scholarly journals Non-Spatial Data towards Spatially Located News about COVID-19: A Semi-Automated Aggregator of Pandemic Data from (Social) Media within the Olomouc Region, Czechia

Data ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Jakub Konicek ◽  
Rostislav Netek ◽  
Tomas Burian ◽  
Tereza Novakova ◽  
Jakub Kaplan

The article describes the process of aggregation of media-based data about the coronavirus pandemic in the Olomouc region, the Czech Republic. Originally non-spatially located news from different sources and various platforms (government, social media, news portals) were automatically aggregated into a centralized database. The application “COVID-map” is an interactive web map solution which visualizes records from the database in a spatial way. The COVID-map has been developed within the Ad hoc online hackathon as an academic project at the Department of Geoinformatics, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Alongside spatially localized data, the map application collects statistical data from official sources e.g., from the governmental crisis management office. The impact of the application was immediate. Within a few days after the launch, tens of thousands users per day visited the COVID-map. It has been published by regional and national media. The COVID-map solution could be considered as a suitable implementation of the correctly used cartographical method for the example of the coronavirus pandemic.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Rostislav Netek ◽  
Jakub Konicek

Abstract. The article describes the process of aggregation of media-based data about coronavirus pandemic in the Olomouc region, Czech Republic. Originally non-spatially located news from different sources and various platforms (government, social media, news portals) were automatically aggregated into a centralized database. The application “COVID-map” is an interactive web map solution which visualizes records from the database in a spatial way. COVID-map has been developed within Ad hoc online hackathon as an academic project at the Department of Geoinformatics, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Alongside spatially localized data, map application collects statistical data from official sources e.g. from the governmental crisis management office.Our approach focuses on cartographical aspects of COVID-map solution. It respects current trends in both development of cartographic oriented outputs and web-based interactive map application. It is fully responsive. Originally, nonspatial data were aggregated, verified, geo-located, and finally visualized in the map environment. The layout combines three main parts: interactive map with spatial data; information panel with updated statistical data; and a sidebar with a filterable list of verified and geo-located news. The main cartographic method used for the visualisation is the choropleth map. It shows the distribution of positively tested people per 10 000 inhabitants for each sub-region. In comparison with similar coronavirus visualisation made during the current pandemic, our solution respects fundamental cartographical rules.Following cartographical topics are discussed in the article: the correct choice of cartographic method and its implementation; determination of a colour scale; recalculation statistics data into relative units by choropleths map method; design of map symbols and legend; searching for a suitable visualization of spatial and non-spatial sources into map layout; discussion on the suitability of using a clustering method.The motivation for this project was both social responsibility and dissatisfaction with the wrong implementation of basic cartographic methods in a variety of alternative solutions. The impact was immediate. Within a few days after the launch, tens of thousands users per day visited the COVID-map. It has been published by regional and national media. The COVID-map solution could be considered as a suitable ad-hoc implementation of the correctly used cartographical method on the example of coronavirus pandemic. The application “COVID-map” is available online at URL: https://gis.upol.cz/covid/mapa/.


Author(s):  
V. Holubec ◽  
T. Valášková ◽  
L. Halounová

The project describes a process of conversion of printed books into a web map and mobile application. The goal of the project is to make spatial data in the book accessible to wide public using GIS especially on web in order to spread the information about this topic. Moreover, as a result of the analysis and of the new perspectives gained from the data context, historians will be able to find new connections. <br><br> The books that serve as sources of the project (two books with the scope of about 1400 pages featuring hundreds of locations where each location is associated with more events of different types) refer to places with many addresses in Prague and some villages in the Czech Republic which are related to events that took place during the World War II. <br><br> The paper describes the steps of conversion, the design of the data model in Esri geodatabase and examples of outputs. The historical data are connected to actual addresses and thanks to such a combination of historical and actual locations, the project will help to discover a part of the history of the Czech Republic and it will show new context in data via GIS capabilities. This project is a continuation of a project which recorded a march of death on a map. <br><br> This is a unique project created in cooperation with Academia Publishing. The outputs of the project will serve as a core resource for a multimedia history portal. The author of the book is currently writing sequels from the post-war period and at least two other books are envisioned, so the future of the project is ensured.


Author(s):  
V. Holubec ◽  
T. Valášková ◽  
L. Halounová

The project describes a process of conversion of printed books into a web map and mobile application. The goal of the project is to make spatial data in the book accessible to wide public using GIS especially on web in order to spread the information about this topic. Moreover, as a result of the analysis and of the new perspectives gained from the data context, historians will be able to find new connections. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; The books that serve as sources of the project (two books with the scope of about 1400 pages featuring hundreds of locations where each location is associated with more events of different types) refer to places with many addresses in Prague and some villages in the Czech Republic which are related to events that took place during the World War II. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; The paper describes the steps of conversion, the design of the data model in Esri geodatabase and examples of outputs. The historical data are connected to actual addresses and thanks to such a combination of historical and actual locations, the project will help to discover a part of the history of the Czech Republic and it will show new context in data via GIS capabilities. This project is a continuation of a project which recorded a march of death on a map. &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; This is a unique project created in cooperation with Academia Publishing. The outputs of the project will serve as a core resource for a multimedia history portal. The author of the book is currently writing sequels from the post-war period and at least two other books are envisioned, so the future of the project is ensured.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5355
Author(s):  
Vilém Pechanec ◽  
Ondřej Cudlín ◽  
Miloš Zapletal ◽  
Jan Purkyt ◽  
Lenka Štěrbová ◽  
...  

Global and regional biodiversity loss is caused by several drivers including urban development, land use intensification, overexploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. The main aim of our study was to adapt the GLOBIO3 model to the conditions of the Czech Republic (CR) to assess loss of naturalness and biodiversity vulnerability at the habitat level on a detailed scale across the entire CR. An additional aim was to assess the main drivers affecting the biodiversity of habitat types. The GLOBIO3 model was adapted to CZ-GLOBIO by adapting global to local scales and using habitat quality and naturalness data instead of species occurrence data. The total mean species abundance (MSA) index of habitat quality, calculated from the spatial overlay of the four MSA indicators by our new equation, reached the value 0.62. The total value of MSA for natural and near-natural habitats was found to be affected mainly by infrastructure development and fragmentation. Simultaneously, intensity of land use change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition contributed primarily to the low total value of MSA for distant natural habitats. The CZ-GLOBIO model can be an important tool in political decision making to reduce the impact of the main drivers on habitat biodiversity in the CR.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Miroslava Navrátilová ◽  
Markéta Beranová ◽  
Lucie Severová ◽  
Karel Šrédl ◽  
Roman Svoboda ◽  
...  

The aim of the presented article is to evaluate the impact of climate change on the sugar content of grapes in the Czech Republic during the period 2000–2019 through selected indicators on the basis of available secondary sources. Attention is focused on the developments in both the main wine-growing regions of Moravia and Bohemia. In the field of viticulture and wine-growing, the sugar content of grapes, as a basic parameter for the classification of wines, plays an important role. In the Czech Republic, the average sugar content of grapes has had a constantly growing trend. This trend is evident both in the wine-growing region of Bohemia and in the wine-growing region of Moravia. The impact of climate change, especially the gradual increase of average temperatures in the growing season, cannot be overlooked. It greatly affects, among other things, the sugar content of grapes. Calculations according to the Huglin Index and the Winkler Index were used to determine the relationship between climate and sugar content. These indexes summarize the course of temperatures during the entire vegetation period into a single numerical value. The results show that both indexes describe the effect of air temperature on sugar content in both wine regions of the Czech Republic in a statistically significant way. The Huglin Index shows a higher correlation rate. The Winkler Index proved to be less suitable for both areas. Alternatively, the Winkler Index calculated for a shorter growing season was tested, which showed a higher degree of correlation with sugar content, approaching the significance of the Huglin Index.


2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Roman David

Memories of wrongdoings are often viewed as an obstacle to reconciliation in divided societies. Is it due to the past or the present politics of the past? To examine the dilemma of essentialism versus presentism, this article investigates the impact of transitional justice on memories of wrongdoing. It theorizes that using different transitional justice strategies to deal with the same wrongdoing shapes memories in different ways. The theory is tested via vignette-based surveys in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which adopted distinct lustration laws. The results show that wrongdoing is viewed through lustration laws, reflecting present power constellations, not history.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
VÁCLAV ZÁMEČNÍK ◽  
VOJTĚCH KUBELKA ◽  
MIROSLAV ŠÁLEK

SummaryOnly a few studies have assessed the predation risk on artificially marked nests, or have examined ways of marking nests to avoid destruction by machinery. Until now, however, neither type of study has directly addressed this apparent trade-off experimentally. The impact of marking the nests of Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus with thin 2 m-long conspicuous bamboo poles with the top end highlighted with reflective red or orange spray has been tested for three years in two breeding areas of waders in the Czech Republic. A total of 52 pairs of nests on agricultural land, with each pair consisting of one marked nest and one unmarked reference counterpart nest, were monitored for 2004 nest-days until hatching, agricultural operations or failure. The results proved that marking itself does not result in increased nest predation. The nests found in the early incubation stage were under higher threat of depredation, irrespective of the presence of marking. Our results show that it is possible to find a finely-tuned trade-off in nest marking of ground-nesting birds between risk of damage by agricultural machinery and risk of increased nest predation. Our positive experience with Northern Lapwing, and episodically with three other wader species in the Czech Republic, suggests that this direct nest protection could be used effectively for a wider variety of ground-nesting birds.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Petra Baji ◽  
Márta Péntek ◽  
Imre Boncz ◽  
Valentin Brodszky ◽  
Olga Loblova ◽  
...  

In the past few years, several papers have been published in the international literature on the impact of the economic crisis on health and health care. However, there is limited knowledge on this topic regarding the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The main aims of this study are to examine the effect of the financial crisis on health care spending in four CEE countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in comparison with the OECD countries. In this paper we also revised the literature for economic crisis related impact on health and health care system in these countries. OECD data released in 2012 were used to examine the differences in growth rates before and after the financial crisis. We examined the ratio of the average yearly growth rates of health expenditure expressed in USD (PPP) between 2008–2010 and 2000–2008. The classification of the OECD countries regarding “development” and “relative growth” resulted in four clusters. A large diversity of “relative growth” was observed across the countries in austerity conditions, however the changes significantly correlate with the average drop of GDP from 2008 to 2010. To conclude, it is difficult to capture visible evidence regarding the impact of the recession on the health and health care systems in the CEE countries due to the absence of the necessary data. For the same reason, governments in this region might have a limited capability to minimize the possible negative effects of the recession on health and health care systems.


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