Europe, in terms of its territorial development,
exhibits a pronounced and persistent centre periphery configuration,
despite three decades of substantial targeted investment aiming
to reduce these regional disparities. In the last few years the
idea of promoting a balanced and polycentric urban system as a
means of arresting the trend to ever greater spatial and economic
polarisation has gained political following.
Major research and information-gathering initiatives
have recently been launched with the objective of providing actors
and decision-makers at the European level with the raw material
they need to address the geo-political, economic, demographic
and technological forces shaping this re-united continent. However,
the methodologies being developed to study the phenomenon adopt
a typological approach based on administrative units, forming
a regional perspective. Polycentricity should also be understood
as a continuous phenomenon and GIS based modelling and representation
techniques should help to complement our understanding of the
issues involved, bridging the gap between scientists and their
political counterparts.
Regional research has exploited techniques of
spatial analysis for the purposes of explaining and measuring
peripherality, the many dimensions of interaction, accessibility
and mobility, as well as the complex dynamics of the urban development
process itself, at the local scale. However, these approaches
have not, to date, been applied in the domain of investigating
the characteristics of the polycentric urban development concept.
On the other hand, the work on typologies of polycentricity is
yielding a considerable body of analytical material and rich data.
Of great value in its own right, this material may also be considered
as providing fundamental inputs for the construction of a policy-relevant
continuum approach to the contemplation of polycentrism.
To return to the point of the flow of information
between science and the policy domain, it is essential that concepts
be well understood if progress is to be made in what are deemed
to be important issues. Geographical Information Systems provide
tools of tremendous power in their capacity to manipulate data
and readily to generate countless scenarios, in search of a desired
result. In this respect the importance of the explanatory phase
between result and message is not to be overlooked.
The use of Geographic Information System (GIS)
has become an integral part of our everyday life. Coupled with
improvements in three dimension (3D) visualisations, GIS has gained
increased recognition in the planning and design disciplines.
In addition, over the last few years, pressures for real-time
feedback have brought about the need to review new technologies
that may assist more effective decision-making. The review of
available literature highlights the fact that a GIS capable of
handling 3D spatial objects is non-existent. This in turn limits
the spatial operations that can be handled in terms of true 3D
and reduces the capability of handling volumetric calculations.
However, the use of current pseudo 3D or 2.5D
technologies do not deter from any benefits that one might obtain
if used to their full potential. These elements set out the context
of this study whereby the main focus in on addressing the potential
application of current available 3D technology within spatial
planning, through a case study approach backed by interviews with
key GIS users at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority
(MEPA).
This study shows that a complete 3D-GIS cannot
exist unless consensus is reached on the topology of the 3D spatial
object and a breakthrough is experienced in the field of Database
Management Systems (DBMS) capable of handling such objects. Regardless
of this fact, the findings from this study have proved that there
is still scope of investigating further the potential benefits
of applying current 3D technologies in spatial planning. Recommendations
are made to address the administrative issues concerned with the
current data manipulation techniques and GIS knowledge within
the organisation as well as the spatial issues encountered in
the implementation of the case study model, with the aim to facilitate
the introduction of 3D technologies in the Maltese spatial planning
process.
The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act created the
legislative framework for the Police to work closely with other
strategic authorities such as the Councils, Fire Service and Health
Services to reduce crime. Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
were set up and tasked with producing audits of the level of crime
and disorder in their locale on a 3 yearly cycle. As a result
several projects came into being to gather the information from
across the Partnership to conduct these audits.
This paper looks at the development of these
multi agency data sharing initiatives. It focuses on their development,
scope and extent in order to determine the linkages between the
projects, the maturity of the spatial data infrastructure created
and the development of decision support systems for Partnerships.
Five projects are looked at in detail through interviews. These
projects are CADDIE (Sussex/Kent), CUPS (Cumbria), MADE (Lancashire),
JUIS (Worcestershire) and SCaDIS (Surrey)
The study concludes that advances have been
made in creating the spatial data infrastructure required to ensure
full participation by Partnerships in data exchange, but development
has been piecemeal over the Country and there are still barriers
to overcome. In particular barriers relating to funding, quality
of data across the Partnerships, standards in recording and dissemination
of the information and links between the projects need to be broken
down.
This piece of research was undertaken to ascertain
how widespread the uptake of geographic information systems (GIS)
has been amongst projects in the North West of the England, funded
by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The paper starts by examining the use of geographic
information systems in development activities, in particularly
local and regional development activities, to determine the role
that GIS can play in decision-making processes. The European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF), Objective 2 funding and small to medium
enterprises (SMEs) are explained. The use of GIS in ERDF projects
from across Europe, the UK and the North West is then explored
by examining examples.
A survey by online and telephone questionnaire
was carried out involving a large sample of ERDF projects in the
North West region. The results are presented in tables, graphs
and charts for interpretation. Two in depth case studies of projects
were carried out using semi-structured interviews and then analysed
using the appropriate stages of Soft Systems Methodology.
The results of the survey show that the uptake
of GIS by these projects is limited and the reasons why this is
the case are examined in detail. The results of the investigation
demonstrate that the majority of projects do not use GIS and that
awareness of what it is and what it can achieve is very low amongst
the participants surveyed. The reasons relating to the lack of
awareness of geographic analysis and GIS in regional development
projects are discussed and changes in regional development which
may influence future uptake of GIS by such projects.
In the late 1990’s Ordnance Survey Ireland
and An Post, the national postal service, developed “GeoDirectory”,
a standardised, spatially enabled address database for Ireland.
Given the existence of GeoDirectory it is now
possible to compare the address databases of local authorities
with the GeoDirectory, using available technology, so that a better
understanding of data quality, the interpolation process and the
dynamic of a potential integration between both can be achieved.
In this thesis a 30% stratified random sample of the Register
of Electors for Limerick City and County was extracted and groomed
before being geocoded against the source table – GeoDirectory
– using MapInfo. The grooming process increased the hit
rate by ten percentage points bringing the match rate to 17%.
Results in the urban areas were higher than those in the less
populated areas and analysis showed that there is a correlation
between the proportional hit rate and housing density. A subsequent
data editing process was carried out based on the observations
made during an assessment of the unmatched data. The match rate
was brought to 38% using a bounding file but this was not without
latent difficulties with some areas achieving a success rate greater
than 100%. This thesis highlights interpolation of the complex
Irish address as well as the quality of local authority address
data as the main reasons for the low match rates and refers to
the specialised algorithm applied by one leading geocoding specialist
(GAMMA Ltd.) on the same dataset and the much higher results (54%
in automatic mode) that can be achieved. It is clear that interactive
geocoding is still very much a part of the process in the Irish
local authority scenario.
Location based services and technologies are
now beginning to develop in the mobile information field. Landmarks,
on the other hand, are identifiable fixed positions. The challenge
is to support these new services with the appropriate Data. Questions
like how often Landmarks have to be updated, in order to provide
a quality service, or how often these landmarks should be updated.
These issues are yet to be answered.
In this study we identified that there are two
main types of uses of landmarks in LBS:
(1) Services that based on landmark information like “find
me the nearest landmark” that can not exist without landmark
information and (2) services that landmarks will add value to
the results, like “Routing Directions”.
The study took place in the Greek market. In
Greece there is lack of data in general and especially in the
landmarks data, which qualifies the Greek market as a study area.
For this reason, search in the related literature
has been conducted and four interviews have taken place. The interviewees
were people from LBS provider companies. The results from these
two sources have been compared to lead to conclusions. Interesting
is the fact that both sources agreed in almost 100% of the matters.
The main advantage of landmarks in LBS is that
they increase the ability of understanding space. The main disadvantage
in Greece is the lack of data. In order to update landmark information,
all companies have to invest in money effort and time.
Concluding, all interviewees agreed that it
is worth to update landmark information, to achieve high service
quality. Although the cost for updating is high, quality service
will increase the loyalty of the customers and income. Alternative
uses of landmark data have to be found in order to divide the
cost. These can be: (1) Cooperation with other companies that
provide data for a specific group of landmarks could decrease
the cost for updating landmarks and (2) cooperation with companies
that wish to advertise using LBS, like chains of stores could
increase the income.
Although the international pigging industry
has unquestionably made major advances in its scope and expertise
over the intervening years, it is nevertheless apparent that the
industry is not yet fully efficient. The Tracking of Intelligent
Pigs in real-time will enhance future pipeline operations to ensure
a higher level of technology at vastly reduced costs for both
installation and operations.
It is necessary for pipeline operators to monitor
all facets of their operations even though this means the introduction
of new procedures within the pigging industry. A custom-built
technology solution that tracks, monitors and communicates with
remote and mobile assets anytime and anywhere is vital. A few
bytes of vital information or a short critical message can be
pivotal to making business decisions that will enhance productivity
or avoid losses.
This vital information is sent from the base-stations
to Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems that maintain near-real-time
messaging capabilities for users throughout much of the world.
Messages are than sent to the nearest Gateway Earth Station that
quickly sends the critical data via the Internet to a Tracking
Server. Once the Tracking Server receives real-time data, it is
saved to a file and possibly retransmitted in a standard format
to Web and desktop GIS clients.
Integrating new or existing legacy back-office
services, businesses in the pigging industry will be able to gain
a competitive edge by more effectively managing remote and mobile
assets using multiple technologies conveniently and efficiently
everywhere in the world.
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