Around the Bloc: Ancient Monuments Mapped on Kazakh Steppe
Giant designs traced out by earth mounds could be thousands of years old.
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Giant designs traced out by earth mounds could be thousands of years old.
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This paper discusses the challenges to a wider access to archival cartographic materials. The aim of the study is to present and evaluate the preparation of historical maps for presentation in geoportals. The authors use the example of two maps from the early twentieth century, without information on the spatial relations, to trace the course of their processing into a form that allows them to be published in spatial data structures. The descriptions of subsequent stages include theoretical and practical aspects of the procedure. Particular attention was paid to the factors affecting the accuracy of spatial fit that affects the ability to use them further.
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The paper demonstrates how the role of GIS is understood in science. It presents the discussion, known as the GIS-L debate, which took place in 1993. The most important results of this discussion were presented in Wright, Goodchild and Proctor (1997). Present understanding of the future of GIS has been given by Goodchild (2010). Against the background of the results of these discussions the authors present their own experience in using GIS and show how GIS science is understood in Poland.
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The present article deals with problems of the practical application of spatio-temporal databases in geo-historical studies. Research practice – besides the indisputable advantages of applying database tools for analysis of historical data – also includes the significant problems of uncertainty, incompleteness and lack of precision of historical sources. These features, as well as the subjectivism (interpretability) of should be taken into account while building historical geographical information systems. Existing solutions consider to only a small extent the properties of the research process appropriate to historical geography. One of the solutions suggested in the present article is a division of a database structure into two interrelated schemes: a source scheme and a critical scheme. Historical information thus gathered becomes easily accessible for secondary interpretation (the source scheme). The critical scheme of the database, which is collectively constructed by historians, engineering ontologists and specialists in database modelling, should consider both the event and the process character of historical phenomena as well as the complex characteristics of spatio-temporal objects (the dispute between endurantists and perdurantists).
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This paper presents methods of GIS data transformations in order to acquire analyticsmodels. These models are mainly based on topology rules and are visualized as graphs.Using cadastral maps model of road network datasets and parcel accessibility wasdeveloped. It may be applied in network analysis. When they are visualized as graphs,cadastral structures are exposed. Parts of graphs with stellate shape indicates regularstructure of plots.
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Increased energy consumption which commenced in the late twentieth century as well as its impact on the climate change highlighted important ethical issues revolving around responsibility for the inflicted damage, obligations towards both future generations and millions of species living on the planet, or the costs of mitigation and adaptation.Natural sciences provide more and more detailed information on the currently observed climate change. Climate models allow us to forecast changes and predict their consequences. However, it is yet impossible to answer the question what should be done about the knowledge about climate change, whether and in what way we should react to it. What seems of particular importance is the necessity to take a closer look at the alarming phenomenon through the prism of values and, especially, our responsibility for the present and future generations. Climate change is a global problem and it is very difficult to find a political solution to it due to the fact that its effects have a diverse character and are not immediately discernible. They constitute a matter of considerable concern which is mostly related to the fact that the consequences of climate change can significantly affect the entire international community, irrespective of the place of living or financial status. Proper assessment of climate change effects and undertaking political action to counteract them constitute nowadays one of the major world’s development challenges.
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Climate change affects all countries on every continent. They have a negative impact on the economic development of countries and people's lives, threaten the economic stability and security. Counteracting them is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century. Effective climate protection requires an international agreement, concerted action by all countries of the world. This article will address the issue of the climate crisis as a bioethical problem and presented the main assumptions of the climate agreement in Paris, which can contribute to averting the climate crisis.
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Climate change is considered to be one of the most important and difficult –to-assess challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. It was considered by the Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki - monna’a as a key challenge faced by humanity in times of peace. It is because the aftereffects of the activities of certain countries have or will have a number of consequences for the life and health of people around the world. Climate change exacerbates global inequality and conditions of survival. The consequences of these changes expose numerous geopolitical implications. They will be associated with flooding of lowland areas, the threat of deprivation of areas of important economic and political importance as well as endangering sovereignty of nations.
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The article is focused on changes in primary energy production in the World between 1991 and 2010. Special focus is on European and Asian countries which were producing over 3 quadrillion Btu (British thermal units) yearly at least once in the stated period. There are 20 countries which satisfy criteria, 7 in Europe (Norway, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ukraine, Emirates, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Japan, Malaysia). Production of primary Netherlands, Poland), and 13 in Asia (China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Indonesia, United Arab energy from renewable resources of those countries is taken into research by resource’s groups. Commentary from geographical point of view is given for chosen countries.
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The paper analyzes crisis situations solved by The Fire Rescue Service of the South Moravian Region (FRS) in the city of Brno during 24 weeks between 7th April 2013 and 20th September 2013. The article deals briefly with all FRS actions and then focuses on fires. The open-access database of FRS is used for analysis. It is accessed from a database of the innovative web application StreetAlert, which allows users to learn about current fire brigade actions in the specified distance from the mobile phone. The data are processed in PostgreSQL and then spatial analysis is performed using the most detailed administrative division of the city - basic settlement units. As this division of urban space is used also in the most recent Czech census (2011), it is possible to use sociodemographic statistical data for comparison. The article identifies spatial regularities in the distribution of fires, describes the structure of the fires in terms of the type of event (fires of waste, fires of grass and forest, fires of buildings), discovers their possible dependence on the specific characteristics of urban space, finds potentially dangerous places (kernel density analysis), draws valid conclusions applicable to similar settlements, and shows the possible use of the data for local government. The main benefit of the research lies in revealing the spatial distribution of the examined phenomena.
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The review of: -A középkori Európa atlasza (Atlas of Medieval Europe) by Donald Matthew; Budapest: Helikon Kiadó, 1989, 244 pp. -The Times Atlasz. Világtörténelem (The Times Atlas of World History) by Donald Matthew; Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1992, 370 pp. -Történelmi Világatlasz (World History Atlas) by Donald Matthew; Budapest: Kartográfiai Vállalat, 1991, 237 pp.
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Spatial autocorrelation may be defined as the relationship among values of a single variable that comes from the geographic arrangement of the areas in which these values occur. It measures the similarity of objects within an area, the degree to which a spatial phenomenon is correlated to itself in space, the level of interdependence between the variables, the nature and strength of the interdependence, i.e. spatial autocorrelation is an assessment of the correlation of a variable in reference to spatial location of the variable. Assess if the values are interrelated, and if so is there a spatial pattern to the correlation, i.e. is there spatial autocorrelation. Spatial autocorrelation tools test whether the observed value of a variable at one locality is independent of values of the variable at neighboring localities. Spatial autocorrelation may be classified as either positive or negative. Positive spatial autocorrelation has all similar values appearing together, while negative spatial autocorrelation has dissimilar values appearing in close association. map. When no statistically significant spatial autocorrelation exists, the pattern of spatial distribution is considered random. Spatial autocorrelation can be measured on local and global level. This study presents both of these measures and illustrates them on a practical example.
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In this work the author deals with the question of frontiers in Istria in special view of marks with which they were signed on the ground, from the prehistory to the end of 18th century. He emphasized the importance of Survey of Istrian Land Boundaries as the most important medieval document about that question which considerably determined border-problems in succeeding periods also. A special part of this paper is dedicated to the descriptions of single contentious points all along the Venetian-austrian borderline in the Modern Age, where the stone boundaries survived up to the present day, documented by the author in numerous photographies and other contributions made during his fieldwork. The Venetian-austrian controversies along the Istrian frontiers stopped only in the 1797, when the Republic of Venice disappeared.
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This paper considers the possibility of developing astro-tourism in small countries such as Serbia and other Balkan countries, with "discreet" astro-tourism reduced to naked-eye astronomy as part of mass tourism rather than elite tourism that is realized through specialized programs with spacecraft and space stations, spectacular planetariums and observatories with giant telescopes. The specific relationship between the virtual and the real world is highlighted in this paper especially when considering younger generations. Furthermore, the differences in the way stars are perceived by astronomers and "ordinary" tourists or non-astronomers is also emphasized. Tourists are not enchanted by celestial bodies themselves, but by a complete scene, which consists of integrated skyscapes and landscapes, as a complex stage where in various combinations and forms these celestial bodies are observed, and of their own experience. These complex sky-earth landscapes, astro-landscapes, present astro-tourism resources of the small countries like Serbia, provided that a tourist can "read" their astronomical text. In this regard, Belgrade was used as the example for drafting a "package" of astronomical information that can be easily prepared and adapted according to the needs of a particular group, so that every tourist may know what can be seen, where and when. With the help of a rotating star map (planisphere), visitors may observe the sky with the naked eye.
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Due to its tangible character, the built environment constitutes a lasting evidence of past and present socio-economic phenomena. In Poland, these phenomena were developing for several decades according to the principles of Marxist ideology and its consequences. As a result, the built environment in Polish urban and rural areas was shaped by Marxist concepts and the resulting realities of centrally planned economy. Multi-family housing projects, vast and neglected post-industrial areas and monotonous, styleless buildings in rural areas are the main remnants of the period of what was known as "real socialism". The effects of Marxism on the built environment in Poland are mostly negative in economic and social terms, and the efforts to eliminate these effects often fail to improve the situation. Therefore, the legacy of Marxism in Polish space will still be visible for many years to come .
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The relief of the Carpathians has the features of a polygenic and polychronic landscape. On polygenesis, we may talk in a double context. The young forms are developing at the present time by cooperation of various processes (mainly erosion of flowing water, piping and gravitational movements). The fundamental forms of the existing mountain relief were created usually in the distant past under varying tectonic and climatic conditions. The inherited relief has been preserved depending on the resistance of bedrock being permanently adapted to changing conditions. Particularly distinct markers of that adaptation in the Carpathians were left by the last glacial-interglacial cycle.
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Forested hill slopes in the Sudetes have been long considered as a stable geomorphic environment, typified by landforms and cover deposits inherited from the periglacial environment. The results of recent research show that such an extreme view is no longer tenable. Slopes under forest are continuously shaped by coexisting denudational (mass movements, surface wash, through flow, soil creep) and biogeomorphological processes (tree throw and detachment of root plates). Some processes operate on a permanent basis, others are episodic and are triggered by extreme weather events such as heavy rains and strong wind. They also differ in terms of the spatial scale of occurrence. Creep, through flow and tree throw affect large parts of hill slopes whereas particle fall and debris flow have highly localized nature. New landforms due to Holocene processes are mainly pit-and-mound associations, resultant from tree fall and decay of root plates. New generations of cover deposits have come into being, whereas the structure of Pleistocene deposits is subject to alteration due to bio- and pedoturbations. An important role is played by human interference, with linear erosion on bare surfaces of roads and logging tracks being particularly significant.
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The structure, texture and age of the sediments of the higher (5–12 m) terrace of the Kamionka river between Suchedniów and Rejów are presented. These horizontal and cross-bedded sandy-gravel channel alluvia were accumulated by a braided river during the end of the Wartanian stadial (TL datings: 127–119 ka). Their grain size and structure differ in the wide and narrow sections of the valley, which was caused by changes of flow energy and differentiation of sedimentological fluvial subenvironments. Alluvia were covered by very coarse colluvia in the gap section. Dunes formed on top of the terrace in the Vistulian (climatic factor) and the last centuries (anthropogenic factor).
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The article presents the results of grain size, quartz grain roundness analysis and OSL datings, differing in origin and age of the Quaternary deposits (aeolian, fluvial, fluvioglacial) occurring in the archaeological sites in the southern part of the Tarnogród Plateau. The dune sediments in the Kalników-Zagrebla site of a thickness of 1.2 m are characterized by the domination of fine grains with the mean diameter Mz=2.9 phi. Such fine sediments are unusual in the Late Glacial dunes in the Sandomierz Basin. The deposition of the dune was dated by the OSL to the Younger Dryas. The dunes are underlain by fine sands with thin gravel horizons of fluvioglacial origin, which represent the redeposited sediments according to quartz grain roundness analysis. The terrace of the Wisznia River 6–8 m above the river channel is built of horizontally bedded fine sands, which form the natural levees on the terrace surface. Structural features and the distribution of grain size parametres indicate, that sands were accumulated in the proximal part of the floodplain. An analysis of the silty-sandy sediments covering the plateau around the hill-fort rampart from the Celtic Period in Chotyniec site, excluded their weathering origin and proved their aeolian genesis.
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The article presents the comparison of the geochemical composition and the degree of chemical weathering between two Late Pleistocene loess-palaeosol sequences of SE and SW Poland. The results of major element (Si, Al, Fe, Mn, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Ti, P) and geochemical index (CIA, Ti/Al, K/Al, Mg/Ca, K/Ca, Na/K oraz Si/Al) analyses indicate stratigraphical and spatial differentiation between sequences. The stratigraphic differentiation is connected with palaeoclimatic conditions which control the intensity of pedogenesis. The spatial variability may be attributed to different climatic conditions during the deposition of loess, the loess recycling process, or even to different source areas. The disproportion between the thicknesses of the loess covers can also be important. It can affect the rainwater infiltration effect.
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