Cycling is an underutilized mode of transportation in cities across North America. Numerous factors contribute to low ridership levels, but a key deterrent to cycling is concern for personal safety. In an effort to increase cycling mode share, many cities are investing in cycling infrastructure, with several cities constructing connected bicycle networks. Monitoring the impact of new infrastructure is important for accountability to citizens and to encourage political will for future investments in cycling facilities. A lack of spatially continuous ridership data and methodological challenges have limited monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of infrastructure changes. The goal of our research was to demonstrate spatially explicit approaches for monitoring city-wide changes in patterns of safety and ridership following improvements to cycling infrastructure. To meet our goal, our first analysis demonstrated a method for monitoring changes in the spatial-temporal distribution of cycling incidents across a city. We compared planar versus network constrained kernel density estimation for visualizing cycling incident intensity across the street network of Vancouver, Canada using cycling incidents reported to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Next, we applied a change detection algorithm to detect statistically significant change between maps of kernel density estimates. The utility of the network kernel density change detection method is demonstrated through a case study in the city of Vancouver, Canada where we compare cycling incident densities following construction of two cycle tracks in the downtown core. The methods developed and demonstrated for this study provide city planners, transportation engineers and researchers a means of monitoring city-wide changes in the patterns of cycling incidents following enhancements to cycling infrastructure. Our second analysis demonstrated how network constrained spatial analysis methods can be applied to emerging sources of crowdsourced cycling data to monitor city-wide changes in patterns of ridership. We used network constrained global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation, applied to crowdsourced ridership data from Strava, to examine changes in ridership patterns across Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada, following installation and closures of cycling infrastructure. City planners, transportation engineers and researchers can use the methods outlined here to monitor city-wide changes in ridership patterns following investment in cycling infrastructure or other changes to the transportation network. Through this thesis we help overcome the challenges associated with monitoring the impact of infrastructure changes on ridership and cycling safety. We demonstrated how network constrained spatial analysis methods can be applied to officially reported cycling incident data to identify changes in the spatial-temporal distribution of cycling safety across a transportation network. We also demonstrated how network appropriate spatial analysis techniques can be applied to large, emerging crowdsourced cycling datasets to monitor changes in patterns of ridership. These methods enhance our understanding of the city-wide impact of infrastructure changes on cycling safety and ridership patterns. / Graduate

This dissertation explores wastelands on two levels: an urban planning level and a poetic spatial level. As a real world problem, people move to suburbs (notably in the form of low density housing estates) in search of nature; as they move they destroy nature and contribute to the decay of urban form and fabric of the city. Due to the ensuing urban sprawl and other factors, cities are punctured with wastelands that lie abandoned, neglected and forgotten. On a planning level, this dissertation investigates if wastelands can become the healing tissue that a city needs to reverse urban decay of form and fabric. However, once identified for redevelopment or re-use, the intriguing enigmatic character and richness of wastelands are often ignored and erased in a process akin to gentrification - the sterilisation of wastelands results in ‘non-place’. Thus, on a spatial and experiential level, this dissertation explores the potential of wastelands to become enigmatic landscapes in reaction to the ‘non place’ of modernity. Wastelands in Pretoria are mapped in order to identify potential areas that can be re-imagined to serve a decaying city with open space, yet not be reduced to ‘non-place’ - a site in Salvokop is selected for the study. The design follows a hypothetical process that start with spatial explorations followed by planning considerations; not vice versa. Technical investigations test the validity of the proposed intervention and refine it. A portion of the site is resolved to a detailed sketch plan. / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Architecture / unrestricted

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Victor Turner (in Dodds, 1992: 82) suggests to take every day elements and rearrange them in ways not experienced every day is to create a “monster”, which will achieve liminality in architecture. The titel of this dissertation is a result of this phenomenon. In this design investigation ways to transform liminality into a building are explored. Smith (2000) states, “liminality or the liminal refers to transitional space; neither one place nor another; neither one discipline nor another; rather a thirdspace in-between”. Various devices were examined to facilitate the transition from abstract concept into architectural possibility. The following devices: typology, technology, spatial experience, interlocking volumes, superimposition, programmatic bands and atmospheric effects have been examined. The final product is a fusion of theoretical notions and technology expressed as a hybridized typology, all these qualities are arranged in ways not experienced every day, resulting in a building called the Monster. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Architecture / unrestricted

A study was conducted to investigate the relationships between cybergaming treatment groups and the control group (N = 99: ncontrol = 8; nlogic = 29; nspatial = 30; ncombination = 32) with success in the organic chemistry I course as measured by achievement over a 10-week period. The treatment groups included logic training, spatial training, and combination logic-spatial training. Students' ability was measured by pre/post exams using the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) to measure logic ability, Purdue Visualizations of Rotations (ROT) test to measure spatial skills, and the General-Organic-Biochemistry (GOB) Exam to measure content attainment. Finally, students' responses about participation in this experience were evaluated using open- and closed-ended questions on a self-developed survey. A second study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between the cybergaming treatment and control groups (N = 88: nexperimental = 27; ncontrol = 61) with success in the general chemistry I course as measured by achievement and final course averages and grades. The cybergaming treatment group underwent intensive combination logic-spatial training for 10 weeks. Students' progress was measured using three pre/post instruments: Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) measured logic ability, Purdue Visualizations of Rotations (ROT) Test measured spatial skills, and the California Chemistry Diagnostic Exam measured content attainment. Finally, students' responses about their participation in this experience were evaluated using open- and closed-ended questions on a self-developed survey. Analyses of the data were performed to determine the relationships between cybergaming treatments and control groups in organic chemistry I and general chemistry I courses. In organic chemistry I results showed no statistical or practical significance as to students' success. In general chemistry I results indicated statistical significance and medium practicality for students with an average grade of C and for females over males as to improvement of spatial skills.

Recent advances in lightning detection networks allow for detailed mapping of lightning flash locations. Longstanding rumors of geological influence on cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning distribution and recent commercial claims based on such influence can now be tested empirically. If present, such influence could represent a new, cheap and efficient geophysical tool with applications in mineral, hydrothermal and oil exploration, regional geological mapping, and infrastructure planning. This project applies statistical analysis to lightning data collected by the United States National Lightning Detection Network from 2006 through 2015 in order to assess whether the huge range in electrical conductivities of geological materials plays a role in the spatial distribution of CG lightning. CG flash densities are mapped for twelve areas in the contiguous United States and compared to elevation and geology, as well as to the locations of faults, railroads and tall towers including wind turbines. Overall spatial randomness is assessed, along with spatial correlation of attributes. Negative and positive polarity lightning are considered separately and together. Topography and tower locations show a strong influence on CG distribution patterns. Geology, faults and railroads do not. This suggests that ground conductivity is not an important factor in determining lightning strike location on scales larger than current flash location accuracies, which are generally several hundred meters. Once a lightning channel is established, however, ground properties at the contact point may play a role in determining properties of the subsequent stroke.

Two spatial data sets are considered to be similar if they originate from the same stochastic process in terms of their spatial structure. Many tests have been developed over recent years to test the similarity of certain types of spatial data, such as spatial point patterns, geostatistical data and images. This research develops a similarity test able to handle various types of spatial data, for example images (modelled spatially), point patterns, marked point patterns, geostatistical data and lattice patterns. The test consists of three steps. The first step creates a pixel image representation of each spatial data set considered. In the second step a local similarity map is created from the two pixel image representations from step one. The local similarity map is obtained by either using the well-known similarity measure for images called the Structural SIMilarity Index (SSIM) when having continuous pixel values or a direct comparison in the case of discrete pixel values. The calculation of the final similarity measure is done in the third step of the test. This calculation is based on the S-index of Andresen's spatial point pattern test. The S-index is calculated as the proportion of similar spatial units in the domain where s_i is used as a binary indicator of similarity. In the case of discrete pixel values, s_i are still used as a binary input whereas in the case of continuous pixel values the resulting SSIM values are used as a non-binary s_i input. The proposed spatial similarity test is tested with a simulation study where the simulations are designed to have comparisons that are either 80% or 90% identical. With the simulation study it is concluded that the test is not sensitive to the resolution of the pixel image. The application is done on property valuations in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The test is applied to the similarity of property prices in the same area over different years as well as testing the similarity of property prices between the different areas of properties. / Dissertation (MSc (Advanced Data Analytics))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. / Statistics / MSc (Advanced Data Analytics) / Unrestricted

In this mini-dissertation we discuss the spatial relationship between point processes and a linear network. As a starting point, we discuss basic spatial point processes and tests for first-order homogeneity. Following that, we discuss second-order properties of point processes in the form of Ripley's K-function for unmarked point patterns and the cross-K function for marked point patterns. We then get to the main focus of this mini-dissertation, that is, the spatial relationship between points and linear structures, particularly linear networks. Recently developed is a method to characterise the spatial relationship between points and linear networks by Comas et al. [13], similar to Ripley's K-function for point-to-point relationships. The non-stationarity of a linear network is of particular interest in how it affects the measurement of this spatial relationship, which has not been explicitly investigated in the literature before. To investigate this we consider the Poisson line process and how one might simulate a non-stationary line process. Furthermore, we discuss a mechanism to extend tests of first-order homogeneity of point patterns to line patterns. The non-stationary line process is used to model linear networks in the simulations conducted to determine the effect of this non-stationarity on the developed method, which was not covered in the original article [13]. The methodology is developed and tested on a real data set. / Dissertation (MSc (Advanced Data Analytics))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / ESRI South Africa / Statistics / MSc (Advanced Data Analytics) / Unrestricted

Bibliography : pages 209-222. / This investigation sought answers to three main questions 1. Irrespective of level of performance in undergraduate anatomy, descriptive astronomy or engineering drawing, do students with poor spatial visualization ability significantly under-achieve in university class examinations in these subjects relative to their spatially competent peers? If this is the case: 2. Can a battery of spatial exercises be employed to diagnose severe three-dimensional impairment amongst students failing in anatomy, descriptive astronomy and engineering drawing and, if so, what is the optimum composition of such a battery? 3. For the purposes of counselling and possible remedial teaching, at which stage during a course of university study should failing students be tested for suspected spatial ineptitude? The investigation from 1980 to 1983 involved four populations of anatomy students, three populations of astronomy students, one year of engineering students and one group of clinical remedial mathematics students. The academic performances of 1126 students were monitored during this period, and 621 of these students were singled out for special measurement of spatial achievement in their academic subjects.

Spatial ability has been studied in relation to education and gender previously, concluding that men outperform women in any field of study in spatial tasks and test batteries. For that reason, the present study aims to confirm such differences through a spatial orientation task and the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale (SBSOD). The study was conducted online with 106 participants of which 58 were men and 44 women, distributed in two groups (STEM and No-STEM). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test concluded that overall men outperform women in both the task and the test, however, there is no difference between field of study. Further research should focus on the limitations of the present study, regarding the sample size and task design. / Spatial förmåga har tidigare studerats med avseende på både studieinriktning och kön, där slutsatsen har varit att män presterar bättre än kvinnor oavsett studieinriktning vid test av spatial förmåga. Av den anledningen riktar den här studien in sig på att styrka det sambandet med hjälp av en spatial orienteringsuppgift och Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale (SBSOD). Studien genomfördes online med 106 deltagare där 58 var män och 44 kvinnor, fördelade i två grupper baserat på studieinriktning (Naturvetenskaplig och icke- naturvetenskaplig). En variansanalys (ANOVA) och ett t-test gav resultatet att män generellt presterar bättre än kvinnor i både uppgiften och testet, men det finns däremot ingen skillnad mellan studieinriktningar. Ytterligare forskning bör fokusera på begränsningarna i denna studie, avseende antal deltagare och utformning av uppgiften.