Industrial park land capability assessment and post-evaluation in Markazi province

Markazi province in Central Iran is a highly attractive area for the development of industrial centers; however, over the last few decades, unregulated development has led to environmental and socioeconomic issues. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the existing industrial parks and identify potential areas for appropriate development. An industrial land capability assessment utilized 14 main criteria and 10 constraint parameters of socioeconomic, infrastructural, biological, and physical aspects using a geographic information system-based analytical network process model. Results show that Markazi province has 14.27% of highly suitable and 11.32% of extremely suitable area for industrial development; contrariwise, 60.14% of the province has no potential or is classified as an exclusion zone. Moreover, 44.4% (i.e., 8 parks) of the province’s industrial parks are located in unsuitable zones. According to the land capability of Markazi province, the need to organize existing industrial parks and integrate industrial units alongside existing centers and potential areas should be considered in the industrial development policies of the province. The results of the sensitivity analysis also support the research findings.

Conceptual framework of a Global Yacht Positioning System in Poland

The sailing market continues to develop rapidly and has a high growth potential. Sailing is one of the most popular types of recreational activity in Poland due to an abundance of lakes, including the Great Masurian Lakeland Trail which received a special mention from UNESCO. The development of nautical tourism requires effective organizational and technical solutions. The absence of a public mooring information system in Poland’s inland harbors has prompted the development of the Global Yacht Positioning System (GYPS) for mobile devices. The design process was preceded by a survey of sailors and marina operators to identify their needs and expectations, as well as an inventory of marinas in the Polish region of Masuria. The developed prototype system is a mobile application that relies on data transmission, communication and satellite technologies. The proposed solution is a convenient tool that will facilitate the operations of inland harbors and improve navigation safety.