Geographic information system | EPFL Graph Search

A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database, however, this is not essential to meet the definition of a GIS. In a broader sense, one may consider such a system also to include human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, the body of knowledge of relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations. The uncounted plural, geographic information systems, also abbreviated GIS, is the most common term for the industry and profession concerned with these systems. It is roughly synonymous with geoinformatics. The academic discipline that studies these systems and their underlying geographic principles, may also be abbreviated as GIS, but the unambiguous GIScience is more common. GIScience is often considered a subdiscipline of geography within the branch of technical geograp

Biogeoinformatics for the management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR)

Solange Catherine Gaillard

In the context of both severe selection in farm animals and potential effects of climate change, it is crucial to implement a sustainable management of the breeding practice, supported by a judicious use of geographic information technologies. Based on this observation, this thesis advocates the use of biogeoinformatics (the combined use of biology, geographic information and informatics) to cope with the challenges encountered by the livestock sector. Indeed, although biogeoinformatics can provide key insights for FAnGR (Farm Animal Genetic Resources) management, the variety and complexity of tasks involved hinders a wider usage of this type of analyses. The thesis shows how novel dedicated tools are likely to facilitate the adoption of biogeoinformatics by animals scientists and by stakeholders in the livestock sector, while investigating three main challenges related to FAnGR management, namely i) erosion of genetic diversity, ii) effects of climate change on the breeding activity, and iii) pressure on typical cultural breeding practices such as high alpine grazing. On this basis, the thesis is organised around three axes:

Preserving locally adapted breeds In order to prevent the erosion of genetic diversity, locally adapted breeds should be monitored to prevent their extinction. To this end, we developed the open source GENMON WebGIS platform, able to monitor FAnGR and to evaluate the degree of endangerment of livestock breeds. The system integrates various sources of information that are linked with the help of geographic information: pedigree and introgression, geographical concentration of animals, cryo-conservation and sustainability of breeding activities. The score can be visualised on a map and allows a fast and regional identification of breeds in danger.
Preserving locally adapted genetic variations Considering the pace at which genetic diversity is being eroded, it has become urgent to identify and then preserve important genetic variations linked to locally adapted phenotypes. In this context, the recent SamÎ²ada software was designed to search for signatures of local adaptation through the study of genomeâenvironment association. However, preâ and postprocessing of data for this analysis can be labourâintensive, and, we therefore developed the R.SamBada R package providing a pipeline for landscape genomic analyses. Based on SamÎ²ada, it spans from the retrieval of environmental conditions at sampling locations to gene annotation using the Ensembl genome browser. As a result, it grants access to biogeoinformatic analyses to researchers with no skills in geography.
Preserving a traditional farming technique suited for local breeds The preservation of locally adapted breeds is also strongly linked with the conservation of traditional farming techniques, which in Switzerland, include the grazing of high alpine pastures during summer. One major effect of this transhumance on cows is that milk production declines due to food shortage and climatic stress. Here, we developed a new mathematical model to fit a lactation curve for mountain-pastured cows, and tested the influence of environmental, physiological, and morphological factors on the production using five million monthly milk records from Braunvieh cows. When compared to physiological factors, environmental variables show a limited impact on milk production at alpine pastures, precipitation in spring being the most important.

EPFL2020

Contribution du SIG à l'analyse des liens déchets-santé en milieu urbain dans les pays en développement

Sonwouignandé Kientga

Among the factors of health risks in urban areas, the solid and liquid wastes worsen particularly the problems of public health in developing countries. Uncontrolled solid waste disposal sites and waste water sites constitute major sources of danger for public health. Often, there is no mapped and documented inventory. The perception of danger related to infectious sources by the exposed populations is generally not well-known and even often ignored by the public institutions in their management policy of health and wastes. The same can be considered for the link between diagnosed diseases in health care services and the presence of waste disposal sites near patients' residences. The goal of this study is to determine the main factors of waste management and their consequences on health. This goal shall be reached using a GIS approach and through a case study concerning two districts in the town of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. In detail, the objectives are: i) to build a spatial database for waste disposal sites and public health care management and to propose a methodological approach for the elaboration of a GIS, associating social science, health and the geographical information science; ii) to identify and to analyze indicators of public health related to domestic and industrial waste; ii) to compare these indicators with the different actors' perception, according to the distance and dangers represented by the seriousness of potential danger sources; iv) to analyze if there is a relation between the actors' perception and the diseases diagnosed in health care services; v) to promote GIS in institutional structures in order to facilitate decision-making in waste management. Geographical information science has contributed to the creation of a database containing general geographical data, the disposal waste sites, the data of the actors' perception and health data. This database was used for spatial-thematic, temporal and statistical analyses. At first we have established an inventory of disposal waste sites. Hereafter we have analyzed their spatial influence. We then compared the situation to the perception of dangers and to the people's health risks, related to the distance to sources of potential danger. An analysis of the relation between the disease cases listed (counted) in health centers and the presence of waste (infectious) sources was carried out. This allowed some degree of comparison between the subjectivity of danger perception and the reality. The inventory of potential danger sources and the analysis of their influence spheres shows that 86 % (456 ha) of the study area is threatened by a danger, among which 45 % (235 ha) are considered exposed to a higher danger. The results also show that only 14 % of the population in both sectors (2'574 inhabitants of 18'978 total inhabitants) is not exposed to potential health risks. The analysis of the perceived danger according to the distance revealed that the perceived danger generally decreases proportionally to the distance. Surprisingly certain persons living near a polluted site don't consider the site as dangerous. However others, living far away from the same site, perceive it as dangerous. In these cases the subjective dimension of the perception is thus revealed. The temporal analyses of listed diseases show a correlation between the cases of malaria and the precipitation. The time gap between precipitation-related peaks and malaria cases related peaks varies from two to three months, leaving enough time to take preventive measures. We were not able to establish a link between the patient's residence and pollution sources; because the patient's geographical location is not mentioned in the health care services' registers. A modification of the registration forms has been suggested. The developed methodology and the results gathered led to the establishment of suggestions and recommendations based on the integration of GIS in waste and health management. This study has already contributed to the setup of a geo-information network composed of various actors in waste and health management.

EPFL2008

Detecting footprints of selection in Ovis aries by a spatial analysis approach

Stéphane Joost

Detecting adaptive loci in the genome is essential as it gives the possibility to understand what proportion of a genome or which genes are under the pressure of natural selection. In this paper, we used a Spatial Analysis Method (SAM) recently developed to detect signatures of natural selection in sheep breeds.With the contribution of Geographical Information Systems, environmental variables, and AFLP data, multiple univariate logistic regressions are run to test for association between allelic frequencies at marker loci and environmental variables. The results of the application of this method to sheep breeds are compared with those obtained with a standard population genetics approach.

Edizioni Avenue Media2007