Spatial data and related technologies have proven to be crucial for effective collaborative decisionmaking in disaster management. However, there are currently substantial problems with availability, access and usage of reliable, up-to-date and accurate data for disaster management. This is a very important aspect to disaster response as timely, up-to-date and accurate spatial data describing the current situation is paramount to successfully responding to an emergency. This includes information about available resources, access to roads and damaged areas, required resources, and required disaster response operations that should be available and accessible for use in a short period of time. Any problem or delay in data collection, access, usage and dissemination has negative impacts on the quality of decision-making and hence the quality of disaster response. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize appropriate frameworks and technologies to resolve current spatial data problems for disaster management. This paper aims to address the role of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) as a framework for the development of a web-based system as a tool for facilitating disaster management by resolving current problems with spatial data. It is argued that the design and implementation of an SDI model and consideration of SDI development factors and issues, together with development of a webbased GIS, can assist disaster management agencies to improve the quality of their decision-making and increase efficiency and effectiveness in all levels of disaster management activities. The paper is based on an ongoing research project on the development of an SDI conceptual model and a prototype web-based system which can facilitate sharing, access and usage of spatial data in disaster management, particularly disaster response.
Cities worldwide adopted lockdown policies in response to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), significantly influencing people's travel behavior. In particular, micro-mobility, an emerging mode of urban transport, is profoundly shaped by this crisis. However, there is limited research devoted to understanding the rapidly evolving trip patterns of micro-mobility in response to COVID-19. To fill this gap, we analyze the changes in micro-mobility usage before and during the lockdown period exploiting high-resolution micro-mobility trip data collected in Zurich, Switzerland. Specifically, docked bike, docked e-bike, and dockless e-bike are evaluated and compared from the perspective of space, time and semantics. First, the spatial and temporal analysis results uncover that the number of trips decreased remarkably during the lockdown period. The striking difference between the normal and lockdown period is the decline in the peak hours of workdays. Second, the origin-destination flows are used to construct spatially embedded networks. The results suggest that the origin-destination pairs remain similar during the lockdown period, while the numbers of trips between each origin-destination pair is reduced due to COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the semantic analysis is conducted to uncover the changes in trip purpose. It is revealed that the proportions of Home, Park, and Grocery activities increase, while the proportions of Leisure and Shopping activities decrease during the lockdown period. The above results can help planners and policymakers better make evidence-based policies regarding micro-mobility in the post-pandemic society.
The aim of this research is evaluation of land suitability for urban land-use planning. Four factors and fourteen criteria were selected for suitability analysis and land-use planning. Factors and criteria were defined based on literature survey, experts' opinions, local contexts and availability of data. GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used as a Multi-criteria Decision Making model. The study was conducted on a selected area of Dhaka city, which is one of the fastest growing mega-cities of the world. The research result shows that highly suitable area (13%) should be used for urban residential zone; moderately suitable area (35%) should be designated as mixed use zone; low suitable area (42%) should be reserved for agricultural use and open spaces; and not suitable area (10%) should be protected from any types of activities except agriculture. The research approached an urban land-use planning at a regional scale.
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