Trevor M. Harris

Community participation and geographic information systems.

Geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information technologies (GIT) are increasingly employed in research and development projects that incorporate community participation. For example, there are now applications involving indigenous natural resource mapping in arctic and tropical regions within the Americas (Marozas, 1993; Cultural Survival Quarterly, 1995; Bond, this volume). There is also a rapidly growing network of planning professionals interested in how GIS can merge with community participation in the context of neighborhood revitalization and urban planning (Aitkin and Michel, 1995; Craig and Elwood, 1998; Leitner et al., this volume; Sawicki and Peterman, this volume; Talen, 1999, 2000). Environmental groups are experimenting with community GIS applications to promote environmental equity and address environmental racism (Sieber, 2000; Kellog, 1999). Furthermore, NGOs, aid organizations, and governmental agencies are linking communities with geographic information systems as they seek to promote more popular and sustainable development projects (Dunn, et al., 1997; Elwood and Leitner, 1998; Gonzalez, 1995; Harris et al., 1995; Hutchinson and Toledano, 1993; Jordan and Shrestha, 1998; Kwaku-Kyem, 1999; Mitchell, 1997; Obermeyer and Pinto, 1994; Rambaldi, G. and J. Callosa 2000; Weiner, et al., 1995; Weiner and Harris, 1999).

Apartheid Representations in a Digital Landscape: GIS, Remote Sensing and Local Knowledge in Kiepersol, South Africa

A GIS is currently being developed for the Kiepersol locality in the Eastern Transvaal which integrates conventional environmental and infrastructural data with nonconventional behavioral and cognitive information. Regional political ecology informs the GIS design in which socially differentiated knowledge sources are brought together. The GIS production process is undertaken with concern for the competing discourses associated with post-apartheid social transformation in South Africa and in full appreciation that geographic information systems are social constructions. The multiple realities of resource access and use represented within the Kiepersol GIS are intended to contribute to democratic decision-making for land and agrarian reform.

Climate change, winter wheat yield and soil erosion on the English south downs

Abstract The EPIC (Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator) model is used to assess the impact of increased atmospheric CO2 levels upon winter wheat yield and soil erosion on the UK South Downs. This impact includes both the direct effects of increased CO2 concentration upon the crops metabolic processes, and the indirect effects of CO2-induced climate change upon crop growth. Yield increases are predicted under the majority of climatic scenarios used in the simulations; these increases are considerable when the direct effects of increased CO2 levels are considered. However, they are unlikely to be realised in practice due to increased pest competition. An increase in erosion is predicted for the wetter scenarios. The EPIC model appears generally suited to this kind of impact analysis, although changes are required in some areas.

The application of GIS in urban and regional planning: a review of the North American experience

The diffusion of GIS within North American planning has occurred at a remarkable rate. Growing awareness, institutional acceptance, falling system costs and product diversity have led to a plethora of planning applications, varying in maturity and sophistication. The field is now sufficiently well established to allow meaningful trends, evaluations and directions to be reviewed. GIS applications in planning are characterized by geographical scale and the dominant influences shaping GIS utilization in planning are examined at the national, regional, trans-regional, metropolitan and neighbourhood scales. Transformations brought about by the interplay of GIS and planning are presented. Planning, and the technology which supports it, reflects the culture of the society it serves. North America is currently experiencing a revolution in the linking of computer-based Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to planning issues. This symbiotic relationship reflects the vernacular approach to urban and regional planning, and an emphasis on high-technology solutions to economic development. North America serves well as a focus for examining trends arising from these GIS-planning initiatives. The continent has a long history of GIS applications in planning and resource management dating back to the mid-1960s. The diffusion of GIS into the planning sphere has continued at a remarkable rate. This process is reasonably well documented, albeit in disparate and mostly informal sources. Growing awareness, institutional acceptance, falling system costs, product diversity, the introduction of microcomputers and the availability of PC-based GIS software have led to a plethora of planning-based applications. Given the longevity and rate of growth of GIS in planning in North America, the field is now sufficiently well established to allow meaningful trends, evaluations and directions to be reviewed. No single source is yet available that enumerates the diversity and scope of GIS applications in urban and regional planning in North America. Early studies by Dueker (1979), Tomlinson (1987) and Wellar (1975) identified major trends and impediments to the development of GIS in the planning domain. More recently, studies by Warnecke (1992), Vonderohe and Saleh (1991), Huxhold (1990), and Scholten and Stillwell (1990) have focused on the use of GIS in specific planning roles or in a non-American context. Because of the variety and extent of GIS usage at the continental scale, these assessments have necessarily been subjective and partial. Trends in software, hardware and application area have largely been interpreted on the basis of personal involvement and knowledge. The rapid spread of GIS, coupled with the diversity of planning applications, precludes any review from remaining current for long, though many trends will remain extant for some

Scale as Artifact: GIS, Ecological Fallacy, and Archaeological Analysis

The concept of scale is confusing, frustrating, little understood, and yet . . . intriguing. Geography, as the discipline with spatial pattern and relationships as its core focus, has traditionally embraced and confronted the meaning, interpretation, explanatory power, and some would suggest, intractability, that scale brings to studies. There are many other spatially related disciplines such as archaeology that share with geography the need to operate across a scale continuum ranging from the local to the regional, national, and international levels. Indeed, as Mcmaster and Sheppard (2004) point out, it is difficult to identify a completely ‘‘scaleless’’ discipline. Our understanding of geographical and archaeological patterns, societal processes, and spatial heterogeneity, are highly dependent on scale. Because of the extent and complexity of the Earth’s surface, researchers must invariably sample, generalize, or aggregate in order to comprehend reality. Identifying an appropriate scale of data capture and analysis to use in a study, and managing the trade-offs that must occur in matching resources with data capture, have long been acknowledged. But while scale is readily associated with the level of detail involved with geographical description, what is missing from most studies is any discussion of how representative that scale of analysis is, given that there are no standard measures of uncertainty related to particular scales of analysis (Tate and Atkinson 2001). Indeed, Meentemeyer (1989) suggests that it seems that study scales are selected unconsciously and therefore may seem to be completely arbitrary. Watson (1978) observes that we tend to work at one analytical level exclusively and implicitly, without considering other alternatives, almost as an act of faith. Scale issues associated with line generalization, scale of data capture and data display, and with the even less well-known issues of ecological fallacy and its derivative, the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem, are only rarely acknowledged.

Interfacing archaeology and the world of citizen sensors: exploring the impact of neogeography and volunteered geographic information on an authenticated archaeology

Abstract Emerging out of Web 2.0 there have been almost breath-taking technological advances in the geospatial web spurred on by developments in neogeography and the inter-connectivity provided by published open-source application programming interfaces. In addition, the greater availability of location-intelligent devices, social media technologies and the advent of volunteered geographic information promises to further revolutionize traditionally conceived geospatial technologies and empower a world of spatially aware citizen sensors. Together, these new Web 2.0 geospatial platforms and citizen-generated geotagged media pose significant opportunities and challenges to the traditional geospatial framework of GIS and standards-based spatial databases, and to archaeology. The new Web 2.0 geospatial capabilities enable communities of stakeholders and interest groups to contribute, participate, and draw upon spatial data and mapping services formerly in the domain of expert geospatial and archaeological communities.

The Geospatial Web and local geographical education

Recent innovations in the Geospatial Web represent a paradigm shift in Web mapping by enabling educators to explore geography in the classroom by dynamically using a rapidly growing suite of impressive online geospatial tools. Coupled with access to spatial data repositories and User-Generated Content, the Geospatial Web provides a powerful environment for incorporating geographical analysis into mainstream education. While traditional expert-driven Geographic Information Systems are endowed with powerful tools and techniques to analyze and solve spatial problems, the Geospatial Web allows all levels of users to perform spatial analysis and generate customized maps more easily than ever before. The Geospatial Web promises to revolutionize the ways in which students explore concepts of space and place at geographical scales from the local to the global.

Alternative Approaches to Soil Erosion Prediction and Conservation Using Expert Systems and Neural Networks

In response to on-site and off-site water-borne soil erosion impacts, considerable effort has been expended in recent decades in conceptualising and developing quantitative models for soil erosion prediction. Such models have focused on deductive process-based modelling, emphasising replication of the physical laws operational in soil erosion and seeking to encapsulate the conditions, processes, and practices deemed responsible for erosion events. This paper proposes an alternative, inductive, use of two variants of empirical models: those of expert systems and artificial neural networks. Though empirically based, these models offer significant advantages and potential for both soil erosion prediction and conservation. In these models the theoretical understanding of the soil erosion process is expressed in the sample erosion sites selected for rule generation and in the related site attributes. Importantly, the approach is empirical not one of empiricism.

The accuracy of enclosure estimates: some evidence from northern England

Abstract Michael Turners edition of Tates Domesday draws upon the uneven estimates provided in enclosure acts and awards. For 35 sample acts and awards in Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland and Westmorland estimates of the acreages enclosed are compared with actual acreages of land allotted. Estimates in early acts are less accurate than in later acts, and estimates for parishes where only small areas were enclosed are proportionately less accurate than those for which large areas were enclosed.

Geocollaborative Soil Boundary Mapping in an Experiential GIS Environment

Soil maps are an important and integral component of national geospatial data infrastructures. The creation of these maps involves a geovisualization exercise whereby soil scientists develop cognitive models that correlate observable landscape features to soil occurrence. This is traditionally an analog process, cognitively demanding, time consuming, and invariably non-collaborative. A new geovirtual soil mapping technique is proposed in this paper in the form of an innovative Experiential GIS (EGIS) environment. This immersive environment enables soil maps to be constructed through experiencing and interacting with spatial data through immersion in 3D geovirtual scenes. The system outlined integrates GIS, immersive geovisualization, and robust geodatabase capabilities. Four soil scientists with extensive soil mapping experience ranging from 5 to over 20 years are concurrently immersed in the same 3D geovirtual landscape which more closely mirrors the way in which we view the world around us. The soil scientists are immersed within the 3D scene where they are essentially freed from the laws of physics, and may roam anywhere across the landscape as if in a virtual helicopter. The landscape is draped with any combination of orthoimagery and GIS-derived data allowing soil scientists to interpret, digitally delineate, and attribute soil boundaries. Exploiting the EGIS technology while maintaining the centrality of the soil scientist in soil interpretation and soil map production, promises considerable resource efficiencies than those achieved in traditional soil survey. The paper lays out the nature of this potential paradigm shift in soil mapping. The results of using this technology to construct soil geographic knowledge are also discussed in terms of soil map detail, cost efficiencies, time effectiveness, system usability, geocollaborative soil mapping advantages, and the reduced cognitive workload on practicing soil scientists.