The correct estimation of ambulance travel time is an extremely important issue from the perspective of healthcare and the security of citizens. In some events, the threat to the health or life of an injured person increases with each minute of waiting for an ambulance. The authors of this article analyzed how ambulances travel throughout the entire Lesser Poland voivodeship in southern Poland. Based on the analysis of 300 million GPS records that were collected over several years from 300 ambulances, real ambulance speed characteristics were compiled for the most important cities in the region. The obtained results regarding ambulance speed characteristics were used to understand the correlation between ambulance speed, the density of the road network, and the built-up areas of a given city. Furthermore, the impact on the speed of ambulances of traffic, time of day, day of the week, or the season was also examined. The influence of the use of ambulances’ lights/sirens on travel time was also examined. The culmination of the research was the presentation of the theoretical foundations of coverage maps and a method of implementing them based on the determined speed characteristics. The presented studies show that the speed at which ambulances move is a very local phenomenon. Also, a relatively constant average speed of ambulances throughout the whole week was found. Moreover, a difference in speed between signaled and non-signaled ambulance trips was observed. The speed characteristics that were obtained were used as input data for the development of dynamic coverage maps, which are an invaluable tool for supporting the decisions of ambulance dispatchers.

Illegal extraction of gold has grown to be a problem in many countries, causing the degradation of the environment. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in tree cover and surface pollution. The development of a mine site has been observed and analysed with images acquired from Landsat and the Sentinel missions. The results of the study showed changes in the state of the environment, strongly suggesting the possibility of ongoing pyrite weathering processes and the transportation of clay materials down watercourses, which can cause not only the further deterioration of the environment but also slow down the natural regeneration of the forest. In addition, research has found disturbing changes in vegetation, showing a loss of tree cover in the Amazon Rainforest as high as 17%. The validity of using remote sensing methods to observe the development of individual mining sites and their characteristics was confirmed.

The impact of mining effects is undoubtedly an important research topic, especially in the case of assessing the effects of postmining factors. This study examines the drought in the Olkusz region using satellite imagery (Sentinel-2) and remote sensing indices. The analysis reveals that the region experienced multiple types of drought, including hydrogeological drought due to groundwater level lowering caused by mining activities, agricultural drought resulting from insufficient soil moisture, hydrological drought characterized by reduced water flow in rivers, and meteorological drought linked to decreased precipitation and high temperatures. This study demonstrates the usefulness of optical imaging and remote sensing indices in monitoring and assessing drought conditions. The results indicate significant changes in vegetation health and water content, as well as alterations to the natural environment within the region. This research highlights the importance of considering both human-induced and natural factors when evaluating drought phenomena. Continued monitoring and expansion of the study area would provide valuable insights into the long-term effects of weather conditions and the broader impacts on the ecosystem.

This study focuses on the assessment of drought severity, employing a comparative analysis between the normalized multi-band drought index (NMDI; calculated using Sentinel-2 imagery) and the combined drought indicator (CDI). The research aims to pinpoint the most accurate and reliable remote sensing techniques, which reflect ground-based measurements, thereby enhancing the precision of drought monitoring systems. By investigating the specific area of Małopolska, the study not only contributes to the global knowledge base on drought assessment methodologies but also addresses the regional needs for improved drought management practices. Through an exhaustive analysis correlating satellite-derived indices with in situ meteorological data, this research elucidates the potential of integrating NMDI and CDI for a comprehensive understanding of drought dynamics in Małopolska. In particular, the indices depict different dynamics of drought levels, as well as the location of regions more prone to its occurrence. The findings are poised to advance drought monitoring capabilities, offering significant insights for agricultural sustainability and water resource management in the region.

The main purpose of research was to achieve data integration between Database of Topographic Objects (BDOT) scale 1:500 and BDOT scale 1:10000. The presented approach assumes the construction of a complex Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process for harmonization of built-up areas that supplies the 1:10k dataset with the most accurate geometric data derived from the base map. Full data integration of attributes between BDOT500 and BDOT10k databases was achieved by constructing an ETL process using Talend Open Studio for Data Integration [17]. Geospatial vector data stored in the shapefiles were input to the harmonization process. The automated approach requires minimal user intervention to build the combined output. The data quality is maintained by the appropriate ETL components. For examples that were carried out, process was effective and consistent with predictions. However, for more complex models more attention should be paid to preparing an appropriate remapping table.

One of the main priorities of emergency services is to minimize the response time to calls. In the process of proper allocation of emergency vehicles, maps of emergency vehicle accessibility are found to be helpful. These maps represent areas within which emergency services can reach the specified location within a certain time. Calculating travel times requires taking into account the rapidly changing current road conditions. This paper presents a method for dynamically generating maps of emergency vehicle accessibility, considering network models and irregular computational grids.