Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geography
Towards Understanding the Geospatial Skills of ChatGPT: Taking a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Exam
Published: 2023-06-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Other Geography, Science and Mathematics Education, Spatial Science
This paper examines the performance of ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM), in a geographic information systems (GIS) exam. As LLMs like ChatGPT become increasingly prevalent in various domains, including education, it is important to understand their capabilities and limitations in specialized subject areas such as GIS. Human learning of spatial concepts significantly differs from LLM training [...]
ChatGPT as a mapping assistant: A novel method to enrich maps with generative AI and content derived from street-level photographs
Published: 2023-06-06
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Other Computer Sciences, Other Geography, Spatial Science
This paper explores the concept of leveraging generative AI as a mapping assistant for enhancing the efficiency of collaborative mapping. We present results of an experiment that combines multiple sources of volunteered geographic information (VGI) and large language models (LLMs). Three analysts described the content of crowdsourced Mapillary street-level photographs taken along roads in a small [...]
Extreme Rainfall Indices and its Effect on Meher Season Crop Calendar: An Agro-Climatic Zone Based Study
Published: 2023-03-15
Subjects: Geography
The study analyzed the daily extreme rainfall indices and its consequences on Meher (summer) season cereal crop calendar in the agro-climatic zones (ACZs) of a watershed. Long-term (1981-2019) rainfall data for 50 sample grid points with a spatial resolution of 5 5 km from Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation (CHIRPS) was considered. Focus group discussions were employed to identifying [...]
The Earth4All model of human wellbeing on a finite planet towards 2100
Published: 2023-03-03
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geography
In the following pages, we give a short introduction to a new integrated global assessment model: The Earth4All model of human wellbeing on a finite planet towards the year 2100. The Earth4All (E4A) model has evolved over a fifteen-year period and represents a summary of insights we have gained during all these years (See Appendix 1 for a list of the main publications that form the foundation for [...]
Did hydroclimate conditions contribute to the political dynamics of Majapahit? A preliminary analysis
Published: 2023-02-21
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Majapahit was the largest Hindu-Buddhist empire that ruled the Indonesian archipelago from the late 13th to mid-16th centuries CE. Only now there is still a lot of history surrounding the Majapahit era that has yet to be revealed. One is about how environmental factors influenced the political dynamics at that time. This study tries to discuss the influence of hydroclimate regimes using the Paleo [...]
Towards robust interdisciplinary modeling of global human-environmental dynamics
Published: 2023-02-20
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Geography, Life Sciences, Nature and Society Relations
Real-world environmental problems are typically vast, urgent, and complex. Confronted with such problems, we are often tempted to act fast by pulling together little bits and pieces from different fields and simply adding these to pre-existing models and frameworks. Seldom, though, do we pause long enough to look whether and for how long those larger structures we build can support reliable [...]
Data mining by watching old documentary TV programs to learn about the relationships between people’s lives and the landscape in Sakha in the perestroika era at the end of the 1980s
Published: 2022-08-14
Subjects: Geography
To accurately evaluate the spatiotemporal variability of ecosystem functions and services, as well as biodiversity, under a rapidly changing climate and shifting anthropogenic activities, it is an important but challenging task to retrieve information about past relationships among society, people’s lives, and the landscape. We watched documentary TV programs broadcast by the Japanese public [...]
Developing seagrass index for long term monitoring of Zostera japonica seagrass bed: a case study in Yellow River Delta, China
Published: 2022-06-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing
Seagrass beds offer unique and vital ecological services as an important blue carbon ecosystem in coastal wetlands. Zostera japonica is an intertidal seagrass species native to eastern Asia and is one of the most widely distributed seagrass species in China. However, little is known on the long-term variations of Z. japonica extents. Automatic mapping method for Z. japonica seagrass beds is in [...]
A mid-20th century estimate of global vegetation carbon stocks based on inventory statistics
Published: 2022-03-28
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Geography
Biomass carbon stocks (BCS) play a vital role in the climate system, but benchmarked estimates prior to the late 20th century remain scarce. Here, by making use of an early global forest resource assessment and harmonizing information on land use and carbon densities, we establish a global BCS account for the year 1950. Our best-guess BCS estimate is 450.7 PgC (median of all modulations: 518.3 [...]
Place-level urban-rural indices for the United States from 1930 to 2018
Published: 2022-02-28
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Spatial Science
Rural-urban classifications are essential for analyzing geographic, demographic, environmental, and social processes across the rural-urban continuum. Most existing classifications are, however, only available at relatively aggregated spatial scales, such as at the county scale in the United States. The absence of rurality or urbanness measures at high spatial resolution poses significant [...]
Analyzing the uncertainty of the CORINE Land Cover time series (1990-2018) for Spain
Published: 2022-02-10
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
CORINE Land Cover is one of the most relevant Land Use Cover (LUC) databases in Europe because of its degree of detail and long time series. Although some studies have assessed the uncertainty of the database for specific years and periods, no work has been found that analyses all the available CORINE time series (1990-2018). In this study, we analyze the uncertainties of the CORINE time series [...]
Structural uncertainty and uncertainty management in four common Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) model software packages. A comparison
Published: 2022-02-10
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Other Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
Research on the uncertainty of Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) models is still limited. Through this paper, we aim to globally characterize the structural uncertainty of four common software packages (CA_Markov, Dinamica EGO, Land Change Modeler, Metronamica) and analyse the options that they offer for uncertainty management. The models have been compared qualitatively, based on their structures [...]
Setting up a Land Use Cover Change model application for Greater Sydney. Lessons learnt and challenges ahead
Published: 2022-02-09
Subjects: Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science
This chapter presents a Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) model application developed for Greater Sydney. It aims to help decision making in the context of the strategic and spatial planning of Greater Sydney. To this end, the model simulates the dynamics of industrial, low density residential and medium-high density residential areas at spatial resolution of 100x100 m. A series of three Land Use [...]
University of Sheffield Department of Geography Policy on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for field classes
Published: 2022-01-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geography, Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Field-based teaching forms an important part of BSc/BA degree courses in Human Geography, Physical Geography, Environmental Science and taught postgraduate courses. The aim of this policy is to ensure that all students and teaching staff are able, and feel safe, to participate fully in compulsory and optional field classes offered by the Department of Geography. This is shared with the intention [...]
Optimizing nature-based solutions by combining social equity, hydro-environmental performance, and economic costs through a novel Gini coefficient
Published: 2021-11-15
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computational Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Physical and Environmental Geography, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Systems Engineering
A robust multi-functional framework for widespread planning of nature-based solutions (NBS) must incorporate components of social equity and hydro-environmental performance in a cost-effective manner. NBS systems address stormwater mitigation by increasing on-site infiltration and evaporation through enhanced greenspace while also improving various components of societal well-being, such as [...]