Method and case study of the contaminated site’s expression using an object-based model

Abstract

[Objective] In recent decades, with the rapid industrial growth and urbanization in China, pollution incidents like oil spills and heavy metal contamination have become frequent. Under this background, accurate assessment of the entire pollution process and control of polluted sites are crucial steps in achieving pollution site remediation and restoration. [Methods] This study adopts an object-based perspective and a systematic analysis approach to describe the migration of pollutants from source to sink, emphasizing the environmental behavior during their migration. It abstractly represents contaminated sites and associated entities as spatiotemporal objects, focusing on pollutant concentrations and their attributes. It also explores the interrelationships among spatiotemporal objects from temporal, spatial, and attribute perspectives, as well as describes their dynamic influences. [Results] (1) Taking the real incident of an oil spill in 2014 as an example, an object-based representation model of the contaminated site was constructed using the XML structure. (2) A visualization method for expressing contaminated site objects has been established, which displays the interrelationships and attribute characteristics of various spatiotemporal objects. (3) Attempts to apply the respresentation model to conduct attribution analysis of pollutant concentrations have been made, allowing for the rapid acquisition of relevant calculation parameters for exposure assessment indicators, thereby facilitating more convenient health risk evaluations. [Conclusion] The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed object-based representation method can effectively describe and model contaminated sites, facilitating the comprehensive analysis and evaluation of pollution processes from source to sink. It provides significant support for the management and remediation of contaminated sites. Furthermore, the object-based representation method proposed offers practical guidance in addressing complex problems. By considering the research subject as an object and analyzing and expressing it from various aspects such as composition, attribute features, interrelationships, and behavioral dynamics, a better understanding of the internal relationships and interactions within the research object can be achieved, thereby providing a clear perspective for the analysis and evaluation of related issues.

Keywords

• geographic information system|contaminated sites|object-based model|pan-spatial information system|spatiotemporal object|spatial modeling