Land-use information provides a direct representation of the effect of human activities on the environment, and an accurate and efficient land-use classification of remote sensing images is an important element of land-use and land-cover change research. To solve the problems associated with traditional land-use classification methods (e.g., rapid increase in dimensionality of data, inadequate feature extraction, and low running efficiency), a method that combines object-oriented approach with deep convolutional neural network (COCNN) is presented. First, a multi-scale segmentation algorithm is used to segment images to generate image segmentation regions with high homogeneity. Second, a typical rule set of feature objects is constructed on the basis of the object-oriented segmentation results, and the segmentation objects are classified and extracted to form a training sample set. Third, a convolutional neural network (CNN) model structure is modified to improve classification performance, and the training algorithm is optimized to avoid the overfitting phenomenon that occurs during training using small datasets. Ten land-use types are classified by using the remote sensing images covering the area around Fuxian Lake as an example. By comparing the COCNN method with the method based solely on CNN, precision and kappa index were selected to evaluate the classification accuracy of the two methods. For the COCNN method, on the basis of the classification statistics, precision and kappa index coefficients are 96.2% and 0.96, respectively, which are 8.98% and 0.1 higher than those of the method based solely on CNN. Experimental results show that the COCNN method reasonably and efficiently combines object-oriented and deep learning approaches, thereby effectively solving the problem of the inaccurate classification of typical features with better classification accuracy than the simple use of CNN.

Cloud computing is becoming the new generation computing infrastructure, and many cloud vendors provide different types of cloud services. How to choose the best cloud services for specific applications is very challenging. Addressing this challenge requires balancing multiple factors, such as business demands, technologies, policies and preferences in addition to the computing requirements. This paper recommends a mechanism for selecting the best public cloud service at the levels of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). A systematic framework and associated workflow include cloud service filtration, solution generation, evaluation, and selection of public cloud services. Specifically, we propose the following: a hierarchical information model for integrating heterogeneous cloud information from different providers and a corresponding cloud information collecting mechanism; a cloud service classification model for categorizing and filtering cloud services and an application requirement schema for providing rules for creating application-specific configuration solutions; and a preference-aware solution evaluation mode for evaluating and recommending solutions according to the preferences of application providers. To test the proposed framework and methodologies, a cloud service advisory tool prototype was developed after which relevant experiments were conducted. The results show that the proposed system collects/updates/records the cloud information from multiple mainstream public cloud services in real-time, generates feasible cloud configuration solutions according to user specifications and acceptable cost predication, assesses solutions from multiple aspects (e.g., computing capability, potential cost and Service Level Agreement, SLA) and offers rational recommendations based on user preferences and practical cloud provisioning; and visually presents and compares solutions through an interactive web Graphical User Interface (GUI).

Geoscience observations and model simulations are generating vast amounts of multi-dimensional data. Effectively analyzing these data are essential for geoscience studies. However, the tasks are challenging for geoscientists because processing the massive amount of data is both computing and data intensive in that data analytics requires complex procedures and multiple tools. To tackle these challenges, a scientific workflow framework is proposed for big geoscience data analytics. In this framework techniques are proposed by leveraging cloud computing, MapReduce, and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Specifically, HBase is adopted for storing and managing big geoscience data across distributed computers. MapReduce-based algorithm framework is developed to support parallel processing of geoscience data. And service-oriented workflow architecture is built for supporting on-demand complex data analytics in the cloud environment. A proof-of-concept prototype tests the performance of the framework. Results show that this innovative framework significantly improves the efficiency of big geoscience data analytics by reducing the data processing time as well as simplifying data analytical procedures for geoscientists.

Efficient processing of big geospatial data is crucial for tackling global and regional challenges such as climate change and natural disasters, but it is challenging not only due to the massive data volume but also due to the intrinsic complexity and high dimensions of the geospatial datasets. While traditional computing infrastructure does not scale well with the rapidly increasing data volume, Hadoop has attracted increasing attention in geoscience communities for handling big geospatial data. Recently, many studies were carried out to investigate adopting Hadoop for processing big geospatial data, but how to adjust the computing resources to efficiently handle the dynamic geoprocessing workload was barely explored. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel framework to automatically scale the Hadoop cluster in the cloud environment to allocate the right amount of computing resources based on the dynamic geoprocessing workload. The framework and auto-scaling algorithms are introduced, and a prototype system was developed to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scaling mechanism using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) interpolation as an example. Experimental results show that this auto-scaling framework could (1) significantly reduce the computing resource utilization (by 80% in our example) while delivering similar performance as a full-powered cluster; and (2) effectively handle the spike processing workload by automatically increasing the computing resources to ensure the processing is finished within an acceptable time. Such an auto-scaling approach provides a valuable reference to optimize the performance of geospatial applications to address data- and computational-intensity challenges in GIScience in a more cost-efficient manner.

Spatiotemporal modelling of land use/cover change (LUCC) has become increasingly important in recent years, especially for environmental change and regional planning. There have been many approaches and software packages for modelling LUCC, but developing a model for a specific region is still a difficult task, because it requires large volume of data input and elaborate model adjustment. Fuxian Lake watershed is one of the most important ecological protection area in China and located in southeast of Kunming city, Yunnan province. In this paper, the CA-Markov model is used to analyse the spatiotemporal LUCC and project its course into the future. Specifically, the model uses high resolution remote sensing images of 2006 and 2009 as input data, and then makes prediction for 2014. A quantitative comparison with remote sensing images of 2014 suggests an overall accuracy of 88%. This spatiotemporal modelling method is expected to facilitate the research of many land cover and use applications modelling.