Alberto Giordano

Spatial patterning of vulture scavenged human remains

This article presents the results of a pilot study on the effects of vulture modification to human remains. A donated body from the Willed Body Donation Program was placed at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF), an outdoor human decomposition laboratory located at Texas State University-San Marcos. The effects of vulture scavenging on the timing and sequence, and the rate of skeletonization, disarticulation, and dispersal were observed via a motion sensing camera and direct observation. Using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies and spatial analytical methods, the transport of skeletal elements was mapped in order to analyze dispersal and terrain-influenced patterns of active vulture scavenging. Results showed that the initial scavenging took place 37 days after placement at FARF. This delay in scavenging differs from previous research. After the initial appearance of the vultures, the body was reduced from a fully-fleshed individual to a skeleton within only 5h. This underscores the potential for errors in postmortem interval estimations made at vulture scavenged scenes. Additionally, spatial analysis showed that skeletal elements were dispersed by vultures to lower elevations, and that the disarticulation and dispersal of the skeletal elements occurs early in the scavenging sequence.

Positional accuracy, positional uncertainty, and feature change detection in historical maps: Results of an experiment

Abstract The measurement and management of positional accuracy and positional uncertainty is especially problematic in historical cartography and Historical GIS applications, for at least two reasons: first, historical sources, and especially historical maps, generally carry a higher degree of positional inaccuracy and uncertainty compared to contemporary geographic databases; second, it is always difficult and often impossible to reliably measure the positional accuracy and positional uncertainty of the spatial attribute of historical data. As an added complication, the terms “inaccuracy” and “uncertainty” are often used as synonyms in the literature, with relatively little attention given to issues of uncertainty. In this article we propose a methodology for detecting the positional inaccuracy and positional uncertainty of measurements of urban change using historical maps at a very high spatial resolution (the building). A widely accepted and routinely employed method for detecting urban change, and spatial change in general, consists in overlaying two or more maps created at different dates, but the technique can lead to the formation of spurious changes—typically, sliver polygons—that are the product of misclassification error or map misalignment rather than actual modifications in land cover. In this paper we develop an algorithm to detect such spurious changes. More in general, we extend the discussion to examine the effects of positional uncertainty and positional inaccuracy in feature change detection analysis. The case-study is the city of Milan, Italy.

Using Spatial Analysis and Geovisualization to Reveal Urban Changes: Milan, Italy, 1737–2005

Abstract The Italian city of Milan provides a fascinating laboratory for disentangling the historical layers that structure the spatial layout of a European city. In the last 250 years, the temporal span of this study, Milan has played a key role in Italys industrialization and as its gateway to the centres of economic and cultural modernization in Western Europe. This article proposes a spatial analytical methodology that incorporates geovisualization techniques to discover and map urban change in Milan. Using historical maps dating back to the eighteenth century and a 2005 official city map, we applied methods of spatial analysis and geovisualization techniques to determine which parts of the city changed the most in the time interval considered. We then drew parallels between urban changes and political changes in the history of the city. Urban change is defined here as a change in the form and structure of the city (new buildings, new or widened roads, new squares, etc.). Results indicate that morpho...

Civil War Maps of the Battle of Stones River: History and the Modern Landscape

Abstract This paper describes a methodology for evaluating the planimetric accuracy of three US Civil War maps using GIS and spatial analytical techniques. The case-study is the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee and, in particular, maps depicting the events of December 31, 1862. An examination of the objectives, limitations and techniques employed by the topographer engineers who created the maps provides focus for the quantitative analysis and establishes the historical context needed to understand how and why the maps were constructed. The paper shows how GIS and spatial analysis can be utilized to document vanishing historic landscapes and reconstructing where certain historical events took place.

Locations of Employment Services and People With Disabilities A Geographical Analysis of Accessibility

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services and One-Stop Career Centers (One-Stops) are the 2 principal public services intended to increase the employment rates of people with disabilities through employment and training services. As a first step in assessing accessibility of the locations of employment services, this study compared the location of VRs and One-Stops with areas of high numbers of nonemployment among people with disabilities and high numbers of unemployment in the general population. Using geographic information science and the spatial technique of the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), we analyzed the locations of the 2 programs and the concentrations of nonemployed people with disabilities at national and intrastate scales. We found that areas with high numbers of nonemployed people with disabilities are geographically underserved by both VRs and One-Stops, which raises questions about site selection and geographic accessibility.

How near is near? The distance perceptions of residents of a nuclear emergency planning zone

This paper reports the results of a study conducted within the emergency planning zone (EPZ) of the Nine Mile Point (NMP) nuclear complex located in Oswego County, New York. An EPZ is the area in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant for which detailed plans are implemented for the management of emergencies and for the communication of the risks of nuclear energy production. EPZs are subdivided into emergency response planning areas (ERPAs) according to distance from the plant. This study aimed at discovering how residents of the NMP EPZ perceived distance to the nuclear plant. Distance was conceptualized in five different and complementary ways: estimated straight line distance, estimated driving distance, actual straight distance, actual driving distance and perceived distance. The results indicate that people living at a very short distance from the nuclear plant perceive and estimate distance differently than people living farther away. These results have policy implications and suggest alternative and potentially more efficient ways to redesign ERPAs. Fundamental geographic variables and concepts such as distance, location, proximity and their associated human perceptions are important human dimensions of risk analysis. These results should be of interest to nuclear emergency planners and are probably applicable to many other hazard planning activities.

Wireless Mapping, GIS, and Learning about the Digital Divide: A Classroom Experience

Abstract The purpose of this article is to describe a capstone course in undergraduate student geographical research in which GIS and other geospatial tools were used to teach undergraduate students basic geographical principles. The course uses the “cooperative learning” pedagogical approach to address one of a number of client-supplied research projects, chosen on the basis of logistical difficulty, time, student ability, and project importance. In the connection of primary data with existing data, students confronted a number of important research issues such as mapping ethics, database design and management, time management, group dynamics, and research limitations.

Spatiality of the Stages of Genocide: The Armenian Case

This article describes the construction of a historical GIS (HGIS) of the Armenian genocide and its application to study how the genocide unfolded spatially and temporally using stage models proposed by Gregory Stanton. The Kazarian manuscript provided a daily record of events related to the genocide during 1914-1923 and served as a primary source. Models outlining and describing the stages of genocide provide a structured and vetted approach to studying the spatial and temporal aspects of the genocidal process, especially genocide by attrition. This article links HGIS to a qualitative, historical source and describes the uncertainties that arise when mapping historical events. While the genocide literature is abundant in areas related to theory and practice, examples of explicitly spatial analyses are lacking. Our contribution aims at filling this gap.

Cartographic Constructs: A Case Study of Nantucket Island Oral Histories

The island of Nantucket has, in the last fifty years, undergone great social and environmental changes. Using geographic information systems (GIS) and building on principles of grounded visualization—the visualization of qualitative data to detect trends and patterns—and mixed methods research, we employ a cartographic construct of oral histories to investigate how changes were perceived on the island. We found that respondents concentrated largely on economic factors rather than abstract concepts when articulating change and interpreted historical events, even relatively distant ones, employing a narrative of the islands past that was largely a construction of a small elite of visionaries.

Extending Metadata Standards for Historical GIS Research: A Case Study of the Holocaust in Budapest and the Armenian Genocide in Turkey

This article proposes a structure for handling commonly observed uncertainties in geo-historical data, using as case studies two historical geographical information systems HGIS projects that interweave historical research with the geography of genocide. The first case involves the ghettoization of Budapests Jews during the Holocaust in the second half of 1944. The more recent work, and the second case, covers the Armenian genocide spanning most of WWI and several years afterwards. The authors suggest using existing metadata standards as one way of handling the inherent uncertainties of geo-historical sources. While not a definitive solution, they argue that such an approach provides a starting point and a platform to conceptually frame the use of geo-historical data in HGIS.