Mike Smith

• Kingston University

Datasets containing large numbers (>10 000) of glacial lineaments are increasingly being mapped from remotely sensed data in order to develop a palaeo‐glacial reconstruction or ‘inversion’. The palimpsest landscape presents a complex record of past ice flow and deconstructing this information into a logical history is an involved task. One stage in...

This paper considers legacy data and data rescue within the context of geomorphology. Data rescue may be necessary dependent upon the storage medium (is it physically accessible) and the data format (e.g. digital file type); where either of these is not functional, intervention will be required in order to retrieve the stored data. Within geomorpho...

Mapped topographic features are important for understanding processes that sculpt the Earth’s surface. This paper presents maps that are the primary product of an exercise that brought together 27 researchers with an interest in landform mapping wherein the efficacy and causes of variation in mapping were tested using novel synthetic DEMs containin...

Coastal protection is one of the main challenges for the Netherlands, where a large proportion of anthropogenic activity is located below sea level (both residential and economic). The Dutch government is implementing an in-novative method of coastal replenishment using natural waves and winds to relocate sand from one side to the other of the coun...

Geomorphological mapping is regarded as a fundamental technique of the discipline producing valuable base data for geomorphological and environmental research and practice. Geomorphological maps can be considered graphical inventories of a landscape depicting landforms and surface as well as subsurface materials. Geomorphological mapping is a preli...

Metrics such as height and volume quantifying the 3D morphology of landforms are important observations that reflect and constrain Earth surface processes. Errors in such measurements are, however, poorly understood. A novel approach, using statistically valid ‘synthetic’ landscapes to quantify the errors is presented. The utility of the approach i...

As research institutions seek to professionalize the workplace the use of metrics to assess an individual's performance is becoming increasingly commonplace. For academic researchers this can be achieved through the use of publication metrics such as the number of articles published and number of citations. For non-academic professionals, such as c...

The formalization of geomorphological mapping as a central platform for recording landform data cemented its role as a key organizational framework for the study of landforms, their history, materials and the processes associated with them. Landforms are composed of ‘stuff ’, and remotely sensed imagery (principally satellite imagery) provides info...

This chapter presents an introduction to applied geomorphological mapping. Geomorphology is part of the broad range of disciplines that fall under the general heading of earth sciences, which includes both geology and geography. The chapter discusses the history of geomorphological mapping, focusing upon the development of methods and their evoluti...

The loess record in China constitutes one of the most important archives of past environmental change and specifically, the East Asian monsoon system. Changes in summer monsoon driven pedogenesis are commonly inferred from magnetic susceptibility of loess. However, there is still controversy as to the signal’s origin and the uncertain effects of se...

A database comprising some ∼5200 individual striation measurements on bedrock surfaces across the island of Ireland was used to produce maps of flowsets corresponding to individual ice flow events during the last (late Devensian) glacial cycle. These flowsets were identified on the basis of regional-scale correspondence between striae orientations...

The Journal of Maps ended last year on high note having become citation listed with Thomson-Reuters, although the relatively moderate number of articles published meant the year remained one of consolidation. This year has been very busy as the fruits of all the planning in 2009 paid off; we have published a total of 58 articles (673 pages). During...

Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) is considered a useful tool for analyzing high-resolution digital terrain data. In the past, both segmentation and classification parameters were optimized manually by trial and error. We propose a method to automatically optimize classification parameters for increasing the accuracy and efficiency of OBIA for sem...

Recording the position and attributes of subglacial bedforms, particularly drumlins, is paramount in determining the extent, and dynamics, of former ice sheets. This paper presents a method of deriving 3D properties of glacier bedforms (drumlins in this case) in order to quantify bedform dimensions and acquire information necessary for further inve...

This paper highlights the requirement for very high resolution (<0·25 m) elevation data for quantitative and qualitative morphometric analyses. Traditional techniques for high resolution data capture (e.g. airborne, heliborne) are prohibitively expensive for small studies and therefore a kite-based platform was developed, in conjunction with a cons...

Surface roughness is a key variable used across the earth and planetary sciences (Hobson 1972) to both identify individual landforms and determine the processes acting upon them. In geomorphometry, roughness is described using surface elevation values and can be used to characterise landforms over a variety of different scales. Throughout this arti...

Glacial landform mapping is one of the primary inputs for the reconstruction of past glacial environments and processes, potentially inferring maximum ice sheet extent and dynamics. Depositional landforms (e.g. drumlins, end moraines, ribbed moraines, eskers) are often used to infer former ice sheet conditions, with erosional indicators receiving l...

Please click here to download the map associated with this article. This paper presents a 1:25,000 scale geomorphological map of the Glasgow region, western central Scotland, an area that was glaciated during the Last Glacial Maximum and, in part, during the Younger Dryas glaciation. The text accompanying the map sets out the historical context of...

Remotely sensed images are an important data source for the mapping of glacial landforms and the reconstruction of past glacial environments. However the results produced can differ depending on a wide range of factors related to the type of sensors used and the characteristics of the landforms being mapped. This paper uses a range of satellite ima...

This editorial introduces material for the launch edition of the Journal of Maps Student Edition. The Journal of Maps seeks to create greater exposure, and provide publishing opportunities, for researchers that have produced map content that would otherwise remain unpublished. To this end the journal is open access and, due to the all-encompassing...

This paper presents the results of an experiment to compare glacial geomorphology mapped from remotely sensed imagery with 1 : 10,000-scale field mapping. The field mapping was validated against high resolution LiDAR imagery of an area glacierized during the Younger Dryas and found to provide an essentially reliable, if not complete, representation...

GIS has been used extensively within geoscience, however this has not been mirrored within the planetary science. We briefly explore the convergence between GIS, application of new techniques and availability of data within the planetary sciences.

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are increasingly used for landform mapping, particularly with the growing availability of national and global datasets. In this paper we describe a variety of techniques that can visualize a DEM. We then compare five techniques to ascertain which performs the most complete and unbiased visualization. We assess the vi...

Open access journal publication is becoming an increasingly important model for the dissemination of research articles. In the UK this is currently being driven by government requirements for access to research funded by the research councils. Within the context of cartography, the Journal of Maps publishes maps using an open access methodology. Th...

Maps have been central to the research goals of spatial disciplines for over 150 years; to store, analyse and present geographical information. This paper outlines the importance of mapping as a fundamental tool of geographical enquiry yet highlights the subsequent decline in their published form. The Journal of Maps is an attempt to redress the ba...