Bheshem Ramlal | University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (original) (raw)
Papers by Bheshem Ramlal
Geospatial Health, Mar 28, 2024
Although previous studies have acknowledged the potential of geographic information systems (GIS)... more Although previous studies have acknowledged the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) and social media data (SMD) in assessment of exposure to various environmental risks, none has presented a simple, effective and user-friendly tool. This study introduces a conceptual model that integrates individual mobility patterns extracted from social media, with the geographic footprints of infectious diseases and other environmental agents utilizing GIS. The efficacy of the model was independently evaluated for selected case studies involving lead in the ground; particulate matter in the air; and an infectious, viral disease (COVID-19). A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed as the final output of this study. Overall, the evaluation of the model demonstrated feasibility in successfully extracting individual mobility patterns, identifying potential exposure sites and quantifying the frequency and magnitude of exposure. Importantly, the novelty of the developed model lies not merely in its efficiency in integrating GIS and SMD for exposure assessment, but also in considering the practical requirements of health practitioners. Although the conceptual model, developed together with its associated GUI, presents a promising and practical approach to assessment of the exposure to environmental risks discussed here, its applicability, versatility and efficacy extends beyond the case studies presented in this study.
Educational communications and technology: issues and innovations, Dec 31, 2022
West Indian journal of engineering, 2024
Many countries have seen a significant increase in the number of high-rise and multi-story buildi... more Many countries have seen a significant increase in the number of high-rise and multi-story buildings with strata units with the shrinking availability of horizontal land space in urban areas. Most existing cadastres record tenure and associated information in a two-dimensional format, and therefore will need to be upgraded to 3D cadastres to facilitate the recording of title information for these strata units. The geospatial aspects of implementing a 3D cadastre require cost-effective, rapid, accessible, non-labor intensive, and accurate means by which complete data may be collected to model strata units. Existing data sources such as Building Information Models (BIMs) have been used to delineate these units. However, BIMs are not easily accessible in developing countries. There is no single spatial data source that can easily fulfill all the criteria of a 3D data source for mapping urban strata boundaries. However, leveraging multi-perspective and multi-sensor data can theoreticall...
Land
The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic Small Island Developing State (SIDS), situ... more The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic Small Island Developing State (SIDS), situated on the southern end of the chain of Caribbean islands. Several factors such as climate, topography, and hydrological characteristics increase its susceptibility and vulnerability to flooding which results in adverse socio-economic impacts. Many Caribbean islands, including Trinidad and Tobago lack a flood risk assessment tool which is essential for a proactive mitigation approach to floods, specifically in the Caribbean due to the incommensurate flooding events that occur because of the inherent characteristics of SIDS. This research focuses on the problem of flooding using susceptibility analysis, vulnerability analysis and risk assessment for the island of Trinidad, whilst also presenting a repeatable and appropriate methodology to assess these risks in regions that have similar characteristics to Trinidad. This is especially useful in Caribbean countries because of a lack of inte...
Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering & Technology (IConETech-2020), 2020
Over the last two decades, advancements in analytical cartography have reduced the need for profe... more Over the last two decades, advancements in analytical cartography have reduced the need for professional geomatics experts when creating maps. GIS software have greatly simplified the map creation process, allowing non-experts to make maps using many built-in tools. However, this has resulted in a lack of quality control and assessment when data is manipulated and processed towards developing maps. This also raises questions with regards to reliability, validity and objectivity of data, results and maps. In contrast, this paper presents a methodology for automating both the GIS analysis and Map Making processes using analytical cartography in a non-standard GIS environment. The work was done primarily in the R environment, open source software and programming, to replicate processes that were normally done using expensive proprietary software and many person hours. Applied in a case study to improve the workflow efficiency in precipitation index modelling, the developed system was f...
The Caribbean region, which consists of many small islands states that span a large geographical ... more The Caribbean region, which consists of many small islands states that span a large geographical area, faces numerous challenges in ensuring that it is able to manage its development in a sustainable fashion w hile avoiding significant environmental degradation. Pressures for further infrastructural expansion for meeting local and foreign needs, sea level rise due to global climate change, and other factors all affect the health of the environment. A basic requirement to support sound environmental decision-making is the availability of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI). A spatial data infrastructure consists of the technologies, policies, and people necessary for the collection, processing analysis and dissemination of spatial data for use by regional bodies, national governments, private and non-profit sectors and the academic community. All four components are necessary for a spatial data infrastructure to function effectively. The need for an SDI and strategies for its develop...
In the immediate aftermath of a hurricane, rapid and reliable assessment of building damage is cr... more In the immediate aftermath of a hurricane, rapid and reliable assessment of building damage is critical. The timely delivery of such information is essential for emergency responders to identify those areas that are severely impacted so that they can act accordingly. This step is crucial for saving lives and reducing economic losses. This paper demonstrates the potential of Remote Sensing for rapid building damage detection using an automated approach in small island states in the Caribbean. Object-Based and Pixel based methods were compared with visually identified reference information from high resolution imagery for the 2004 Hurricane Ivan impact on Grenada. The efficacy of the Object-Based approach is demonstrated using image segmentation and classification in eCognition Developer Software. This approach utilises not only the spectral content but also the context, morphological and textural properties of image objects. In relation to the reference data, the object-based method ...
Soil maps portray variations in the physical and chemical properties of soil using a mapping unit... more Soil maps portray variations in the physical and chemical properties of soil using a mapping unit model. According to this model, soil properties are homogeneous within mapping units and change abruptly at mapping unit boundaries. This model masks within-unit variations in soil properties and accentuates discontinuities between adjacent mapping units. The purpose of this study is to explore the reliability with which spatial variations in soil properties are represented on digital soil maps. The approach involves kriging of soil property data collected at point locations and comparison of the resulting interpolated surfaces against the values predicted by the traditional soil map. The study area is Bear Brook Watershed in eastern Maine. Available data include a detailed, Level I soil survey, and independent estimates of depth to bedrock derived from a seismic survey. Results suggest that the quality of the interpolated surface can vary significantly with changes in the number of poi...
A comprehensive digital database of surface geological, topographic, geographic, cultural, infras... more A comprehensive digital database of surface geological, topographic, geographic, cultural, infrastructure and administrative data for the island of Trinidad, West Indies, has been compiled as part of a GIS project undertaken by Latinum Limited in 2005. Three cartographically designed maps that were produced for the project are presented and reviewed. These are a new state-of-the-art Geological Map of Trinidad at 1:100,000 scale (1 sheet) and 1:50,000 scale (4 sheets), and the first ever detailed Chronostratigraphic Map of Trinidad at 1:150,000 scale (1 sheet).
Participatory mapping has emerged as a powerful tool for the collection and use of geospatially o... more Participatory mapping has emerged as a powerful tool for the collection and use of geospatially oriented traditional and local ecological knowledge (LEK) across a variety of disciplines. The growth of this initiative in small island developing states (SIDS) has been widely applied to strengthen public awareness and capacity, particularly for environmental conservation, cultural preservation, and climate change adaptation. Participatory mapping strives to build community resilience and has proven to be a valuable technique in taking positive steps towards sustainable development especially in vulnerable communities. This paper examines participatory mapping and community engagement, the value of this practise in Caribbean SIDS facing the impacts of global climate change, and the lessons learnt from a variety of case studies that have been conducted in the wider Caribbean.
Communities in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) have long suffered from poor transit conne... more Communities in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) have long suffered from poor transit connectivity which has created difficulty for residents engaging in essential daily activities. This deficiency of the transit system arose as a consequence of short-sighted land use planning policies, rapid population growth and uncontrolled increase in automobile ownership. This paper provides innovative yet practical and implementable measures to improve the sustainability of the transit system and thus alleviate the current transportation problems. It is argued that existing resources and facilities should be utilised before engaging in more expensive plans of action that are not guaranteed to achieve the desired outcome. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources on three (3) major aspects land use, transport demand, and transport supply. Individual factors have been analysed in terms of their ability to influence transit and the contributing role in developing the curren...
Proceedings of the Second Acm Sigspatial International Workshop, Nov 5, 2013
During the 17th to early 20th centuries, malaria, yellow fever, dengue and other vector-borne dis... more During the 17th to early 20th centuries, malaria, yellow fever, dengue and other vector-borne diseases were responsible for more human disease and mortality than all other causes combined. Transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, particularly type Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, dengue has become one of the world's major infectious diseases. Within the Caribbean, individuals can be especially susceptible to dengue due to the tropical climate; such cases can be mapped using spatial analytical tools. This study focuses on the spatiotemporal behaviour of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS), for the years 1998-2007, for the island of Trinidad. Geostatistical techniques as well as correlations with environmental and spatial factors were performed. The DHF and DSS datasets were normalized against population, followed by the exploration of geographic distributions and patterns for each year. Lastly, local and global statistical type analyses were tested for spatial dependencies and autocorrelations in order to determine the statistical significance of existing patterns in the data. The years that displayed statistically significant clustering, spatial stationarity and spatial dependency for the island of Trinidad were
Page 1. A GIS UNCERTAINTY SUBSYSTEM Bheshem Ramlal University of the Vest Indies, St. Augustine, ... more Page 1. A GIS UNCERTAINTY SUBSYSTEM Bheshem Ramlal University of the Vest Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Jane E. Drummond International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), The Netherlands PURPOSE: ...
International Journal of Geoinformatics, Jun 1, 2005
The Caribbean region consists of many small islands that span a large geographical area. The regi... more The Caribbean region consists of many small islands that span a large geographical area. The region faces numerous challenges in managing environmental and development problems and in ensuring that it has sufficient numbers of qualified personnel to meet its developmental needs. Many of the issues that need to be addressed in the region require cross-disciplinary collaboration. Consequently, the Centre for Caribbean Land and Environmental Appraisal Research (CLEAR) was constituted within the University of the West Indies (UWI), to embark on the necessary research and development efforts. This paper reviews the major issues that faces the Caribbean region and discusses how CLEAR is effectively assisting with sustainable development, environment protection and capacity building. The Center promotes multidisciplinary research, undertakes education, training and extension activities such as short courses, workshops and conferences as well as professional services including spatial database development. A review of the work recently completed by the Center is provided and future directions are presented.
In the last two decades, Trinidad and Tobago has invested significantly in the development of inf... more In the last two decades, Trinidad and Tobago has invested significantly in the development of infrastructure across the country. New buildings to house schools, libraries, health centers, police stations, government offices and sporting facilities have been constructed. Additionally, roads and bridges have been rebuilt and new utility lines added. It is envisaged that even more will be added to the existing infrastructure in the next few years. A major problem that faces the country at present is the lack of effective tools for managing and maintaining these national assets. Although there have been some attempts at developing systems for that purpose, these have not been very successfully utilised. A nascent technology that may be employed in asset management and maintenance is Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS may be used in conjunction with several other technologies to provide effective solutions. This paper reviews existing applications of GIS for this purpose and proposes strategies for the development of GIS for asset management in Trinidad and Tobago. The limitations and benefits of using GIS for asset management are also discussed.
Geospatial Health, Mar 28, 2024
Although previous studies have acknowledged the potential of geographic information systems (GIS)... more Although previous studies have acknowledged the potential of geographic information systems (GIS) and social media data (SMD) in assessment of exposure to various environmental risks, none has presented a simple, effective and user-friendly tool. This study introduces a conceptual model that integrates individual mobility patterns extracted from social media, with the geographic footprints of infectious diseases and other environmental agents utilizing GIS. The efficacy of the model was independently evaluated for selected case studies involving lead in the ground; particulate matter in the air; and an infectious, viral disease (COVID-19). A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed as the final output of this study. Overall, the evaluation of the model demonstrated feasibility in successfully extracting individual mobility patterns, identifying potential exposure sites and quantifying the frequency and magnitude of exposure. Importantly, the novelty of the developed model lies not merely in its efficiency in integrating GIS and SMD for exposure assessment, but also in considering the practical requirements of health practitioners. Although the conceptual model, developed together with its associated GUI, presents a promising and practical approach to assessment of the exposure to environmental risks discussed here, its applicability, versatility and efficacy extends beyond the case studies presented in this study.
Educational communications and technology: issues and innovations, Dec 31, 2022
West Indian journal of engineering, 2024
Many countries have seen a significant increase in the number of high-rise and multi-story buildi... more Many countries have seen a significant increase in the number of high-rise and multi-story buildings with strata units with the shrinking availability of horizontal land space in urban areas. Most existing cadastres record tenure and associated information in a two-dimensional format, and therefore will need to be upgraded to 3D cadastres to facilitate the recording of title information for these strata units. The geospatial aspects of implementing a 3D cadastre require cost-effective, rapid, accessible, non-labor intensive, and accurate means by which complete data may be collected to model strata units. Existing data sources such as Building Information Models (BIMs) have been used to delineate these units. However, BIMs are not easily accessible in developing countries. There is no single spatial data source that can easily fulfill all the criteria of a 3D data source for mapping urban strata boundaries. However, leveraging multi-perspective and multi-sensor data can theoreticall...
Land
The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic Small Island Developing State (SIDS), situ... more The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic Small Island Developing State (SIDS), situated on the southern end of the chain of Caribbean islands. Several factors such as climate, topography, and hydrological characteristics increase its susceptibility and vulnerability to flooding which results in adverse socio-economic impacts. Many Caribbean islands, including Trinidad and Tobago lack a flood risk assessment tool which is essential for a proactive mitigation approach to floods, specifically in the Caribbean due to the incommensurate flooding events that occur because of the inherent characteristics of SIDS. This research focuses on the problem of flooding using susceptibility analysis, vulnerability analysis and risk assessment for the island of Trinidad, whilst also presenting a repeatable and appropriate methodology to assess these risks in regions that have similar characteristics to Trinidad. This is especially useful in Caribbean countries because of a lack of inte...
Proceedings of the International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering & Technology (IConETech-2020), 2020
Over the last two decades, advancements in analytical cartography have reduced the need for profe... more Over the last two decades, advancements in analytical cartography have reduced the need for professional geomatics experts when creating maps. GIS software have greatly simplified the map creation process, allowing non-experts to make maps using many built-in tools. However, this has resulted in a lack of quality control and assessment when data is manipulated and processed towards developing maps. This also raises questions with regards to reliability, validity and objectivity of data, results and maps. In contrast, this paper presents a methodology for automating both the GIS analysis and Map Making processes using analytical cartography in a non-standard GIS environment. The work was done primarily in the R environment, open source software and programming, to replicate processes that were normally done using expensive proprietary software and many person hours. Applied in a case study to improve the workflow efficiency in precipitation index modelling, the developed system was f...
The Caribbean region, which consists of many small islands states that span a large geographical ... more The Caribbean region, which consists of many small islands states that span a large geographical area, faces numerous challenges in ensuring that it is able to manage its development in a sustainable fashion w hile avoiding significant environmental degradation. Pressures for further infrastructural expansion for meeting local and foreign needs, sea level rise due to global climate change, and other factors all affect the health of the environment. A basic requirement to support sound environmental decision-making is the availability of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI). A spatial data infrastructure consists of the technologies, policies, and people necessary for the collection, processing analysis and dissemination of spatial data for use by regional bodies, national governments, private and non-profit sectors and the academic community. All four components are necessary for a spatial data infrastructure to function effectively. The need for an SDI and strategies for its develop...
In the immediate aftermath of a hurricane, rapid and reliable assessment of building damage is cr... more In the immediate aftermath of a hurricane, rapid and reliable assessment of building damage is critical. The timely delivery of such information is essential for emergency responders to identify those areas that are severely impacted so that they can act accordingly. This step is crucial for saving lives and reducing economic losses. This paper demonstrates the potential of Remote Sensing for rapid building damage detection using an automated approach in small island states in the Caribbean. Object-Based and Pixel based methods were compared with visually identified reference information from high resolution imagery for the 2004 Hurricane Ivan impact on Grenada. The efficacy of the Object-Based approach is demonstrated using image segmentation and classification in eCognition Developer Software. This approach utilises not only the spectral content but also the context, morphological and textural properties of image objects. In relation to the reference data, the object-based method ...
Soil maps portray variations in the physical and chemical properties of soil using a mapping unit... more Soil maps portray variations in the physical and chemical properties of soil using a mapping unit model. According to this model, soil properties are homogeneous within mapping units and change abruptly at mapping unit boundaries. This model masks within-unit variations in soil properties and accentuates discontinuities between adjacent mapping units. The purpose of this study is to explore the reliability with which spatial variations in soil properties are represented on digital soil maps. The approach involves kriging of soil property data collected at point locations and comparison of the resulting interpolated surfaces against the values predicted by the traditional soil map. The study area is Bear Brook Watershed in eastern Maine. Available data include a detailed, Level I soil survey, and independent estimates of depth to bedrock derived from a seismic survey. Results suggest that the quality of the interpolated surface can vary significantly with changes in the number of poi...
A comprehensive digital database of surface geological, topographic, geographic, cultural, infras... more A comprehensive digital database of surface geological, topographic, geographic, cultural, infrastructure and administrative data for the island of Trinidad, West Indies, has been compiled as part of a GIS project undertaken by Latinum Limited in 2005. Three cartographically designed maps that were produced for the project are presented and reviewed. These are a new state-of-the-art Geological Map of Trinidad at 1:100,000 scale (1 sheet) and 1:50,000 scale (4 sheets), and the first ever detailed Chronostratigraphic Map of Trinidad at 1:150,000 scale (1 sheet).
Participatory mapping has emerged as a powerful tool for the collection and use of geospatially o... more Participatory mapping has emerged as a powerful tool for the collection and use of geospatially oriented traditional and local ecological knowledge (LEK) across a variety of disciplines. The growth of this initiative in small island developing states (SIDS) has been widely applied to strengthen public awareness and capacity, particularly for environmental conservation, cultural preservation, and climate change adaptation. Participatory mapping strives to build community resilience and has proven to be a valuable technique in taking positive steps towards sustainable development especially in vulnerable communities. This paper examines participatory mapping and community engagement, the value of this practise in Caribbean SIDS facing the impacts of global climate change, and the lessons learnt from a variety of case studies that have been conducted in the wider Caribbean.
Communities in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) have long suffered from poor transit conne... more Communities in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) have long suffered from poor transit connectivity which has created difficulty for residents engaging in essential daily activities. This deficiency of the transit system arose as a consequence of short-sighted land use planning policies, rapid population growth and uncontrolled increase in automobile ownership. This paper provides innovative yet practical and implementable measures to improve the sustainability of the transit system and thus alleviate the current transportation problems. It is argued that existing resources and facilities should be utilised before engaging in more expensive plans of action that are not guaranteed to achieve the desired outcome. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources on three (3) major aspects land use, transport demand, and transport supply. Individual factors have been analysed in terms of their ability to influence transit and the contributing role in developing the curren...
Proceedings of the Second Acm Sigspatial International Workshop, Nov 5, 2013
During the 17th to early 20th centuries, malaria, yellow fever, dengue and other vector-borne dis... more During the 17th to early 20th centuries, malaria, yellow fever, dengue and other vector-borne diseases were responsible for more human disease and mortality than all other causes combined. Transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, particularly type Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, dengue has become one of the world's major infectious diseases. Within the Caribbean, individuals can be especially susceptible to dengue due to the tropical climate; such cases can be mapped using spatial analytical tools. This study focuses on the spatiotemporal behaviour of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS), for the years 1998-2007, for the island of Trinidad. Geostatistical techniques as well as correlations with environmental and spatial factors were performed. The DHF and DSS datasets were normalized against population, followed by the exploration of geographic distributions and patterns for each year. Lastly, local and global statistical type analyses were tested for spatial dependencies and autocorrelations in order to determine the statistical significance of existing patterns in the data. The years that displayed statistically significant clustering, spatial stationarity and spatial dependency for the island of Trinidad were
Page 1. A GIS UNCERTAINTY SUBSYSTEM Bheshem Ramlal University of the Vest Indies, St. Augustine, ... more Page 1. A GIS UNCERTAINTY SUBSYSTEM Bheshem Ramlal University of the Vest Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Jane E. Drummond International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), The Netherlands PURPOSE: ...
International Journal of Geoinformatics, Jun 1, 2005
The Caribbean region consists of many small islands that span a large geographical area. The regi... more The Caribbean region consists of many small islands that span a large geographical area. The region faces numerous challenges in managing environmental and development problems and in ensuring that it has sufficient numbers of qualified personnel to meet its developmental needs. Many of the issues that need to be addressed in the region require cross-disciplinary collaboration. Consequently, the Centre for Caribbean Land and Environmental Appraisal Research (CLEAR) was constituted within the University of the West Indies (UWI), to embark on the necessary research and development efforts. This paper reviews the major issues that faces the Caribbean region and discusses how CLEAR is effectively assisting with sustainable development, environment protection and capacity building. The Center promotes multidisciplinary research, undertakes education, training and extension activities such as short courses, workshops and conferences as well as professional services including spatial database development. A review of the work recently completed by the Center is provided and future directions are presented.
In the last two decades, Trinidad and Tobago has invested significantly in the development of inf... more In the last two decades, Trinidad and Tobago has invested significantly in the development of infrastructure across the country. New buildings to house schools, libraries, health centers, police stations, government offices and sporting facilities have been constructed. Additionally, roads and bridges have been rebuilt and new utility lines added. It is envisaged that even more will be added to the existing infrastructure in the next few years. A major problem that faces the country at present is the lack of effective tools for managing and maintaining these national assets. Although there have been some attempts at developing systems for that purpose, these have not been very successfully utilised. A nascent technology that may be employed in asset management and maintenance is Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS may be used in conjunction with several other technologies to provide effective solutions. This paper reviews existing applications of GIS for this purpose and proposes strategies for the development of GIS for asset management in Trinidad and Tobago. The limitations and benefits of using GIS for asset management are also discussed.