Final Report Summary - IGIT (Integrated geo-spatial information technology and its application to resource and environmental management towards the GEOSS)
Project Objectives
The project IGIT (Integrated geo-spatial information technology and its application to resource and environmental management towards GEOSS) aimed to develop the elements of a prototype system for data collection, analysis and dissemination for decision makers and for the public; As a step towards the goals of GEOSS, this staff exchange programme embraced a broad palette of research centres in China and Europe to streamline their activities towards the elements of a complex prototype system with functions of an integrated geo-spatial information acquisition and management system in various application fields of spatial data representation. Duration of the project was 4 years (between 2011, January 20 – 2015, January 19) with the total Budget of 410 400 Euros. The consortium contains the following institutions:
1. (Coordinator): Faculty of Geoinformatics, University of West Hungary, Hungary
2. Universiteit Twente, , Faculty ITC, The Netherlands
3. School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Ireland
4. National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria 5. Spatial Information Research Centre of Fujian, Fuzhou University, P.R. China
6. College of Geography, Normal University of Fujian, P.R. China
7. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Science, P.R. China
8. China University of Geosciences, Beijing CUGB China
These eight leading institutions of different disciplines participated in the mobility programme, which facilitated a data and information exchange and a joint research work. Different fields of activities have been linked together for building a complex data sharing system. The following elements were developed in individual work packages:
1. New image processing techniques for remote sensing
2. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to agriculture and forestry
3. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to land and environment monitoring
4. Spatial data engineering and internet-based information sharing and service in water resources management
5. Design and implementation and application of the WebGIS
6. Distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid
7. Geographical process modelling and analysis
8. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to climate change and carbon cycle
9. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to coastal zone management
The researchers’ mobility between the European and Chinese partners provided the link among the institutions and the work packages. Scientific results were published in peer reviewed articles written by the cooperating partners. During the project period several workshops were organized for information and result exchange. The final goal was to present and publish the scientific results and to demonstrate the elements of a prototype data integration system on an international conference organized by the consortium. It was clearly seen that the personal and institutional interactions had a multiplicative effect on the results, for the mutual benefit of Europe and China.
Description of the performed work and the gained achievements
The research work was organized by the above listed work packages and each package had one or two leading institutions for organizing the scientific tasks and deliverables. In the research period we concluded the following research tasks:
WP1 - New image processing technologies in Remote Sensing
• Pre-processing of different data sources like digital terrain models, LIDAR data, aerial images, WorldView-2 images, topographic maps and hyper-spectral images.
• Optimized quantitative index derivation to describe city environment status mainly using remote sensing data.
• New Vegetation Index named HJVI and establishment of models of LAI inversion with remote sensing based on the HJVI.
WP2 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to agriculture and forestry
• New solutions for storage of raster data in server-client environment.
• Build test environments with open-source software applications.
• Development of new algorithms and applications.
• Experimenting the model of Soil Canopy Observation Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE)
• Basic procedures and methods for optical data processing for agriculture and forestry
• Monitoring and measuring the structural parameters based on LIDAR data which can help understand the growth of fruit trees and other plants.
• 3D modelling of isolated trees based on the structural parameters and LiDAR data sets.
WP3 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to land and environment monitoring
• Eco-environment mapping of Lake Velence in Hungary.
• Compilation of the vegetation maps, the biologic activity map and the tree map of Székesfehérvár (Hungary) based on LIDAR data and NIR orthophoto.
• Discovering common research areas in GIS. Building GIS database using common data sources. Determination of the planned functionality, input and output data, actors (users, external resources) of Eco-environmental evaluation.
• Study on Regional Eco-environmental Factors of Quantitative Remote Sensing Monitoring.
• Evaluation of eco-environment with RS Background Value Model for monitoring land cover changes in Fujian, China
• Performing a change detection analysis of land use to set up base database for different scales of society, geography and ecology.
• Multi-scale characteristics of eco-environmental indicators by use of RS data.
• Processing of TM images for multi-scale analysis in 2D in ENVI.
• Analysis of spectral features for different land covers types.
WP4 - Spatial data engineering and information sharing and service in water resource management
• Estimation of evapotranspiration of the Yinchuan plain from 2000-2010.
• Environment Geology affecting the development of city.
• Engineering Geology on the Yinchuan Plain.
• Wetlands interpretation and analysis of area change of wetlands from 1999 to 2009.
• Land use. Six types of land use were interpreted in the Yinchuan plain, includes vegetation, urban area, bare soil, water body.
• Water Balance Analysis.
• Time series analysis of vegetation cover in the Yinchuan plain during 2000 to 2010 based on MODIS NDVI.
• Investigation on the Integrated Land and Water Information System (lLWIS)
WP5 - Design, implementation and application of WebGIS
• Building multi-scale model based on CEBERS, SPOT and Landsat TM images.
• New methods for metadata conversion in order to study the metadata of ILWIS operations and OpenGIS WPS specification.
• Development of two grid nodes as WebGIS Map servers.
WP6 - Distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid
• Encapsulation of typical data mining algorithms in a GeoKSGrid architecture.
• Algorithms for hyper-spectral band selection.
• Methodology on distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid including the storage and management in distributed environment, distributed data mining on grid platforms, spatial decision support system (SDSS) based on grid platforms).
WP7 - Geographical process modelling and analysis
• Intelligent classification technology combined with the artificial interpretation land use change (including agriculture land change) monitor technology.
• Investigation on the multi scale properties of eco-environmental indicators (NDVI, Wetness Index, Brightness Index), generated from remote sensing data.
• Spatial Mechanism Analysis of the Development of the Population-Economic System of China
WP8 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to Climate change and carbon cycling
• Overview of relevant publications on Climate and carbon cycle models.
• Investigation on the Bulgarian mountains air temperatures and precipitation—statistical downscaling of global climate models and some projections.
WP9 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to coastal zone management
• Inventory of data, information and users for eco-environmental evaluation
• Choosing and measurement of indicators for sustainable development of coastal zone.
• Land use/cover change monitoring and mapping based on multi sensors remote sensing and GIS data.
• Coastal zone monitoring and database updating.
• Impacts on coastal systems: identification of priority factors, including urbanization, coastal waters contamination and biodiversity loss, and key economic sectors.
Conclusions and their potential impact and use and any socio-economic impact of the project
The research results can be utilized in China and in in Europe as well in the fields of e-government and natural resources & environment information supply, which is characterized with a tight combination of geo-spatial technology and the IT technology. Beneficiaries shared the pre-dominances and distinct characteristics in the fields of remotely sensed image processing, WebGIS, geographical knowledge grid, geographical process modelling and analysis through implementing the proposed joint exchange programme, especially staff exchange and training activities including the knowledge system and the innovative technologies with the dedicated training teams and open joint research mechanisms.
The project enabled the beneficiaries to take full advantage of the open Chinese labour market, and to provide pathways to attract researchers with high skills.
On governmental level there is a great attention in China to the eco-environment and to especially to the eco-hydrological studies. The present EU program helped to gain benefit for both sides. Chinese government encouraged Chinese scholars to cooperate with EU experts. The staff from EU could share the knowledge system and the innovative technologies.
As a summary we can say the project was carried out in accordance with the plan requirements. The completed parts were included in academic papers, in other publications, in software applications including a series of patents, researcher’s training and others.
The project IGIT (Integrated geo-spatial information technology and its application to resource and environmental management towards GEOSS) aimed to develop the elements of a prototype system for data collection, analysis and dissemination for decision makers and for the public; As a step towards the goals of GEOSS, this staff exchange programme embraced a broad palette of research centres in China and Europe to streamline their activities towards the elements of a complex prototype system with functions of an integrated geo-spatial information acquisition and management system in various application fields of spatial data representation. Duration of the project was 4 years (between 2011, January 20 – 2015, January 19) with the total Budget of 410 400 Euros. The consortium contains the following institutions:
1. (Coordinator): Faculty of Geoinformatics, University of West Hungary, Hungary
2. Universiteit Twente, , Faculty ITC, The Netherlands
3. School of Computer Science and Informatics, University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Ireland
4. National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria 5. Spatial Information Research Centre of Fujian, Fuzhou University, P.R. China
6. College of Geography, Normal University of Fujian, P.R. China
7. Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Science, P.R. China
8. China University of Geosciences, Beijing CUGB China
These eight leading institutions of different disciplines participated in the mobility programme, which facilitated a data and information exchange and a joint research work. Different fields of activities have been linked together for building a complex data sharing system. The following elements were developed in individual work packages:
1. New image processing techniques for remote sensing
2. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to agriculture and forestry
3. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to land and environment monitoring
4. Spatial data engineering and internet-based information sharing and service in water resources management
5. Design and implementation and application of the WebGIS
6. Distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid
7. Geographical process modelling and analysis
8. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to climate change and carbon cycle
9. Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to coastal zone management
The researchers’ mobility between the European and Chinese partners provided the link among the institutions and the work packages. Scientific results were published in peer reviewed articles written by the cooperating partners. During the project period several workshops were organized for information and result exchange. The final goal was to present and publish the scientific results and to demonstrate the elements of a prototype data integration system on an international conference organized by the consortium. It was clearly seen that the personal and institutional interactions had a multiplicative effect on the results, for the mutual benefit of Europe and China.
Description of the performed work and the gained achievements
The research work was organized by the above listed work packages and each package had one or two leading institutions for organizing the scientific tasks and deliverables. In the research period we concluded the following research tasks:
WP1 - New image processing technologies in Remote Sensing
• Pre-processing of different data sources like digital terrain models, LIDAR data, aerial images, WorldView-2 images, topographic maps and hyper-spectral images.
• Optimized quantitative index derivation to describe city environment status mainly using remote sensing data.
• New Vegetation Index named HJVI and establishment of models of LAI inversion with remote sensing based on the HJVI.
WP2 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to agriculture and forestry
• New solutions for storage of raster data in server-client environment.
• Build test environments with open-source software applications.
• Development of new algorithms and applications.
• Experimenting the model of Soil Canopy Observation Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE)
• Basic procedures and methods for optical data processing for agriculture and forestry
• Monitoring and measuring the structural parameters based on LIDAR data which can help understand the growth of fruit trees and other plants.
• 3D modelling of isolated trees based on the structural parameters and LiDAR data sets.
WP3 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to land and environment monitoring
• Eco-environment mapping of Lake Velence in Hungary.
• Compilation of the vegetation maps, the biologic activity map and the tree map of Székesfehérvár (Hungary) based on LIDAR data and NIR orthophoto.
• Discovering common research areas in GIS. Building GIS database using common data sources. Determination of the planned functionality, input and output data, actors (users, external resources) of Eco-environmental evaluation.
• Study on Regional Eco-environmental Factors of Quantitative Remote Sensing Monitoring.
• Evaluation of eco-environment with RS Background Value Model for monitoring land cover changes in Fujian, China
• Performing a change detection analysis of land use to set up base database for different scales of society, geography and ecology.
• Multi-scale characteristics of eco-environmental indicators by use of RS data.
• Processing of TM images for multi-scale analysis in 2D in ENVI.
• Analysis of spectral features for different land covers types.
WP4 - Spatial data engineering and information sharing and service in water resource management
• Estimation of evapotranspiration of the Yinchuan plain from 2000-2010.
• Environment Geology affecting the development of city.
• Engineering Geology on the Yinchuan Plain.
• Wetlands interpretation and analysis of area change of wetlands from 1999 to 2009.
• Land use. Six types of land use were interpreted in the Yinchuan plain, includes vegetation, urban area, bare soil, water body.
• Water Balance Analysis.
• Time series analysis of vegetation cover in the Yinchuan plain during 2000 to 2010 based on MODIS NDVI.
• Investigation on the Integrated Land and Water Information System (lLWIS)
WP5 - Design, implementation and application of WebGIS
• Building multi-scale model based on CEBERS, SPOT and Landsat TM images.
• New methods for metadata conversion in order to study the metadata of ILWIS operations and OpenGIS WPS specification.
• Development of two grid nodes as WebGIS Map servers.
WP6 - Distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid
• Encapsulation of typical data mining algorithms in a GeoKSGrid architecture.
• Algorithms for hyper-spectral band selection.
• Methodology on distributed computing and geographical knowledge grid including the storage and management in distributed environment, distributed data mining on grid platforms, spatial decision support system (SDSS) based on grid platforms).
WP7 - Geographical process modelling and analysis
• Intelligent classification technology combined with the artificial interpretation land use change (including agriculture land change) monitor technology.
• Investigation on the multi scale properties of eco-environmental indicators (NDVI, Wetness Index, Brightness Index), generated from remote sensing data.
• Spatial Mechanism Analysis of the Development of the Population-Economic System of China
WP8 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to Climate change and carbon cycling
• Overview of relevant publications on Climate and carbon cycle models.
• Investigation on the Bulgarian mountains air temperatures and precipitation—statistical downscaling of global climate models and some projections.
WP9 - Integrated geo-spatial information and its application to coastal zone management
• Inventory of data, information and users for eco-environmental evaluation
• Choosing and measurement of indicators for sustainable development of coastal zone.
• Land use/cover change monitoring and mapping based on multi sensors remote sensing and GIS data.
• Coastal zone monitoring and database updating.
• Impacts on coastal systems: identification of priority factors, including urbanization, coastal waters contamination and biodiversity loss, and key economic sectors.
Conclusions and their potential impact and use and any socio-economic impact of the project
The research results can be utilized in China and in in Europe as well in the fields of e-government and natural resources & environment information supply, which is characterized with a tight combination of geo-spatial technology and the IT technology. Beneficiaries shared the pre-dominances and distinct characteristics in the fields of remotely sensed image processing, WebGIS, geographical knowledge grid, geographical process modelling and analysis through implementing the proposed joint exchange programme, especially staff exchange and training activities including the knowledge system and the innovative technologies with the dedicated training teams and open joint research mechanisms.
The project enabled the beneficiaries to take full advantage of the open Chinese labour market, and to provide pathways to attract researchers with high skills.
On governmental level there is a great attention in China to the eco-environment and to especially to the eco-hydrological studies. The present EU program helped to gain benefit for both sides. Chinese government encouraged Chinese scholars to cooperate with EU experts. The staff from EU could share the knowledge system and the innovative technologies.
As a summary we can say the project was carried out in accordance with the plan requirements. The completed parts were included in academic papers, in other publications, in software applications including a series of patents, researcher’s training and others.