Southern Kazakhstan
Suitability mapping and transportation route modelling
Kazakhstan's southern corner abuts a mountain range seen in the banner picture of Shymkent , the local major city. The extension of the western Tien-Shan mountains bordering Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the south offer a formidable barrier to reaching south central Kazakhstan, where surrounding Dzhambul are agricultural and mineral riches.
National Geographic full size here
As a structural geologist I had an interest in the tectonic s of that mountainous region.
The USGS and AGI published in 2003 a Global GIS DVD compiling Digital Chart of the World from which came the features catalogued below.
This provided the basis for running Model Builder using the following weight classification. The resulting classes are also catalogued below.
What was modelled? The access from a re-purposed installations in the southern plains, around the mountain range, to the main city of Shymkent. The suitability map's hotter colours indicate higher cost. The main obstacle is the Precambrian massif outlined. The rest of the parameters used are catalogued below.
Let's detail the items mentioned above. Caption details are also listed in the weights table shown above ( full size here ). Vector and raster features then classifications result in the suitability map.
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This helps assess local infrastructure and prepare for climate change by overlaying climate and real-time data as depicted in Focus on the Ocean . This onshore example was built in 2008 in ArGIS Desktop with Spatial Analyst extension. The next step is to apply new suitability and other modelling in ArcGIS Pro as well as Living Atlas Indicators of the Planet ... Stay tuned!
