Lombardo, Umberto (2014). Quantitative morphometric analysis of lakes using GIS: rectangularity R , ellipticity E , orientation O , and the rectangularity vs. ellipticity index, REi. Cartography and geographic information science, 41(4), pp. 340-347. Cartography and Geographic Information Society CaGIS 10.1080/15230406.2014.919540
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Quantitative measures of polygon shapes and orientation are important elements of geospatial analysis. These kinds of measures are particularly valuable in the case of lakes, where shape and orientation patterns can help identifying the geomorphological agents behind lake formation and evolution. However, the lack of built-in tools in commercial geographic information system (GIS) software packages designed for this kind of analysis has meant that many researchers often must rely on tools and workarounds that are not always accurate. Here, an easy-to-use method to measure rectangularity R, ellipticity E, and orientation O is developed. In addition, a new rectangularity vs. ellipticity index, REi, is defined. Following a step-by-step process, it is shown how these measures and index can be easily calculated using a combination of GIS built-in functions. The identification of shapes and estimation of orientations performed by this method is applied to the case study of the geometric and oriented lakes of the Llanos de Moxos, in the Bolivian Amazon, where shape and orientation have been the two most important elements studied to infer possible formation mechanisms. It is shown that, thanks to these new indexes, shape and orientation patterns are unveiled, which would have been hard to identify otherwise.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Paleo-Geoecology 08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography |
UniBE Contributor: |
Lombardo, Umberto |
Subjects: |
900 History > 910 Geography & travel |
ISSN: |
1523-0406 |
Publisher: |
Cartography and Geographic Information Society CaGIS |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Monika Wälti-Stampfli |
Date Deposited: |
06 Oct 2014 16:03 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 14:37 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1080/15230406.2014.919540 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/58517 |
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