Adaptive geovisualization has been marked as a research front that addresses design issues of a user-centered geovisualization system. By constantly keeping trace of user actions, a highly adaptive geovisualization system is able to predict the behavior of its end user and accordingly provide him with the visualization that suits best his personal taste and need. An adaptive geovisualization system does not either hide its own behaviors from its end users. Such a mutual transparency is made possible by the mechanism of self-description and self-evaluation coupled with the capability of self-organization and self-navigation based on user models. This paper clarifies some major concepts and techniques of adaptive geovisualization, pinpoints the existing bottlenecks, analyses the main components of an adaptive geovisualization system, and put forward some research directions. Among others, the authors have discussed topics such as adaptive GUI design, dynamic structuring and re-structuring of databases, adaptive design of geo-query functions (intelligent geo-database navigation), adaptive symbolilzation etc.

This paper gives an overview of the existing interactive information systems for mobile users. Based on a study of the general characteristics of mobile information acquisition, the author stresses the necessity to design the self-explaining system which has to balance various design constraints concerning the hardware configuration, the user interface and the content presentation. A number of rules guiding the self-explaining design for the mobile human-machine interaction are outlined according to two essential criteria--the immediate usability and the user adaptation. However, these introduced rules are helpful only so far as to exclude bad designs. For this reason, an outlook is given on future researches that address the issues such as formalization of frequently reoccurring use cases, development of action-driven design solutions and pattern-oriented optimization of human-machine interaction.

In every map, irrespective of its theme, objects are represented at a reduced scale. Map contents do not decrease proportionally to the reduction of the map size. Usually an increasing density of the map contents occurs at smaller scales. That is where the generalization plays an important role. Generalization is the process of creating a legible map at a given scale from a more detailed geographical dataset. It is done in such a manner that the character or essence of the original features is retained at successively smaller scales. Though the purposes and benefits of generalization are manifold it is indeed a complex decision-making process which must be intelligently steered by goals and rules from the geographical application domain such that the generalized representation conveys knowledge consistent with the reality. In recent past, lot of work has been done in 2D generalization (Beard, 1991; Weibel, 1995; Bealla, 1995; Ruas and Plazanet, 1996; Sarjakoski and Kilpel?inen, 1999) which defines a set of operations to be performed with the goal to achieve the similar results to those from manual generalization. But 3D generalization is altogether perceived differently. A given 3D urban area mostly consists of roads and buildings. These buildings are of different styles and features. Further the city area may be viewed from different angles and at different heights. So generalization in general and aggregation in particular must deal with all these issues. In this paper, an effort has been made to address these issues.

Qualitative modelling of spatial relationships has often been considered as a context-independent task that aims at a reasoning model in generic form. Despite the primary interest in these models, there is still a sufficiently large scope for context-dependent reasoning in space and time. This paper proposes a qualitative spatial reasoning model, oriented to the modelling and simulation of several cars acting in a multi-lane circuit, which can be considered as an illustrative example of a constrained frame of reference. The modelling objects of interest are individual cars whose cardinal relationships to external cars and actions are modelled. This dynamic system is analysed, and a set of interrelationships is identified at different levels of abstraction, together with inference rules that model the displacement of several cars in a circuit. The potential of this model is illustrated and calibrated using an agent-based prototype.

GISs are moving away from a system for experts to a more widely-used tool for answering spatial-related questions. The dawn of new technologies on the horizon, such as telecommunication, mobile Internet, and handheld computing devices, offers new chances to the everyday use of geoinformation. However, the existing approaches to mobile visualisation of geoinformation mostly have a commercial background and are rather technology-centred. This quite narrow view ignores many relevant problems and does not fully profit from the new possibilities a mobile cartography could provide. Taking the existing problems into account the paper sketches a general conceptual framework for geoinformation use in a mobile environment. Specific user tasks and requests in a mobile environment are identified, which is followed by an outline of possible methods to personalise a GIS for better mobile assistance. Putting emphasis on the importance of analytical functions for mobile cartography, the process of adaptive and dynamic generation of visualisations for mobile users on the basis of vector data (e.g. SVG) is illustrated and the key research fields involved are pointed out.

A typical requirement in digital society is the rapid distribution and effective application of digital products. Geographical data bases are far more complex than other ones in that both attribute and spatial data have to be stored and handled under the same framework. On the other hand, the number of end users of digital cartographic data is explosively increasing, ranging from professional map makers to vehicle drivers and individual tourists. Thus arises a question: how can a data supplier give the “best” service to each user? In nature it involves such difficult problems as cartographic generalization and map simplification. In this paper, the author argues that the visual knowledge or perception experience can be effectively exploited and used to guide the process of data simplification. We have developed a prototype system with a subset of the vector road database covering Munich city.

The paper deals with 3D cartography. Using the program 3D studio max (Autodesk) a flight over an alpine region (“Watzmann-Massif”) is animated. In addition to a description of the project some thoughts and ideas especially about generalisation degree are discussed.

This paper reports a spatial data mining prototype system developed at the Technical University of Munich in cooperation with NavTech. The system serves the purpose of value-adding the road database maintained by NavTech. In the original database, each road element is described by more than 110 attributes. A number of algorithms on the basis of entropy theory, rough-set modeling have been implemented to rank the individual attributes and detect the dependencies among attributes based on their values in an arbitrarily selected region. Other algorithms are developed on the basis of road geometry and devoted to the quantitative description of spatial patterns such as routes and urban structures. With the knowledge of relative importance of the individual attributes, users are given the flexibility to buy a local road database with truncated attribute list. By observing the ranking list and correlation matrix calculated for different regions, information that reflects the regional differences of a road network can be extracted. Likewise, the changes in ranking list and correlation matrix of the same region after removing or adding a route imply the relative importance of this particular route.

Virtual reality (VR) technology, coupled with GIS technology and functions, has created a geo-virtual environment (GeoVE) and attracted human awareness of geo-cognition. GeoVE can help understand geo-environment and phenomena, and innovates the ways of spatial concept formation. Recently, many applications have appeared to suggest its substantial potential for simulating environment and exploring human cognitive aspects. However, the validation of environment simulation and enhancement of human geo-cognition, in terms of their degree of realism and reliability, has so far lagged behind.

Along with the advances in computer sciences in recent years, visualization has been developed to embrace new functions. The electronic map in a spatial information visualization system is an electronic tool of human spatial cognition and has more advantages in supporting human spatial cognition than a printed map. Investigations on the ability of human spatial cognition are increasingly drawing attention of cartographers. In this background, map spatial cognition research is attached importance to cartographers again. Cognition-based visualization systems are intelligent systems that serve human spatial cognition efficiently. Developing adaptive multi-perspective visualization systems of spatial information as one kind of these systems is a main goal of our research. This paper discusses the necessity and the characteristics of map spatial cognition research. The cognitive issues involved in spatial information visualization and major contents of cognitive research in the design of adaptive visualization system are presented. Finally, the experimental methods of electronic map visual cognition are introduced.

Automated cartographic generalization has been an intensive research topic in cartography for decades. Some problems associated with this topic could be resolved to a certain extent using fractal analysis and fractal dimension. This paper investigates the fundamental theories and operational methods of generalization. Among others, methods of calculating fractal dimensions of curves and even complicated 3-dimensional geographic objects are explained. Fractal dimensions can be used as an objective criterion for both scaling the natural geographic objects and economical computer storage. More important is that the generalization algorithms based on fractal dimensions can be performed automatically.

This paper explores a new approach towards the distributed e-map service with CORBA. The architecture of a distributed e-map service model is described. This model mainly contains a distributed map database, a database connection layer, an application service layer and a client layer. For the sake of convenient transmission of map data, a combination of CORBA and GML method is introduced. Furthermore, in order to keep the loading balance among distributed servers, object migration is implemented among servers and security is considered.

Based on remote sensing and geographic information system, the spatial distribution of nation-wide wind erosion is studied, and the 1:100 000 national map of soil erosion by wind in China is made. Wind speed, soil dryness, NDVI, soil texture and the slope of land surface are the key factors to wind erosion. The relations between wind erosion and each factor are discussed. The method of principal component is used to pick up the information included in the five factors, and the wind erosion dynamic index (WEDI) is established. Its comparison with the RS/GIS derived data shows that WEDI can reflect the potential capacity of soil erosion by wind. The dynamic process of the wind erosion is studied to reveal the distribution of the most intense wind erosion regions and the dominant factors in these regions. All these studies may greatly help the mitigation of wind erosion of soil.

It is a very complicated problem to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) over a large area of land surface. In this paper, the evapotranspiration estimation models for dense vegetation and bare soil are presented, based on the information of parameters like vegetation cover-degree and surface albedo. Combined with vegetation cover-degree data, a model for regional evapotranspiration estimation over the heterogeneous landscape is derived. Through a case study using remote sensing data over Northwest China, the accuracy of the model for regional evapotranspiration estimation is checked. The result shows that the accuracy of the model is satisfactory. The features of evapotranspiration over Northwest China are also discussed with the application of the model.

The impacts of climate change on China’s agriculture are measured based on Ricardian model. By using county-level cross-sectional data on agricultural net revenue, climate, and other economic and geographical data for 1275 agriculture-dominated counties in the period of 1985-1991, we find that both higher temperature and more precipitation will have overall positive impact on China’s agriculture. However, the impacts vary seasonally and regionally. Higher temperature in all seasons except spring increases agricultural net revenue while more precipitation is beneficial in winter but is harmful in summer. Applying the model to five climate scenarios in the 2020s and 2050s shows that the North, the Northeast, the Northwest, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau would always benefit from climate change while the South and the Southwest may be negatively affected. For the East and the Central China, most scenarios show that they may benefit from climate change. In conclusion, climate change would be beneficial to the whole China.

This paper proposes a method on analyzing the asynchronism-synchronism of precipitation of different hydrological regions regarding the S-to-N water transfer areas of eastern China. The general process of the analysis includes three steps. Firstly, we created the rainfall series of the region concerned by calculating the regional average rainfall of the stations in the area with the help of the classical Thiessen Polygon method. Secondly, the standards of assessment indices for wetness or dryness are set according to Gamma distribution function with a certain probability P 37.5% or 62.5% given respectively. Finally, the frequency of nine combinations are counted as the quantitative feature of asynchronism and synchronism in three time scales, that is the yearly, seasonal and monthly scales. The asynchronism-synchronism of two region pairs has been estimated. The results show that the frequency of precipitation asynchronism in 1957-1998 is larger than the synchronism frequency for both the North China-middle and lower Yangtze River pair and for the North China-upper Hanjiang River pair. As for the synchronism phenomena, the frequency of Nd-Sd is rather low. As the combinations that are suitable for water transfers are Nd-Sw, Nn-Sw, Nd-Sn and Nn-Sn, the total frequency of these combinations for North China-middle and lower Yangtze River is 40% on an annual basis, but only 28% in spring when water shortages are most likely to occur. The total frequency of these combinations for North China-upper Hanjiang River is about 24% on an annual basis, but 35% in spring and winter. It should be noted that if future precipitation patterns are similar to that of the period 1957-1998, it is very important to change the natural character of asynchronism-synchronism by enhancing the capability of hydro-projects regulation and improving management of the water transfer project.

EDSS is a comprehensive software system for water quality management in tidal river networks in general and for the Pearl River Delta in particular. Its purpose is to provide a practical tool that could assist government agencies in decision making for the efficient management of water resources in terms of both quantity and quality. By combining the capabilities of geographical information system (GIS), database management system (DBMS), model base management system (MBMS) and expert system, the aim is to improve the quality of decision making in what is becoming an increasingly complex area. This paper first outlines the basic concepts and philosophy adopted in developing EDSS, the system architecture, design features, implementation techniques and facilities provided. Thereafter, the core part of the system — the hydrodynamic and water quality models are described briefly. The final contribution in this paper describes the application of EDSS to the Pearl River Delta, which has the most complicated tidal river network patterns as well as the fastest economic development in the world. Examples are given of the real-world problems that can be addressed using the system, including cross-boundary water pollution analysis, regional drinking water take-up site selection, screening of important polluters, environmental impact assessment, and water quality zoning and planning. It is illustrated that EDSS can provide efficient and scientific analytical tools for planning and decision-making purposes in the information era.

The west sandy land of the Northeast China Plain is located in the eastern huge sandy belt of mid-latitude in Eurasia and the eastern fringe of desertified land with best bio-climatic conditions in China. With rapid economic development, the deterioration of eco-environment has occurred and the desertification becomes very obvious. The first part of this paper studies the regional differences of landscape patterns and explores the regional differences of desertification. The second part aims to reveal the dynamics of desertification in the 1990s by using NOAA/AVHRR data and thematic data in GIS database. This work lays a scientific basis for the rehabilitation and development of the sandy lands.

Using geographic information system to study flooded area and damage evaluation has been a hotspot in environmental disaster research for years. In this paper, a model for flooded area calculation and damage evaluation is presented. Flooding is divided into two types: ‘source flood’ and ‘non-source flood’. The source-flood area calculation is based on seed spread algorithm. The flood damage evaluation is calculated by overlaying the flooded area range with thematic maps and relating the result to other social and economic data. To raise the operational efficiency of the model, a skipping approach is used to speed seed spread algorithm and all thematic maps are converted to raster format before overlay analysis. The accuracy of flooded area calculation and damage evaluation is mainly dependent upon the resolution and precision of the digital elevation model (DEM) data, upon the accuracy of registering all raster layers, and upon the quality of economic information. This model has been successfully used in the Zhejiang Province Comprehensive Water Management Information System developed by the authors. The applications show that this model is especially useful for most counties of China and other developing countries.

Based on the data up to 1999 from hydroclimatological departments, this paper analyzes the climatic divide implications of the Qinling Mountains in regional response to the process of climate warming, due to which the grades of dryness/wetness (GDW) in 100 years show that the northern region has entered a drought period, while the southern is a humid period. In a course of ten years, the D-value of annual average air temperature over southern Shaanxi (the Hanjiang Valley) and the Central Shaanxi Plain (the Guanzhong Plain) has narrowed, i.e., the former with a slight change and the latter with rapid increase in temperature. Both regions were arid with the decrease in precipitation D-value, namely the plain became warmer while the south was drier. The Qinling Mountains play a pronounced role in the climatic divide. The runoff coefficient (RC) of the Weihe River decreases synchronously with that of the Hanjiang due to climate warming. The RC of Weihe dropped from 0.2 in the 1950s to less than 0.1 in the 1990s. The Weihe Valley (the Guanzhong Plain) is practically an arid area due to shortage of water. The successive 0.5, 1.0 ^oC temperature anomaly over China marks, perhaps, the important transition period in which the environment becomes more vulnerable than before.The study shows the obvious trend of environmental aridity, which is of help to the understanding of regional response to global climate change.

Properties of the soil surface layer, the temporal pattern of the microclimate variables as well as crop condition were combined to analyze the characteristics of the evapotranspiration from winter wheat fields in a saline soil area. In order to accomplish this analysis, evapotranspiration was divided into evaporation from the soil and transpiration from wheat. Moreover, the effect of soil salinity on evapotranspiration was evaluated through the relationship between actual evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration (E_a/E_o) and the total soil water potential (y) was divided into two components: matric potential (y_M) and osmotic potential (y_o). Two sites with different salinity levels were chosen for this study, located in Hebei Province, China. Measurements were conducted in April-May 1997 and May 1998. The Bowen ratio method was used to estimate the actual evapotranspiration (E_a), whereas potential evapotranspiration (E_o) was estimated using Penman’s equation. Measurements of soil evaporation (E_s) were obtained with micro-lysimeters, and transpiration was calculated from the difference between E_a and E_s. The results show that transpiration comprised on average almost 80 % of total evapotranspiration. Evaporation from the soil differed slightly between years, but this variation was dominated by the leaf area index (LAI), which ranged from 4 to 5 during the study period of 1997 and 1998. Soil electric conductivity (EC), which is directly related to osmotic potential, ranged from 1.9 to 3.5 mS cm^-1 in 1997 and was negligible in 1998. Our results indicate that lower osmotic potential decreases the total soil water potential, thus affecting plant transpiration. Hence, it is possible to say that soil salinity actually decreases evapotranspiration from winter wheat fields.

There is a growing interest in investigating the accuracy of digital elevation model (DEM). However people usually have an unbalanced view on DEM errors. They emphasize DEM sampling errors, but ignore the impact of DEM resolution and terrain roughness on the accuracy of terrain representation. This research puts forward the concept of DEM terrain representation error (Et) and then investigates the generation, factors, measurement and simulation of DEM terrain representation errors. A multi-resolution and multi-relief comparative approach is used as the major methodology in this research. The experiment reveals a quantitative relationship between the error and the variation of resolution and terrain roughness at a global level. Root mean square error (RMS Et) is regressed against surface profile curvature (V) and DEM resolution (R) at 10 resolution levels. It is found that the RMS Et may be expressed as RMS Et = (0.0061 × V+ 0.0052) × R - 0.022 × V + 0.2415. This result may be very useful in forecasting DEM accuracy, as well as in determining the DEM resolution related to the accuracy requirement of particular application.

In western Songnen Plain of China, the saline-alkaline degree of water bodies is high in salt marsh wetlands. Generally, pH is above 8.0, and the hydrochemical types belong to HCO₃^2--Na⁺. Through analysis on the basic saline variables such as CO₃^2-, HCO₃^2-, Cl^-, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, and the derivative variables such as SAR, SDR, RSC, SSP, the relationships between different variables are found, and the discriminant equations are established to identify different saline-alkaline water bodies by using principal component analysis.

In order to reduce the environmental and ecological problems induced by water resources development and utilization, this paper proposes a concept of environmental and ecological water requirement. It is defined as the minimum water amount to be consumed by the natural water bodies to conserve its environmental and ecological functions. Based on the definition, the methods on calculating the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement are determined. In the case study on Haihe-Luanhe river system, the water requirement is divided into three parts, i.e., the basic in-stream flow, water requirement for sediment transfer and water consumption by evaporation of the lakes or everglades. The results of the calculation show that the environmental and ecological water requirement in the river system is about 124×10⁸ m³, including 57×10⁸ m³ for basic in-stream flow, 63×10⁸ m³ for sediment transfer and 4×10⁸ m³ for net evaporation loss of lakes. The total amount of environmental and ecological water requirement accounts for 54% of the amount of runoff (228×10⁸ m³). However, it should be realized that the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement must be more than that we have calculated. According to this result, we consider that the rational utilization rate of the runoff in the river systems must not be more than 40%. Since the current utilization rate of the river system, which is over 80%, has been far beyond the limitation, the problems of environment and ecology are quite serious. It is imperative to control and adjust water development and utilization to eliminate the existing problems and to avoid the potential ecological or environmental crisis.

In order to realize sustainable development of the arid area of Northwest China, rational water resources exploitation and optimization are primary prerequisites. Based on the essential principle of sustainable development, this paper puts forward a general idea on water resources optimization and eco-environmental protection in Qaidam Basin, and identifies the competitive multiple targets of water resources optimization. By some qualitative methods such as Input-output Model & AHP Model and some quantitative methods such as System Dynamics Model & Produce Function Model, some standard plans of water resources optimization come into being. According to the Multiple Targets Decision by the Closest Value Model, the best plan of water resources optimization, eco-environmental protection and sustainable development in Qaidam Basin is finally decided.

Weibei upland, located in southern part of the Loess Plateau, is a commercial apple production base in China. The enlargement of apple-planting area has a great impact on the regional water cycle. The effects of different land use on hydrological parameters are compared and studied in this paper. The main results are as follows: (1) The initial and steady infiltration rates in apple orchard are higher than those in other land use types such as grassland, idle land and farmland. Their initial rates of infiltration are 0.823 cm/min, 0.215 cm/min, 0.534 cm/min and 0.586 cm/min in apple orchard, grassland, idle land and farmland respectively. Their steady infiltration rates are 0.45 cm/min, 0.038 cm/min, 0.191 cm/min and 0.155 cm/min respectively. (2) There is no runoff generated in plot of apple orchard in all 8 storm events in observed natural rainfalls, while runoff is generated in winter wheat plot, corn plot and alfalfa plot with runoff coefficients of 2.39%, 1.58% and 0.31% respectively. (3) The transpiration of apple trees is strong and thus soil moisture is gradually depleted. The average soil water contents in 3-9 m soil profile in Changwu plots with apple trees of 14 and 32 years in age are 11.77% and 11.59% and in Luochuan plots with those of 15 and 28 years in age are 11.7% and 11.59% respectively, which are nearly 9.0% of wilting moisture of Changwu soil and 8.6% of wilting moisture of Luochuan soil. The pathway of rainfall percolating to groundwater is hindered by dry soil profile.

The paper respectively adopted physio-chemical properties of every soil stratum from 2473 soil profiles of the second national soil survey. The corresponding carbon content of soils is estimated by utilizing conversion coefficient 0.58. In the second soil survey, the total amount of soil organic carbon is about 924.18×10⁸t and carbon density is about 10.53 kgC/m² in China according to the area of 877.63×10⁶ hm² surveyed throughout the country. The spatial distribution characteristics of soil organic carbon in China is that the carbon storage increases when latitude increases in eastern China and the carbon storage decreases when longitude reduces in northern China. A transitional zone with great variation in carbon storage exists. Moreover, there is an increasing tendency of carbon density with decrease of latitude in western China. Soil circle is of great significance to global change, but with substantial difference in soil spatial distribution throughout the country. Because the structure of soil is inhomogeneous, it could bring some mistakes in estimating soil carbon reservoirs. It is necessary to farther resolve soil respiration and organic matter conversion and other questions by developing uniform and normal methods of measurement and sampling.

It is significant to estimate terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP) accurately not only for global change research, but also for natural resources management to achieve sustainable development. Remote sensing data can describe spatial distribution of plant resources better. So, in this paper an NPP model based on remote sensing data and climate data is developed. And 1km resolution AVHRR NDVI data are used to estimate the spatial distribution and seasonal change of NPP in China. The results show that NPP estimated using remote sensing data are more close to truth. Total annual NPP in China is 2.645×10⁹ tC. The spatial distribution of NPP in China is mainly affected by precipitation and has the trend of decreasing from southeast to northwest.

Assessment of coastal vulnerability to future environmental change has been emphasized in coastal nations or regions. The Jiangsu coastal plain, located to the north of the Yangtze River Delta in China, is most vulnerable to sea level rise and exacerbating coastal hazards. This paper develops the method of delimiting vulnerable scope and assessing coastal vulnerability through field observations and sampling and by applying remote sensing and GIS, which are suitable for great river delta and coastal plains with large area, relative complex micro-geomorphology and the protection of seawall. Applying this method, the coastal vulnerability of the Jiangsu coastal plain to relative sea level rise (approximately 50 cm up to the year 2050) and exacerbating storm surges have been assessed. The results show that, up to the year 2050, the Jiangsu coastal plain will probably lose 12.8 % of tidal flats (about 5.8×10⁴ hm²) and 7.9 % of cultivated land (about 7.2×10⁴ hm²). Meanwhile, 2.0 % of population, 3.8 % of original value of fixed assets, 3.2% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 40.3 % of salt industry and 5.8 % of aquiculture respectively will be affected due to coastal environmental change.

The “greatest lake period” means that the lakes are in the stage of their maximum areas. As the paleo lake shorelines are widely distributed in the lake basins on the Tibetan Plateau, the lake areas during the “greatest lake period” may be inferred by the last highest lake shorelines. They are several, even tens times larger than that at present. According to the analyses of tens of lakes on the Plateau, most dating data fell into the range of 40-25 ka BP, some lasted to 20 ka BP. It was corresponded to the stage 3 of marine isotope and interstitial of last glaciation. The occurrence of maximum areas of lakes marked the very humid period on the Plateau and was also related to the stronger summer monsoon during that period.