Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In part 1 of this chapter, the EEDB system is considered as a GIS software
(it was registered in
Rospatent
as GIS-EEDB program: No. 2011613755,
13.05.2011), which was developed to meet the demand for a geographical base
applicable to study spatial patterns of seismicity and geodynamics, as systems
of this kind were absent or inaccessible at the time when the research began.
The software's geographical environment consists of several basic
modules considered above. The program shell is at the same time a control
system for the seismological database, and the content and format of all
included earthquake catalogs are presented correspondingly. This part of our
research was registered in 2009 in the State Register of Databases as an
Expert
Earthquakes Database
.
The geographical shell and the seismological DB are constantly being
updated as new detailed geographical and earthquake data become available.
On the other hand, while it was developed, the GIS EEDB system has
changed from an information system for geographical visualization of the
earthquake database to a high-tech expert system. As a result, the GIS EEDB
now represents a set of research techniques, in addition to the historical
catalogs and the graphic shell of the Earth. The application of the GIS
approach [38] to studies of seismicity and geodynamics is illustrated with
examples of data analysis. The reported techniques of multistage analysis
using the criterion of concentration, earthquake clustering, and the recurrence
curve slope use the most complete, reliable, and comprehensive information
the system can provide on seismicity and its dynamics. To synthesize and
interpret this information (to make an expertise), the experience, intuition and
knowledge of the researcher are required. An obvious advantage of the
presented system consists in the possibility for its continuous updating with
the advance in methods and technologies.
In conclusion, of Part 1, we note that the proposed version of the GIS-
EEDB graphic shell, which develops the EEDB prototype first designed in
FORTRAN and Pascal within the DOS operational system, has been written in
Visual C++ and is maintained by
Windows
(NT, XP, Home, 7 and 8). It runs in
a user-friendly interface, easily manageable even by inexperienced users,
allowing them to review, visualize, and analyze data in a fast and effective
way. The system has been successfully set into operation and has been in use
for scientific purposes, being currently installed in a number of institutions,
including IPGG (Novosibirsk) and Geophysical Surveys of the Russian
Academy of Sciences. The software was used to study the seismicity of the
Altai region [43, 44] and elsewhere, specifically, the areas of nucleation of
large earthquakes.
