Phil Graniero

University of Windsor · Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Drawing on cartography, urban design and visual data modelling, we consider how people navigate, or fail to navigate, the mental, physical and social spaces of knowledge communities. Cartographically inspired critical thinking offers opportunities to re-examine the assumptions and formal maps of post-secondary institutions, visualizing complexities...

A Sensor Web (SW) consists of a large collection of small nodes providing collaborative and distributed sensing abilities in unpredictable environments. Nodes composing such an SW are characterized by resource restrictions, especially energy, processing power, and communication capacities. A sensor web can be thought of as a spatially and functiona...

As part of a larger research project initiated by the Geospatial Determinants of Health Outcomes Consortium (GeoDHOC), an air quality study was conducted in an international airshed encompassing Detroit, Michigan, USA, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Active and passive samplers were used to measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), 26 vol...

In this paper, we describe a meta-framework that helps guide development of sensor network (SN) cyberinfrastructure in a way that enables emerging sensor infrastructures, including advances in sensor hardware, communication, monitoring applications, and knowledge representation, to interoperate. This framework is guided by the DAST principle. That...

Advances in hardware management, network protocols, operating systems, and applications are promoting large-scale deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, the challenge still remains to optimize the use of available computing, communication, and power resources while fulfilling data collection tasks. We think that exploiting a broade...

Research interests in artificial intelligence and GIS integration, knowledge representation and reasoning, and

In the context of hazard monitoring, using sensor web technology to monitor and detect hazardous conditions in near-real-time can result in large amounts of spatial data that can be used to drive analysis at an instrumented site. These data can be used for decision making and problem solving, however as with any analysis problem the success of anal...

In the context of hazard monitoring, using sensor web technology to monitor and detect hazardous conditions in near-real-time can result in large amounts of spatial data that can be used to drive analysis at an instrumented site. These data can be used for decision making and problem solving, however as with any analysis problem the success of anal...

Routing in Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Network (AWSN) has been addressed by several research works which can basically be divided into flat-based, hierarchical-based, and location-based routing depending on the network structure. Despite advances in these interesting works, straightforward messages routing is still extremely difficult. We still seek a f...

Physically based models may offer a means to improve our understanding of how biogeochemical hot spots form in the landscape, and a way to quantify the aggregated effects of their occurrences across scales [Burt, T.P., Pinay, G., 2005. Linking hydrology and biogeochemistry in complex landscapes. Progress in Physical Geography 29 (3), 297–316]. With...

An integrated approach to landslide hazard monitoring and data interpretation is presented. Based on geotechnical sensor data, numerical process simulation related to probable failure modes, a digital library of case histories and modelling results, and GIS tools, the approach is intended to support the data analysis and decision making of technica...

Ecological modellers move along the continuum between mean-field models and spatially explicit models in order to formally express and test hypotheses regarding the effect of landscape heterogeneity on ecosystem patterns and behaviour, but care must be taken when doing so. With careful and explicit cross-checking between models as their structure e...

The use of subsurface data for problem solving is limited in part by the freedom the user has in their choice of data structures. If a user is allowed to work with the data in a familiar way, they can spend more time performing analysis tasks and less time restructuring data, thus increasing productivity and reducing the risks associated with a ser...

Many environmental, ecological, and social problems require investigation using a mixture of landscape models, individual‐based models, and some level of interaction between them. Few simulation‐modelling frameworks are structured to handle both styles of model in an integrated fashion. ECO‐COSM is a framework that is capable of handling complex mo...

This chapter uses a spatially explicit, individual-based ecological modeling problem to illustrate an approach to managing fuzziness in spatial databases that accommodates the use of nonfuzzy as well as fuzzy representations of geographic databases. The approach taken here uses the Extensible Component Objects for Constructing Observable Simulation...

Previous theoretical work illustrated how fuzzy spatial relations can be used to control the movement of mobile agents in spatially explicit individualbased ecological models (Robinson 2002). We present a computational framework and methodology for modeling small mammals as mobile agents making decisions during the dispersal process. It is shown ho...

An alternate distance measurement system based on 'flowlines' was devised to aid spatial prediction in complex transport-dominated environments. Field data from the Detroit River and sediment transport simulations conducted on some simplified channel geometries were used as test cases. The flowlines specify the local anisotropy direction and elimin...

This chapter uses a spatially explicit, individual-based ecological modeling problem to illustrate an approach to managing fuzziness in spatial databases that accommodates the use of nonfuzzy as well as fuzzy representations of geographic databases. The approach taken here uses the Extensible Component Objects for Constructing Observable Simulation...

Uses the ECO-COSM approach to incorporating fuzzy sets in the information representation and processing mechanism of individual based ecological models is presented. Results suggest that this approach can be used for developing individual-based models to address spatially explicit ecological problems that are dependent on being based in a geographi...

Human introduction of nonindigenous species constitutes a serious threat to many ecosystems, particularly lakes. Recent attempts to predict invasions have focused on the supply of propagules of nonindigenous species to recipient ecosystems from source populations. Here we develop a spatially explicit "gravity" model to test this concept for Bythotr...

Many environmental studies require detailed maps describing the spatial distribution of various environmental characteristics. These distributions tend to be ‘patchy’; that is, their structure and their relationships vary from place to place according to the influences of the local setting. We present a simple sampling method that adapts the sample...

This paper outlines a method of constructing a spatial data collection agent that is capable of adopting a spatial sampling strategy along a transect network in real-time, based on minimal prior knowledge of the measured surface and a concept of spatial heterogeneity. The agent uses fuzzy reasoning to decide upon the appropriate distance to travel...

Ecosystems generally have a great number of interacting processes, and their characteristics can vary rapidly across both space and time. With such complexity, it can be difficult to collect sufficient data to adequately understand the behaviour of the observed system. This paper describes a method being used to examine the relationship between sam...

It is commonly assumed that the development of blanket bogs is governed more by climatic factors than by topography, but no quantitative studies have been undertaken. The primary aim of this research was to quantitatively assess the extent and nature of the topographic influence of both the surface and the underlying substrate on the distribution o...

This research quantified the role of topography and hydrological processes within and, hence, the development of, blanket bogs. Topographic characteristics were derived from digital elevation models (DEMs) developed for the surface and underlying substrate at three blanket bog sites on the southeastern lobe of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland. A...

Using conventional data acquisition methods, a GIS provides a view of what was, as opposed to what is. However, many monitoring activities including real time condition assessment and emergency management require knowledge of what is, to enable proper response actions. Mobile, wireless geospatial applications using GIS and field computers are growi...