Methods of functional regional taxonomy and concrete definitions of functional regions based on prevailing population flows have been discussed in many regional studies. The resulting regions have been given various names (travel-to-work areas, local labour market areas, housing market areas, etc.) based on the character of the input data and the method of their definition. However, in most cases only one country (or part thereof) at a time has been analysed. The paper brings a unique definition of functional regions with comparable parameters suitable for international comparisons. Three Central European countries with different settlement and regional structures are analysed. The functional regions in all countries are objectivised through the operation with the constraint function, which estimates natural and non-normative values for the self-containment and size parameters. Two interaction measures are used in the regionalisation algorithm. Besides the methodological contribution, the role of spatial behaviour is briefly discussed, and an interpretation of the results and a proposal for the possible application of functional regions in regional planning and regional analysis in international research tasks is given.
K E Y W O R D SCentral Europe, daily travel-to-work flows, functional regions, regional analysis, regional planning, spatial behaviour ---
KrówczyńsKa M., soszyńsKa a., PabjaneK P., wilK e., HurbaneK P., rosina K., 2016. Accuracy of the soil sealing enhancement product for Poland. Quaestiones Geographicae 35(3), Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań, pp. 89-95, 4 figs, 1 table.abstract: Increasing urbanization results in constant enlarging of the artificial area closed to water infiltration. In 2006-2008, the Soil Sealing Enhancement (SSE) database was the part of the GMES Fast Track Service on Land Monitoring. The accuracy of the final product set by the authors should reach at least 85%. Orthorectified high resolution aerial photos of Poland were used to develop reference data constituting 20,000 random samples around the country. In each sample, the points were classified into three possible surface classes: natural, artificial and semi-sealed. Comparison of reference data to original project statistics revealed the values of accuracy, commission and omission errors in the SSE dataset. Although, SSE accuracy in Poland fulfils the criteria set by SSE authors with overall accuracy of 99.5%, the individual analysis for each category reveals many weaknesses. Preliminary interpretation of mistakes leads to the conclusion that the spatial resolution of pictures used in the SSE project is insufficient. In several cases, validation proved that omission errors were made in relation to construction sites or recently constructed buildings. It should be stated that the accuracy of SSE product for Poland should be treated as the maximum value of impervious surfaces.
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