ALBERT

Description: Sustainability is part of the scientific mainstream; in the following paper we connect it with the phenomenon of happiness, which is becoming a discussed concept not only among researchers but also amongst public. This is due to the fact that today’s society has become a consumer society. This knowledge has provoked criticism of the prevailing lifestyle. The unprecedented growth of prosperity in the second half of the last century and at the beginning of the 21st century was achieved at the cost of environmental devastation. This presented the urgent question of how to improve the quality of life or bring happiness to a growing number of people. At the same time, efforts to replace GDP as a general measure of development with quality of life began to grow. In connection with happiness, it is important that it is defined in two ways: hedonic or eudaimonic. The aim of the paper is to find out which form of happiness is sustainable on the basis of the analysis of relevant works. Happiness is understood as part of the subjective dimension of quality of life, it represents the highest level of well-being. The combination of sustainability and quality of life or happiness is not new, some authors consider quality of life as the fourth pillar of sustainability. A key criterion for assessing which happiness is sustainable and which is not is the following assumption: The happiness of us – contemporaries − cannot be achieved at the expense of future generations. The knowledge-which of the forms is sustainable - is the result of the analysis of both forms of happiness.

Description: Although private or community initiatives for biodiversity conservation (such as land trusts) have a strong tradition in many countries, rigorous evidence of recently evolved movements in post-socialist countries is missing. This study describes the evolution of Czech land trust movement and analyses their representatives’ motivation for engagement in biodiversity conservation. It also investigates the intensity of interaction among public and land trust conservation efforts. For this purpose, we identified localities in which the territory managed by Czech land trusts overlaps with small-scale public nature reserves managed by regional governments. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face interviews with representatives of all NGOs and regional officials in-charge. Our qualitative analysis revealed that some regional biodiversity conservation officials see land trusts as partners, but others are rather indifferent to, or uninformed about, their activities. Additionally, land trust representatives see themselves as complementing the public effort: their main motivation for engagement is to facilitate biodiversity conservation in addition to the public provision.

Description: The paper deals with the evaluation of the effectiveness of the construction of high-speed rails/HSR in the Czech Republic with an emphasis on the perception of their potential impact on labour market integration. The introductory part analyses the position of the main Central European metropolises in the HSR network as a tool for transnational integration, where the leading position of German and Swiss metropolises was confirmed. The main goal of the paper is assessing the impact of HSR construction projects on the work attractiveness of Czech metropolitan regions using the model of marginal rate of labour mobility model determined by the ratio of income and cost increases (including variant scenarios of lost time costs as negative externality). Its application combines economic and geographic analysis and thus contributes to the integration of space and time into economic theory. The performed analyses demonstrate the most significant positive impacts of the construction of HSR on the work attractiveness of Prague, followed by Brno. Regarding the adequate effects of the operating speed, it is possible to evaluate them as secondary due to the small distances of the affected residential centres. Overall, we expect that the implementation of the discussed projects will not have a significant impact on the labour mobility of the population and it is therefore necessary to pay attention to their other benefits.

Description: Socio-ecological hazards are processes that − depending on the vulnerability of societal systems − may have profound adverse impacts. For this reason, the current discourse in disaster risk reduction (DRR) has been experiencing a shift toward a vulnerability-led paradigm, raising new questions about how to address (i) the complexity of vulnerabilities to multiple hazards, (ii) their cultural, dynamic, and subjective character, and (iii) the effectiveness and legitimacy of vulnerability assessments as decision-support tools. In this paper, we present a review of 707 vulnerability studies (derived from the Clarivate WoS database; 1988−2018) with a particular focus on urban settings and spatially explicit assessments in order to evaluate current efforts to meet the aforementioned issues. The reviewed studies assessed vulnerabilities to 35 hazard types that were predominantly (n=603, 85%) analysed as single hazards (mostly seismic, flood, and groundwater contamination hazards, as well as climate change), whereas only 15% (n=104) of studies focused on multiple hazards (mostly atmospheric hazards). Within the spatially explicit vulnerability studies, almost 60% used data collected by the study itself (mostly seismic hazards), while statistical and combined data were both employed in 20% of cases (mostly floods, climate change, and social and political hazards). Statistical data were found to have only limited transferability, often being generalised to be applicable in small-scale studies, while reducing the role of cultural and contextual factors. Field research data provided high-resolution information, but their acquisition is time-consuming, and therefore fixed at a local scale and single temporal stage. Underlying hazard types and suitable data sources resulting in other differences found a preference towards the specific coverage and resolution of vulnerability maps that appeared in 44% of all reviewed studies. Altogether, the differences we found indicated a division of spatially explicit vulnerability research in two major directions: (i) geological and geomorphological studies focusing on physical vulnerability, using their own data surveys at a detailed scale and lacking links to other hazards, and (ii) other studies (mostly atmospheric hazards and socialpolitical hazards) focusing on social or combined vulnerabilities, using primarily statistical or combined data at a municipal, regional, and country scale with occasional efforts to integrate multiple hazards. Finally, although cartographic representations have become a frequent component of vulnerability studies, our review found only vague rationalisations for the presentation of maps, and a lack of guidelines for the interpretation of uncertainties and the use of maps as decision-support tools.

Description: We aim to describe and explain current differences in the rate of corporate philanthropy (CP) at microregional level. Primary research question is to what extent are microregional patterns of CP affected by determinants at firm and industry-level (firm size, industrial structure, profitability) and to what extent are they shaped by regional contextual factors. Measurement of CP was based on anonymized firm-level data provided by the Ministry of Finance, aggregated at the level of municipalities with extended powers (microregions). We employed a regression model to test the effects of population density, economic performance, specialization, dependence of manufacturing, firm size, traditional values and social capital. Surprisingly, we found no significant effects of firm size and industrial structure on regional CP. Firm’s profitability was the most important predictor. We found also positive effects of population density and religiosity and negative relationship between CP and regional economic performance. Despite initial expectations higher rate of CP was not found in rural regions.

Description: People in urban and peri-urban areas enjoy better physical access to health facilities compared to those living in rural area. However, healthier natural environment is commonly absent in urban and its adjoining peri-urban areas. Premising on the competitiveness of health determinants outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO), this study has embarked upon comparing healthiness of different communities in a region as well as to ascertain the factor(s) regulating their healthiness related outcome. Relying on presurveyed 1397 household data spreading over an urban, two peri-urban, and eight rural localities in Mymensingh region, Bangladesh, the study has evaluated the communities’ healthiness in views of both the conventional perspective and using a set of health determinants. Illness and disease manifestation as well as socio-economic status of the households were analyzed statistically to get communities’ overall healthiness scenario. Later, comparison among the communities and contribution of different indicators were sought using a combined score index. In this study’s context, it has been found that urban is healthier than rural followed by peri-urban community. Here, rural areas lack education the most that should be improved; peri-urban areas need better income opportunity; and urban area requires better water-supply and waste management facilities to improve their respective health status in a community sense. There is not a commonly accepted health metrics for community’s comprehensive health assessment toward which this study sets a pathway. Besides, using the combined health index developed here, specific interventions required to improve community’s healthiness and minimize the gap among them can easily be identified.

Description: As satellite data of the Earth surface seems to be of vital importance for many applications, classification of land use and land cover has been found to vary dramatically in different approaches. In this paper, modified classification algorithm of remote sensing data is presented for processing medium and high spatial resolution satellite images like Landsat and Sentinel in Tashkent province of Uzbekistan. The results of NDVI (Normalized difference vegetation index) profile analysis via Spectral Correlation Mapper classification are shown for the period 1994-2017. It is implied, that combination of optical and radar data with application of Spectral Correlation Mapper classification improve the results of classification for a specific dataset by considering such factors as overall classification accuracy and time and labor involved.

Description: The aim of the paper is to give an overview of selected ongoing ISO standardization activities in the domain of geographic information dealing with BIM/GIS and 3D cadastre. The presented international standards have also a close relation to the activities (e.g. 3D spatial planning) from which the smart cities could benefit. In particular, in this paper the ISO 19152 Geographic information – Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) standard and ISO 19166 Geographic information – BIM to GIS conceptual mapping (B2GM) standard (still under development) are emphasized. Both mentioned standards are also strongly interrelated with each other. The ISO 19152 standard supports the smart registration of real estates by providing a conceptual schema incorporating 3D parcels, i.e. the 3D cadastre. 3D cadastre can provide the accurate, authoritative and unambiguous foundation for understanding the urban form. The second version of the ISO 19152 is also going to be extended to manage the spatial planning information. This enables 3D spatial planning in connection with the legal information, which is all together of big importance for building the smart cities. Furthermore, the ISO 19166 standard is going to provide a conceptual framework for transformation of BIM into GIS (at various level of details) and vice versa. This enables a wider use of existing detailed and semantically rich 3D digital BIM data in building of the 3D cadastre and smart cities GIS projects. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • There are currently two running projects within International Organization for Standardization (ISO) from which the smart city should benefit – the international standard ISO 19166 BIM2GIS and ISO TR 23262 GIS (geospatial) / BIM interoperability. • There is an existing international standard ISO 19152 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) supporting the creation of the 3D cadastre. • The second version of the international standard ISO 19152, which is now under development, will bring a support for spatial planning and also the examples of technical encodings of LADM in BIM/IFC and CityGML.

Description: The purpose of this article was to present the methodology which enables automatic map labelling. This topic is particularly important in the context of the ongoing research into the full automation of visualization process of spatial data stored in the currently used topographic databases (e.g. OpenStreetMap, Vector Map Level 2, etc.). To carry out this task, the artificial neural network (multilayer perceptron) was used. The Vector Map Level 2 was used as a test database. The data for neural network learning (the reference label localization) was obtained from the military topographic map at scale 1 : 50 000. In the article, the method of applying artificial neural networks to the map labelling is presented. Detailed research was carried out on the basis of labels from the feature class “built-up area”. The results of the analyses revealed that it is possible to use the artificial intelligence computational methods to automate the process of placing labels on maps. The results showed that 65% of the labels were put on the topographic map in the same place as in the case of the labelling which was done manually by a cartographer. The obtained results can contribute both to the enhancement of the quality of cartographic visualization (e.g. in geoportals) and the partial elimination of the human factor in this process. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • Map label placement is among key variables ensuring the usability of topographic maps across disciplines. • We present the neural network approach for automating the process of labelling topographic maps with locality names. • The presented case study applies to the military map in scale 1:50 000, but can be applied on other maps and geoportals.

Description: One of the fundamental issues of hydrology is determination of total runoff volume from rainfall. The mutual relationship of these quantities can be experimentally determined by measuring rainfall and runoff. Rainfall-runoff models describe natural relations on the basis of variables determining physio-geographical conditions of a territorial unit as well as hydraulic properties of the respective river network. In the proposed paper, we focused on parameter recalculation of a rainfall-runoff model with focusing on runoff curve numbers (CN). The objective of this study was to update the data (CN) in the old modelling structures within the FLOREON+ (FLOods REcognition on the Net – Study Area) system and replace them with the new ones. The parameters of runoff CN were estimated according to available GIS layers primarily related to the existing soil conditions and land use. In the first phase, the calculation procedure was prepared for the smaller Porubka and Lubina basins, and then it was applied to the whole basin area. The results showed that the new runoff CN recalculation procedure resulted in reduction of the simulated runoff (peak discharge, volume) in the Odra River sub-basins, which also led to approximation to the real measured runoff in the Ostrava-Svinov profile. The derived method is applicable to other basins as well. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • Runoff volumes resulting from rainfall significantly contribute to risk processes, such as soil erosion and floods. • The partially automated procedure for rainfall-runoff estimation is preseted, based on data for soil conditions and land cover. • Derivation is based on the original principles determined by the US Soil Conservation Service and can be applied to any river basin in the area of the Czech Republic. • In the future, the proposed methodology will be adapted to run within the ArcMap application.