The 5th International Conference on Computer Science & Education Hefei, China.

August 2427, 2010

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Application Research of Mobile GIS in Forestry Informatization

Chen Dong, Fengyuan Liu, Haiyan Wang*, Feixiang Chen
School of Information Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University Beijing, 100083, China Wanghaiyan76@126.com

AbstractForestry informatization is a significant symbol of forestry modernization. After the emergency of GIS, it accelerated the development of forestry informatization by provided strong technology support. Mobile GIS is a branch of GIS. It bases on embedded GIS and integrates with a series of cutting-edge science and technology such as advanced GPS, wireless communication technology, mobile database technology to extend the application in the field of forestry informatization. We put emphasis on the mobile GIS application to forestry information collecting, forest fires monitoring, resource survey, lands consolidation, water and soil conservation and forestry e-government in this paper. Forestry resource management integrates with mobile GIS and becomes smooth and accurate. At the same time, there is broad latitude for the development of mobile GIS in forestry informatization although obstacles exist. Keywords- mobile GIS; forestry informatization; information collection; forest fires

advantages. II. THE KEY TECHNOLOGY OF MOBILE GIS

Because of the space relationship between traditional static GIS instances which will keep invariance status in a period of time, we can store the result of date preprocess waiting for data research, retrieval and analyze in the future. However, in real life, GIS instances spatial location is changing. For example, using planes to measure forest coverage rate of cities or monitoring the tendency of forest fires. The existed principles and methods of static GIS instances can only solve parts of problems. As a reference object, objects around it are moving all the time. Without mobile GIS, we cant analyze it deeply and conveniently. A. Mobile Location Technology GPS is the most popular mobile positioning technology in recent years. Its core objective is to provide anytime, anywhere location-based information to users of geographic information services. The system of GPS includes space satellites, ground control system and GPS signal receiver. There are 21 operational satellites and 3 spare satellites in the space. Ground control systems responsibility is to monitor those satellites. GPS signal receiver receives the signal which comes from satellites to determine the threedimensional coordinates of a point on the ground.GPS can obtain the targets position accurately and quickly. GIS can store large amounts of spatial information and provide comprehensive processing function to those spatial data. Then their combination will maintain strong data source support to applications. B. Embedded Technology Mobile GIS will deploy embedded applications to mobile carriers in order to complete information service under mobile environments. Its application-centric, software and hardware can be dynamically added, easily integrated, for geographic information technology into other information technology provides a good foundation. The mobile GIS client real-time survey spatial information, including geometry map and property data, it can send survey results to mobile GIS server either one by one or all together once[1]. The layers of mobile GIS from the top-down order are GIS applications, GIS business logic components, embedded

I.

INTRODUCTION

Informatization is the basic condition to achieve sustainable development of forestry resources and plays a significantly symbolic role in forestry modernization. Once forestry information is developed, it certainly cant do well without some advanced information technology. Applying perfect information technology into all links of forestry work will increase the information application level to optimize forestry resources, decrease the production input costs, reduce energy consumption, improve the forestry productivity and promote forestry science and technology, etc. In recent years, the wide application of spatial information technology supported by geographic information system has provided more advanced technical means. Mobile GIS is a big leap of desktop GIS, and has been greatly developed from the early 90s to the present. Compared to desktop GIS, it improves the utility and effectiveness. In recent years, based on the traditional GIS, mobile GIS was extended, integrated three technologies including GIS, GPS, mobile communication, taken to the field to interact with real world. Mobile GIS has the attributes such as portability, high processing speed and low labor costs, so it will provide technique assistance for the forestry development and ecological balance with its unique

* Corresponding author. Tel.:+86-10-623-382-46 The project was supported by "the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities"

978-1-4244-6005-2/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

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database, embedded operation system and hardware. As shown in figure1.

4) Data monitoring and processing center, user groups. It is convenience for users to process and analyze forest resource by data monitoring and processing center.

. Figure2. Deployment diagram of mobile GIS Figure1. The system architecture diagram of embedded technology

C. Wireless network technology It has been predicted that the web and distributed mobile and wireless networks may eventually become the dominant form for accessing GIS (i.e. GIS will be freed from the desktop)[2].Wireless mainly contains wide-area cellular network, digital microwave communication, Satellite communication, cellular mobile communication and infrared communication. It is the bridge of satellites and ground control system, mobile GIS terminals and GIS data processing center. D. Spatial information database technologys Spatial database contains remote database and mobile terminal database. The former is compatible with a variety of data source and easily to execute centralize management to data. In addition, it can keep the data synchronize with the mobile terminal database. When users cant access to remote database directly, they can use the mobile terminal database as the replacement which can provide data resource. The whole application environments of mobile GIS can be divided into the following parts by function: ground monitoring system, mobile GIS terminals, satellites, wireless network, cable network, data monitoring and processing center, user groups. As shown in figure 2. 1) Ground monitoring system. Management personnel can do real-time satellites state monitoring and control. 2) Mobile GIS terminal. It consists of PDA, smartphone and other mobile devices, all of them can collect forest information in any situation, obtain geographic information by satellites, access to database through network. 3) Satellites, wireless network, cable network. Satellites send geographic information to mobile GIS terminals. Wireless network and cable network are the foundation of data exchange between devices.

III.

THE APPLICATION OF MOBILE GIS IN FORESTRY INFORMATION

With the decrease of forest and the development of mobile GIS, government pays more attention to forestry information. This section describes the mobile GIS which used in forestry informatization from five aspects: forestry information collecting, forestry fire monitoring, resource survey, land consolidation, water and soil conservation and forestry e-government. A. collection of forestry information A traditional way of recording forestry information only involves paper or commonly used computers, resulting in a lack of standardization for organizing the collected message, which mainly consists of data and text. With the time passed, more and more data has been collected by these means. Meanwhile, we cant find any useful information from it. Obviously the traditional method can no longer meet our requirement. In order to solve this issue, mobile GIS make it possible to collect information whenever and wherever needed. The basic principle of data collection process is as follows.
Mobile GIS terminal

Deliver command Data access Application server Database

Service publish

System management

Web server

Figure 3. The basic principle of data collection process.

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A mobile GIS for field data collection is a system which can facilitate the entire process from indoor preparation, data collection, to data processing [4]. Mobile GIS terminals combine RS (Remote Sensing) technology, GPS positioning technology to analyze the data that collected in the wild, transfer it to GIS format, then report to application server. The application server makes data conversion and store the transferred data into database. Visiting the service that published by application server, web server can easily view and organize the data. It also can operate application server and send down the instruction to mobile GIS terminals through system management function. The mobile GIS has modified the information collection way. In space positioning technology, mobile GIS avoids the limitations that traditional GIS only locals a static point. On this basis, mobile GIS provides more efficient and effective methods for the collection; In data process, mobile GIS reduces the work parts, simplifies the relevant and improves the accuracy of the data; In the use of data, mobile GIS shortens the data updating cycle and makes the data more readable. Whats more, users can also easily share data and information on the Internet, so the cost is greatly reduced. It can be predicted that field information collection system with its feature can bring unexpected convenience to users in forest resource information collection process. B. Forest fires monitoring Forest fires are catastrophic natural disasters, and millions of fire accidents happened in China every year. Forest fires often lead to a great loss of human life, property and infrastructure, as well as deterioration of our living environment. In recent years, researchers have put tremendous financial, human and material resources on studying mobile GIS and have achieved certain effectiveness on prevention of forest fires, fighting with fires, forest fires information releasing, estimation of fire loss and so on. 1) Prevention of forest fires At present, more and more prevention systems of forest fires are established on the basis of mobile GIS. From forest fires watch tower sitting to the establishment of forest fires spreading model, mobile GIS plays a very important role. GPS determines the coordinates of protected areas and the place where the residents live around. GIS uses the information provided by GPS and sets up spatial information distribution layers. At the same time, mobile GIS can make analysis of forestry terrain, slope, vegetation type, distribution of combustible materials and initially implement fast and efficient deployment of resources in forest fires. 2) Fighting with fires When a fire occurs, firemen use the fireproof work that done by mobile GIS to arrange the resource to the locale in time. Firemen can accurately local the fire positions with the help of location function offered by the terminals of mobile GIS, confirm the scope of emergency and decide the best rescue path. Even if disconnecting with the remote database, mobile terminal can still acquire the information from embedded database, so firemen will not delay the time. At the same time, taking the advantages of gathering spatial

information, fireman can quickly determine the fire-induced factors, slope, trend of fires, the type of burning vegetation, combustible humidity, wind direction and wind speed, and then they make use of mobile GIS to describe the possibility of the fire spread. After analyzing to fire data, data monitoring and processing center will arrange real-time scheduling for mobile GIS terminals. In a word, the efficiency of fire rescue will be greatly improved. 3) forest fires information releasing Combined with Web GIS and RS, mobile GIS promptly publishes some data information of forest fires, fires graphics, satellite images and so on to the Internet. Users can browse, query and analyze a series of fire information. The real-time transmission of forest fires provides different fire images and information for each conductor and dataprocessing center with the maximum extend. In this way, people can participate in the activity expediently and forest fires manage departments can make effective decision in time. 4) Estimation of fire loss Affected area, the extent of vegetation damage and casualties will be reproduced as an important basis for the fire scene. Mobile GIS uses overlay analysis to image calibration, overlay, interpretation, re-classify and form the distribution maps of burnt vegetation, calculate the loss of different vegetation. C. Survey of forest resources and land consolidation. The seventh National Forest Resources Inventory results that Chinese forestry area is 195 million hectares and the forest coverage rate reaches 20.36%, but there is still a large proportion of forest that needs to be ordered. Forest development and consolidation planning is one of the main projects which are about the sustainable use and management of national land. It includes woodland structural adjustment, land alteration, ecological balance keeping, woodland planning, etc. Surveying forest resources is an important task in land consolidation. The traditional method of on-site investigation, according to surveying target demands of different management areas, is holding topographic maps, project maps, and other information about papers to complete visual positioning, on-the-spot investigation, measurement, recording work [5]. This method has not only a heavy workload, but also a low accuracy and efficiency. In order to solve these problems, we bring mobile GIS to our daily work. The features of mobile GIS in navigation, data statistics, on-site measurements, query retrieval, graphics editing, on-site record, on-site photograph, data transmission as well as map operation and so on can complete its tasks easily and reduce the manpower greatly. For example, researchers use mobile GIS to demarcate regions and define attributes accurately. Mobile terminals can automatically draw the trip trajectory and record resources by tracing walk routes. Then the survey results will be transmitted to the data monitoring and processing center by wireless. Whats more, the data can be presented precisely even in the jungle or desert.

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In forestry planning and designing, mobile GIS can calculate the capacity of the surrounding environment by the surveyed data. Then it can conduct forestry planning and designing regularly and use the economic and ecological indicators that has been planned and designed to complete the indication calculation of ground formation, wood upgrading works, harmony degree between plants and local environment. Thus, it can ensure land using direction and support rational choices of various land planning projects. Therefore, experts will be able to optimize the allocation of resources and avoid large-scale adjustment of the indicators in construction process in the future. In woodland construction process, mobile GIS can solve a series of practical problems and make the complex construction processes efficient and orderly. Meanwhile, mobile GIS are able to use feedbacks that come from users to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this project so that it can provide reference for the next land consolidation. Mobile GIS provides real-time, convenient technology for surveying forest resources and geo-spatial information services, explores a new method for the woodland improvement. There is no doubt that this is the inevitable choice to improve the efficiency of forestry resource management. D. Water and soil conservation In 1998, China announced The plan of national ecological environment construction which confirms that water and soil conservation monitoring is the theme projects of ecological environment construction and the basic measures of river governance. At present, the situation of soil erosion is serious and the ecological deterioration tendency hasnt been held back fundamentally in our country. It is a obstacle to the development of social economic and the improvement of living standards. In order to avoid soil erosion and construct ecological environment, mobile GIS provides a good platform for water and soil conservation monitoring by using mostly spatial data. This platform gives a holographic description of water and soil resources spatial structure, time process, inherent law, attributes and coordinates monitoring work very well. It is able to realize homologous function, it is also a solution integrated some technologies, it is beneficial attempt in the course of expediting construction of informatization in forestry [6]. Development of forestry E-government Governments around the world have welcomed with much expectation e-government as a means for modernizing and optimizing the public service provision [7]. So it is necessary to build a unified data platform in forestry management institutions. In recent years, as the appearance of some concepts such as e-forestry, digital forestry and so on, forestry e-government has been accelerating the pace of development. Mobile GIS has provided technical supports in building three networks and a stock, forestry database and forestry e-government software, etc. GPS positioning technology provides experts with detailed geographic information and GIS combined with actual condition to analyze data efficiently. Besides, wireless network
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technology speed up data sharing. In a word, mobile GIS improves the work efficiency of government departments, promotes forestry development rapidly and greatly. IV. PROSPECTS AND OBSTACLES IN THE MOBILE GISS APPLICATION OF FORESTRY INFORMATION A. Application prospect Nowadays, various basic forestry databases have been gradually established. With the support of mobile GIS, these data will play a stronger role. At the same time, mobile GISs technology has been updated and its application fields have been expanded. In the next few years, mobile GIS will be more widely used in the following areas:

y y y

y y y y

Support for forestry planning decisions. Increase efforts to protect wild animals. Upgrade the quality of forestation and the level of monitoring plants. Improve the efficiency of forestry e-government resource management. Reduce the invasion of pests and diseases. Complete indicators of environmental assessment. Decrease the pollution of atmosphere, soil, vegetation and other resources and maintain ecological balance.

B.

Obstacles encountered The application of Mobile GIS will be suffered by numerous obstacles, with the development of forestry information technology. To sum up, there are a few main points. 1) Technology

y y

E.

y y

Because mobile GIS system has excessive types and functions, as well as no unified technical standard, the practical application of mobile GIS has been limited. Mobile communication signals may be disturbed in certain circumstances. Although GPS has been widely used for precision surveys, many survey environments, like in urban areas, deep open-pit mines and valleys, limit the number of visible GPS satellites, deteriorating the survey accuracy[8]. Mobile terminal cant be compatible with all external expansion devices. The forms and methods of data publish by mobile terminal need to be done more in-depth study.

2) Government With the development of e-government in the area of forestry, governments in forestry information aspect is still need to increase investments and improve the understanding level. 3) Human resources

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There are few people who are not only equipped with forestry knowledge, but also familial with mobile GIS system. 4) Others The high price of mobile terminal limits its application. V. CONCLUSION

[2]

[3]

This article focuses on the relative technology of mobile GIS and its application in forestry informatization. Establishing perfect forestry management system to monitor information, share data and improve information security level is the main task of forestry informatization construction. Combined with traditional forestry knowledge, mobile GIS will achieve the overall plans and intelligent management of forestry information because of its special features such as portable terminals, easy track and position, large storage capacity. Taking the advantages of mobile GIS and solving the issues that exist in application can accelerate forestry informatization steps, promote our national economy development. REFERENCES
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