and neutral trends were calculated. Regional differences in snowfall trends were observed for CNY as typical lake-effect areas (northern counties, the Tug Hill Plateau and the Southern Hills) experienced larger snowfall trends than areas less dominated by LES. Typical lake-effect months (December - February) experienced the greatest snowfall trend in CNY compared to other winter months. The influence of teleconnections on seasonal snowfall in CNY was not pronounced; however, there was a slight significant (5%) correlation (< 0.35) with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. It was not clear if changes in air temperature or changes in precipitation were the cause of variations in snowfall trends. It was also inconclusive if the elevation or distance from Lake Ontario resulted in increased snowfall trends. Results from this study will aid in seasonal snowfall forecasts in CNY, which can be used to predict future snowfall. Even though the study area is regionally specific, the methods may be applied to other lake effect dominated areas to determine temporal and spatial variations in snowfall. This study will enhance climatologists and operational forecasters' awareness and understanding of snowfall, especially lake effect snowfall in CNY.

The classic time geography concept (space-time path) provides a powerful framework to study travel survey data which is an important source for travel behavior studies. Based on the space-time concept, this research will present a visualizing approach to analyze travel survey data. By inputting the data into GIS software such as TransCAD and ArcGIS and editing the needed information, this study will explain how to create 3D images of travel paths for showing the variation of trip distribution in relation to different social-economic factors deemed as the driving forces of such patterns. Also, this report will address the technical challenges involved in this kind of study and will discuss directions of future research. / text

Ekoparti AB är ett grossistföretag som idag har cirka 480 kunder runt om i mellersta Sverige. Idag omsätter Ekoparti AB 165 miljoner kronor per år och har resurser som uppgår till 30 heltidsanställda personer, samt att man äger ett lager på 3000 kvadratmeter, varav 500 av dem är frys. Företaget har även sex stora lastbilar och två skåpbilar. På senaste tid har Ekoparti AB insett att det finns brister i distributionen mot kund. De har tagit fram två punkter som de anser vara bristerna i företagets logistiksystem. Dessa är att kundernas ordermönster behöver förändras, samt att vissa kunder avviker från leveransrutterna som går från företagets lager, samtidigt som de beställer för lite. Utifrån dessa punkter har de tagit fram ett nytt förslag för hur distributionen mot kund borde ske i företaget. Projektets uppgift blev då att undersöka de nuvarande leveranserna samt det nya förslaget och jämföra dessa två för att se vilket som blir mest kostnadseffektivt och varför. För att lösa problemet valde vi att använda programmet ArcMap som en bas för analysen av rutterna. Med hjälp av programmet kunde kostnader för att köra de olika rutterna i nuläget och i förslaget tas fram. Resultatet av analysen blir att det nya förslaget är mer kostnadseffektivt än hur distributionen hanteras i nuläget, med en minskning av kostnaderna med 614 950 kronor per år. För framtagning av resultatet används två huvudsakliga kostnadsfaktorer, vilket är tidskostnader och distanskostnader. När vi granskade resultatet var det tydligt att den variabel som har störst påverkan på kostnaderna är tidskostnaderna. Med tidskostnader menas lönekostnader för chauffören och hans medpassagerare. Dessutom tar vi även i rapporten upp att förändringen inte enbart påverkar transporterna, utan förändringarna skulle även kunna påverka andra delar av logistiksystemet, vilket i sin tur kan påverka andra delar av företaget. Slutsatsen av projektet är att det nya förslaget för rutter är mer kostnadseffektivt för Ekoparti AB än de nuvarande rutterna. I och med att tidskostnaderna utgör majoriteten av totalkostnaderna bör man för att minska totalkostnaderna ta fram lösningar som minskar den spenderade tiden vid distributionen till kunderna. Dessutom får man inte bortse från helhetsperspektivet då transportförändringar inte bara påverkar transporterna utan även resterande delar av företaget. Detta för att undvika oönskade negativa effekter i andra delar av verksamheten när man genomför en förändring

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are useful in analyzing and visualizing database information. Specifically, the field of geotechnical engineering stands to benefit from a database encompassing GIS; as, geotechnical data varies spatially. The City of Austin Water Utility realized the advantages of a geotechnical database utilizing GIS which led to the motivation of designing a database for Austin, Texas. The main objective is to provide a detailed explanation of the design of a GIS-relational geotechnical database for Austin, Texas. In addition, several examples of useful methods of analyzing geotechnical data spatially are included. The examples show the identification of faults, the uses of structural contour maps, summarization of data through plots and tables, and analyzing temporal piezometric conditions. The idea of a database is to organize and store data in a basic efficient format so that information is not duplicated. Database queries are then used to combine and rearrange the data within the database through relationships. The queries are then connected to GIS for intelligent visualization. This process is designed specifically for the geologic conditions that exist in Austin, Texas. Understanding the geotechnical engineering state of practice is important when designing a database that will encompass geotechnical data for a given region. The City of Austin relies on experience and the geotechnical report filing systems to initially plan future projects around geologic conditions. With the help of a geotechnical database, the information from geotechnical reports is a “computer click” away. Also, the geotechnical data from multiple reports is viewable at one time in both a 2 and 3 dimensional environments through GIS. Database features coupled with GIS tools proves to be an effective way for engineers and geologists to use geotechnical data. / text

School bus routing and scheduling are among the major problems because school bus transportation needs to be safe, reliable and efficient. Hence, the research question for this thesis is to answer how to transport students in the safest, most economical and convenient manner. The objective of this thesis is to create a GIS based school transport management system which helps in bus-stop allocation, design fastest and safest bus routes with AVL facility. This thesis also aims to investigate how a school transportation management system may improve the transportation security. The result from this study has helped to develop a school bus routing and scheduling prototype model for Sujatha High School, Hyderabad. This prototype model will help the school transportation management to design shortest and fastest school bus routes and they can also allocate bus stops, which will help them in selecting the pick-up stops for the students and staff, according to their concentration in the areas. This thesis has also, through literature study, investigated how a school transport management system can improve the transportation security. For the time being, there is a general belief that ICT contributes to improving the security, although a quantification of such improvements are lacking. The user interface application has been developed by using VBA and ArcGIS 9.1 Network Analyst provided by Environmental Science Research Institute and it has been evaluated by GIS users.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2004.

This work reviewed various tree detection and delineation algorithms and developed another one for ESRI ArcGIS Desktop software. This algorithm which employs the principles of local maxima filtering and region growing technique was enhanced by successfully applying NDVI index. Consequently, this algorithm was tested on 11 sample plots. These plots were located in the forest stand 187 C 10a (according to Forest Management Plan 2013 - 2022) in the forest section Proklest which belongs to the forest district Habrůvka in The Training Forest Enterprise Masaryk Forest Křtiny. The results were consequently, evaluated using these 6 different spatial resolutions: 10 cm, 20 cm, 40 cm, 60 cm, 80 cm and 100 cm. This evaluation was based on the comparison with manually vectorised 1,560 tree crowns. Spatial resolution of 40 cm provided the most accurate results for tree counting. At a standard deviation of 7.8 %, the accuracy reached 98 % of the reference layer. In the case of tree crown delineation, the most accurate results were provided for the spatial resolution of 80 cm. The accuracy reached 103 % with standard deviation of 9.6 %.

The thesis deals with the question of using available sources of elevation data for the evaluation of topographic factor in estimating the amount of water erosion in the area. Work compares the results with consideration to the origin of the data, the accuracy and resolution of the digital terrain model, which is interpolated from the source data. The calculation of topographic factor in ArcGIS will be confronted with the results of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The frequency of compliance will tell us which data source and digital terrain model resolution is the most suitable for determining the topographic factor.