Search Results (95)

Cross-view geo-localization retrieves the satellite image corresponding to a ground-level query. Supervised methods require paired ground–satellite annotations, whereas the fully unsupervised setting must learn from two image collections without paired ground truth. We present progressive pseudo-label filtering with reciprocal neighborhood retrieval (PPLR), a two-stage pipeline in which cold-start initialization is followed by progressive pseudo-label learning. Reciprocal neighborhood retrieval expands candidates beyond strict top-1 matching; margin-based coarse filtering controls the retained quantity; and consistency-guided fine filtering refines quality using augmentation stability, retrieval margins, and assignment history. Under the 0% paired-ground-truth protocol, PPLR reaches Recall@1 of 96.30 on CVUSA Test, 89.23 on CVACT Val, and 66.84 on the CVACT Test split. Source-only transfer gives Recall@1 of 73.06, 41.35, and 58.79 in the CVUSA → CVACT Val, CVUSA → CVACT Test, and CVACT → CVUSA directions, respectively. These results provide evidence of partial transferability while a domain gap remains. Full article

Soil mesofauna play important roles in soil food webs, organic matter decomposition, and nutrient cycling. We quantified mesofauna responses to tillage, liming, fertilisation, and Geo2 biostimulant application at two Croatian experimental sites differing in soil type and land-use history: a long-term arable Stagnosol in Čačinci and a recently converted Gleysol in Križevci. Mesofauna were sampled in spring and autumn 2023 and analysed using generalised linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs). Seasonal dynamics exerted the strongest influence on mesofauna communities, with Collembola and Acari abundances approximately sixfold and sevenfold higher, respectively, in spring than in autumn. A significant Season × Location interaction for total Acari and Oribatida indicated a stronger spring increase at Križevci. Liming increased Mesostigmata (+94%) and total Acari (+33%), while recommended fertilisation increased Entomobryomorpha (+78%) and total Collembola (+46%). In contrast, tillage treatments did not significantly affect the abundance of Acari, Collembola, or their major subgroups. The Collembola:Acari ratio remained relatively stable (0.56–0.93), suggesting parallel responses of dominant taxa. Overall, site-specific conditions and seasonal variation exerted stronger effects on soil mesofauna communities than the tested management practices, emphasising the importance of local environmental factors and land-use history in shaping mesofauna community dynamics in agricultural soils. Full article

Geosynchronous spaceborne–airborne frequency-modulated continuous-wave bistatic synthetic aperture radar (GEO SA FMCW BiSAR) offers cost-effective and persistent target monitoring. However, both the maneuvers of the receiver during the signal propagation delay and the continuous movements of the radar platforms within the sweep complicate the received echo signal. These factors invalidate the “stop-and-go” assumption, which presumes constant-velocity motion. This paper proposes an echo model that simultaneously considers intra-pulse motion and accelerated motion of the high-maneuvering receiver. The introduction of receiver acceleration leads to nonlinear range terms in the bistatic range history, which will degrade the focusing performance if not properly compensated. Since the acceleration term is a small second-order quantity relative to the time delay, it is approximated by segmenting the aperture and applying the “stop-and-go” assumption within each sub-aperture. After dechirp, the two-dimensional (2-D) spectrum for imaging is derived by applying the principle of stationary phase and determining the azimuth stationary phase point via series reversion. Finally, imaging is achieved by azimuth compression, range cell migration correction, and secondary range compression. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves well-focused images while maintaining computational efficiency. Full article

The Ranah Minang Silokek Geopark (RMSG) in West Sumatra is a designated Indonesian National Geopark aspiring for UNESCO Global Geopark status. This study provides a preliminary qualitative inventory of its geodiversity to evaluate its international significance, scientific value, and educational value. Based on literature synthesis and field investigations at 14 representative geosites, we characterize the lithological, stratigraphic, and geomorphological diversity. The results reveal an exceptional geological record spanning nearly 300 million years, from the Carboniferous–Permian to the Neogene. The geodiversity comprises a complete rock spectrum (sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic), including Paleozoic limestones, Triassic granitoid intrusions, and Cenozoic sedimentary basin deposits. Geomorphological features are equally varied, encompassing extensive karst landscapes, structurally controlled fluvial systems, and tectonic landforms. This remarkable assemblage of geological features provides a coherent narrative of West Sumatra’s evolution, from its origins as part of the Gondwana, through Mesozoic tectonic amalgamation and magmatism, to Cenozoic basin development associated with the Sunda Arc subduction system. The high geodiversity of RMSG not only underscores its potential for international recognition but also offers significant opportunities for geotourism and geo-education, presenting a natural laboratory for understanding the complex geological history of Southeast Asia. Full article

Against the background of industrial transformation and urban regeneration in old industrial bases, understanding the spatial pattern and driving mechanisms of industrial heritage is essential for its conservation and sustainable use. This study investigates 277 industrial heritage sites in Liaoning Province (including nationally designated sites, potential heritage within cultural relic protection units at all levels, and sites recognized by the China Association for Science and Technology) using kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse, and the GeoDetector model. The results reveal a significantly clustered distribution characterized by “dense in central–southern Liaoning, sparse in the periphery,” forming three major agglomerations: the Shenyang core, the Anshan–Benxi–Liaoyang heavy industry triangle, and the Dalian coastal industrial belt. Temporally, the distribution shows distinct phases closely linked to industrial development history and major socio-political events. Land use, GDP, and climatic factors dominate the spatial differentiation, with GDP and annual average temperature exhibiting the strongest combined explanatory power (41.67%). Based on these dominant factors and the identified core agglomeration areas, differentiated protection and utilization strategies should be formulated for core versus peripheral areas, different industrial types, and various historical periods. This provides direct empirical evidence for industrial heritage management and cultural revitalization in old industrial regions. Full article

This essay focuses on a series of radical, never-built “garden” designs from 1969 by the artist-turned-landscape-architect Patricia Johanson (1940–2024), which proposed sites in and around New York City that would confront the public with complex human–ecological interrelationships of the day, often posing thorny questions about them. In all, she composed 150 drawings and 7 related essays, sparked by a misguided commission from House & Garden magazine, which envisioned everything from skyscrapers retrofitted with plant trellises to filter water; to the conversion of a highway interchange into a clover field for honey production; fissures sliced into asphalt to allow the release and observation of subterranean steam; and a river dyed to highlight, rather than conceal, ongoing industrial pollution. I revisit this ambitious, multidisciplinary body of work not only in relation to its original context, when a modern ecology movement was gaining momentum, American cities were becoming ever more privatized, and a number of fellow artists began making large-scale outdoor artworks that would come to dominate art historical accounts of land and environmental art, but also, through the lens of its continued, and arguably heightened, relevance in our own moment of spiraling climate breakdown, corporate geo-engineering schemes, and further enclosures of various commons, as well as an ever-growing field of eco-art history, to which this special journal issue is a testament. Full article

Underwater cultural heritage represents a fragile and largely unexplored component of historical landscapes, particularly in dynamic fluvial and coastal environments. Despite increasing international attention to its protection, the spatial identification of submerged heritage remains methodologically challenging. This study proposes a geo-historical approach that integrates historical cartography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify areas of high archaeological potential in underwater contexts. Focusing on the Douro River in Porto (Portugal), a UNESCO World Heritage city with a long maritime and fluvial history, the research analyses a set of key historical maps from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, complemented by documentary and archaeological sources. These cartographic materials were georeferenced and critically assessed in QGIS, enabling the digitisation of features associated with land–water interaction, navigation hazards, port infrastructures, and military defences. The resulting spatial dataset was used to generate an interpretative map and a kernel density model highlighting potential underwater heritage hotspots along the riverbed and riverbanks. The findings identify several priority zones, including the river mouth, historic quays, former shipbuilding areas, and sectors linked to nineteenth-century defensive structures. While the study does not include in situ verification, it demonstrates the value of historical maps as predictive tools for guiding targeted underwater surveys and proposes a transferable, cost-effective framework for heritage prospection and management in historically active fluvial–estuarine settings. Full article

Background/Objectives: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a history of low coverage (<50%) with all first-year-of-life vaccines for children aged 12–23 months, resulting in frequent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. In response, the DRC’s Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is applying innovations to improve vaccination coverage, including using geospatial data to inform vaccination planning (geo-referenced microplans). This report describes a proof of concept to geo-locate, by locality of residence, never-vaccinated children (NVC) or incompletely vaccinated children (IVC); use those data to prepare geo-referenced microplans for rounds of Periodic Intensification of Routine Immunization (PIRIs); and implement the PIRIs. Methods: In 2022, in Kindu and Kibombo Health Zones (HZs), Maniema Province, DRC, children aged 0–23 months were enumerated with inquiries about their vaccination status and reasons for non-vaccination by locality of residence. The enumeration was coupled with the collection of the localities’ geographic coordinates, facilitating the spatial illustration of estimated proportions of NVC by locality. Coordinates for HZ and health area (HA) landmarks and borders were also collected. We created maps that informed geo-referenced PIRI microplans, placing an emphasis on deploying vaccination teams to localities with high proportions of NVC, especially those in remote and riverine locations. To account for inclusion of children aged up to 59 months in the PIRIs, enumeration data were extrapolated to estimate the numbers of NVC and IVC in this wider age range. Volunteers mobilized communities for the PIRIs, HA staff vaccinated age-eligible children, and vaccination teams were geographically tracked. Results: In Kindu, 29,837 children aged 0–23 months were enumerated in 430 localities; among them, 38% were NVC and 6% IVC. In Kibombo, 9582 children aged 0–23 months were enumerated in 168 localities; among them, 50% were NVC and 16% IVC. In both HZs, reasons for never vaccination were primarily associated with knowledge- or belief-related factors, while reasons for incomplete vaccination were associated with access-related factors. Between HAs and localities, there was heterogeneity in the proportions of NVC and IVC and in the reasons for non-vaccination. The numbers of NVC and IVC aged 0–59 months were estimated at 28,220 and 4613 in Kindu and 12,038 and 3785 in Kibombo. Approximately 2000 health staff and community volunteers were engaged for implementation of each of the three PIRIs. The number of children vaccinated during the three PIRIs ranged from 15,500 to 26,500 and from 10,500 to 15,500 in Kindu and Kibombo, respectively. Data suggest that vaccinated children originated from >90% of localities identified during the cartography. Tracking data showed that vaccination teams visited localities with high proportions of NVC, including those that were remote and riverine. Conclusions: Geo-referenced microplanning with engagement of health staff and communities succeeded in vaccinating at least 40,000 children who were not routinely benefiting from health services in two HZs in the DRC; similar innovative strategies could be considered elsewhere. Applying new technologies to existing microplanning strategies can enhance their success. Full article

The SE Baltic area, the former Eastern Prussia, is renowned for complex natural history. Over the past millions of years, the area experienced major geological events and geomorphic landscape transformations, resulting in the present relief configuration. Past climates and environments gave rise to the specific life-forms that proliferated in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic–Early Cenozoic shallow sea/lacustrine basins, and the Late Cenozoic riverine and continental settings. During the Paleogene, forested sub-tropical lands and deltaic settings of coastal sea lagoons gave rise to the famed amber formations (Blue Ground) hosting inclusions of resin-sealed insect and other small invertebrates that offer an unprecedented look into the 35–34 million-year habitats. Ferruginous sandstones, formed in shallow waters incorporating remains of thermophilous fauna—bivalves and gastropods, bryozoans, and sea urchins, among others—lie above the amber-bearing deposits. Oligocene–Miocene continental (riverine, lacustrine, and palustrine) conditions relate to the “Brown Coal Formation”, embedding a variety of fossil plants. Finally, the Quaternary Period brought dramatic geo-environmental shifts, with cyclic interstadial sea transgressions and massive glacial erosion events delivering fossiliferous erratics with an array of primitive Paleozoic and later Mesozoic life-forms. Overall, the extraordinary paleontology of the SE Baltic area adds, within its geological context, to the European geoheritage and the world natural heritage. Full article

Historical irrigation districts (HIDs) are integrated systems of natural and cultural assets, with cultivated land providing critical functions such as food security, environmental conservation, and cultural inheritance. This study presents a research framework for evaluating multifunctional potential, performance, and geographical matching along the “potential-performance” dimensions using analytical tools such as SPSS26.0, ArcGIS pro3.5.2, GeoDa1.22, InVEST3.13, and bivariate spatial autocorrelation. We use Mulanbei HID in China as a case study because of its thousand-year irrigation history and unique location at the intersection of coastal urban and rural communities. The results show the following: (1) In the Mulanbei HID, multifunctional cultivated land exhibits functions in the following order: producing functions, ecological functions, landscape–cultural functions, and social functions. The production function has a homogenous distribution characterized by high values. The ecological function, on the other hand, is distinguished by high-value clusters that decrease significantly as building land approaches its periphery. Social and landscape–cultural roles continue to be undervalued, with high-value places isolated on metropolitan margins. (2) In terms of matching multifunctional potential and performance, in the High-Potential–High-Performance cluster, production and ecological functions account for 19% and 20%, respectively, while in the High-Potential–Low-Performance cluster, social and landscape–cultural functions account for 33% and 27%. The Low-Potential–Low-Performance cluster has 4% production, 4% ecological, 10% social, and 13% landscape–cultural functions, but all four functions are less than 4% in the Low-Potential–High-Performance cluster. These findings provide a scientific foundation for improving cultivated land zoning and governance with a focus on heritage protection. Full article

This article presents the accumulated technical and scientific knowledge from energy performance upgrade work in emblematic and essential municipal and public buildings in Crete and the Greek islands, such as the Venetian historical building Loggia, which is used as the Heraklion City Hall, the Natural History Museum of Crete, Pancretan Stadium, the municipal swimming pool of the municipality of Minoa Pediadas, the indoor sports hall in Leros, primary schools, high schools and a cultural center. Each one of the aforementioned buildings has a distinct use, thus covering almost all different categories of municipal or public buildings and facilities. The applied energy performance upgrade process in general terms is: (1) Mapping of the current situation, regarding the existing infrastructure and final energy consumption. (2) Formulation and sizing of the proposed passive measures and calculation of the new indoor heating and cooling loads. (3) Selection, sizing and siting of the proposed active measures and calculation of the new expecting energy sources consumption. (4) Sizing and siting of power and heat production systems from renewable energy sources (RES). Through the work accomplished and presented in this article, practically all the most technically and economically feasible passive and active measures were studied: insulation of opaque surfaces, opening overhangs, natural ventilation, replacement of openings, daylighting solar tubes, open-loop geo-exchange plants, refrigerant or water distribution networks, air-to-water heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, lighting systems, automation systems, photovoltaics etc. The main results of the research showed energy savings through passive and active systems that can exceed 70%, depending mainly on the existing energy performance of the facility. By introducing photovoltaic plants operating under the net-metering mode, energy performance upgrades up to zero-energy facilities can be achieved. The payback periods range from 12 to 45 years. The setup budgets of the presented projects range from a few hundred thousand euros to 7 million euros. Full article

Acid mine drainage (AMD) poses significant environmental and health risks due to its high acidity and elevated metal and sulfate contents. Previous studies have primarily focused on short-term AMD monitoring, with limited attention paid to long-term, spatially resolved datasets and predictive modeling. In this 3.5-year study, six wells down-stream of a mine waste rock pile were monitored, and 132 sets of associated water quality (AWQ), geological (GEO), and climate history (CH) parameters were compiled to develop predictive models for Fe, Cu, and Zn concentrations. Random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were applied using different combinations of input variables. The combined AWQ-GEO-CH dataset achieved the best overall performance, with XGBoost yielding the highest R² values for Fe (0.81) and Cu (0.77), and SVM performing best for Zn (0.94). CH variables, particularly precipitation and evaporation over 60-day periods, strongly influenced metal concentrations by driving hydrological and solute redistribution processes. AWQ parameters, especially F⁻ and S²⁻, were key predictors for Fe and Zn and ranked second for Cu, likely due to shared upstream sources and coupled geochemical processes such as FeF₃ dissolution. The most impactful GEO factor was the installation of a vertical barrier, which reduced metal concentrations by 73–80%. These findings highlight the value of integrating multi-source datasets with ML for long-term AMD prediction and management. Full article

From the 17th century, European leisure travellers sought novel experiences, places and landscapes; they explored them within the context of contemporary, but temporally changing, social norms. Amongst travellers’ earliest motivations were reportage, curiosity and recuperation in managed landscapes. From the late 18th century, images in art galleries and then guidebooks directed leisure travellers into ‘wild’ places. Supporting and part-driving these developments were travel and antiquarian publications. That normalisation of ‘wild places’ exploration coincided with natural history’s popularisation. From the early 19th century, geosites were recognised, scientifically described, and popularised through a range of publications; this marked the beginning of geotourism. This can be contextualised within the rise in resort-based coastal tourism. These various themes are explored in relation to ‘Coastal Southern England’, an important tourism region from the early-18th century. By the Great War’s (1914–1918) close, its tourism patterns and nature, recognisable in present-day offerings, were established. Its development as a geotourism region can be conceptualised through the ‘travellers’ gaze’ and ‘adapted comfort zone’ models. Early geotourism literature and artistic representations, along with their creators’ biographies, could underpin modern geo-interpretation, of which some exemplars are given. General conclusions are drawn and future research suggested. Full article

This paper outlines a methodology to compile geo-referenced observational data of Australian birds acting as pollinators of Strelitzia sp. (Bird of Paradise) flowers and dispersers of their seeds. Given the absence of systematic published records, a crowdsourcing approach was employed, combining data from natural history platforms (e.g., iNaturalist, eBird), image hosting websites (e.g., Flickr) and, in particular, social media. Facebook emerged as the most productive channel, with 61.4% of the 301 usable observations sourced from 43 ornithology-related groups. The strategy included direct solicitation of images and metadata via group posts and follow-up communication. The holistic, snowballing search strategy yielded a unique, behavior-focused dataset suitable for analysis. While the process exposed limitations due to user self-censorship on image quality and completeness, the approach demonstrates the viability of crowdsourced behavioral ecology data and contributes a replicable methodology for similar studies in under-documented ecological contexts. Full article

The digitisation of cultural heritage has transformed how GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) institutions manage and share collections. Digital catalogues are indispensable for documenting and granting public access to cultural assets. However, integrating spatial data remains challenging due to the ambiguity, uncertainty, granularity, and heterogeneity of historical data. This study addresses these issues through a case study on the Museo de América’s “Place of Provenance” data, proposing a methodology for data cleaning and evaluating geocoding accuracy using Nominatim, ArcGIS, and GeoNames APIs. We assess these APIs by quantifying geocoding errors through a “balance sheet” method, identifying instances of over-representation, under-representation, or neutral results for geographical regions. The effectiveness of each API is analysed using confusion matrices and interactive cartograms, offering insights into misallocations. Our findings reveal varying accuracy among the APIs in processing heterogeneous historical spatial data. Nominatim achieved a 40.91% neutral result in correctly geocoding countries, underscoring challenges in spatial data representation. This research provides valuable methodological experiences and insights for researchers and GLAM institutions working with cultural heritage datasets. By enhancing spatial dispersion visualisation, this work contributes to understanding cultural circulations and historical patterns. This interdisciplinary work was developed as part of the ClioViz project, integrating Data Science, data Visualisation, and art history. Full article