Exploring the Applicability of Self-Organizing Maps for Ecosystem Service Zoning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

Yingwei Yan, Yingbin Deng, Ji Yang, Yong Li, Xinyue Ye, Jianhui Xu, Yuyao Ye

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the major challenges in the 21st century for humanity. Spatial zoning of ecosystem services is proposed in this study as a solution to meet the demands for the sustainable use of ecosystem services. This study presented a workflow and performed an exploratory analysis using self-organizing maps (SOM) for visualizing the spatial patterns of the ecosystem service value (ESV) of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The zoning was performed based on 11 types of ecosystem services, resulting in 11 ecosystem service zones. Each of the zones derived has its unique characteristics in terms of the dominating ecosystem service types, ESV, land use/land cover patterns, and associated human activity levels. It is recommended that reasonable and effective utilization of the ecosystem services in the GBA should be based on its zonal characteristics rather than haphazard exploitations, which can contribute to the sustainable economy and environment of the region. The applicability of SOM for the GBA ecosystem service zoning has been demonstrated in this study. However, it should be stressed that the method and workflow presented in this study should mainly be used for supporting decision-making rather than used for deriving gold-standard zoning maps.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number481
JournalISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Volume11
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2022
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Computers in Earth Sciences
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

Keywords

  • ecosystem services
  • self-organizing maps
  • spatial pattern
  • spatial zoning
  • sustainable development
  • the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area

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