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One of the important steps towards optimizing land productivity and water availability for the semi-arid and arid areas is the identification of potential sites for water harvesting. Therefore, this paper uses the Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques to select the optimized sites for water harvesting in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Iraq. Geographic water management capabilities are applied as a spatial analysis model. Data from global data repositories are retrieved followed by rescaling them to a spatial resolution to acquire a manageable input data set. The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) model is used to calculate the potential runoff as an intermediate input. Multi-Criteria Evaluation techniques are adopted to identify the relative importance and suitability levels of the input parameters set to manage the water supply. The suitability for identifying irrigation pond and dam location(s) was considered in this study. To achieve this goal, the criteria for eligibility for water harvesting areas have been completed on the basis of the conditions in the study methods. Based on the hydrological and geomorphological standards of the study area, suitable sites for harvest areas were identified and it was divided into four classes in terms of their suitability for water harvesting, namely very low, low, moderate, and high suitable for water harvesting. It can be concluded that the findings of this research can be used to assist in water resources management as an efficient planning tool to ensure sustainable development of the water in Iraq who suffers from water shortages.

Infectious disease distribution is fundamentally a spatial process; thus, geospatial data, technology and analysis methods play an essential role in analysing and controlling the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result of this virus, there is a rapid increase in the number of infected and deaths distributed in different regions of Iraq. Social functioning, human health, life, human production, and also international relations are extremely threatened by COVID-19. To fight this virus, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can play an important role in many aspects such as preventing the spread and the evaluating the required measures. GIS is an advanced technique which has a complete method for database, form construction, model construction, and map production geographical health gaps and social weaknesses review, and communicating illness state or return-to-normal operations in hospitals. The use of the GIS has the ability to improve the location and usability of personal security installations, ventilators, hospital beds and other objects. However, strengthen production of GIS to boost our ability to respond rapidly in the face of pandemics that are on the verge of spreading. This study summarizes the main uses of GIS technologies in the global health care sector, highlighting applications related to the modelling and analysis of parasitic diseases. It also allows investigators to connect health public and climate data so that relations of health-related variables and environmental risk factors at various geographical quantities can be analysed.

There are several factors affect the determination of the best location for schools, however, it is very difficult to satisfy by one method for location determination. These factors can be classified to environmental, economic, technical and political social demands. In this study, a frame work, depended on analytic hierarchy process, for determination of the best location an ArcGIS10.1 software was applied to deal with geographical information system and uncertainty situations. Nine sets were used in this study: distance from emergency facilities, distance from existing schools, distance from roads, distance from rivers, distance from railway, distance from land use, distance from gas pipe and population density. Four scores then were found depending on normalizing of the nine sets: Unsuitable, Less Suitable, Suitable and Most Suitable areas. This research aims to find the best locations for primary schools by creating a model which applied into construction and making digital maps and hard copy for the schools that can be updated with demanded. Using GIS will make a huge development in selecting the locations of new schools and also can be applied in different other sectors.

This study was undertaken to estimate the energy potential of municipal solid waste via creating a relationship between the high heating value (HHV) and the fractions of physical composition of municipal solid waste MSW (% food, % plastic, % paper, % wood, % textile) into the two scenarios, namely wet MSW (as discarded) and dry (free moisture). The created models were determined based on the results of obtained from the analysis of the components of the Al-Diwaniyah MSW and then from previous studies which involved experimental ultimate analysis (% C, % O, % H, % N, %S) of MSW, supported by the equations and models of previous studies which were used for HHV calculation. SPSS Statistical software was used to prepare the models. For each scenario, the input datasets were 60 cases, taking into account the minimization of the data and the average of HHV that result from equations. Four models were created, two models for each status where R 2 was 1.00 and 0.999 for dry and wet situation, respectively. However, the equations of verification process showed that the models which depended on the dry fractions are more accurate. The produced HHV from the dry and wet MSW components in the Al-Diwaniyah City is 8655 KJ/Kg and 6440 KJ/Kg, respectively (as discarded).