Transactions is now available for RGS-IBG members at a special rate of £25. To take advantage of this special offer, go to the Transactions in GIS website and click on the Subscribe/Renew link. You will then see a table with prices and links to subscribe.
The Transactions in GIS website can be found here:
http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1361-1682
Qualitative GIS:
emerging issues and possible futures
An international conference
Cardiff University, 2nd – 4th August 2010
Qualitative GIS is an emerging, mixed-method and interdisciplinary research approach that is attracting interest across a range of disciplines. The early literature has highlighted the innovative nature of the Qualitative GIS approach to combining ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ spatial data and encouraging multiple epistemological approaches to spatial research. The emerging body of Qualitative GIS research calls for further methodological, theoretical and empirical development of this research approach. In August 2010, WISERD will be holding an international conference to consider the emerging issues and possible futures of qualitative GIS.
WISERD (Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods) is a National Research Centre for interdisciplinary social science research. WISERD draws together and builds upon existing expertise and research across Wales in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods, methodologies and analyses and has embarked upon a programme of data integration, primary research and capacity building.
This conference will bring together interested people from a wide variety of disciplines in order to:
The conference will take the form of a series of presentations; round-table discussions; break-out groups and networking sessions through which the group will consider the challenges to progressing qualitative GIS and identify how to move forward in collaboration with one other.
Keynote speakers
Mei-Po Kwan, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences,
Department of Geography, The Ohio State University
Marianna Pavlovskaya, Associate Professor, Department of Geography,
Hunter College, CUNY
Registration details
Registration is opens now. Places are limited to 60 people.
To register your interest, and receive further details, please contact us using the details below.
WISERD,
Cardiff University, 46 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3VB
Email: wiserd@cardiff.ac.uk (Tel: +44 (0) 2920 879338) (Fax: +44 (0) 2920 874520)
http://www.wiserd.ac.uk/training-events-2/conferences/qualgisconference/
We are holding the AGM of the GIScRG at the GISRUK 2010 conference in London. The meeting will be held on Wed 14 April at 18.10 in Roberts G08 Sir David Davies LT. Please join us to find out more about the group or how you can get involved.
We are pleased to announce the winner of this year’s disseration prize as Mr Austen Pepper for his dissertation entitled ‘ Extension, generalisation, and verification of a GIS-based relative wave exposure model’ at the University of Wollongong.
The abstract of the dissertation appears below:
Marine ecosystems contribute significantly to global biodiversity, yet are under threat from both natural and human induced disturbances. Designing conservation strategies requires, as a first step, mapping these ecosystems. However, in situ mapping can be difficult due to the highly dynamic nature of the marine environment. Because wave exposure is known to play a major role in shaping marine ecosystems, it offers a potentially useful proxy variable for mapping them. However, in situ measurement of wave exposure is logistically difficult over large areas. Additionally, numerical wave models are limited to deep water, and are complex and time consuming to run. A Geographic Information System (GIS) based cartographic wave exposure model that measures the relative exposure of a site on the basis of its fetch length provides a simpler and faster alternative.
The academic literature describes a wide variety of cartographic exposure models, all designed for different purposes and study areas. Despite the fact that these models can be computationally intensive, their sensitivity to parameter setup has yet to be tested. Bringing these together within a common modelling framework where results can be standardised makes it possible to do such testing, and eventually to determine an appropriate model setup for a given study area and purpose. To that end, this study presents a generic modelling framework which integrates and extends existing relative wave exposure modelling tools within the ArcGIS programming environment (GREMO). It then uses this framework to assess the sensitivity of relative wave exposure models to key parameter settings, and outlines a conceptual framework for developing methods for parameter optimisation. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that relative wave exposure model processing times and wave exposure estimates are influenced by how key model parameters are set in complex ways, and that this varies based on the spatial arrangement of waveblocking obstacles within a study area. This justifies further work to investigate sensitivity to unravel these complex interactions, and to develop tools to help determine optimal, or at least feasible, parameter settings for a given study area. Along with this, the conceptual framework for parameter optimisation outlined a range of tools which could be further developed to assist with this. For example, it may be that conditions across a given study area are not homogeneous, thus requiring division into sub-areas where different parameter settings can be applied. As a new integrated modelling environment for relative wave exposure, GREMO facilitates much needed sensitivity testings of these models as well as promoting the use of a mixed models / model comparison approach. Further development of GREMO that would make it even more useful include: (1) how to reduce its computational demand; (2) how to estimate settings for additional input parameters; (3) implementation of the conceptual framework for parameter optimisation; (4) further model verification, particularly of its spatial aspects; and (5) model validation.
We look forward to receiving your entries for next year!
This year’s joint e-seminar series will return to the topic of dynamic modelling in a GIS environment.
Date: 28th Oct at 1700 GMT
Title: A dynamic social network model for disease transmission.
Speaker: Ling Bian (Buffalo)
Chair: Kirk Harland (Leeds)
The seminars are open to all. For details of how to join the e-seminar using the Marratech™ video conferencing environment, and further seminars in the same series, see: http://www.wun.ac.uk/ggisa/seminars.html
Dave Unwin (d.unwin@wun.ac.uk) WUN Global GISc Academy Coordinator
Steve Carver (s.j.carver@leeds.ac.uk) University of Leeds
