Understanding geographical conditions monitoring: a perspective from China

The geographical condition is a very important component of a country's national condition, and geographical conditions monitoring (GCM) has been of great concern to the Chinese government. GCM has a close relation with 'Digital China' and is a concrete embodiment of Digital China. This paper discusses the content and classification of GCM. In accordance with application areas, GCM can be divided into fundamental monitoring, thematic monitoring, and disaster monitoring. The application areas perspective includes the content of the three other perspectives, like the monitoring elements, the monitoring scope, and the monitoring cycle and fully reflects the essence of the GCM. Fundamental monitoring mainly focuses on monitoring all of the geographical elements, which provides a basis for follow-up thematic monitoring; thematic monitoring is a special type of designated subject monitoring that concerns the public or the government; disaster monitoring focuses on the dynamic monitoring of the pre-disaster and disaster periods for natural disasters. The monitoring results will provide timely information for governments so that they can meet management or decision-making requirements. A GCM case study in the area of the Qinghai - Tibet plateau was made, and some concrete conclusions were drawn. Finally, this paper presents some thoughts on conducting GCM.