Tomáš Řezník

Advanced methods of cell phone localization for crisis and emergency management applications

Real-time people localization cannot be achieved through statistical methods during crisis/emergency management events. An International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catcher was proposed as a nontraditional method for cell phone-based people localization. We verified the idea of using a cell phone as a sensor and tested the possibility of transmitting cell phone data through the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement. Four large field tests were performed and are described in detail. The main conclusions for IMSI catcher deployment were search within a limited radius from its placement and the number of localized people was not a limiting aspect; although the technology for advanced cell phone-based localization is available for crisis/emergency management applications, we do not yet have sufficient ability to handle this technology.

Web 3D Visualization of Noise Mapping for Extended INSPIRE Buildings Model

This paper deals with cross-domain environmental aspects of noise mapping which is commonly understood as a stand-alone initiative. Scientific core of this research lies in the integration of noise mapping with interoperable data sources, where the European Union’s INSPIRE (INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe) Directive is nowadays one of the main.

Best Practice Network GS SOIL Promoting Access to European, Interoperable and INSPIRE Compliant Soil Information

INSPIRE provides the framework for the establishment of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure. The cross-border use and applicability of data requires that specific standards and rules are fulfilled by data providers. Such rules are currently being developed as data specifications. Soil as a theme in the INSPIRE annex III is included in this process, and was selected as the target theme for the EU best practice network GS SOIL ”Assessment and strategic development of INSPIRE compliant Geodata-Services for European soil data”. The project contributes to the harmonization and provision of interoperable soil geodata in Europe. The main deliverable of the project is the web portal http://gssoil-portal.eu/, which provides information, data management tools and links to data sources. Examples are the soil specific multilingual thesaurus, a metadata editor and catalogue service, provision of WMS and prototype WFS.

Normalized evaluation of the performance, capacity and availability of catalogue services: a pilot study based on INfrastruture for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe

Geographic information has a great potential to be re-used when supported by mechanisms for its discovery. Above all, the quality of a catalogue service is the key feature supporting users in the discovery process. So far, there have been in existence various methodologies dealing with the normalized evaluation of quality with respect to catalogue services. Their biggest weakness seems to be in the depth of quality testing, i.e. some influences are beyond the scope of evaluation of these methodologies with respect to quality in catalogue services. In this study, the quality of 45 catalogue services across Europe was verified with the proposed normalized evaluation methodology originating from documents within the INfrastruture for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe (INSPIRE) framework. This paper discusses the (statistical) influence of factors that may significantly change the results of catalogue service testing. The proposals for improving the existing INSPIRE normalized evaluation procedure are applicable for any spatial data infrastructure and/or Digital Earth component using the Open Geospatial Consortium Catalogue Service for the Web as a basis.

Geographic Information for Command and Control Systems

This paper deals with the issue of integration of geographic information (GI) into (existing) command and control systems. The main motivations and benefits of such integration are described at the beginning. Open as well as proprietary solutions are discussed. The core of the paper lies in the definition of the Emergency Support System, including the user requirements, architecture, field tests and assessment. Beside others, conclusions depict issues of a system based on the Service Oriented Architecture that is integrated into a command and control system. Such issues consist of existing procedures and processes in crisis and emergency management, connection to other components of Spatial Data Infrastructures and future development.

Comparison of Standard- and Proprietary-Based Approaches to Detailed 3D City Mapping

3D information is essential for a number of applications used daily in various domains such as facility management, including energy management, urban planning, telecommunications, and safety and security, etc. This paper is devoted to 3D modelling at the level of city districts with the campus and buildings modelling use case. Different methods and technologies commonly used in this area are first analysed and discussed. Emphasis is placed on the comparison of the standardized approach, represented by the CityGML (City Geography Markup Language), and proprietary technologies (developed by Masaryk University as a part of facility management called the Building Documentation System). This comparison is demonstrated on a sample 3D model of the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Republic, situated on Kotlařska Street. Both types of 3D models were developed while focusing on their benefits and limitations. The conclusions drawn from the study present a concept of 3D city mapping with an emphasis on where the use of CityGML reaches its limits and the point from which proprietary-based solutions should be implemented. Recommendations on future CityGML development are given at the end of the article. Some of our current recommendations have been incorporated into version 2.0 of the CityGML implementation specification by the Open Geospatial Consortium. Furthermore, we are participating in the ongoing development of CityGML version 3.0.

Metainformation in Crisis Management Architecture – Theoretical Approaches, INSPIRE Solution

This chapter discusses interoperability of spatial data and services with an emphasis on the research of national standards, international trends and pan-European unification. The core of this study is research on both the ISO and OGC metainformation standards and implementation of the rules for INSPIRE metadata, which include their compatibility and inferential results.

The Design and Testing of 3DmoveR: an Experimental Tool for Usability Studies of Interactive 3D Maps

Various widely available applications such as Google Earth have made interactive 3D visualizations of spatial data popular. While several studies have focused on how users perform when interacting with these with 3D visualizations, it has not been common to record their virtual movements in 3D environments or interactions with 3D maps. We therefore created and tested a new web-based research tool: a 3D Movement and Interaction Recorder (3DmoveR). Its design incorporates findings from the latest 3D visualization research, and is built upon an iterative requirements analysis. It is implemented using open web technologies such as PHP, JavaScript, and the X3DOM library. The main goal of the tool is to record camera position and orientation during a user’s movement within a virtual 3D scene, together with other aspects of their interaction. After building the tool, we performed an experiment to demonstrate its capabilities. This experiment revealed differences between laypersons and experts (cartographers) when working with interactive 3D maps. For example, experts achieved higher numbers of correct answers in some tasks, had shorter response times, followed shorter virtual trajectories, and moved through the environment more smoothly. Interaction-based clustering as well as other ways of visualizing and qualitatively analyzing user interaction were explored.

Disaster Risk Reduction in Agriculture through Geospatial (Big) Data Processing

Intensive farming on land represents an increased burden on the environment due to, among other reasons, the usage of agrochemicals. Precision farming can reduce the environmental burden by employing site specific crop management practices which implement advanced geospatial technologies for respecting soil heterogeneity. The objectives of this paper are to present the frontier approaches of geospatial (Big) data processing based on satellite and sensor data which both aim at the prevention and mitigation phases of disaster risk reduction in agriculture. Three techniques are presented in order to demonstrate the possibilities of geospatial (Big) data collection in agriculture: (1) farm machinery telemetry for providing data about machinery operations on fields through the developed MapLogAgri application; (2) agrometeorological observation in the form of a wireless sensor network together with the SensLog solution for storing, analysing, and publishing sensor data; and (3) remote sensing for monitoring field spatial variability and crop status by means of freely-available high resolution satellite imagery. The benefits of re-using the techniques in disaster risk reduction processes are discussed. The conducted tests demonstrated the transferability of agricultural techniques to crisis/emergency management domains.

An Accessible Brno City Centre for People with Impaired Mobility

ABSTRACT Accessibility mapping is an emerging initiative across the world since people with impaired mobility are becoming more and more integrated into mainstream society. People with impaired mobility include, for example, wheelchair users, elderly people, pregnant women, or people with babies in prams or with children under three years of age. They can constitute up to 30% of the population. This paper therefore aims at creating the map for the ‘Accessibility Guide to Brno City Centre for People with Limited Mobility’ published in a paper and on the Web by Brno City Municipality (Czech Republic) in cooperation with Masaryk University between 2012 and 2016. Issues with respect to methodology, visualisation, as well as perception are discussed (Main Map). The developed map presents complex information about the accessibility of buildings in Brno city centre. General accessibility is displayed by specially developed map symbols presenting two types of information, quantitative information, i.e. the level of accessibility, and qualitative information, i.e. the type of the location.