núm. 53 (2017)

In the present investigation, the main factors that intervene in the sediment transport project in the La Plata River, Mutiscua municipality, Norte de Santander, in the area of influence of the municipal head were identified and analyzed. For this, information was collected on: characterization of the zone, topographic survey of the channel by means of cross sections, morphometric characterization, IDF curves, hygrogram and hydrographs, identification of points, sediment sampling (with manual equipment) and sediment classification using granulometric. The compiled data were modeled in HEC-RAS 5.0 and ArcGIS 10.2, and the main dominant and influential factors were obtained on the channel, the profile of the section evaluated, the IDF curve with indications that the shorter the duration, the greater the intensity as a function of the time of return, variations in flow rate due to the precipitation behavior and the flows collected by the fish seasons; the predominant granulometry is sand gravel and sand. In conclusion, in the model of the basin there are vulnerable zones that correspond to: las vegas of the farms in the section between the bridge Salts and the Mill Monarch; flood risk zones, such as: Monarca Mill, 4 fish stations, the area of   the road Sucre and Antigua Marmolería, Hogar Juvenil Campesino and the area of the municipal shed on its right bank. It was emphasized that the study area presents a greater tendency to be undermined or eroded and that the hydraulic structures would be directly affected; in addition, sedimentation zones are present in a smaller proportion.

In order to standardize the information presented by the companies that need environmental licenses in the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA), a geographical storage for all the evaluated projects model was created in different sectors of the entity, taking as a reference the terms established in ANLA and the Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible. Since 2010, ANLA has been working on the standardization of geographic information, where a regulatory framework was introduced that began with 1503 Resolution of 2010 (General Methodology for the Presentation of Environmental Studies), where it established itself a dictionary of geographical tables. In 2012 under the 1415 Resolution, ANLA established a model of geographical storage for project data object of environmental assessment. In 2013 with the 0188 Resolution, ANLA updated the Manual of Environmental Monitoring of projects, in order to adopt the geographical storage model to the stage of environmental monitoring. In 2016 with the 2182 Resolution, ANLA modified and strengthened a unique storage geographic model, which has been updated according to the new methodologies and existing terms of reference for the evaluation and environmental monitoring. In the last years, ANLA has implemented information systems, such as effective instrument, efficient and open for decision-making by the professionals and technicians of this entity. Standardization of geographical data aims to improve the quality of the information systems and contribute to the generation of knowledge on environmental issues in the country.

Rice is among the main foods produced and consumed in Colombia. According to the 4th National Census of Rice Crops, there has been an increase in production that now reaches 2’971.975 tons at the national level. The objective of this study is to identify the rice fields in the municipality of Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, from 3 Sentinel 1 radar images between March and April 2017. The multilooking process was carried out. A medium filter of 7 x 7 was applied to reduce speckle. The geometric adjustment was performed with a 3-second SRTM digital elevation model (DEM). Subsequently, each image was calibrated radiometrically and the backscatter values (σ0) were obtained. Following the pre-processing, the three images were compiled and the study area was trimmed to minimize execution times. Four training vectors were defined: pasture, urban area, water and rice. From the vectors identified, a support vector machine (SVM) was trained with a radial basis function. Finally, the accuracy of the classification was validated by comparing the result with the land cover map of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Valley Cauca (CVC). Overall accuracy of 70%, user accuracy of 83% and producer accuracy of 64% were obtained. The kappa index was 0.55.

From the land cover monitoring that the National Natural Parks of Colombia has been developed since 2002 and that up to now develops the fifth period of analysis, currently the entity concentrates its efforts in analyzing areas under pressure, where natural cover has been lost due to anthropic causes. The purpose of the paper is to show how, with the use of remote sensors and geographic information systems, National Parks of Colombia as an institution facilitates the information on pressures behavior for decision making purposes. The detailed characterization of these areas allows us to know in more detail the phenomenon, the exercise of early warnings of transformation of natural coverages, allows to increase the capacity of reaction before the appearance of new pressures and the analysis of expansion vectors, the identification of areas with persistence and multitemporal analysis allow to see the behavior of pressures over time.

The Sub division of Agrology, a branch of Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute (IGAC), is responsible for drawing up the country´s soils inventory at different cartographic scales, a process that includes the identification, delimitation and characterization of the geomorphological units as a basis for establishing and mapping the soils cartographic units. The Interpretation Internal Working Group of the Sub direction of Agrology developed the first version of the national legend of geomorphological units to be applied in soil surveys, as part of a technical investigation. The legend is supported by a technical glossary containing the definitions of included geomorphological units. The two technical products are fundamental basis for standardizing the production of the geomorphological mapping required by the IGAC. The construction of the national geomorphological legend had the following stages: 1) Identification and characterization of geomorphological units in the national territory; 2) Classification of the different units in a hierarchical structure; and 3) Description of geomorphological units in a technical glossary. Based on the specifications of the IGAC Soil Survey Methodology, the groups of geoforms that can be used to elaborate the geomorphological mapping at 1:100.000 and 1.25.000 scales were defined in the legend. This cartography is an input for studies of general and semi-detached soils, respectively. The national geomorphological legend and the technical glossary are part of the methodology to develop geomorphological mapping applied to soils that is being developed by IGAC.

According to international standards of the International Geodesy Association (IAG), the United Nations General Assembly (UN) and other entities, the different global reference frames must adhere to a set of parameters that allow reliability and confidence in the quality of the georeferenced data. Colombia has a reference frame (MAGNA-SIRGAS) product of the densification of the ITRF (International Terrestrial Reference Frame) that complies the requirements of the users and that will inevitably be modernized according to the world orders. Recently, the ITRF2014 materialization consolidated a series of analyzes and observations that fully conform to the general objective of maintaining and improving the international geodetic infrastructure for sustainable development and, in turn, the strengthening of the Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF). The Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi (IGAC) as the guiding agency for geodesy in the country and its mission to strengthen a stable and consolidated reference frame at the national level, it is in the process of updating ITRF of its geodesic network compo sed of more than 5000 points materialized, based on international methodologies and taking into account the provisions of the SIRGAS organization. This implies the inclusion and application of concepts such as regional velocity models (VEMOS), variations in the parameters of transformation (Rates) and the multiplicity of realizations (ITRF and IGS) since the national validity was established (ITRF94). This allows a full coupling with the global and regional context, as well as providing certainty in the basic information for infrastructure, cadastre, mapping, mining, agriculture and other processes carried out in the national territory.

The estimation of sugarcane yield with remote sensing can be done through information collected by sensors on satellites, aircrafts and recently in drones, which record the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and the sugarcane canopy in multiple spectral bands. With the spectral information collected from these bands different vegetation indices can be calculated and related to biophysical variables, trying to predict crop yield. For 20 years, the Centro de Investigación de la Caña de Azúcar de Colombia (Cenicaña) has worked with satellite images, being Landsat 5 (TM), Landsat 7 (ETM +), Landsat 8 (OLI) and Terra EOS AM-1 (MODIS), those satellites used for the monitoring and study of sugarcane in the sugar agroindustrial sector of the country, images captured by ultra-light aircraft and more recently to the capture of visible and multispectral images using RPAS, so that the evaluation of vegetation indices for the yield estimation can be focused at a plot level detail. This paper aims to present the results that have been obtained using different sensors on board different platforms in the early sugarcane yield estimation.

The Paleomegashear transform fault of Colombia corresponds to a reactivated zone of the igneous and metamorphic rock basement, represented by sinextral fault system with NE-SW trend that were affecting our ancestral ranges and interandean valleys with NESW trend. The Antioquian batholith in the central range shows a display of sinextral and transform faults, which were investigated since the 60s; this faults displaced the Cauca and Medellín rivers, originating the Aburrá and Rionegro valleys during the Andean orogeny: these paleohydrogeomorphological and structural anomalies, investigated using aerial panchromatic and Vexcel photographs, and remote sensing images, which are showing that this cretaceous igneous complex was rotated in dextral way by the sinextral transform fault system, as an application of the Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi y Corporación Autónoma Regional del Centro de Antioquia Proyect 2012-2014, Collective agreement No. 9199.

With the goal to contribute to change of knowledge expert and the increase of local capacity for decision making aimed at improving the adaptation of cropping systems to climate change and climate variability, a web platform was developed called SE-MAPA, it was developed in the framework of the project Models of Adaptation and Agroclimate Prevention (MAPA), which integrates a module with spatial information focused on the knowledge of the territory in the agroclimate context. The system was built and organized through a logic to allow the management of agroclimate risk at different spatial scales. The first scale at the departmental level presents the general knowledge of the climatic and biophysical environment, which includes information about the characterization of climate threats and territorial susceptibility to extreme events such as water deficits and excesses. After, it is scaled to the municipality, where agroclimate aptitude zones for a crop system are identified, therefore areas of low spatial and temporal exposure to extreme climatic events were identified called "productive niches of low agroclimate risk". Finally, a local scale focused on the structuring of an agroclimate warning system, which for the pilot cases included in the tool, provides the probable condition of humidity of the zone from a climate prediction, which is related to the possible effects on the crop and a set of technological options. The tool can be consulted at http://www.corpoica.org/.

The particles in suspension with lower size than 2.5 microns are created mostly by human activities, for example, the vehicular combustion. It has been proved that these particles can generate serious pulmonary and cardiovascular problems therefore is of great importance the control this type of contamination. It was determined which sectors of the city were the most affected by the concentration of particles PM2.5 and how the behavior of the wind influences this concentration. For this purpose, information of the environmental Observatory from Bogota was used dating from 2014. A GIS was made to evaluate the annual and monthly average pollution index, getting as a result that the west area of the city, in particular the locality of Kennedy, is where higher concentration of PM2.5 was found. Even more, in Bogota city the months of February, March and November shows the higher contamination levels are reported by this kind of particles because the reduced wind speed prolongs its permanence in the zone.

The investigative exercise was carried out in the neighborhood Santo Domingo Savio, in Medellín, and is based on social cartography as a theoretical-methodological framework, in the search to re-establish socio-cultural and historical practices, as well as the recognition of the subjects as actors and managers of the neighborhood project and the empowerment of the inhabited place, from the subjectivities to the cartographic computer language that from this perspective must not only accurately reflect the coordinates and the lines of the map but also must account for the empowerment, appropriation, and tensions that are generated as phenomena of the subject environment link; This proposal arises from the research participatory action to recover knowledge and experiences that are  implicit in social interactions and is based on the collective construction of knowledge, with the participation of the community, who finally generate knowledge of the place for transformation of the territory and the possibility that they enter into dialogue with the hegemonic language of technologies and GIS as the standard language of contemporaneity.

The contemporary pedagogy world has become complexed in the way on which the development of competences for life and the experimentation of models inside of everyday realities, are the main objective in the current education. Geography today faces great issues from its teaching due two new tendencies which have developed the social studies to its application, going from technical geography to one more humanistic and able to be applied, it is the main challenge for teachers. For that reason, new strategies as citizen participation, interpretation of cartography realities, perception of urban and rural spaces, plus the direct experimentation with reality allows developing a new more significant learning in today`s students, giving to the teachers a guarantee more confident and realistic to the time of building new learnings. For urban schools, the city becomes a great tool that makes possible the touch witch issues on territory, social life, environment, economic and even, politics, issues that are easily detectable for the youth who are really important for the development of citizen competences. In the city of Manizales the tries to educate students in competences have makes very positive routes, in which territorial planning and trasverzalitation are allowed with branches on physical geography and human geography. For this reason it is necessary to share strategies in academic meeting to from the youth, so they can give their ideas to the building of a better society.