Benito Manuel Zaragozí

A free and open source programming library for landscape metrics calculations

Landscape metrics are used in a wide range of environmental studies such as land use change and land degradation studies, soil erosion and run-off predictions, management of hunting communities, and strategic planning for environmental management, to name just a few. Due to their utility for a variety of applications, there are many indices and software packages that have been designed to provide calculations and analysis of landscape structure patterns in categorical maps. With the purpose of making a comparison between the most used tools (Fragstats, V-Late, PA4...), this paper examines their advantages and disadvantages in order to create a list of common features that need to be incorporated into this type of software. An Application Programming Interface (API) is produced without limitations on data input, that is capable of calculating vector or raster metrics and is extensible. This API should make it possible not only to build third party applications easily, but also make it possible to add new metrics and research into new paradigms related to traditional landscape metrics. Land-metrics DIY (Do It Yourself) is the library presented in this paper. It can calculate almost 40 landscape metrics from geometry provided by an ESRI Shapefile.

Development of free and opensource GIS software for cartographic generalisation and occupancy area calculations

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) considers that a decrease in the area of occupancy (AOO) is a critical criterion for listing a species as rare, endemic or threatened. However, methods for the accurate measurement of changes in the area of occupancy are relatively limited, and existing methods are influenced by spatial scale and sampling methods. To overcome such cartographic problems, different cartographic methods were proposed in this study and implemented in a free and open source GIS library. A single species (Helianthemum caput-felis Boiss.), which is distributed in many countries of the western Mediterranean, was used as a case study. This plant is threatened and protected because its preferred habitat is near the sea where urban growth is high in the Mediterranean regions. Intensive field work was initially conducted to create a geodatabase with more than 13,000 GPS points. Cartographic methods were then applied to the geodatabase to obtain AOO measurements at different scales to support sustainable urban planning. Based on positive experiences with the use of the programming library, it is believed that these open source tools can be customised and extended to other similar biogeographic studies that require data analysis at different scales.

Advances in camera trap data management tools: Towards collaborative development and integration with GIS

This project has been carried out thanks to the UNCROACH project (CGL-2011-30581-CC02-01) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; and has been partially funded by the public call for research projects of the Conselleria of Education (T6217-2010); and the Institute of Culture Juan Gil-Albert-Alicante.

Use of GIS to predict potential distribution areas for wild boar (Sus scrofa Linnaeus 1758) in Mediterranean regions (SE Spain)

Abstract The wild boar is the target species selected for developing a GIS model of potential habitat for big game species, mainly using many GIS layers and kilometric abundance indices (KAI). We identify and weight environmental factors that determine the suitability for wild boar populations in a Mediterranean region, highly influenced by urban and agro-forestry activities. Marina Baja region (Spain) is selected to make a regional analysis. In the GIS modelling process, a suitability value is assigned to each pixel, which represents the habitat preference of the species. In the potential habitat model some variables were considered, the most important being land use. Voronoi polygons are generated by calculating the centroid of census transects located with GPS. These polygons are combined with the ‘suitability’ layer to obtain potentiality values, involving the displacement of the wild boar impedances within each Voronoi polygon. Finally, it performs the cartographic generalization process to obtain the resulting potential areas. We have obtained six potential areas that represent 39% of the region and they are best for the species. Natural vegetation is the most important landcover type in these areas. The cost-distance model is an efficient tool that gives good results in line with existing knowledge of species distribution. The model is constructed in order to explain, understand and predict the relations of analysed species using a determinate number of environmental variables. Thus, the use of GIS has allowed the information coming from different sources to be integrated in a simple way, allowing wild boar observations (KAI) to be combined with the cost-distance analysis result.

A proposal for design and implementation of an hybrid navigation system based on open data, augmented reality and big data: Applications for the smart cities

Indoor positioning and navigation systems have attributes which make their use inadvisable in certain applications. Our main purpose is to investigate these issues in order to improve accessibility in Smart Cities. In the last decade, there are increasing efforts to develop a sustainable and precise indoor navigation system to be used in any situation. There are interesting proposals but they suffer from various constraints (accuracy, cost, complexity, etc), so the use of hybrid and targeted solutions is mandatory. In an effort to address these problems, in this study we will develop an affordable and accurate indoor location system. Firstly, we will use geodata from the the Open Data initiative of the Spanish Conference of University Rectors. After studying its data model, we will create new methods to automatically derive new geometric layers, useful for accessibility studies. Then, all relevant information will be published via standard protocols and web services. In the second phase of this project, we will design an indoor positioning network (Bluetooth, WiFi, etc) based on indoor mapping. Finally, this positioning and navigation system will be used for performing different mobility experiments from the Smart Cities perspective.

Should EU Land Use and Land Cover Data be managed with a NoSQL Document Store

Land cover (LC) is a scientific landscape classification based on physical properties of earth materials. This information is usually retrieved through remote sensing techniques (e.g. forest cover, urban, clay content, among others). In contrast, Land use (LU) is defined from an anthropocentric point of view. It describes how a specific area is used (e.g. it is usual to indicate whether a territory supports an intensive, extensive use or it is unused). Both geospatial layers are essential inputs in many socio-economic and environmental studies. The INSPIRE directive provides technical data specifications for harmonization and sharing of voluminous LU/ LC datasets across all countries of the EU. The INSPIRE initiative proposes Object-Oriented Modelling as a data modelling methodology. However, the most used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are built upon relational databases. This may jeopardize LU/LC data usability, since GIS practitioners will eventually face the object-relational impedance mismatch. In this paper, the authors introduce the SIOSE database (Spanish Land Cover and Land Use Information System), which was the first implementation of an object-oriented land cover and Land-use datamodel, in line with the recommendation of the INSPIRE Directive, separating both themes. SIOSE data can be downloaded as relational database files, where information describing each single LU/LC object is divided among several related tables, so database queries can be complex and time consuming. The authors show these technical complexities through a computational experience, comparing SQL and NoSQL databases for querying spatial data downloaded from SIOSE. Finally, the authors conclude that NoSQL geodatabases deserve to be further explored because they could scale for LU/LC data, both horizontally and vertically, better than relational geodatabases, improving usability and making the most of the EU harmonization efforts.

Distribución de la gineta (Geneta geneta Linnaeus, 1758) en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Mariola (C. Valenciana)

Este proyecto ha sido financiado en parte por las ayudas de investigacion del Instituto Alicantino de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert.

A data driven study of relationships between relief and farmland abandonment in a Mediterranean region

The environmental, cultural and socio-economic causes and consequences of farmland abandonmentare issues of increasing concern for researchers and policy makers. In previous studies, we proposed a new methodology for selecting the driving factors in farmland abandonment processes. Using Data Mining and GIS, it is possible to select those variables which are more significantly related to abandonment. The aim of this study is to investigate the application of the above mentioned methodology for finding relationships between relief and farmland abandonmentin a Mediterraneanregion(SE Spain).We havetaken into accountup to 28 different variables in a single analysis, some of them commonly considered in land use change studies (slope, altitude, TWI, etc), but also other novel variables have been evaluated (sky view factor, terrain view factor, etc). The variable selection process provides results in line with the previous knowledge of the study area, describing some processes that are region specific (e.g. abandonment versus intensification of the agricultural activities). The European INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) establishes that the digital elevation models for land surfaces should be available in all member countries, this means that the research described in this work can be extrapolated to any European country to determine whether these variables (slope, altitude, etc) are important in the process of abandonment.

Inventario y descripción de los hornos de cal en el agrosistema tradicional de la Finca Buixcarró (P.N. Sierra de Mariola)

espanolSe ha realizado un inventario de los hornos de cal en la Finca Buixcarro, termino municipal de Bocairente (Valencia), situada en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Mariola. Para localizar los hornos, se ha contado con la colaboracion del responsable tecnico y tambien se fotointerpretaran mediante la aplicacion Google Earth, con tal de encontrar los hornos. Para ello se elaborara una capa de puntos con formato *.kml, posteriormente introduciremos en al GPS, mediante el software (MapSource). Se muestreo la finca en busqueda de hornos y se georreferencio cada uno de ellos mediante la utilizacion de un dispositivo GPS, generando un waypoint con su X-Y correspondiente. Una vez georreferenciados los hornos de la finca con formato *.gpx, se elaboro la cartografia correspondiente. Se utilizara GPSBabel y QuantumGis para elaborar la cartografia de los hornos de cal. Se han registrado un total de 24 hornos de cal, de los cuales el 60% presentan un estado de degradacion bastante elevado. Se han identificado 20 categorias de usos del suelo, siendo el bosque mixto (Pinus halepensis – Quercus ilex) y el pinar carrasco (Pinus halepensis) las coberturas que mayor superficie ocupan. El inventariado de estas infraestructuras contribuye a la conservacion del patrimonio material y cultural de este espacio natural protegido. EnglishWe have compiled an inventory of lime kilns in Finca del Buixcarro, which is located in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Mariola, Bocairent (Valencia). The lime kilns were first located using the Google Earth software, in collaboration with the technical manager of this Natural Park. Using this GIS software, a point layer was digitized (*.kml format) and uploaded to a GPS device by using the MapSource software. Then we visited each lime kiln using the GPS device, creating a more accurate GIS layer (*.gpx format) for mapping purposes. GPSBabel and Quantum GIS were used for developing a detailed lime kilns map. We registered a total of 24 lime kilns, of which 60 % are quite damaged. We have identified 20 categories of land use, being mixed forest (Pinus halepensis – Quercus ilex) and Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) the most important coverages. This inventory will contribute to the conservation of material and cultural heritage of this protected area, becoming an important management tool.

Estimación del hábitat del jabalí (Sus scrofa Linnaeus 1758) en el Parque Natural de la Serra de Mariola mediante Sistemas de Información Geográfica

Este proyecto ha sido financiado en parte por las ayudas para la investigacion del Instituto Alicantino de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert.