GIS, Environmental Modeling and Engineering, Second

380 Pages·2009·10.71 MB·English

by  Allan Brimicombe

Allan Brimicombe
Boca Raton London New York
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2010 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
No claim to original U.S. Government works
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
International Standard Book Number: 978-1-4398-0870-2 (Hardback)
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts
have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume
responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers
have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to
copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has
not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmit-
ted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.
com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood
Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and
registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC,
a separate system of payment has been arranged.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Brimicombe, Allan.
GIS, environmental modeling and engineering / Allan Brimicombe -- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4398-0870-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Geographic information systems. 2. Environmental sciences--Mathematical
models. 3. Environmental engineering--Mathematical models. I. Title.
G70.212.B75 2010
628.0285--dc22 2009035961
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
Contents
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................ix
The Author ..............................................................................................................xi
Abbreviations ......................................................................................................xiii
Statement on Trade Names and Trademarks ....................................................xv
1. Introduction .....................................................................................................1
Metaphors of Nature .......................................................................................2
A Solution Space? .............................................................................................4
Scope and Plan of This Book ..........................................................................5
Section I
2. From GIS to Geocomputation ....................................................................11
In the Beginning … .......................................................................................12
Technological Facilitation .............................................................................14
Representing Spatial Phenomena in GIS ....................................................19
Putting the Real World onto Media ............................................................24
Vector ..........................................................................................................26
Tessellations ...............................................................................................28
Object-Oriented .........................................................................................31
Data Characteristics .......................................................................................32
Data Collection Technologies .......................................................................37
GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems ....................................................38
Remote Sensing .........................................................................................39
Ground Survey ..........................................................................................41
Nontraditional Approaches to Data Collection ....................................42
Basic Functionality of GIS.............................................................................42
A Systems Definition of GIS .........................................................................44
Limitations of GIS and the Rise of Geocomputation and
Geosimulation ................................................................................................46
3. GIScience and the Rise of Geo-Information Engineering ..................49
Technology First … .......................................................................................49
Science to Follow … ......................................................................................52
And Now … Geo-Information Engineering ..............................................59
v
vi Contents
Section II
4. Approaches to Modeling .............................................................................63
Model of an x ..................................................................................................64
Typology of Models .......................................................................................66
Building Models .............................................................................................69
Modeling Landslides ................................................................................70
Modeling Topography ..............................................................................75
Spatio-Temporal Dimensions and the Occam–Einstein
Dimension ..................................................................................................77
Evaluating Models .........................................................................................81
Applying Models ...........................................................................................83
A Summary of Model Development ...........................................................87
5. The Role and Nature of Environmental Models ....................................91
Context of Environmental Modeling ..........................................................92
Environmental Impact Assessment........................................................94
An Integrated Approach ..........................................................................97
Sustainable Development ........................................................................99
Hazard, Vulnerability, and Risk ...........................................................101
Decision Environment ................................................................................105
Conceptual Models ......................................................................................107
Empirical Models .........................................................................................110
Models Incorporating Artificial Intelligence ...........................................117
Knowledge-Based Systems ....................................................................117
Heuristics .................................................................................................118
Artificial Neural Networks ....................................................................119
Agent-Based Models ...............................................................................121
Process Models .............................................................................................124
Lumped Parameter Models ...................................................................126
Distributed Parameter Models ..............................................................131
Discretization ......................................................................................131
Routing across a Digital Elevation Model ......................................132
Transport through a Medium ..........................................................134
Section III
6. Case Studies in GIS, Environmental Modeling, and
Engineering .................................................................................................147
Modeling Approaches in GIS and Environmental Modeling ...............147
Spatial Coexistence ......................................................................................150
Source–Pathway Characterization ............................................................157
Basin Management Planning ................................................................158
Contents vii
Coastal Oil Spill Modeling ....................................................................169
Cluster Detection .........................................................................................172
… and Don’t Forget the Web ......................................................................182
7. Issues of Coupling the Technologies ......................................................185
Some Preconditions .....................................................................................186
Initial Conceptualizations ..........................................................................189
Independent .............................................................................................190
Loosely Coupled ......................................................................................190
Tightly Coupled .......................................................................................191
Embedded ................................................................................................191
An Over-Simplification of the Issues ........................................................192
Maturing Conceptualizations ....................................................................197
Integration versus Interoperability ......................................................198
Environmental Modeling within GIS ..................................................201
Model Management ................................................................................203
Maturing Typology of Integration ............................................................207
One-Way Data Transfer ..........................................................................207
Loose Coupling .......................................................................................207
Shared Coupling .....................................................................................209
Joined Coupling .......................................................................................209
Tool Coupling ..........................................................................................209
De facto Practices ..........................................................................................210
8. Data and Information Quality Issues ....................................................213
The Issue Is … Uncertainty ........................................................................213
Early Warnings .............................................................................................217
So, How Come … ? ......................................................................................219
Imperfect Measurement .........................................................................219
Digital Representation of Phenomena .................................................220
Natural Variation ....................................................................................221
Subjective Judgment and Context .........................................................223
Semantic Confusion ................................................................................224
Finding a Way Forward ..............................................................................224
Measuring Spatial Data Quality ................................................................226
Modeling Error and Uncertainty in GIS ...................................................231
Topological Overlay ................................................................................231
Interpolation ............................................................................................236
Kriging .................................................................................................238
Fuzzy Concepts in GIS ...........................................................................242
Theory of Fuzzy Sets .........................................................................243
Example of Fuzzy Sets in GIS ...........................................................244
Sensitivity Analysis ................................................................................256
Managing Fitness-for-Use ..........................................................................259
viii Contents
9. Modeling Issues ..........................................................................................263
Issues of Scale ...............................................................................................264
Issues of Algorithm .....................................................................................277
Issues of Model Structure ...........................................................................285
Issues of Calibration ....................................................................................288
Bringing Data Issues and Modeling Issues Together .............................293
10. Decision Making under Uncertainty .....................................................297
Exploring the Decision Space: Spatial Decision Support Systems ........299
Communication of Spatial Concepts.........................................................304
Participatory Planning and the Web-Based GIS .....................................307
All’s Well That Ends Well? ..........................................................................311
References ...........................................................................................................315
Index .....................................................................................................................341
Acknowledgments
First Edition
First, a heartfelt thanks to my wife, Lily, for her unwavering support in this
venture and for her hard work in preparing most of the figures.
Second, I would like to thank my colleague, Dr. Yang Li, for his assistance
with some of the figures and particularly for the preparation of the coastal
oil-spill modeling examples.
Third, I would like to thank Professor Li Chuan-tang for his invaluable
insights into finite element methods.
Fourth, I would like to thank my sequential employers—Binnie &
Partners International (now Binnie Black & Veatch, Hong Kong); Hong Kong
Polytechnic University; University of East London—for providing me with
the opportunities and space to do so much.
Second Edition
Again I must thank my wife, Lily, for all her effort in recapturing the figures
and for reformatting and preparing the publisher’s electronic copy of the
first edition for me to work on.
My thanks to Irma Shagla and other staff at Taylor & Francis for support-
ing and seeing this project through.
ix