published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Geographic Information System

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No description available.

One of the major themes of geography is human and environment interaction. Human activities shape and influence the natural environment in numerous ways, and the effects of these activities vary across space and time. Conservation planning is concerned with the mitigation of human-induced habitat degradation and frequently involves spatial analysis of human impacts on natural ecosystems for the purpose of formulating conservation strategies. The goal of this thesis is to employ spatial analysis tools, namely Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial multiple criteria decision-making methods, to prioritize a network of potential conservation sites according to their relative conservation value. I compared state-managed roadsides within Leon County, Florida in terms of their relative suitability for ground-nesting bees in order to determine which roadsides would best meet the goals of pollinator conservation through the Florida Wildflower Program. Using GIS, in combination with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), I created a spatial model depicting nesting suitability for ground-nesting bees in Leon County according to relevant site characteristics. The analysis combined both quantitative information sources and qualitative judgements applied through the AHP weighting procedure, which determines the relative significance of different factors through pair-wise comparisons. This model provided a means of comparing the relative habitat suitability of all state-managed roadsides in the county for ground-nesting bees based on the chosen factors. The suitability model was validated through a statistical analysis involving presence/absence data for three genera of ground-nesting bees. The model was found to be significant for two of the three genera, indicating that the suitability values generated through the modelling process are meaningful. I conclude that the method employed for this analysis is effective in assessing the relative suitability of potential insect pollinator conservation sites and can aid in the process of determining the best locations to focus future conservation efforts. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester 2018. / April 6, 2018. / AHP, conservation, GIS, habitat suitability, MCDA, native bees / Includes bibliographical references. / Xiaojun Yang, Professor Directing Thesis; Victor Mesev, Committee Member; Tingting Zhao, Committee Member.

Given the large volume of data that is regularly accumulated, the need to properly manage, efficiently display and correctly interpret, becomes more important. Complex analysis of data is best performed using statistical models and in particular those with a geographical element are best analysed using Spatial Statistical Methods, including local regression. Spatial Statistical Methods are employed in a wide range of disciplines to analyse and interpret data where it is necessary to detect significant spatial patterns or relationships. The topic of the research presented in this thesis is an exploration of the most effective methods of visualising results. A human being is capable of processing a vast amount of data as long as it is effectively displayed. However, the perceptual load will at some point exceed the cognitive processing ability and therefore the ability to comprehend data. Although increases in data scale did increase the cognitive load and reduce processing, prior knowledge of geographical information systems did not result in an overall processing advantage. The empirical work in the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part aims to gain insight into visualisations which would be effective for interpretation and analysis of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), a popular Spatial Statistical Method. Three different visualisation techniques; two dimensional, three dimensional and interactive, are evaluated through an experiment comprising two data set sizes. Interactive visualisations perform best overall, despite the apparent lack of researcher familiarity. The increase in data volume can present additional complexity for researchers. Although the evaluation of the first experiment augments understanding of effective visualisation display, the scale at which data can be adequately presented within these visualisations is unclear. Therefore, the second empirical investigation seeks to provide insight into data scalability, and human cognitive limitations associated with data comprehension. The general discussion concludes that there is a need to better inform researchers of the potential of interactive visualisations. People do need to be properly trained to use these systems, but the limits of human perceptual processing also need to be considered in order to permit more efficient and insightful analysis.

This project is focused on the goal of improving access to the Water Resources Institute (WRI) archives using a web-based GIS architecture. This project uses the newest version of ArcGIS Server as a method to support an internet-based map search environment, improved information management and data sharing.

In Lombok Island (Indonesia), the ratio of land area to population is already low, and is likely to decrease because of the increasing size of the human population. The management of land resources is, therefore, important, to ensure the wise and sustainable use of the available land in meeting population demands, especially for food. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used successfully in resource management, and this area of their application has been a major driver in the development of GIS. Because agrosystems need to be tuned to the specific characteristics of regional environments, regionalisation is one way to improve agricultural production and the management of agrotechnology development. The identification of potential areas for growing soybean, peanut and common bean was conducted based on two tools: GIS analysis and the 30 group regionalisation. Both techniques have advantages and disadvantages. Using GIS, exact mapping of the potential category of each grid cell can be done, but it cannot be used to estimate the total humid periods and suitable planting times in a year. Using a regionalisation, these can be done, but only when purposes is suggested as more widely applicable than using GIS analysis. Both techniques have a role to play. Based on an initial validation of the techniques employed and the results obtained, further work is suggested, either for the optimum application of the results presently obtained or for the improvement of the techniques of analysis and thence the production of results for future use. / Master of Science (Hons)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Carolina, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2002. / Adviser: Charles Schweger. Includes bibliographical references.