Anna Szafarczyk

The escalating challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and urban expansion have amplified the need for reliable, high-resolution, and timely environmental data. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technologies have become indispensable tools for environmental monitoring, enabling the systematic collection, analysis, and visualization of spatial data across diverse ecosystems. This review synthesizes recent innovations in GIS and RS that are transforming environmental surveillance and decision-making. Key developments include the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for enhanced image classification, cloud-based platforms like Google Earth Engine (GEE) for scalable analysis, and the increasing use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and hyperspectral sensors for high-resolution monitoring. Furthermore, the convergence of geospatial analytics with big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and participatory approaches such as citizen science is expanding the accessibility and impact of environmental data. Case studies from Africa, Asia, and global initiatives highlight practical applications in land use change detection, water resource assessment, hazard risk mapping, urban heat island analysis, and biodiversity conservation. While the potential of these tools is vast, persistent challenges include data interoperability, technical capacity gaps, policy integration barriers, and ethical concerns related to surveillance and data equity. This review calls for greater investment in open-source tools, interdisciplinary collaboration, and inclusive data governance to realize the full potential of GIS and RS in achieving environmental resilience and sustainability. Future directions emphasise real-time monitoring, ethical frameworks, and the democratisation of spatial intelligence.

The article discusses the impact of additionally measured gyroazimuths on the accuracy of the underground network. It discusses such issues as: the way of gyroazimuth measurement, corrections introduced into the measured gyroazimuth, effects of centering the instrument and signal and effects of side lengths for accuracy of gyroazimuth measurement, the legal basis for such measurement in mining excavations and design quantities and location of gyroazimuth measurement in the underground network to obtain its better accuracy. These theoretical arguments have been illustrated on the example of gyroazimuths measurement on the fi ve sides of the existing underground network mainly focused on increasing its accuracy parameters by this additional measurement.

Making excavations in underground mining enterprises is carried out in a strict co-operation of miners and mine surveyors. Carrying out exploitation in horizontal and vertical direction is based on the application of the control line, the accuracy characteristics of which is defined by legal regulations. Fulfilling accuracy requirement referring to the error of the point situation and the error of the line azimuth is often impossible without the application of gyroscopes. The implementation of gyroscope measurements in an underground mine is, first of all, connected with: better adjustment to the regulations referring to making measurements in mine excavations, especially in one-sided sequences, gyroscope measurements on the existing lines on the surface and in excavations, making the orientation of the excavations, constructing new levels in mines or new mines. The process of the implementation of gyroscope measurements was divided into several stages, i.e.: the development of the basic orientation line on the surface of the Ruch „Borynia” with newly stabilized points, on which a static GPS measurement, referring to the reference stations of grid ASG-EUPOS, carrying out the transformations of the co-ordinates of system 2000 to mine system SG-ROW and calculation of the azimuth of the lines in a local geodetic system, carrying out gyroscope measurements on several lines of the base on the surface in Ruch „Borynia”, determining gyroscope azimuths in mining excavations. The article also presents the results of first measurements made in mine excavations i.e. in one survey in Ruch „Zofiówka” and two surveys in Ruch „Borynia”, where in the distance of about 3.5 km, between the lines of gyro, the measurement was carried out with the method of transect sequence with the method of three tripods. In the final conclusions of the article the conclusions of first experience of gyroscope measurements by the surveying department of Ruch „Borynia” JSW S.A. and initial assessment of the accuracy of gyrotheodolite Sokkia GYRO X1 II are made.

Geodetic surveys, performed serially in the area subject to deformations, allow to determine deformation rates, of which, for most building structures, horizontal strains appear to be the most important ones. There are horizontal tensile and compressive strains. Tensile strains of land cause the greatest damage to residential  buildings, resulting in hairline and larger cracks, or even construction disasters in extreme cases. Depending on the adopted surveying method, it is possible to determine the values of strains more or less accurately. For the strains with small values it is necessary to determine the length directly (from the total station measurement), whereas for the strains with large values it is possible to use the GPS measurement results. The article presents the surveying method and the measurement results of landslide fragments deformation. Geodetic points were stabilized in the form of a control network called a rosette. Measurements of the rosette were performed and, on their basis, horizontal strains were calculated for the directions of the stabilized sides. The further stage included determining surface strain tensor components, from which it is possible to determine the direction and the values of the occurring extreme strain.

In the Ground Based InSAR technology, the proper setting the measurement conditions is a fundamental factor. The observer decides on the localization of radar both in horizontal and vertical plane, as well as the vertical angle of the antenna beam’ inclination and on the form of the measurement stand, which has to be constructed or adapted. Depending on the observer’s accuracy and optimization of the measurement procedures, the results can be loaded with bigger or smaller errors. The article presents observer-dependent factors, their influence on the accuracy of measurement with the accuracy analysis and author’s geometric corrections of the obtained displacement values. The influence of the localization of radar on the resolution of the obtained radarogram was also discussed. The influence of the applied antennas and the distance to the target on the accuracy measurement were analyzed. The potential area that could be measured from one radar stand was defined. Due to the fact that the displacement values obtained in the direction of wave emission, the formulas were presented to allow the reduction of the obtained values to the values of horizontal displacements, introduced based on all the possible radar configurations in the relation to the monitored area. To obtain coherent images it is necessary to provide a stable radar stand. To achieve this, the measurement and calculation procedure of such control was presented. Following the recommendations formed in the conclusions presented in the article will allow obtaining the result of the highest possible accuracy.