Siting of PV power plants on inclined terrains

Most of the studies conducted on solar energy assessment and solar system siting focus on flat terrains that are usually difficult and expensive to acquire in urban areas. This paper investigates the possibility of using inclined terrains for siting photovoltaic (PV) power plants surrounding urban area. Both analytical analysis and simulations are carried out in order to analyse and validate the effectiveness and benefits of the use of inclined land for PV siting. Geographical information system and numerical weather prediction were used to implement the suggested original approach and to select suitable inclined terrains for the PV system installation and to calculate the total generation potential for energy production. Muscat, the capital of Oman, was selected as a reference for the implementation of this approach.     

A geospatial assessment of the techno-economic wind power potential in India using geographical restrictions

India is a privileged country in terms of wind resource regime. However, most of it remains untapped at the same time as ca 240 million people lack access to electricity in the country (19% of the total population). This calls for a thorough estimation of the amount of wind energy that could be technically and economically seized to assess the potential penetration of wind power into the country’s energy system. The utilization of wind energy is associated with a plethora of localization criteria and thus it should be systematically addressed by spatial assessments to guarantee its harmonization with socio-economic systems, infrastructure and ecosystems. This study focuses on onshore wind power and strives to provide with estimates of techno economic potential based on state of the art wind power technology. Socio-economic, geographical and technical criteria regarding the localization of wind farms are outlined and implemented through a detailed a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis. The levelized cost of wind generated electricity is then calculated geospatially. According to this assessment there are several states that signify high yearly wind energy yield, such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, whilst Goa and other states indicate the least or negligible wind power potential. The levelized cost of generating electricity ranges between 57 and 100 USD/MWh, which places wind power in a competitive position in the Indian electricity market.     

Estimation of the PV potential in ASEAN with a high spatial and temporal resolution

Further exploitation of renewable energy sources for power generation could mitigate the current rapid increase of greenhouse gas emissions in South East Asia. In this context, solar PV is a promising option as PV system costs have been declining continuously over the past. In order to define strategies towards a low-carbon future power supply, detailed information on the potential power output of solar PV is essential.Therefore, this paper analyses the resource and technical potential of solar PV in South East Asia in high temporal and spatial resolution. An empirical, climate-based Ångström-Prescott model is proposed in order to adjust MERRA solar radiation data. The possible power output of PV is derived considering topographic and land-use constraints as well as technological characteristics of typical PV systems.Java, central Myanmar and eastern Thailand were identified to be the best locations for PV use, with capacity factors exceeding 15%. Due to the large land area which is suitable for PV installations, South East Asia offers an abundant theoretical potential of solar PV, amounting to 430 TW h with conservative assumptions.     

A new model that using transfer stations for straw collection and transportation in the rural areas of China: A case of Jinghai,Tianjin

Obtaining sufficient raw material and controlling straw transportation costs are two critical factors in planning new straw utilization factories. So we develop a straw collection and transportation model using transfer stations and propose a method to calculate the corresponding transportation costs based on China's specific agricultural and rural transportation conditions in this paper. We also present a case study showing how to build a straw collection and transportation system for a planned straw-coal power plant. In this model, villages are the smallest collection units. Therefore, we consider both the uneven distribution of straw and the fact that, in China, straw is gathered within each village. The straw collection area is divided into a grid, in which each grid cell may be selected to build a transfer station within it. Building the appropriate number of transfer stations and optimizing their locations will help to reduce transportation costs. The difference between utilizing highways and rural roads for transportation is also considered. Transportation cost calculations and location optimization for each transfer station are carried out in ArcMap. This model can be used to help any facility requiring straw to obtain it steadily at a low transportation cost. This study also has important relevance to the location distribution of straw consumption factories.     

Digital neighborhoods

With the advent of ‘big data’ there is an increased interest in using social media to describe city dynamics. This paper employs geo-located social media data to identify ‘digital neighborhoods’ – those areas in the city where social media is used more often. Starting with geo-located Twitter and Foursquare data for the New York City region in 2014, we applied spatial clustering techniques to detect significant groupings or ‘neighborhoods’ where social media use is high or low. The results show that beyond the business districts, digital neighborhoods occur in communities undergoing shifting socio-demographics. Neighborhoods that are not digitally oriented tend to have higher proportion of minorities and lower incomes, highlighting a social–economic divide in how social media is used in the city. Understanding the differences in these neighborhoods can help city planners interested in generating economic development proposals, civic engagement strategies, and urban design ideas that target these areas.     

Simplified GIS based methodology to quantify risk factors for alternative route evaluation for transport of radioactive materials

Abstract

The risk associated with the transport of radioactive materials can be impacted by many factors of the transport system, as well as by the area through which the materials may travel. Informed decision making requires a quantitative evaluation of pertinent information or conditions. Geographic information systems are often used to display spatial information. The authors have developed a simplified methodology that can be used to quantify the conditions that impact risk over a segment of a transport route. The methodology aggregates the impact of a condition based on the magnitude of the impacting condition and its location with respect to the transport corridor. This paper is a proof-of-concept demonstration for the methodology for the factors of the population in the vicinity of the roadway and the highway design criteria with respect to access ramps and medians. The methodology is particularly suited to a comparison of alternative routes for decision making, where an easily implemented methodology is needed to narrow down multiple alternatives to those few requiring a more detailed analysis.     

论地理信息系统在我国林业上应用效果

地理信息系统是目前我国林业中应用的最为先进的信息管理系统，在林业的管理应用中发挥着巨大的作用。针对地理信息系统在森林分类经营、造林规划设计等等这几个方面对该系统的具体应用做分析，并对未来的发展做简单的规划和讲解。     

Multi-scale qualitative location: A direction-based model

Qualitative locations describe the locations of spatial objects by relating them to a reference frame with qualitative relations. Existing models concerned with regional partitions are mainly topology-based and do not consider the effects of scale changes on locations. This study develops a direction-based multi-scale qualitative location (DMQL) model to fill this gap. First, a cell partition is defined by extending the borders of the minimum bounding rectangles of the regions in a regional partition. Relating spatial objects to all regions by a set of directions is equal to representing the objects as a set of cells in a cell partition. Second, due to the multiple cell representations of spatial objects and the changes in direction relations across scales, some approaches are presented to derive the direction changes between regions in different frames, between spatial objects and regions, and between spatial objects at different scales. Third, the location and relation consistencies of qualitative locations are evaluated based on the cell representations of spatial objects at multiple scales through a case study. The results indicate that the DMQL model can locate objects more precisely than the topology-based models.     

GIS mapping of rice straw residue for bioenergy purpose in a rural area of Assam,India

Agricultural residues are a promising source of biomass energy. However, agricultural residues are seasonally available and loosely distributed over large geographical areas and hence require spatio-temporal assessment. Satellite image is a handy input for such assessment and high resolution image could increase the preciseness of estimation. In the present study, rice cropland is mapped using high resolution WorldView-2 satellite image in a rural area of Assam, India. The rice cropland map in combination with agricultural statistics is then analyzed in GIS in order to assess rice straw availability for potential bioenergy generation. About 54% land of study area belongs to rice cropland, which can contribute 5360 tonnes surplus rice straw per annum (equivalent to 83,296 GJ). Potential electric power capacity from the surplus rice straw in the study area is 523.50 kW. However, at individual village level the potential varies from 4.45 kW to 28.69 kW. Considering the power crisis in India, the findings of this work are expected to assist policy makers and biomass energy developers in decision making process. Particularly, this paper generated information on village level rice straw residue availability and subsequently potential electric power capacity. Such information is limited in the India expect for few states.     

Multi-granularity spatial-temporal access control model for web GIS

The multi-granularity spatial-temporal-related access control (MSTAC) model was proposed to meet the spatial access control requirements for the service-oriented spatial data infrastructure (SDI). MSTAC extends the attribute constraints of role-based access control (RBAC), which includes the user's location attribute, the role's time constraint, the layer vector constraint of a map class, the scale and time constraints of a geographic layer, the topological constraints of geographic features, the semantic attribute expression constraints of geographic features, and the field constraint of feature views. Through this model, authorized users would be limited to access different granularity spatial datasets, such as the map granularity, the graphic layer granularity, the feature object granularity and the feature view granularity. Finally, the MSTAC model is achieved in a web GIS, which shows the positive and negative authorizations to different services in different data granularities and time periods.