The article linked to (below) is somewhat of an odyssey. It commences with discussion on, possibly, the first land information system in Australia and my association with it - Eurobodalla.
It then briefly describes follow on applications including a military terrain-mapping product. Subsequent products cover the littoral zone for beach landings. So, it could be described as terrain intelligence.
This idea stemmed from the D-Day invasion maps (Benson and Bigot).
And, so, follows the Benson and Bigot story – an amazing cartographic accomplishment. To view a video of this stunning activity view the link at the end of the article
The article linked to (below) is somewhat of an odyssey. It commences with discussion on, possibly, the first land information system in Australia and my association with it - Eurobodalla.
It then briefly describes follow on applications including a military terrain-mapping product. Subsequent products cover the littoral zone for beach landings. So, it could be described as terrain intelligence.
This idea stemmed from the D-Day invasion maps (Benson and Bigot).
And, so, follows the Benson and Bigot story – an amazing cartographic accomplishment. To view a video of this stunning activity view the link at the end of the article.
A personal experience by Dr Bob Williams 1983-88 with lead up to MSc (Cartography) studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This is followed by initiatives including conferences.
Hydrospatial 21 [Education] - Dr Bob Williams
My presentation at Hydrospatial 21 at Cairns in February 2022 was titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future". It referred to supplementary information in other presentations.
This supplementary presentation describes "Education" and related topics; a personal experience
EDUCATION is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills and personal development and should be an enlightening experience.
My reflection is the the Mid-70s to Mid-80s were Enlightening years. This presentation describes my activities for that timeline including studies at the Canberra College of Education
My Hydrospatial 21 presentation titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future" contained a number of slides noting supplement.
This presentation is the Rosetta link. It suggests that visionary capabilities are possible and uses components of the Rosetta mission with past capabilities.
This is a story of an amazing military mapping organisation and its iconic home - Fortuna Villa, Bendigo. The document include many photographs, figures, and descriptions.
A presentation to supplement a presentation titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future" given at Hydrospatial21 held in cairns February 2022
The article linked to (below) is somewhat of an odyssey. It commences with discussion on, possibly, the first land information system in Australia and my association with it - Eurobodalla.
It then briefly describes follow on applications including a military terrain-mapping product. Subsequent products cover the littoral zone for beach landings. So, it could be described as terrain intelligence.
This idea stemmed from the D-Day invasion maps (Benson and Bigot).
And, so, follows the Benson and Bigot story – an amazing cartographic accomplishment. To view a video of this stunning activity view the link at the end of the article.
A personal experience by Dr Bob Williams 1983-88 with lead up to MSc (Cartography) studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This is followed by initiatives including conferences.
Hydrospatial 21 [Education] - Dr Bob Williams
My presentation at Hydrospatial 21 at Cairns in February 2022 was titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future". It referred to supplementary information in other presentations.
This supplementary presentation describes "Education" and related topics; a personal experience
EDUCATION is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills and personal development and should be an enlightening experience.
My reflection is the the Mid-70s to Mid-80s were Enlightening years. This presentation describes my activities for that timeline including studies at the Canberra College of Education
My Hydrospatial 21 presentation titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future" contained a number of slides noting supplement.
This presentation is the Rosetta link. It suggests that visionary capabilities are possible and uses components of the Rosetta mission with past capabilities.
This is a story of an amazing military mapping organisation and its iconic home - Fortuna Villa, Bendigo. The document include many photographs, figures, and descriptions.
A presentation to supplement a presentation titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future" given at Hydrospatial21 held in cairns February 2022
Now-a-days the field of Remote Sensing and GIS has become exciting and glamorous with rapidly expanding opportunities. Many organizations spend large amounts of money on these fields. Here the question arises why these fields are so important in recent years. Two main reasons are there behind this. 1) Now-a-days scientists, researchers, students, and even common people are showing great interest for better understanding of our environment. By environment we mean the geographic space of their study area and the events that take place there. In other words, we have come to realize that geographic space along with the data describing it, is part of our everyday world; almost every decision we take is influenced or dictated by some fact of geography. 2) Advancement in sophisticated space technology (which can provide large volume of spatial data), along with declining costs of computer hardware and software (which can handle these data) has made Remote Sensing and G.I.S. affordable to not only complex environmental / spatial situation but also affordable to an increasingly wider audience.
Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the FutureRobert (Bob) Williams
This presentation was given at Hydrospatial 2021 held in February 2022 at Cairns, Queensland. The presentation looks at capability of the futuristic Oceania Infrastructure and Environmental Support System.
Presentation to the Sigma Xi society discusses how the field of geomatics or applied GIS has changed from the days of NASA satellite images in the 1960s to the current interest in using Google Earth technology in applied geography studies
Know and Understand Your World: A fellow in Arkansas and a Damaged HomeRobert (Bob) Williams
During the first two decades of this century we have observed, or experienced, truly significant events culminating in the Black Summer of fires in Australia and COVID-19 globally.
Our leaders and responders struggled under very difficult circumstances to improvise responses against extreme challenges.
The year is 2020 and yet paper maps and forms appear to be the means on which critical decisions are made for the planning and conduct of operations. The operations rooms may well have electronic versions of traditional products with an array of screens displaying a range of information types but our organisations have yet to embrace a geographic and environmental information infrastructure.
This document tells my story on the journey.
This presentation was given by Nordica Holochuck, New York Sea Grant, and Susan Hoskins, Cornell Institute for Resource Information Sciences, during Teaching the Hudson Valley's 2009 Summer Insitute.
Challenges and opportunities of the Mexican Space Agency Carlos Duarte
Mexican Space Agency: its origin, plans and achievements through a seminary presented by Carlos Duarte at the GeoSat Center of Texas A&M University on March 3, 2016
Geovisualisation of flows: New approaches to map an interdependent worldBenjamin Hennig
Postgraduate Presentation by Benjamin D Hennig at the Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, 26th May 2009 - more at http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/?p=2777
Slides from a presentation by Benjamin Hennig at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, 15 July 2009. See more at http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/?p=654
Now-a-days the field of Remote Sensing and GIS has become exciting and glamorous with rapidly expanding opportunities. Many organizations spend large amounts of money on these fields. Here the question arises why these fields are so important in recent years. Two main reasons are there behind this. 1) Now-a-days scientists, researchers, students, and even common people are showing great interest for better understanding of our environment. By environment we mean the geographic space of their study area and the events that take place there. In other words, we have come to realize that geographic space along with the data describing it, is part of our everyday world; almost every decision we take is influenced or dictated by some fact of geography. 2) Advancement in sophisticated space technology (which can provide large volume of spatial data), along with declining costs of computer hardware and software (which can handle these data) has made Remote Sensing and G.I.S. affordable to not only complex environmental / spatial situation but also affordable to an increasingly wider audience.
Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the FutureRobert (Bob) Williams
This presentation was given at Hydrospatial 2021 held in February 2022 at Cairns, Queensland. The presentation looks at capability of the futuristic Oceania Infrastructure and Environmental Support System.
Presentation to the Sigma Xi society discusses how the field of geomatics or applied GIS has changed from the days of NASA satellite images in the 1960s to the current interest in using Google Earth technology in applied geography studies
Know and Understand Your World: A fellow in Arkansas and a Damaged HomeRobert (Bob) Williams
During the first two decades of this century we have observed, or experienced, truly significant events culminating in the Black Summer of fires in Australia and COVID-19 globally.
Our leaders and responders struggled under very difficult circumstances to improvise responses against extreme challenges.
The year is 2020 and yet paper maps and forms appear to be the means on which critical decisions are made for the planning and conduct of operations. The operations rooms may well have electronic versions of traditional products with an array of screens displaying a range of information types but our organisations have yet to embrace a geographic and environmental information infrastructure.
This document tells my story on the journey.
This presentation was given by Nordica Holochuck, New York Sea Grant, and Susan Hoskins, Cornell Institute for Resource Information Sciences, during Teaching the Hudson Valley's 2009 Summer Insitute.
Challenges and opportunities of the Mexican Space Agency Carlos Duarte
Mexican Space Agency: its origin, plans and achievements through a seminary presented by Carlos Duarte at the GeoSat Center of Texas A&M University on March 3, 2016
Geovisualisation of flows: New approaches to map an interdependent worldBenjamin Hennig
Postgraduate Presentation by Benjamin D Hennig at the Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, 26th May 2009 - more at http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/?p=2777
Slides from a presentation by Benjamin Hennig at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, 15 July 2009. See more at http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/?p=654
“Cadastral Maps for Socio-Economic Data Visualization and Integration for Lan...irjes
The impact of mining and mineral extraction activities can be significant on the surrounding land,
water and air bodies, in any operational area. The environmental degradation ranges from localized surface and
ground water contamination to the damaging effects of airborne pollutants on the regional ecosystem; which
need the properly designed geospatial database. The monitoring of these environmental impacts requires a userfriendly
and cost effective method to quantify the land cover changes over large time periods. Now-a-days, it
has become compulsory to use the remote sensing techniques for regular monitoring of these environmental
hazards in-and-around the mining areas using cadastral map. This paper provides a case study on the use of
geospatial techniques for environmental monitoring in the mining areas.
Minning Application and Remote Sensing Using Aster ImageryHrishikesh Satpute
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. MINING SCENARIO IN INDIA
3. ALL ABOUT ‘ASTER’
4. APPLICATIONS OF ASTER
5. REMOTE SENSING IN MINING
6. GIS FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION
7. CASE STUDIES & ANALYSIS
Land use/ land cover classification and change detection mapping: A case stud...AI Publications
The study attempts to determine the land use/land cover expansion that occurred in the area over a period of thirty years. Multi temporal Landsat satellite images TM 1986, ETM+ 2001, 2006 and 2018 from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website as primary dataset. Area of interest was clipped in ArcGIS environment and then enhanced and classified in ENVI. Using supervised classification algorithm, the images were classified into bare land, built-up area, vegetation and water body used to carry out change detection analysis or time series analysis. In-addition, figures from National Population Commission (NPC) were used. Change detection analyses was carried out on the imageries to obtain the physical expansion of the area. The Land Consumption Rate (LCR) and Land Absorption Coefficient (LAC) were determined as well. Accuracy assessment was carried out on the images classified using the confusion matrix with Ground truth image tool on ENVI. An overall kappa coefficient was generated from this assessment which proved to be a very good result. Results obtained from the analysis of built-up area dynamics for the past four decades revealed that the town has been undergoing urban expansion processes. There was an increase in the built-up area between 1986 and 2018 which is largely due to the increase in population of Lagos state based on its high Urbanization rate. Vegetation cover reduced between 1986 and 2001, which is reasonable considering the rate at which the built-up area was increasing. But between 2001 and 2006, vegetation increased a little, this due to farming in 2006. Bare land had an inconsistent change. The increase in bare land could be as result of bush burning while the reduction could be as a result of more farming in the state or development of more built-up areas. It is recommended that Global change research efforts should be encouraged through international research partnerships to establish international land use /land cover science program to bridge the gap between climate researchers, decision makers and land managers; There was more reduction in vegetation than increase which poised a great danger that could cause greenhouse effect on the environment. Government at all levels should ensure that all these land use/land cover types are maintained to save our ecological biodiversity.
Land Use/Land Cover Mapping Of Allahabad City by Using Remote Sensing & GIS IJMER
The present study was carried out to produce and evaluate the land use/land cover maps by on
screen visual interpretation. The studies of land cover of Allahabad city (study area) consist of 87517.47 ha
out of which 5500.35 ha is build up land (Urban / Rural) Area. In this respect, the Build up land (Urban /
Rural) area scorers 6.28% of the total area. It has also been found that about 17155.001ha (19.60 %) of
area is covered by current fallow land. The double/triple crop land of 30178.44ha (34.84%). The area
covered by gullied / ravines is 1539.20 ha (1.75 %) and that of the kharif crop land is 2828.00 ha (3.23 %).
The area covered by other wasteland is 2551.05ha (2.91%). Table 4.1 shows the area distribution of the
various land use and land cover of Allahabad city.
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long history, first emerging more than 10 thousand years ago. It has been defined as the purposes and activities through which people interact with land and terrestrial ecosystems and as the total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land typeâ€. Land use is one of the most important drivers of global environmental change. Land use practices vary considerably across the world. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Water Development Division explains that Land use concerns the products and or benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the land management actions activities carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits. As of the early 1990s, about 13 of the Earth was considered arable land, with 26 in pasture, 32 forests and woodland, and 1.5 urban areas. Land change modeling can be used to predict and assess future shifts in land use. As Albert Guttenberg 1959 wrote many years ago, Land use is a key term in the language of city planning. Commonly, political jurisdictions will undertake land use planning and regulate the use of land in an attempt to avoid land use conflicts. Land use plans are implemented through land division and use ordinances and regulations, such as zoning regulations. Management consulting firms and non governmental organizations will frequently seek to influence these regulations before they are codified. Parmanand Sharma "Identification of Land - Use Attributes" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-5 , August 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd50492.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/other-scientific-research-area/other/50492/identification-of-land--use-attributes/parmanand-sharma
Searching for GIS Nuggets: Mining Annual Reports by Canada’s Commissioner of ...Barry Wellar
The 2015 Retrospective Research Colloquium is designed in conjunction with plans for the follow-on 2016 Conference on Using the Retrospective Approach to Mine for GIS Nuggets. The focus of the Research Colloquium is on presentations which discuss why and how different kinds of literature and other sources could be mined for GIS nuggets serving one or more of the following missions: M1. Designing and developing geographic information systems technology; M2. Defining and elaborating geographic information science; and, M3. Using geographic information systems technology and/or geographic information science The Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) is a Government of Canada oversight agency. CESD reviews and evaluates federal department and agency progress in developing and implementing strategies to serve and promote sustainable development (which applies to both the built and the natural environments); and, CESD also oversees the environmental petitions process involving citizens. This paper discusses CESD’s mandate, its annual Reports to Parliament, and the focus of the Reports on the importance of information which is to be collected and processed by federal departments and agencies, and then used to monitor and analyze environmental and sustainable situations and processes, as well as to direct and support policy, program, and strategy decisions, and to communicate with citizens on environmental and sustainable development challenges, opportunities, issues, options, and initiatives. The paper concludes that CESD Reports to Parliament are an important body of literature to be mined for GIS nuggets.
Land Use Land Cover Change Detection of Gulbarga City Using Remote Sensing an...ijsrd.com
Land use and land cover(LULC) recently these days became a major component to handle natural resources and managing changes occurring in the environment.which is due to expansion of the urban area it has lead to critical losses of agriculture land,vegetation land and water bodies.followed by this the urban sprawl created a environmental issues. For example :decreased air quality and increase in the temperature etc. Land use and land cover change is driven by human actions and also drives changes that limit availability of products and services for human and animals, and it can undermine ecological wellbeing also. Land use and land cover is an important component in understanding various interactions of the human activities with the environment and thus it is necessary to be able to simulate changes. Therefore, this study was aimed at understanding land use and land cover change in Gulbarga city. In this work we took Gulbarga city to study the urban expansion and LULC change that took place in 2001 and 2012 to know the changes happened in the year 2012 by comparing with data of 2001.remote sensing methodology is used in this study which provides major coverage mapping & classification of land cover features such as vegetation,soil,water,forest etc. A wide range of environmental parameters can be measured including the land use, vegetation types, surface temperatures , soil types, precipitation, phytoplankton, turbidity, surface elevation and geology.satellite images of two different years i.e 2001 and 2012 are taken in to consideration.after image processing classification is done so as to classify images in to various different land use categories.
Land Use/Cover change Evaluation of Gibe III Dam in Southern Ethiopia by ayel...Space science
This article is worked by Ayele Akirso Adugna when he was AAU Graguate class student for his course project of Natural resource Mapping and monitoring in the year 2020, In Ethiopia.
all the basics related to soil survey starting from the reason why do we need soil survey and what is history of surveys, their kinds objectives and all related details.
Similar to Land Information Systems and Terrain Intelligence (20)
Dare to Change 1980Reflections of one of Australia's Military MapmakersRobert (Bob) Williams
It was 40+ years ago!
Reflections of One of Australia’s Military Mapmakers
(SPR / CPL / SGT / SSGT / LT / CAPT / MAJ / DR)
Robert (Bob) Williams
Cartographic Information Systems – DES and MAPPACK:
Then wait; there’s more!
This is an overview of a cartographic mapping package developed at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. The package demonstrates educational and navigational applications and was produced for the semester unit Special Studies in Computing in the course for the award of Bachelor of Arts in Computing Studies.
It was 20 years ago!
Dare to Change - Geographic Intelligence – The Key to Information Superiority
Request for assistance:
“I’ve lined up CDF (Chief of the Defence Force) to give a luncheon talk to the members of ASIBA (Australasia Spatial Information Business Association) on Thursday 10 October. Naturally I will have to write his speech! If you have any particular thoughts on what I might include, I would be grateful. The aim will be to give the spatial industry lobby a feeling that Defence recognises, values and needs quality geo information in many areas.
As well, I’ve agreed to speak to AURISA (Australasian Urban and Regional Information Association) on November 27 – guest / keynote speaker I think. Again any ideas you might want to proffer would be welcome”.
[Director, DIGO]
Geospatial Intelligence in Support of the Australian Approach to WarfareRobert (Bob) Williams
This paper (written in 2003) introduces the term geospatial intelligence to the lexicon of Australia’s national security. The paper describes a framework of concepts as they apply to imagery, imagery intelligence, and geographic, infrastructure and environmental information, referred to collectively as Geospatial Intelligence. The paper also describes the means of acquiring, processing and disseminating the range of products and services to the Defence community, referred to as Geospatial Information Infrastructure.
Hydrospatial 21 [Policy] - Dr Bob Williams
My presentation at Hydrospatial 21 at Cairns in February 2022 was titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future". It referred to supplementary information in other presentations.
This supplementary presentation describes "Policy" and related topics.
POLICY is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as capability development.
My Hydrospatial 21 presentation titled "Back to the Future: The Climate for Change and the Hydrographer of the Future" contained a number of slides noting supplement.
This presentation is the Capability Development link. CAPABILITY is defined as the capacity to achieve a specific effect, in a nominated operating environment or location, within a specific degree of notice, and to sustain that effect for a given time. CAPABILITY has as its components: personnel; education and training; equipment; organisation; structure; deployment; preparedness; and doctrine
Research and development project proposal written in december 1994. The purpose was to offer a strategy and a commitment to an evolutionary approach in the development of a system to provide Regional Geospatial Information and service.
Geographic intelligence. This presentation was developed in 2000-2001 in response to a question from a senior military officer who asked "how much geographic information do I need and what can go wrong if I haven't got it"!
Digital transformation and the concept of a 'virtual world' was a topic of interest in the 1990s. The Australian Defence Organisation conducted a number of major capability studies in the mid 1990s including the Environmental and Geographic Information Capability Study. Following on from that I presented this presentation.
eGeoBrief - Afghanistan - Facilities
The Facilities presentation was produced in October 2001.
The overall eGeoBrief has presentations for History, Geography, Politics, Communications, Facilities, Resources, Economy and Envronment.
CAUTION:
Information contained in this product has been compiled from a range of sources from the Internet.
Information has NOT been independently validated.
This product has been developed as a ‘proof of concept’ for electronic geographic briefs (eGeoBrief)
There are moments in one’s career that, in retrospect, hold significance. The 24th August 2001 is one of those days – 20 years ago today.
On 23rd August I travelled from Adelaide to Canberra and gave a number of presentations on my recent overseas trip on 24 August 2001.
In this document I introduce two audacious initiatives: Aeronatical Intelligence and eGeoBriefs (via an avatar).
Twenty years ago various organisations and professional bodies were developing leading edge capability in geospatial infrastructures. This presentation following an overseas visit was given to various groups in Canberra on 24 August 2001.
In presenting his report on the 9/11 Commission Report, Thomas Kean stated "We have failures in: Policy, Management, Capability and above in IMAGINATION". This article follows on from my previous post "Deciphering a Historic Image; To reveal enduring requirements and capabilities". So, now, let me introduce you to Fitzy, desmond, Wally and Ben.
This paper takes us on a journey by deciphering the image to identify nationally important capabilities and to present day challenges focusing on Safeguarding a Nation from contemporary threats.
Towards a Virtual World and an Intelligent [Artificial] Cartographer
Post-graduate education should be more than attending set courses and doing a final year project. It should be about undertaking activities and a major project that challenges current practice. It should be an experience that contributes to a science offering innovative thought and a vision for the future.
This document tells my experience for MSc (Cartography) at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1980s including events before and after.
Cartography is a communication system and should be a fundamental infrastructure required to meet the information demands of contemporary challenges.
This presentation describes activities at the Australian Army Survey Regiment, Fortuna, Bendigo, Victoria related to the introduction of digital mapping in the 1970s and 80s.
New Explore Careers and College Majors 2024.pdfDr. Mary Askew
Explore Careers and College Majors is a new online, interactive, self-guided career, major and college planning system.
The career system works on all devices!
For more Information, go to https://bit.ly/3SW5w8W
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Modern Society.pdfssuser3e63fc
Just a game Assignment 3
1. What has made Louis Vuitton's business model successful in the Japanese luxury market?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan?
3. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market?
4. How did Louis Vuitton enter into the Japanese market originally? What were the other entry strategies it adopted later to strengthen its presence?
5. Will Louis Vuitton have any new challenges arise due to the global financial crisis? How does it overcome the new challenges?Assignment 3
1. What has made Louis Vuitton's business model successful in the Japanese luxury market?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan?
3. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market?
4. How did Louis Vuitton enter into the Japanese market originally? What were the other entry strategies it adopted later to strengthen its presence?
5. Will Louis Vuitton have any new challenges arise due to the global financial crisis? How does it overcome the new challenges?Assignment 3
1. What has made Louis Vuitton's business model successful in the Japanese luxury market?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges for Louis Vuitton in Japan?
3. What are the specifics of the Japanese fashion luxury market?
4. How did Louis Vuitton enter into the Japanese market originally? What were the other entry strategies it adopted later to strengthen its presence?
5. Will Louis Vuitton have any new challenges arise due to the global financial crisis? How does it overcome the new challenges?
1. 1
LAND INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TERRAIN INTELLIGENCE:
It’s about Eurobodalla! It’s about Benson & Bigot!
Reflections of Dr Robert (Bob) Williams
Topographic surveyor and cartographer
Through Five Decades of Experience and Knowledge
2020
Digital transition to Land Information Systems / Multi-Purpose Cadastre in
Australia has been slow noting that the issue was addressed, and prototyped,
half a century ago.
Land Use on the South Coast of New South Wales
“In March 1972 the N.S.W. Government through their then Department of the
Environment invited the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO) to participate in a joint study of land use on the South
Coast of the State. CSIRO was asked to undertake a pilot survey of resources
in the area to provide a rational basis for planning decisions on a wide
variety of land uses.
Part of the reason for the request was undoubtedly concern over the
increasing extent of conflicts and differences of opinion as to how the land of
the region should be used. Apart from localized conflicts the general trends in
land use causing discussion were and are:
v Subdivision and loss of productive agricultural holdings;
v Increasing urbanization of recreation areas together with the effects of
this on the environment;
v Extension of national parks and subsequent loss of timber resources.
In addition to conflicts about what land uses should be and where, there were
and are conflicts about how these uses permitted should be managed. Here
discussion centres around intensity of use (e.g. foreshore degradation and
erosion) and degree of managerial control (e.g. fire control in national parks).
In June 1972 the then Division of Land Research was invited to submit to the
CSIRO Executive a proposal for a research project relevant to this problem.
The problem was obviously part of the question of how the Australian land
base should be used and was therefore appropriate for the Division. The then
current Divisional research goals were however:
v Specification of Australia-wide possibilities and limitations for a range
of primary productive land uses, and
v Identification and measurement of the biological functions of non-urban
land.
The two-pronged approach then being followed involved the development of
2. 2
more powerful methods of land data acquisition, storage and retrieval, and the
development of mathematical models of land productivity and bio-physical
processes suitable for broad areas.
The South Coast question appeared to present a radically different type of
land use problem, being concerned with:
v All functions of land, not just its primary productivity and biological
function;
v Land use in a highly dynamic context;
v The balancing of existing and new ways of using land rather than new
technologies of land use;
v A specific, relatively small area of N.S.W”
(“Land Use on the South Coast of New South Wales”, CSIRO, 1978).
The study area included New South Wales’ Eurobodalla Shire.
3. 3
“The report is organized into four volumes. Volume 1 (General Report) is
designed to stand by itself to a large extent in that it contains a general
description of the study area and summaries of all chapters in the other three
volumes. Readers with specialized interests in particular land uses and
sectors of the environment should refer to specific chapters in other volumes
for matters of detail. Volume 1 also contains our overview of the land use
problem as gleaned from the literature and our own conceptualization of how
we have viewed land use and land use change (Part 1). Part 2 of Volume 1
discusses the techniques used for acquiring, storing, manipulating and using
data for land use planning purposes. Part 3 provides a general description of
the study area. Part 4 is a detailed demonstration of the way in which
planning data can be used to generate land use options for the study area, to
4. 4
choose amongst options and to appraise the results of such choice. Part 5 is
an 'in-house' evaluation of the project. Accompanying this volume are three
separate maps showing the land systems into which the study area was
divided, present land use in the area and the land use options in the area
remaining after eliminating those which are clearly infeasible, uneconomic or
environmentally degrading. An Appendix to Volume 1 lists the Technical
Memoranda available on the project. These present results in greater detail
than is possible in this report.
Volume 2 (Bio-physical Background Studies) contains eight chapters
describing the physical and biotic nature of the study area. The level of
presentation is moderately technical insofar as these studies were intended to
allow a spatially disaggregated description of each of the approximately 4000
basic spatial units into which the 6000 km2 study area has been divided.
Volume 3 (Socio-economic Background Studies) contains six chapters
describing human presence and activity in Eurobodalla Shire, the local
government authority contained in and occupying two-thirds of the study area.
Description is generally at a lower spatial resolution than that of the bio-
physical studies. These chapters are intended to provide information required
to formulate land use policy options for subsequent incorporation into planning
procedures.
Volume 4 (Land Function Studies) describes 12 different ways in which land is
used or functions to facilitate the survival and development of the study area
was immediately dependent community and the community at large. These
studies have as an important emphasis the nomination and application of
criteria for aiding the identification of land either unacceptable or differentially
suitable for particular uses”.
Terrain Pattern Map
Computer Methods – Bruce Graydon Cook. The study area was divided
into nearly 4,000 regions (functional units) on the basis of uniform bio-physical
5. 5
pattern and socio-economic status.
Two computer data bases were established: one storing the map of the
regions boundaries (the map base), the other storing the bio-physical and
socio-economic descriptors attributed to each region (the attribute base). The
data bases were linked to allow functions of the attribute values, constituting
land use suitability or exclusion criteria, to be displayed as thematic maps.
The lists of data items held within the records of the attribute base are shown
6. 6
in the three lists below.
Acknowledgement:
Bruce Graydon Cook, BSc (Mathematics and Physics) joined CSIRO
(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of
Land Research (DLR) in 1967 to work on methodology of land resource
survey.
He became DLR nominee on ANU-hosted Automated Cartography Study
Group(ACSG).
Reference:
M.P.Austin,J.J.Basinski, K.D.Cocksand J.R.Ive, “South Coast Project : Pre-
Print Of Chapters Describing Land Use Planning Methodology”, Technical
Memorandum 77/19 November 1977, CSIRO Division of Land Use Research
Canberra.
Cook (1967) – “A Computer Representation of Plane Region Boundaries”,
The Australian Computer Journal, November, 1967
Cook (1977) – “The Structural and Algorithmic Basis of a Geographic Data
Base", Harvard papers on geographic information systems: Laboratory for
Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis, Graduate School of Design,
Harvard University. Geoffrey Dutton, editor.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/visionary-bruce-cook-robert-bob-
williams/
9. 9
CSIRO, in responding to their goal of addressing “Specification of Australia-
wide possibilities and limitations for a range of primary productive land uses”,
selected South Australia as their project area towards their Australia-wide
goal.
10. 10
The Environments of South Australia
In 1975 the Division of Land Use Research, the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation developed a methodology to organise
physiographic and environmental regions and produced the most
comprehensive study of this type undertaken in Australia in South Australia.
The seven volumes of “The Environments of South Australia” contain the
environmental information that was prepared for a study entitled “A feasibility
study for an ecological study of Australia”. This study was commissioned by
the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Conservation in 1975
and funded jointly by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO) and that Department and its successor (Department of
Environment, Housing and Community Development). It consisted of two
tasks to be completed within two years:
a.to devise and demonstrate a suitable methodology for mapping and
describing major plant communities, wildlife habitats, present type and
intensity of land use, ecosystems and landscape, using a test area of
410,000km2
of southern South Australia; and
b.to assess the suitability of LANDSAT imagery for this purpose”.
Although in 1977 the environmental mapping and description programme was
extended to include all of South Australia, the final Australia-wide programme
was never continued. Furthermore, the South Australia volumes were not
digitised.
Laut, P., P.C.Heyligers, G. Keig,
E.Löffler, C.Margules and R.M.Scott
(1977). Environments of South
Australia, Handbook and 7 volumes,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization, Canberra.
In 1976, CSIRO undertook a military mapping study and used the same
methodology as the NSW South Coast project.
11. 11
Trafficability at Shoalwater Bay
In 1976 the Woodland Ecology Unit in CSIRO’s Division of Land Use
Research undertook a trafficabilty study in the Shoalwater Bay (SWB)
Training Area (north of Rockhampton, Queensland) at the request of the
Department of Defence.
“The study aimed to address :
a. The single most effective management strategy is to conduct exercises
during the dry period on the training area. This is consistently
August/September.
b. To minimize bushfire hazards and erosion effects caused by bushfire /
vehicle interactions the area to be used for the exercise should be
control burned as early in the year as possible, i.e. early June. By
burning early in the year intensive fires will by minimized and the
vegetative cover will have time to recover.
c. Areas to be used intensively, i.e. beach landing points or other
assembly areas, should be examined in detail by a soils/vegetation
scientist to assess possible adverse impacts.
d. The general area to be used should be examined quantitatively before
and after the exercise to assist in future trafficabilty and related
ecological problem assessments”.
The report defines ‘no go’ areas based on assessment of environmental
fragility including all sand mass areas, all mangrove areas, all areas of
rainforest and CSIRO experimental areas.
The report defines areas which will present vehicular mobility problems
through a terrain pattern map being an area with relief amplitude and drainage
density; and a land systems map which contains information on geology,
soils, vegetation and topography.
Terrain Pattern map
Cretaceous – Bayfield, Pyri Pyri and other
Granites – Granite, Adamellite, Granodiorite
12. 12
I, as SSGT Robert Williams, was detached from the Directorate of Survey –
Army to CSIRO’s Division of Land Use Research (LUR) in 1978. I digitized the
terrain patterns and used procedures developed by LUR to compile overlays
for a number of themes.
A special Trafficability Overlay Topographic map was published for use in
Kangaroo Exercises held at Shoalwater Bay, Queensland.
13. 13
The Kangaroo Exercises often involved an “invasion” by US Marines at
Sabina Point.
Sabina Point is the most prominent
headland in the southern half of
Shoalwater Bay. It protrudes 700 m
north-east into the bay, but is only
10 m high. Extensive intertidal rock
flats lie bay-ward of the point, while
two sandy beaches and fronting
tidal flats lie to either side.
In preparation for this major exercise a number of special map products were
produced. These included route / corridor enhanced ortho-photo maps and a
special beach landing map at Sabina Point. The beach landing area included
ground surface composition and gradients. The map included a perspective
view from offshore.
I worked at Army Survey Regiment, Bendigo, Victoria and supervised the
mapping task.
14. 14
The SWB Special Topographic Map had become more than a traditional map.
It had become an ‘intelligence’ product.
In 1981, I (then LT Robert
Williams) was Acting Second in
Command of Cartographic
Squadron in Army Survey
Regiment.
The Officer in Command was US
Army Major David Bowen on
exchange posting to Australia.
David and I developed the
definition (right) for a Digital
Topographic Database.
David had previously been on the
academic staff in the Department
of Geography and Computer
Science, United States Military
Academy, West Point, USA.
Major Bowen’s replacement was Major John Charland whose previous
posting was also on the academic staff in the Department of Geography and
Computer Science, United States Military Academy, West Point, USA.
Major Charland gave a presentation to the Austra Carto – International
Cartographic Association (ICA) Conference, in Perth 1984.
John gave future applications of the database as:
v “Permit the transportation Officer to point to a bridge and have the
system return the width, allowable load and structural components of
the bridge
v Permit the Medical Officer to point to all hospitals in an area and have
the number of beds currently available
v Permit the Commander to point to a geographical area and have the
system return enemy unit designations, location, strength and
equipment status, and have the system designed to permit data base
update so that the information returned is current and accurate”
15. 15
In 1985 the Director of the Royal Australian Survey
Corps, COL Alex Laing addressed the corps’ annual
conference and asked the corps “to look at itself:
Ø More than just classical surveying and
mapping
Ø Military terrain intelligence is the corps’
business and should be the way-ahead for the
corps into the 21st
century”
Unfortunately, just weeks before this conference there was a change to the
project that would have enabled the information infrastructure to be installed.
Army Project 42 (Automap 2) was over time and over budget in the acquisition
process and project managers, both military and civilian, needed to find
“savings”.
A naïve decision was made to remove the RDMS (Relational Data Base
Management System) and replace it with a link to a feature-coding catalogue.
That decision meant that Automap would remain a traditional mapping
system.
THIS CAPABILTY DEVELOPMENT (as envisioned in 1985)
HAS YET TO OCCUR!
Returning the SWB maps, I presume that Alex Laing had visited UK Military
Survey in London and became aware of the D-Day Invasion Maps.
So this story is worth telling!
BENSON – BIGOT - [D-Day Invasion Maps]
The project to map the northern French coastline and up to 60 miles inland at
a scale of 1:25,000 was called ‘BENSON’. It was a massive undertaking; over
1,000 separate map sheets had to be produced in little over twelve months.
Spitfires from 140 Squadron RAF flew 342 sorties over northern France
between 24 July 1942 and 17 August 1943 to gain the initial complete
photographic cover of the area.
An Air Survey Group was formed consisting of six newly formed General Field
Survey Sections. They assembled the ground control and photography, and
produced the photogrammetric control for each photograph. This data was
passed, in blocks of 25 map sheets, to the UK-based Military Survey units
who plotted the detail and contours, and produced fair drawings ready for
exposure directly onto the printing plates. As the project progressed, so
methods improved and 660 Engineer Topographic Battalion of the US Army
took over a share of the work.
The map specification was simple but very detailed. For example, all field
boundaries had to be shown which proved invaluable during the subsequent
invasion of France.
16. 16
The BENSON maps became the base for the classified mapping program with
CODEWORD BIGOT.
The BIGOT maps and documents were created in isolated cocoons of
secrecy. One was hidden in Selfridges department store in London. BIGOT
workers entered and left Selfridges by a back door, many of them knowing
only that they were delivering scraps of information that somehow contributed
to the war effort. Others with BIGOT clearances worked on Allied staffs
scattered around London and southern England. So restricted was the BIGOT
project that when King George visited a command ship and asked what was
beyond a curtained compartment, he was politely turned away because, as a
sentinel officer later said, "Nobody told me he was a Bigot."
17. 17
Detail from GSGS 4347, sheet Cruelly 1:25,000
Overprinted initially with ‘defences’ in blue and the overprinted again with later information in
orange; the ‘Stop Press Edition’
But nothing was more secret—or more vital to Operation Neptune—than the
mosaic of Allied intelligence reports that cartographers and artists transformed
into the multihued and multilayered BIGOT maps. On them were portrayed
details of Hitler's vaunted Atlantic Wall, a network of coastal defenses
designed to repel invaders.
To discover what the Allied invaders faced, American, British, and French
operatives risked their lives—and sometimes gave their lives—in the process
of filling in the BIGOT maps. Revelations about Normandy's undulating
seafloor came from frogmen who also got sand samples on beaches patrolled
by German sentries. Such BIGOT map notations as "antitank ditch around
strongpoint" or "hedgehogs 30 to 35 feet (9 to 10 meters) apart" were often
the gifts of French patriots. French labourers conscripted by the Nazis paced
distances between obstacles or kept track of German troop movements. A
housepainter, hired to redecorate German headquarters in Caen, stole a
blueprint of Atlantic Wall fortifications.
French Resistance networks passed on precious bits of information,
particularly the condition of bridges and canal locks. Wireless telegraph
operators transmitted in bursts to evade German radio-detection teams. Other
messages got to England in capsules, borne by homing pigeons that the
18. 18
Royal Air Force had delivered to French Resistance agents in cages
parachuted into German-occupied Normandy. Germans, aware of the winged
spies, used marksmen and falcons to bring them down. But thousands of
messages got through.
"The Bigot map", two-part map, was used by invasion forces to plan and
launch the attack. Its level of detail is both a stunning accomplishment, as a
piece of cartography. Ditches, man-made barriers, and gun encampments
are laid out in detail. The reverse side of each map had detailed hourly
currents, beach gradients, and tidal stages.
21. 21
References:
Yolande Hodson and Alan Gordon
An Illustrated History of 250 Years
of Military Survey (1747-1997)
“This booklet has been prepared as a memento
of some of the landmarks in Military Survey’s
long and distinguished history. A full, scholarly
history has yet to be written; the exhibition, map
display and this small publication offer no more
than a brief gaze at the past, a glance at the
present, and a glimpse of the future”.
Brigadier PR Wildman OBE
Director of Military Survey, 1997
https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/dday.html
The Map Makers – The D-Day
Invasion
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmn7lw AN AMAZING VIDEO
The Odyssey so far!
The first topic was “Land Use on the South Coast of New South Wales”.
This section notes the importance of Strategic Policy. The requirement
intended to “provide a rational basis for planning decisions on a wide variety
of land uses”
The computer system was possibly the first Land Information System at a
regional/shire level.
22. 22
The Environments of South Australia project demonstrated that the
scientific method to describe landscapes and landforms could be used at the
state level.
The project included a suitable methodology for mapping and describing
major plant communities, wildlife habitats, present type and intensity of land
use, ecosystems and landscape. The project also assessed the suitability of
LANDSAT imagery for this purpose.
Trafficability at Shoalwater Bay project demonstrated that terrain analysis
was suitable for military operations.
Surely, this type of product could be developed and used in emergency
management systems for response to natural disasters, e.g. fires.
Note regarding the formal qualification of officers: The US Exchange officers,
Major David Bowen and Major John Charland, had been on the academic
staff in the Department of Geography and Computer Science, United States
Military Academy, West Point, USA. The department had integrated core
disciplines of Geography and Computer Science.
I received the award of Bachelor of Arts in Computing Studies (Cartography
major) at the Canberra College of Advanced Education – a unique course
integrating cartography into a computer science program.
BENSON – BIGOT
The D-Day mapping project was a stunning accomplishment, as a piece of
cartography.
The compilation and production of the Benson and Bigot maps required a
comprehensive set of skills and expertise. Furthermore, the maps covered the
littoral area and with amazing detail.
Combined the D-Day invasion maps were an amazing cartographic feat.
And now on to Managing the Environmental Crisis –
We have recently experienced two major natural disasters: the Black Summer
fires on the east coast of Australia in 2019-2020, and the East Coast Floods
on 2022.
The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 burned more than 24 million
hectares, directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from smoke
inhalation.
The 2022 Eastern Australia floods was one of Australia’s worst flood
disasters with a series of floods that occurred in South East Queensland and
parts of coastal New South Wales in eastern Australia (including parts of
Sydney) causing 22 deaths with billions of dollars in damage with tens of
thousands of houses destroyed.
24. 24
The photo above shows that the NSW Sate Operations Centre has access to
a vast amount of information from a plethora of sources.
This represents a major information management issue; the failure to develop
a geographic information system with whole-of-government – whole-of-nation
capabilities.
Two years on and briefings on ‘catastrophic’ floods are still be given via paper
maps and documents.
26. 26
In any event, these presentations are ‘historical’ in that the incidents being
briefed on have already happened.
We appear to being a long way off from having ‘real-time’ and ‘predictive’
systems.
“It is particularly important that Australia develop a
capability in this field because large gaps exist in our
knowledge of our own environmental and natural
resources. …
… For the future, I believe that cartographers should be
thinking of a broadly defined concept for the operational
use of modern sensors, the full range of data processing
equipment and methodology, and large scale
communication devices receiving input from space,
airborne and terrestrial platforms for the purpose of
carrying out surveys of the earth’s surface, monitoring the
environment, and classifying and compacting the
information in environmental data banks so that real-time
or near real-time information may be provided when and
where it is required”.
Actually that quote is from Professor Desmond O’Connor’s Keynote Address
to the Second Australian Cartographic Conference in Adelaide titled ‘Meeting
the Environmental Crisis’. The year was 1976.
AN INTERESTING CV
In 1954 Desmond O’Connor was appointed a Lecturer
in Civil Engineering at the University of New South
Wales and from 1959-1963 he was a Senior Lecture in
Civil Engineering at the same institution. He resigned in
1963 to commence as a Research Engineer with a US
Army Engineering Agency.
From 1967- 1971 Desmond O’Connor served as
Associate Director, then Director, at the US Army
Engineer Topographic Laboratories Research Institute.
Before taking up his position at Murdoch University in
1973 Desmond O’Connor was Chief, Environmental
Sciences Division, US Army Research Office.
27. 27
Conclusion
Surely with extreme events such as the Black Summer fires, the East Coast
Floods of 2022 and COVID19 (a pandemic and one of contemporary threats
to national security) occurring regularly it is time to review our national
capability.
This article was titled Land Use Planning and Terrain Intelligence. Both
initiatives emanated from political direction:
v Land use study from the New South Wales government in 1972 and
was intended to “provide a rational basis for planning decisions on a
wide variety of land uses”;
v A Department of Defence study for “Trafficability Study at Shoalwater
Bay” Training Area – Terrain intelligence.
The sub-title of the article is “Eurododalla” and “Benson & Bigot”. Eurobodalla
is the name of the New South Wales shire that is included in the study.
Benson and Bigot are the names of the component part of the D-Day invasion
maps in World War II. This example D-Day mapping describes just how
complex and detailed mapping for intelligence preparation of the battlefield is
and the breath of Cartography.
The illustration below shows a Geospatial Information Infrastructure. The box
on the top-left refers to Policy and provides the “needs assessment” and the
box on the bottom-left refers to “operational need”- terrain intelligence /
decision supports systems, etc.
There are research topics identified within the infrastructure that remain
inadequately addressed after almost two decades. We need a review!
28. 28
Tertiary Qualifications
BA (Computing Studies) – Carto major
Canberra College of Advanced Education
VISION AND INNOVATION – An Enlightening Time
https://www.slideshare.net/RobertBobWilliams/vision-
and-innovation-bob-williams-1976-84
MSc (Cartography)
University of Wisconsin -Madison
CARTOGRAPHY: A communication Infrastructure
https://www.slideshare.net/RobertBobWilliams/cartogra
phy-a-communication-infrastructure
Doctor of Philosophy
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES - ADFA
ANALYSIS OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: A
COGNITIVE APPROACH
https://www.unsworks.unsw.edu.au/primo-
explore/fulldisplay/unsworks_55053/UNSWORKS