Satellite imagery and aerial photography enable a
multi-scaled view of the study site, ranging from the regional
perspective provided by the former, to a village level look afforded by
the latter. Additionally, remotely sensed products aid in the
creation and generation of additional data layers, such as LULC maps,
digital elevation model (DEM), suitablity surfaces, as well as a host
of others.
Following these efforts, the
Nang Rong Project's spatial database is an expansive collection of
satellite imagery, aerial photography, vector and raster GIS data
layers, and derived social-spatial data. In order to address the
pertinent issues relating to population induced LULC change,
researchers draw upon an extensive database containing
socio-demographic, spatial, and environmental data that is continually
updated and expanded via detailed field surveys and investigations
(social and environmental), web data searches, digital encoding of
thematic data, and acquisition of hardcopy and digital format
map/image products. Further, by employing GIS and image
processing techniques, our breadth and depth of knowledge about the
population-environment dynamics and their resultant impacts on the
biophysical and socio-economic tenor of Nang Rong is continually
broadened.
The
Spatial Data section of the Nang Rong Project website is organized into several sections. The
GIS & Spatial Analysis area
briefly explains GIS, descibes the database development, and lists out and discusses some of the different analyses and research
efforts undertaken by the project. As the name suggests, much of
our research combines various
spatial techniques, such as image processing, GIS-based analyses and
modeling, and spatial statistics.
The
Remote Sensing
section elaborates on the various satellite imagery and aerial
photography in our inventory. A short history of remote
sensing, both airplane and satellite-based, is given, followed by a
more detailed description of the various sensors and platforms.
Lastly, the classification methods are outlined, providing examples of
some of the air photos and images processed by the Nang Rong Project.
The section on Global Positioning Systems, or
GPS,
discusses the ways in which GPS has been, and still is, utilized by the
Nang Rong Project. Database development, research aims, and
spatial analyses have benefited from the various waves of GPS
collection. Links are also available to sites that offer a
comprehensive description of GPS.
The different vector and raster data layers are described under
Spatial Database Descriptions.
Under each data type, the various layers in the Project's inventory
elaborated on, including the information about the source of the data,
as well as descriptions of how the data was acquired or created.
Further, thumbnail views are provided for all of the non-sensitive
datasets.
Spatial Survey Data deals with the
field collected survey data that was inherently or explicitly spatial
in nature. This survey data was collected in two waves:
Phase I, from February 2000 to June 2000; and
Phase II,
from July 2000 to November 2000. A variety of data was collected,
including locational GPS data for structures and landmark
features. A second major set of data collected was gathered
though group discussions, whereby the linkage of village-level
cadastral data to the people that use it was facilitated.
The
Spatial Variables
page details and documents the variables that have been created using the
spatial analyses, spatial datasets, or a combination of the spatial and social
data. These variables consist mostly of analyses that have been
performed on the datasets, such as village-level distance,
accessibility, territory characterization measures, as well as a host
of others.