Advances in Geodesy and Geoinformation

Urbanization has a far-reaching impact on the environment, economy, political and social processes. Therefore, understanding the spatial distribution and evolution of human settlements is a key element in planning strategies that ensure the sustainable development of urban and rural settlements. Accordingly, it is very important to map human settlements and to monitor the development of cities and villages. Therefore, the problem of settlements has found its reflection in the creation of global databases of urban areas. Global settlement data have extraordinary value. These data allow us to carry out the quantitative and qualitative analyses as well as to compare the settlement network at a regional, national and global scale. However, the possibility of conducting both spatial and attribute analyses of these data would be even more valuable. The article describes how to prepare raster data so that they can be implemented into a vector database. It answers the questions whether it is possible to combine these data with databases available in Poland and what benefits it brings. It presents the methods of data generalization and the optimization of time and disk space. As a result of the study, two vector databases with GUF data were developed. The first database resolution is similar to the original (~12 m resolution) database, the second database contains less detailed (~20 m resolution) data, generalized using mathematical morphology. Both databases have been enriched with descriptive data obtained from the National Geodetic and Cartographic Resource.

The value of the integrated indicator of the united territorial communities land use is determined. An assessment of the integral indicator was carried out and directions for the development of methodological recommendations to improve the efficiency of land use of the united territorial communities were identified. A feature of the use of GIS for analysis and visualization of integrated indicators of land use of the united territorial communities is the development of a geoinformation analysis scheme. The developed scheme of geoinformation systems using for modelling, evaluation, and analysis of integrated indicators of the united territorial communities land use gives the opportunity to form information and analytical support of monitoring based on geospatial information and to create the basis for increasing the united territorial communities land use. The sequence obtained in the article ensures the monitoring of changes in the spatial characteristics of the lands of the united territorial communities in the region. The results of determining the integral indicators of land use of the united territorial communities obtained in the article make it possible to carry out geoinformation analysis and build a GIS map of the land use. The developed GIS map allows the formation of information and analytical monitoring support based on the values of integrated indicators of land use. Also, the data of the presented map allow to predict the directions of land use of the united territorial communities, to compare them by territorial features and features depending on changes of system spatial, urban, investment and ecological factors.

Transnational communication lines differ from other objects of the economy both in form and size, and in the task of their geodetic support, which requires the development of special methods for its solution. One of the ways of geodetic support with high accuracy is the choice of optimal (with minimal distortion) geodetic projection for the territories of transnational communication lines. Composite projection is one of the most appropriate methods to choose the optimal projection. This article presents the argumentation and results of experimental calculations for the implementation of optimal geodetic projection for transnational communication lines in Azerbaijan.

Each European Union Member State keeps a register of data on properties located in its territory. The number, type and scope of these properties are determined by each Member State’s needs. The INSPIRE Directive enables the scope of data to be harmonised, and the data to be made available for the purpose of assisting legislators in taking decisions and actions likely to have either direct or indirect impact on the environment. The aim of the study was to indicate the basic differences between the data contained in Polish and Latvian cadastres. Unlike other similar studies analysing the content of data in the cadastre, this article pays special attention to the number of available sets of data about the parcel and its surroundings, the ease of access to these data and the possibility for acquiring them by an interested party without incurring additional fees. This is particularly important in activities related to spatial management and the development of an information society. The results show that in both countries, the decision makers have approached the INSPIRE Directive differently. Direct analyses conducted for the cities of Wrocław (Poland) and Riga (Latvia) demonstrated that the information system in Wrocław contains a considerably greater scope of information available free of charge, is easier to use and offers more services. The Latvian Republic’s spatial information system provides a less-developed scope of information about real estate (without fees) that is dispersed on several websites, which slows down and hinders its use.

The content of this paper is dedicated to the analysis of the flat planarity of forklift stacker’s track and cross sections of lanes between racks in a warehouse. These results will serve as a basis for a possible reconstruction of the track and racks and shall contribute to the overall reduction of costs related to an unexpected bad technical condition. The contribution aims to assess the geometric parameters of warehouse racks at the selected company operation in terms of their suitability for further use. The choice of the selected topic represents a relevant issue, which can be possibly encountered in daily practice related to the storage and transport processes of products. The measurements and processing of longitudinal profiles and cross-sections were made in the local coordinate and local vertical system. Points on the lower, middle and upper level of racks were measured for good and correct interpretation of results. Testing the measured positional change of poles is on the end of this paper. The immediate readiness of interest groups of subjects for adopting necessary actions to ensure the stability and safe operation of the whole network of lanes of the warehouse spaces is the expected contribution of the presented results.

In modern conditions of urban development, there is a need to improve the technology for determining the investment attractiveness of urban lands by developing a method and models for assessing its impact, which will be based on the construction of a two-level system of indicators, which will determine the integral investment criterion and develop guidelines for improving the investment attractiveness of urban lands. As a result of the research, the value of the integral indicator of urban land investment attractiveness was determined, which allowed to apply it in the system of normative monetary valuation of urban land and to develop methodological recommendations for improving the efficiency of its investment attractiveness assessment. A method for assessing the investment attractiveness of urban land, as the main element of technology, based on the determination of indicators for assessing the integral criterion for the development of guidelines for improving the urban land investment attractiveness is developed. By the value of the integral criterion, the integral indicators of the potential investment attractiveness of urban lands are determined, considering the changes in the normative monetary value of the lands of settlements and the level of investment attractiveness of the regional centers of Ukraine is determined.

In this study, several variants create and choose of a local quasi-geoid model in Poland have been considered. All propositions have a source in European Gravimetric Geoid models – EGG2008 and EGG2015, which are purely gravimetric models of reference surface. In the course of this work, each model has been analyzed in various ways: without any corrections, by parallel shifting of residuals, by the 7-parameter conformal transformation and by fitting residuals by 4- and 5-parameter trigonometric polynomials. Eventual corrections were based on points of national GNSS/levelling networks (EUVN, EUVN_DA, POLREF, EUREF and ASG-EUPOS eccentric points). As a final result of this study, a comparison of the accuracy of selected models has been carried out by RMSE statistics and maps showing spatial distribution of residuals and histograms. Validation has shown that the maximum achievable accuracy of the EGG models is approximately 2 cm for the ETRF2000 reference system and approximately 8 cm for ETRF89. In turn, fitting with the use of different mathematical methods results in an improvement of the standard deviation of residues to the level of 1.3–1.4 cm. The conclusions include an evaluation of considerations for and against the use of models based only on EGG realizations and, on the other hand, fitted to the points of Polish vertical network. Its usefulness is strictly connected with needs of the definition of up to date quasi-geoid model for the new realization of heights system in Poland, based on EVRF2007 frame.

The need for effective and rational use of land, protection, and preservation of its qualitative state (as the agricultural land soil) is due to some negative details, namely, more than a third of the land is eroded, half of which are black soil in particular, which have an average level of nutrient supply, a lot of contaminated abandoned or overdented land. The acuteness of this problem, which has developed with regard to the protection and preservation of the land qualitative state, has become particularly relevant. The solution to this problem requires truly effective methods of influence. One of such methods is the surveillance of ecological and economic monitoring of land. The article analyzes the ecological and economic factors and factors influencing the monitoring and surveillance of land in Ukraine. Perspectives and objectives for improvements in land monitoring are highlighted. The paper discloses a theoretical synthesis and new approaches to solving the problem of environmental management, which can participate in the development of innovative economic and environmental factors of rational land use, which will contribute to enhancing the transition of Ukraine to the model of sustainable land use. The purpose of this work is a scientific analysis of the various organizational factors of monitoring and surveillance of agricultural land in relation to the current legislation in Ukraine.

Applications in geodesy and engineering surveying require the determination of the heights of the vertical control points in the national and local networks using different techniques. These techniques can be classified as geometric, trigonometric, barometric and Global Positioning System (GPS) levelling. The aim of this study is to analyse height differences obtained from these three techniques using precise digital level and digital level, total station (trigonometric levelling) and GPS which collects phase and code observations (GPS levelling). The accuracies of these methods are analysed. The results obtained show that the precise digital levelling is more stable and reliable than the other two methods. The results of the three levelling methods agree with each other within a few millimetres. The different levelling methods are compared. Geometric levelling is usually accepted as being more accurate than the other methods. The discrepancy between geometric levelling and short range trigonometric levelling is at the level of 8 millimetres. The accuracy of the short range trigonometric levelling is due the reciprocal and simultaneous observations of the zenith angles and slope distances over relative short distances of 250 m. The difference between the ellipsoidal height differences obtained from the GPS levelling used without geoid and the orthometric height differences obtained from precise geometric levelling is 4 millimetres. The geoid model which is obtained from a fifth order polynomial fit of the project area is good enough in this study. The discrepancy between the precise geometric and GPS levelling (with geoid corrections) is 4 millimetres over 5 km.

Position time series from permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations are commonly used for estimating secular velocities of discrete points on the Earth’s surface. An understanding of background noise in the GNSS position time series is essential to obtain realistic estimates of velocity uncertainties. The current study focuses on the investigation of background noise in position time series obtained from thirteen permanent GNSS stations located in Nepal Himalaya using the spectral analysis method. The power spectrum of the GNSS position time series has been estimated using the Lomb–Scargle method. The iterative nonlinear Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm has been applied to estimate the spectral index of the power spectrum. The power spectrum can be described by white noise in the high frequency zone and power law noise in the lower frequency zone. The mean and the standard deviation of the estimated spectral indices are −1.46±0.14,−1.39±0.16 and −1.53±0.07 for north, east and vertical components, respectively. On average, the power law noise extends up to a period of ca. 21 days. For a shorter period, i.e. less than ca. 21 days, the spectra are white. The spectral index corresponding to random walk noise (ca. –2) is obtained for a site located above the base of a seismogenic zone which can be due to the combined effect of tectonic and nontectonic factors rather than a spurious monumental motion. Overall, the usefulness of investigating the background noise in the GNSS position time series is discussed.

In recent years, the rate of urban growth has increased rapidly especially in Egypt, due to the increase in population growth. The Egyptian government has set up new cities and established large factories, roads and bridges in new places to solve this trouble. This paper investigates the change monitoring of land surface temperature, urban and agricultural area in Egypt especially Kafr EL-Sheikh city as case study using high resolution satellite images. Nowadays, satellite images are playing an important role in detecting the change of urban growth. In this paper, cadastral map for Kafr El-Sheikh city with scale 1:5000, images from Landsat 7 with accuracy 30 meters; images from Google Earth with accuracy 0.5 meter; and images from SAS Planet with accuracy 0.5 m are used where all images are available during the study period (for year’s 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2017). The analysis has been performed in a platform of Geographical Information System (GIS) configured with Remote Sensing system using ArcGIS 10.3 and ERDAS Imagine image processing software. From the processing and analysis of the specified images during the studied time period, it is found that the building area was increased by 28.8% from year 2003 up to 2017 from Google Earth images and increased by percentage 34.4% from year 2003 up to year 2017 from supervised Landsat 7 images but for unsupervised Landsat 7 images, the building area was increased by percentage 35.9%. In this study, land surface temperature (LST) was measured also from satellite images for different years through 2003 until 2017. It is deduced that the increase in the building area (urban growth) in the specified city led to increase the land surface temperature (LST) which will affect some agricultural crops. Depending on the results of images analysis, Forecasting models using different algorithms for the urban and agricultural area was built. Finally, it is deduced that integration of spacebased remote sensing technology with GIS tools provide better platform to perform such activities.