Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Effect Of Direct Mail On Casino Customer Visitation And Value, Sharon Stroburg, Chris Roberts

Perspectives in Asian Leisure and Tourism

Customer relationship management in the form of direct mail is widely used by regional and local U.S. casinos for the purposes of building customer loyalty. Casinos can spend hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year sending direct mail, both with or without offers, often experiencing low response rates. As a result, managers need a better understanding of the impact of direct mail on customer loyalty. This paper investigates the impact on customer loyalty, defined for purposes of this study as frequency of visitation and customer monetary value, when a customer receives a mailing piece from a casino and …

Development Of A Qgis Plugin To Dasymetric Mapping, Nelson Mileu, Margarida Queirós

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Demographic data is usually represented by choropleth map, where the statistical data is aggregated to areal units. This type of representation has several limitations associated with spatial analysis and distribution. A common alternative to display statistical data in meaningful spatial zones is the dasymetric mapping technique. Though dasymetric mapping has existed for many decades, the open source GIS tools to explore dasymetric mapping methods are scarce. In this paper, a Geographical Information System (GIS) open source application was developed in QGIS software that applies the dasymetric mapping method to the Portuguese Guimarães municipality 2011 Census block-group populations and using Corine …

The Analysis And Deployment Of A Fully Open Monitoring System In The Sri Lankan Deduroya Basin: The 4onse Project, Massimiliano Cannata, Daniele Strigaro, Imran Shahid, Rangajeewa Ratnayake, B.H. Sudantha

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The 4onse project studies non-conventional monitoring systems fully based on open technologies (hardware, standard protocols, software and data) for the management of resources and natural hazards in developing countries. After the design of hydro-meteorological stations and software for the collection, management and distribution of data, the study involves the installation of 30 stations in the Deduroya Oya river basin in Sri Lanka. The system will be analysed to fully understand the real cost of ownership, data quality and applicability in real situations. If properly validated, these systems can provide an alternative solution, effective and sustainable for the protection of property …

Ndvi And Lst Extraction Of Modis Data Under A Gis Open Source Application - Rickettsia Study Case In Angola, Ana Cláudia Teodoro, Lia Duarte, Patrícia Barradas, T. L. Mateus, Zoraima Neto

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Fevers of unknown origin can have different aetiologies. The overlapping symptomatology of rickettsial infection and other endemic diseases that cause fever leads to a misdiagnosis or under-diagnosis of spotted fever group of Rickettsia (SFGR).

To better understand the epidemiology of this vector-borne disease in Angola, a comprehensive seroprevalence study was conducted investigating the exposure to SFGR in a sample of 92 febrile, Malaria and Yellow Fever negative human plasma specimen, collected to the study of the national surveillance of febrile syndromes between 2016 and 2017, in Angola.

The seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against SFG Rickettsia in humans was calculated by …

Crowdsourcing The Georeferencing Of Historical Pictures, Timothée Produit, Nicolas Blanc, Sarah Composto, Jens Ingensand, Loic Furhoff

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Countless organizations own archive pictures which are not used due to the difficulty of localizing them. Only the participation of volunteers can help to identify the image content. Through an accessible web interface called smapshot, citizens are able to georeference historical images without any prior specific competence. To avoid the volunteers to face the complexity of 3D digitization and navigation, we implemented a state of the art photogrammetry camera orientation algorithm in the platform. Currently several thousand images from all around Switzerland have been georeferenced by the crowd. At this time the tool is mainly used by the population for …

Istsos Version 3, Cannata Massimiliano, Milan Antonovic, Daniele Strigaro, Mirko Cardoso

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

istSOS version 3 is a new full stack open source application framework that, implementing the Sensor Observation Service standard from the OGC and including some special features, offers the capability to manage and disseminate observation from sensors networks. istSOS3 has been redesigned with the mission to solve the problems of high loads environments and quality of service. After some recent researches that have shown that istSOS version 2 is not adequate to meet high demanding environment in terms of high concurrency, big data and performance, istSOS version 3 has been rewritten from ground up taking advantages from the latest technologies …

Hydraulic Modeling For The Assessment Of Flood Hazard Using The Iber Software In The Amarante Urban Center, Márcia Martins, Alberto Gomes, Pedro Pinto Santos

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Recently, there is an availability increase of hydraulic modeling software that allows the analysis and definition of several hydraulic variables, namely water depth and flow velocity, which are important parameters for the assessment and management of flood-prone areas. The growing use of this software is related with the fact of being Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), making possible the understanding of different approaches and providing most reliable and accurate results of flood-prone areas according different return periods.

In this study it was used the freely hydraulic software Iber, a tool for two-dimensional modeling of water flow in rivers and …

Grassland Recognition With The Usage Of Thermal Weights, Alen Mangafić, Nika Mesner, Mihaela Triglav Čekada

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

In this paper we apply the usage of thermal weights, a new variable for geostatistical analysis and we present the method for their determination. In the case study we tested a data fusion between Sentinel-2 and Landsat 7/8 data, to incorporate also the thermal factor in the detection of land cover changes. The process distinguishes grasslands from other crops with similar vegetative appearance and offers us the possibility to create a new statistical sample with just grasslands. The data fusion is incorporated in the calculation of Land Surface Temperature (LST^FU) by combining the Sentinel-2 derived Normalized Difference Vegetation …

Robust Railroad Cable Detection In Rural Areas From Mls Point Clouds, Máté Cserép, Péter Hudoba, Zoltán Vincellér

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Monitoring of the railroad infrastructure is crucial for safety concerns and accident prevention. This task requires regular surveillance which is nowadays still carried out by expensive and time consuming manual visual inspections in many countries. The problem of railroad cable recognition (contact cables, catenary cables, return current cables) in rural areas based on LiDAR point clouds has it own methods, but current state of the art solutions suffer from extremely high computational load due the extensive size of the datasets. In this study we analyzed and compared novel robust solutions focusing on minimizing the assumptions (positions and distances of track …

Qgis Approach To Extract Fluvial Terraces For Archaeological Purposes Using Remote Sensing Data, Lia Duarte, Alberto Gomes, Ana Cláudia Teodoro, Sérgio Monteiro-Rodrigues

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Fluvial terraces, normally defining flattened surfaces are significant geomorphic features that explains the presence of rivers at high altitudes and constitute the remains of the old river along the valley. In Iberia, many of these terraces preserve Paleolithic artifacts and document the presence of the first human communities. Nowadays, the increasing use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) provides the opportunity to analyze and test different approaches to study these geomorphological features. According to the literature, several algorithms from open source GIS software have been used, such as Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS) GIS. In the recent versions, …

Hotels And Oil/Gas Development Booms, Busts, And The Future Of Hotels In Oil/Gas Development Areas, Daniel J. Mount, Timothy W. Kelsey, Kathryn J. Brasier

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

The development of new production methodologies for oil and gas wells has revolutionized energy production in the United States, shifting the country from a net importer to a net exporter of oil and natural gas (United States Energy Information Administration, 2015). The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has allowed development of previously known but inaccessible energy reserves, spurring intensive energy development in varied locations across the country. With this new development has come a rapid expansion in housing needs for workers. Historically, developments such as this are prone to boom/bust cycles. This paper studies the effect of the …

Financial Health Of Clubs For 2014–2016: A Three-Year Review, Agnes Defranco, Raymond Schmidgall

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

Financial ratios analysis is a very useful tool for owners and managers to assess the performance of their clubs. This study surveyed the financial performance of clubs over a 3-year period from 2014 to 2016. While 8 of the 24 ratios showed a positive trajectory each year in the last few years and 8 other ratios reported a positive trend from 2015 to 2016, 7 reported a mixed trend, and 1 experienced a downward trend. The results of the top performers (fifth, or top, quintile) and the bottom performers (first, or lowest, quintile) and clubs of different sizes were also …

An Investigation Of Factors Affecting Financial Performance Of Taiwanese International Tourist Hotels, Hwai-Shuh Shieh, Jin-Li Hu, Yen-Chiao Chang

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

This study adopts moving average regression and panel data regression to explore the factors affecting the financial performance of international tourist hotels in Taiwan. First, we use the unit root test to examine the data in moving average regression and in panel data regression and then use the Hausman test to examine whether the fixed-effects or random-effects model is suitable for panel data regression. Second, we employ the Lagrangian multiplier (LM) test to confirm that panel data regression is better. The findings show that domestic visitors, occupancy rate, operation year, and joining a chain system are the four key factors …

Customer Loyalty Directives And Employee Turnover Intention: A Qualitative Hospitality Industry Study, Lois Warren Burns D.M., Chris Roberts Ph.D.

Perspectives in Asian Leisure and Tourism

The problem of high employee turnover in the hospitality industry is a critical leadership challenge. The focus of this qualitative phenomenological study was the determination of the perceptions, reactions, and experiences leading to retention intentions of frontline hotel employees whose job responsibilities included compliance with customer loyalty directives. Analysis yielded the emergence of six relevant themes: training, directives, customer orientation, compliance failure consequences, customer complaint experiences, and customer loyalty experiences. The findings indicate that compliance with customer loyalty directives and hiring employees with high customer orientation did not result in increased turnover intention.

A Comparative Exploration Of Foodservice Workers’ Illicit Drug Use, Miranda Kitterlin-Lynch Ph.D., Lisa Young Thomas Ph.D., Lisa N. Cain Ph.D.

Perspectives in Asian Leisure and Tourism

The U.S. foodservice industry has been identified as having the highest incidence of employee illicit drug use among all sectors of U.S. industries. This qualitative study attempts to identify the factors contributing to this top position in comparison to other industries (i.e., retail or transportation) and whether these factors are different than in other industries. Behavior theory and reinforcement sensitivity theory are the primary theories that created the foundation for this research. In-depth employee interviews were conducted to examine both possible motivators for and possible inhibitors to illicit drug use. The findings identified environmental workplace norms that both encourage and …

Optimized Site Selection For A Health Themed Recreational City, Zahra Nadim, Amir Gandomkar, Chris Roberts Ph.D.

Perspectives in Asian Leisure and Tourism

Industrial cities have many issues including people working long hours, environmental pollution, the aging of the population, and consumers demanding to have leisure, recreation and outdoor recreation opportunities. Constructing a place for healthy outdoor recreation can address some of those needs. The primary objective of this study is to test this concept by identifying and prioritizing the potential health recreational sites using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Isfahan City, Iran. This study identifies the following factors as indicators of suitability within a health recreational city: land prices, road system, capitation, distance from industrial areas, the …

Automatic Improvement Of Point-Of-Interest Tags For Openstreetmap Data, Sabine Storandt, Stefan Funke

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The user experience of any OpenStreetMap (OSM) based service heavily depends on the quality of the underlying data. If the service deals with points-of-interest (POIs), consistent and comprehensive tagging of the respective map elements is a necessary condition for a satisfying service. In this paper, we develop methods that can automatically infer tags characterizing POIs solely based on the POI names. The idea being that many POI names already contain sufficient information for tagging. For example, 'Pizzeria Bella Italia' most certainly indicates an Italian restaurant. As the OSM data contains hundred of thousands POIs for Germany alone, we aim for …

Object-Based Building Boundary Extraction From Lidar Data, You Shao, Samsung Lim

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Lidar is a remote sensing technology that uses laser beams to generate high-accuracy, three-dimensional (3D) information of the Earth. As urban areas are developing and expanding rapidly, lidar applications such as 3D building modelling and city mapping are of increasing importance. Hence building boundary extraction is one of the main applications of lidar in civil engineering and urban planning projects. In this paper, three boundary extraction algorithms including an alpha-shape algorithm, a modified concave hull algorithm and a grid-based algorithm are tested to assess their object-by-object accuracy. The alpha-shape algorithm generates reliable boundaries for most of sample buildings, while the …

Usability Engineering For Successful Open Citizen Science, Jan Alexander Wirwahn, Thomas Bartoschek

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Do-it-yourself construction kits for sensor stations is a novel approach for citizen driven sensor networks. In this paper we present the development of SenseBox, a toolkit for open source sensor applications. We provide manuals and open source toolkits for hardware makers to establish a large scale sensor network in Germany, and additionally for schools to teach secondary school students programming in a playful and simple way based on open source microcontrollers. All collected data is open and being published on OpenSenseMap, our platform for open sensor data. After a test phase where we equipped citizens with construction kits for continuous …

Development Of Data Archiving And Distribution System For The Philippines' Lidar Program Using Object Storage Systems, Ken Abryl Eleazar Salanio, Carlo Santos, Ruby Magturo, Gene Paul Quevedo, Kenan Virtucio, Kenneth Langga, Mark Edwin Tupas, Enrico Paringit

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The Philippines' Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with Higher Education Institutions, lead by the University of the Philippines, has embarked on a program for producing hazard maps on most major river systems in the Philippines. Realising the utility of LiDAR and its derived data sets, a concurrent program on resource assessment was also initiated, aimed to produce essential products that can be used in urban planning, resource planning, and other purposes these geospatial data might be able to provide. As a result, both programs produce immensely sizable datasets due for storage and distribution. Compiling them as one large …

The Development Of Web3d-Based Open-Pit Mine Monitoring System, Se-Yul Kim, Dong-Gook Lee, Jung-Bin Lee, Byung-Jin Jang, Ji-Ho You, Hyun-Jik, Lee

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Large-scale open-pit mines are critical infrastructure for acquiring natural resources. However, this type of mine can experience environmental and safety problems during operations and thus requires continuous monitoring. In this study, a web three-dimensional(3D)-based monitoring system is constructed using geospatial information open platform and open-source geospatial information software which targets open-pit mines in Gangwon-do, Korea. The purpose is to develop a monitoring system of open-pit mines that enables any person to monitor the topographic and environmental changes caused by mine operations and to develop and restore the area’s ecology. Open-pit mines were classified into active or inactive mines and monitoring …

The Integration Of Heterogeneous Open Source Software To Develop An Urban Simulation Model, Donghan Kim

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Recent development of open source geospatial software offers new opportunities for the spatial analysis and urban modeling fields. The use of open source software enables analysts and modelers to build dedicated and advanced models through computer programing. However, many open source geospatial software usually provides building blocks for the static data management, analysis, and visualisation. Hence, development of dynamic simulation model with open source geospatial software is not yet fully fledged. The goals of this study are twofold. Firstly, it aims to develop a dynamic urban growth simulation model by using and integrating heterogeneous open source software. Secondly, by doing …

Performance Analysis Of Mongodb Vs. Postgis/Postgresql Databases For Line Intersection And Point Containment Spatial Queries, Sarthak Agarwal, Ks Rajan

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Relational databases have been around for a long time and Spatial databases have exploited this feature for close to two decades. The recent past has seen the development of NoSQL non-relational databases, which are now being adopted for spatial object storage and handling too. And this is gaining ground in the context of increased shift towards GeoSpatial Web Services on both the Web and mobile platforms especially in the usercentric services, where there is a need to improve the query response time. While SQL databases face scalability and agility challenges and fail to take the advantage of the cheap memory …

Generating Geospatial Footprints For Geoparsed Text From Crowdsourced Platial Data, Ahmad O. Aburizaiza, Matthew T. Rice, Michael F. Goodchild

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The research paper reports on the generation of geospatial footprints from geoparsed text associated with geocrowdsourced platial data collected and stored in the George Mason University Geocrowdsourcing Testbed (GMU-GcT). The GMU-GcT facilitates study of social dynamics, quality assessment, data contribution patterns, and position validation for geocrowdsourced geo data, with a primary purpose of mapping transient obstacles and navigation hazards in a dynamic urban environment. This paper reports on the automated generation of spatial footprints using open-source software, and discusses the role of automated spatial footprints in quality assessment for automated position validation. A detailed, local gazetteer is used to store …

A Comparison Of Image Aligning And Correcting Software With An Unmanned Aerial System, Kangsan Lee, Jinwoo Park, Jinmu Choi

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

In the past few decades, many kinds of UAS for image acquisition have been developed. But software for image aligning and correcting is mostly high-cost commercial. This problem caused the cost-problem in using UAS. Nowadays, a variety of software, not only commercial but also open-source, provides powerful image processing tool. There are a number of software to support image processing. In this study,five popular programs are tested for comparison. The goal of this study is to compare popular open-source software based on the ease use, overall accuracy and processing time for chunk of images from UAS.

Dynamic Styling For Thematic Mapping, Simon Moncrieff, Elizabeth-Kate Gulland

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Current web standards have facilitated the online production and publication of thematic maps as a useful aid to interpretation of spatial data and decision making. Patterns within the raw data can be highlighted with careful styling choices, which can be defined for online maps using tools such as Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) XML schema. Dynamic generation of maps and map styles extends their use beyond static publication and into exploration of data which may require multiple styles and visualisations for the same set of data. This paper explores the application of thematic styling options to online data, including mapping services …

Flood Hazard Mapping Of Lower Indus Basin Using Multi-Criteria Analysis, Saba Zehra, Sheeba Afsar

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The Super Flood, which hit Sindh in 2010, has turned out to be a wakeup call and has underlined the overwhelming challenge of natural calamities, as 2010 flood and the preceding flood in 2011 caused a huge loss to life, property and land use. These floods resulted in disruption of power, telecommunication, and water utilities in many districts of Pakistan, including 22 districts of Sindh (Memon, 2012). These floods call for risk assessment and hazard mapping of Lower Indus Basin flowing in the Sindh Province as such areas were also inundated in 2010 flood, which were not flooded in the …

Advances In Civic Co-Management Within The Geospatial Ecosystem Applied To Disaster Risk Management, Tomas Holderness, Etienne Turpin, Rohan Wickramasuriya, Matthew Berryman

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

The use of mobile devices for identifying risk and coordinating disaster response is well accepted and has been proven as a critical element in disaster risk management. As new tools, applications, and software are adopted by municipal governments and NGOs for the identification and management of urban risk, the need for greater integration of the various data they collect becomes acute. While the challenge of integrated data management is substantial, it is aided by the fact that many new tools have been developed to include an Application Programming Interface (API), which allows the machine-to-machine (i.e. automated) sharing of open data. …

An Open-Source Webgis Platform For Rapid Disaster Impact Assessment, Roya Olyazadeh, Zar Chi Aye, Michel Jaboyedoff, Marc-Henri Derron

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Natural disaster impacts have increased worldwide in the past decades. Earthquake is one of the disasters that have been studied for real-time analysis and crisis management. Disaster-related losses have been examined by the damage extent of the houses, infrastructures, fatalities and injuries converted to financial losses. WebGIS technologies provide a wide range of solutions to map those damages, analyse data and publish the results. Open-Source tools and data have been widely used today because they stay free and facilitate access to data especially significant in developing countries. This research presents a WebGIS prototype using Open-Source Geo-Spatial technologies such as PostGIS, …

An Open Source Web Service For Registering And Managing Environmental Samples, Anusuriya Devaraju, Jens Klump, Pavel Golodoniuc

Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference Proceedings

Records of environmental samples, such as minerals, soil, rocks, water, air and plants, are distributed across legacy databases, spreadsheets or other proprietary data systems. Sharing and integration of the sample records across the Web requires globally unique identifiers. These identifiers are essential in order to locate samples unambiguously and to manage their associated metadata and data systematically. The International Geo Sample Number (IGSN) is a persistent, globally unique label for identifying environmental samples. IGSN can be resolved to a digital representation of the sample through the Handle system. IGSN names are registered by end-users through allocating agents, which are the …