From GIS to Remote Sensing
I started developing the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS in the hope that it could be useful for research studies.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Laura Delgado Mendes, a professor at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) and Wallace de Araújo Menezes, an undergraduate student of Geography Course at UFRRJ.
They informed my that they used the SCP for a study about the relationship between the heterogeneity of land cover and the estimated surface temperatures in Nova Iguaçu (Rio de Janeiro State). In this study, they used SCP for the land cover classification of Landsat images, and calculated land surface temperature using the emissivity values of several land cover classes.
They were very kind and sent me their presentation "A Heterogeneidade e as Mudanças na Cobertura e Uso da Terra no Município de Nova Iguaçu (RJ) e Seus Efeitos na Temperatura da Superfície Terrestre" (available here), which was presented at the annual research meeting for undergraduate students at UFRRJ (III Reunião Anual de Iniciação Científica da UFRRJ). I was very glad to hear that Wallace received a mention as the best undergraduate work presented as an oral presentation at this annual research meeting at UFRRJ.
You can read the whole paper (in Portuguese) here.
You can read the whole paper (in Portuguese) here.
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| A slide of the presentation by Wallace de Araújo Menezes and Laura Delgado Mendes |
In addition, they have published a paper (which is available here in Portuguese) in the journal Revista Equador (UFPI, Vol. 4, Nº 3, 2015, Edição Especial XVI Simpósio Brasileiro de Geografia Física Aplicada), which was one of the selected works of the Brazilian symposium of Applied Physical Geography.
Following, the Abstract in English of this paper "Mapeamento da temperatura de superfície e da cobertura e uso da terra com geotecnologias livres para uma análise preliminar da relação terra-atmosfera no município de Nova Iguaçu (RJ)":
"This study aims to identify and analyze the relationship between the heterogeneity of land cover and land use and the estimated surface temperatures in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro State, using remote sensor data in open-source Geographic Information System. The results revealed the strict connection between densely urbanized areas and the highest estimated surface temperatures, which should deserve careful attention considering its implications for hidrogeomorphology and climate at different scales. Additionally, we identified the land cover role in reducing surface temperatures in and around protected areas, such as its association with surface roughness where surface temperatures are intermediate between densely forested areas and densely urbanized areas. This work also aims to emphasize land-atmosphere interactions as well as highlight possible applications of free geotechnologies for environmental and urban planning".
I would like to congratulate to Wallace and Laura for their success, and I am grateful for informing me about their valuable work.
I am always very happy when the plugin is actually used in universities all over the world. Therefore, I invite you to share your work related to the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin with the Facebook group and the Google+ Community.