Saturday 24 December 2016

Vegetation mapping using LiDAR

Introduction

LIght Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) technology is capable of making spatially located point elevation measurements to generate precise and high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of a chosen canopy or particular structure. Vegetation and trees mapping can be expertly done using LiDAR technology. LiDAR’s fast, dense, and systematic dataset permits mapping of land-use classification, vegetation canopy, ground elevations in dense vegetation covers, areas of minute textural differences, areas of minute elevation differences, and point and line features i.e. trees, water lines etc.         

Why vegetation mapping is important?
Natural resources when managed for a positive reason of saving the ecosystem in an optimistic way, can offer benefits for longer time period without getting deteriorated. Natural resources management is not comprehensive unless vegetation is properly identified with its characteristics, uses and impacts on the environment. Such vegetation mapping is sure to be efficiently done using LiDAR for determining species and groups of vegetation, measuring vegetation in three dimensions, and mapping vegetation spectrally, spatially, and temporally. If and when vegetation mapping is done in a resourceful and well-organized manner, it can solve widespread concerns during forest inventories, ecological studies, environmental modeling, hazards control, risk mapping, and wildlife safety. LiDAR data can be used to identify distinct structures in any canopy such as trees in parks, fruit orchards or forests. Distinct 3D models of trees can be created using LiDAR data. LiDAR can also acquire data on leaves’ characteristics, diversity of microhabitat, and transpiration.



Factors that effect LiDAR data
The accuracy of LiDAR data depends upon the factors like alignment of the coordinate system, quality of point data, point density, vegetation height thresholds, vegetation density in the canopy, wind that affects the leaves, leaf-on and leaf-off seasons, forest cover effects, complex vegetation cover, size of individual trees, undergrowth of herbs, shrubs’ areas, wood quality, birds in the vicinity, slope and elevation of the terrain, terrains with high and low reliefs, data recruitment times and dates, aircraft fluctuations, the distance between LiDAR sensor and trees, pulse mode, site conditions, weather, interpolation of points, stitching accuracy, and the LiDAR sensor itself. The task of creating a well-defined 3D model of tree is accomplished when the modeling of leaves, twigs, branches, tree height, tree crown, and crown diameter are incorporated into it.    

The DEM
When LiDAR data is achieved, generation of DEM can be done flawlessly after filtering of errors and outliers removal from LiDAR points, interpolating and reorganization of the points, and separation of ground points i.e. ground filtering. DEM which is representation of the landscape along with its vegetation quantitatively can be used to assess the terrain, vegetation, and trees conditions and their effects on the surroundings. DEM provides a broad vision and is used to get the spatial information about processes occurring within the forest canopy. After evaluation of DEM, the decision can be made for the management and control of vegetation areas for the betterment of neighboring flora and fauna, wildlife, water bodies, human settlement, and the vegetation itself.

Conclusion
LiDAR technology acquires accurate and workable 3D data swiftly and competently. The use of LiDAR technology in forest environments can speedily attain precise spatial data of trees and vegetation temporally. When LiDAR data is presented in form of DEM, it enables researchers to visualize the canopies’ physical, chemical, and biological scenarios through an unprecedented visualization for the quantitative analysis of the forest’s canopy.     

References

Analysis of the factors affecting LiDAR DTM accuracy in a steep shrub area

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Friday 16 December 2016

How to naturally boost metabolism to burn belly fat?

Belly fat or any stubborn fat doesn’t get mobilize unless the body’s metabolism improves. 
What is metabolism?
Sum total of the body’s chemical reactions in order to live.

Here are few ‘technical’ tips to improve metabolism & to get rid of belly fat or stubborn fat:

ZZzzz…
Continuous 8 hours of sleep at night is considered a waste of time in our culture. Because we are too busy with our touch-pads or eatings or parties. Right? Remember that a good metabolism is directly related to sleep and relaxation. Sleeping relaxes mind and body as sleeping drains the bad mood out of the brain and tiredness out of the body hence reducing emotional stress levels and enhancing metabolism. When we are up at late hours – we are sure to munch and that munching is generally sweet or fatty disturbing the metabolism rate. Secondly, the brain cannot cleanse itself to regularize the metabolism and other body functions. Lastly, we don’t exactly do anything productive at late hours. Do we?


Gulp & munch…
Lots of water, lots of water, & lots of water. Detox water, mint-ginger water, honey-lemon water, green tea, non-fat soups, and other fluids like non-sugary fresh juices should be part of diet. Healthy fats in small amounts like butter & oils, proteins (meat & eggs), and fiber that is found in dates, nuts, seeds & vegetables should be added into diet. Other foods that are good for improving metabolism and that help in shedding belly fat are peppers, spinach, berries, apples, pears, oat meal, and citrus fruits with vitamin C like grapefruit fruits & oranges. Milk & yogurt should also be inclusive in weekly diet. 


Sweat…
Yes, strenuous exercises are important to tackle belly fat. Targeted sprint exercises like high intensity interval on the spot jogging, skipping, scissor kicks, mountain climber, burpee and curl-ups. Sprint exercises improve metabolism while letting you age slower. Using weights, I know it feels like you want not be the next weight lifting champion, but working out using light weights won’t make your body vividly muscular and will help in refining muscle and reducing fat. This will result in shedding that fat. 

Touch-pad…
Limit your technology usage. Use it when needed and don’t touch it when you crave just to touch it. You will feel enrichment in your behavior, pain-less self, sleep, mind’s activeness, and metabolism rate.


Spiritual journey…
The soul, the mind, and the body make a person. If you think you can continue soul corrupting and mind rusting stuff and take care of your body meanwhile, the results can be dementing. Learn how to enrich your mind and nourish your soul, then workout for your body, it will work.

Think-it…
Unless we think it, we can’t do it. Once we start realizing that our bad habits are ruining our metabolism and body’s functions, only then we can think to alter our habits, finally we can act upon that very thinking. We must change our mind-set to stay healthy. When the goal of staying healthy enroots in our minds, we automatically regularize our bad habits resulting in a fresher us. When the mind is set technically, we can get the time to sleep better, eat healthy, exercise regularly and enlightened with spiritual journey.      

Remember: It is good to consult your health care provider before you initiate any diet plan or exercise routine.
All the above tips are not to be considered as a medical advice.

Metabolism explained by,

















Monday 5 December 2016

How environmental engineering can be relished with GIS?

Introduction

Geographic Information System (GIS) is one of the geospatial technologies that are enthralling the globe with their scientific stewardship and shrewdness. GIS is a deluxe technology that succors geo-mapping, environmental modeling, temporal update of the globe, achieving geographic scenarios insights, spatial data exploration, environmental data formulation, and cost analysis of the projects. GIS is suitable for every field that comes under the domain of environmental engineering. GIS gathers and saves the required environmental information which can be used to reveal selected angle of a particular situation to solve a given problem. Applications of GIS are discussed according to the location of environmental issues i.e. environmental issues that are related to air, water, and land.          



Air
The filthiness of the atmosphere can be sensed by every being living on the planet’s face. Whether it is the urbanization, the industrialization, the cottage industry advancement, or the traffic increment, it is adding more and more to the air pollution. All of it is upsetting wildlife, human life, and well being and aesthetics of the environment. GIS can be used to map the air pollution, to model the spatial configuration of the pollution, and to assess extent of the air pollution temporally. 



Water
The same factors that impact unfavorably health of the air are also offensive to the fresh water ways and water bodies. GIS can be nimbly used to inspect landscape characteristics data to evaluate water quality, collect data for assisting remediation of pollution, manage water treatment procedures, oversee natural and anthropogenic processes that disturb water catchments, make a practicable land use management plan, store spatial and temporal data of water resources, and map environmental phenomenon with in water bodies.  
Wastewater treatment can be efficiently done using GIS when it is used to calculate treatment costs, decide amongst the treatment alternatives, model wastewater transport data, improve the pumping of wastewater, and map successive treatment processes. 



Land
One of the utmost sources of environmental degradation on land is solid waste. Be it municipal, industrial or hazardous, it is totally messy. It pollutes the land, the water ways, and the atmosphere. GIS can be used to plan and map solid waste collection, segregation, transportation, and dumping system. GIS can also be used to estimate distances to landfill, map landfill location and land slope, plan optimal routes from source to disposal, and recommend a suitable disposal site.          



Conclusion
If and when the field of environmental engineering is equipped with GIS, it can sense the aptitude of GIS while making life refining environmental decisions. GIS is unequivocally an expedient and technical tool for environmental studies, applications, and research. Not only students and institutes can get benefit of this technology but also environmental decision makers, managers, developers, and even lay person can be benefited from it. GIS is expected to demonstrate more of its abilities in future there by saving money, labor, and time of its users. GIS when incorporated into environmental engineering research and projects can illustrate its technical benefits. Environmental engineering can then be understood, solved, and displayed in an enhanced style.  




References
Aspinall R, Pearson D. J Environ Manage. 2000; 59: 299–319p.

Crooks AT, Castle CJE. In Heppenstall AJ, Crooks AT, See LM, et al. (Eds). Agent–Based Models of Geographical Systems. Netherlands: Springer; 2012; 219–51p.

Goodchild MF, et al. Environmental Modeling with GIS. New York: Oxford University Press; 1993.


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