Scientists have made great eff orts in developing techniques to assess and monitor the rate of change in vegetation on global, regional and local scales. Vegetation indices are remote sensing measurements used to quantify vegetation cover, vigor or biomass for each pixel in an image. Besides the fact that no single method can be applied to all cases and regions, there are some factors that determine the remote sensing methods to be used in environmental change studies. Such factors include the spatial, temporal, spectral and radiometric resolutions of satellite image and environmental factors. The major question usually comes to mind of environmental researchers in any remote sensing research project is: What remote sensing method should be used to solve the research problem? Therefore, this paper evaluates methods used in the literature to assess, monitor and model environmental change, considering factors that determine the selection of those methods. The review shows over forty vegetation indices, out of which only three (Ratio Vegetation Index, Transformed Vegetation Index and Normalized Diff erence Vegetation Index) are commonly applied to vegetation assessment. The study show that out of all the vegetation indices, NDVI is the most widely applied to monitor vegetation change on regional and local scales.

The growth of volunteered geographic information (VGI) has opened new possibilities for citizen participation in shaping the spatial policy of cities. Data are placed on maps by means of applications that can be accessed by widely available Internet browsers. The cradle of Internet Crowdsourcing application in spatial planning is Finland. The softGIS method, involving geographic data collection with the use of geo-questionnaires placed on the maps was developed there. Currently, in Poland, the potential of this kind of practice is recognized by more and more institutions and organizations.
This paper presents the background of the author’s project (some issues in social urban space shaping) and the methodical and technological aspect of the survey. The project deals with the issues of planning and revitalization of Olsztyn urban green space with the use of the participatory GIS method (softGIS). A web application in the form of a softGIS questionnaire was designed and created for the study. The online survey, under the promotional slogan “Have Infl uence on Olsztyn Green Space!”, was conducted from mid-October 2014 until the end of January 2015. On geoankietaolsztyn.pl website the respondents (residents of Olsztyn and the neighbourhood) expressed their opinions about green spaces and recreational areas in the city. On the basis of volunteered geographic information, analyses of urban open space perception have been made at three scales: the city, the housing estate, nearby surroundings.
The study serves, to a large extent, to shape the social importance of urban green spaces in the City. In accordance with the principle of Danish architect, Jan Gehl, “First we shape the city – then it shapes us” – the public space shall be people friendly, attract and retain them for a longer time. It shall invite residents to various activities. They can provide valuable feedback on urban space, which combined with expert knowledge can result in very well-designed surroundings.

An Internet application in the form of geosurvey was designed and created for the aim of the study. An online survey, entitled promotionally “Have Influence on Olsztyn Green Space!” was on from mid-October 2014 to the end of January 2015. Respondents (residents of Olsztyn and the surrounding area) expressed their opinions and assessments on green spaces and recreation areas in the city on the geoankietaolsztyn.pl website. Based on voluntary geographic information, spatial analyses of urban greenery perception were made at the level of three scales: the town, the housing estate, the nearest area.
The paper presents a diagramme of the study process related to the problem of designing and revitalizing Olsztyn urban green space with the use of the participative GIS method (softGIS).
The suggested stages of the study process are:
1) Identifi cation of respondents general opinion on and assessment of green areas
2) Social development of urban space based on the perception of the area of residence
3) Analysis of detailed spatial data – respondents’ suggestions for changes
4) Identifi cation and development of positive, friendly and important places in the city or housing estate
5) Attempt to formulate design guidelines.
Selected results of the study have been presented in various parts of the paper.
The results of the fi rst stage serve to focus the general attention on areas of action that, according to residents, are not functioning well enough and need improvement.
Step two shows an average assessment of space in terms of a given factor to determine its social reception. Its effect is the  development of the space under study, which is to refl ect the degree of its social acceptance. Stage three is the main and most important stage in the study process. Its implementation may complement the two previous ones, and serves to draw up the guidelines for the design and revitalization actions, and to diagnose the most diffi cult areas in the scale of the city, or it can be carried out independently so as to follow the diagnosed local needs of the population. The social assessment of the sites in terms of the adopted factors in the fourth stage at the background of the expert opinion, may be successfully used to draw up urban greenfi eld programmes. The most valuable sites require diff erent guidelines for their maintenance and use in order to protect them. The summary of the study process was an attempt to form general design guidelines (assumptions) for the whole city in line with detailed guidelines for selected urban green spaces, in form of land cards as master cards.

The repeat pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique is becoming increasingly common in monitoring Earth’s surface and its deformation. It uses at least two radar images of the same area, registered in temporal interval. As a result, the raster of vertical changes (interferogram) is generated. Specifi cally, it allows to interpret and calculate the value of subsidence in mining areas. A north-west part of Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in Poland was chosen as the area of interest. Together with interferogram, the coherence image is calculated. That provided to create a mean coherence maps for chosen mining areas in USCB. It allowed to verify in which of them the monitoring with InSAR techniques may be effective.

AutoCAD Civil 3D with the Geolisp overlay are one of the most popular programs used in the GIS class systems in Polish mining. The article describes some interesting and little known possibilities of the programs in the scope of data importing. In particular, it presents the issue of using the data which are available on the Internet in WMS and WFS formats. The issue was discussed on the basis of data obtained from the website geoportal.gov.pl. The possibility of the two-way connection with the relational databases and popular in GIS programs shapefi le format was mentioned. The ability to load data using Geolisp software was mentioned.

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.

The present paper describes problems related to establishing geochemical background. Three selected methods: [Av±2ơ], [Me±-2MAD] and Tukey Box Plot were applied to establish the geochemical background of soils from the Beskid Sądecki geographical region in southern Poland. The ranges of geochemical background calculated for the following elements: Mg, Ca, Mn, Pb, Cd and As, for 2 sets of data with a diff erent degree of human pressure and sampling area showed considerable diff erences. The results obtained based on a set of samples collected from a stable, regional forest ecosystem seem the most appropriate for establishing geochemical background of large areas. The paper confi rms that the [Av±2ơ] method should not be used in the case of data with skewed distribution and a large degree of pollution. Analysing numerous sets of data and several methods also allowed for a conclusion that selecting a single universal method for establishing the background range is impossible. When selecting a method (direct, indirect or integrated), the pollution level of a given area, variability of the tested substance concentration, its geochemical characteristics, data distribution etc. should be taken into consideration. The box plot method eliminates fewer outliers and usually results in obtaining a broader background range. This method should be used mostly for areas with a low degree of pollution and a considerable diversity of element concentration.

The article analyses the legal regulations which govern the principles of maintaining the real estate cadastre in Poland and the database of topographic objects, tax records as well as the system of land and mortgage registers, with reference to buildings as objects of these databases. Particular attention was paid to descriptive attributes of buildings, such as building identifier, building status, building type, class, and function, regarding the possibility to capture these attributes, and concerning reference data sources. It was assessed which of them result directly from the European Union provisions and which from the Polish legal regulations. Another aspect of the analysis was to identify these attributes that should supply the remaining databases in question, for which the real estate cadastre is the reference database. By comparing attributes of the building collected in each of these databases, it was defined which of them are necessary and which are not used uniformly in the databases and could be deleted from the cadastral database without compromising its quality.

In the present borders of the city of Krakow there are many post-mining pits, often called „wounds” in the landscape. They form post-exploitation troughs after the mining of: clay, sand, gravel and limestone, now filled with precipitation waters, meltdown waters and ground waters. Once mining objects, nowadays they fulfil various functions: sport and recreational, ecological and cultural, economic and educational. In terms of nature and landscape (due to the impact of natural forces functioning as an unorganized area), one of the biggest and most beautiful water bodies in the city is the Bagry Lake. Despite its localization near the strict centre of the city and belonging to the newest objects of this type (exploitation ended in 1972), the water body of Bagry has not been thoroughly inventoried so far. The combination of hydrographic data obtained by the author and bibliographic query of literature and archive data allowed us to fully illustrate the stages of the water body formation and to describe the characteristic of the borrow pit.

One of the biggest and the most valuable water bodies in the aspect of nature, landscape, economy and recreation, localized within the city of Krakow is the Bagry Lake (Bagry Reservoir). Despite the fact that mining stopped in 1970s, the water body has not been inventoried so far (including hydrographical survey) and has not been investigated in an interdisciplinary way. Although it is a relatively new object, in the preserved publications and local press articles it is difficult to find information about the history of the origin and the stages of the development of the water body. The analysis of archival cartographic materials and hydrographical measurements made by the author makes a perfect supplementary material to learn about history of the formation of such an urban water body, specific in ecological and landscape-related aspect.

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.

One of the most important points in the mining activity is the control of the exploitation carried out up to date in order to guarantee safety and correct rescue actions in the first place, and in relation to the actions of the development of work, relations between underground work with the outside and know how they affect each other, without a doubt the essential tools to carry out these tasks correctly are the plans and maps.