Rezaul Roni
Rezaul Roni Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Environment

PROFILE

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Rezaul Roni specializes in the application of GIS and Remote Sensing as well as in the climate and population study of Bangladesh. He started his career here as a lecturer in 2011. He completed his MSc in Geoinformatics 2018 from ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands. Before that, he completed an MBA from Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) in 2010 and MSc in Geography and Environment from Jahangirnagar University in 2008. He also graduated from the same department in 2006. He has published nineteen articles in national and international journals and co-authored the scientific book “Climate Variability: Issues and Perspectives for Bangladesh” in June 2015. He also contributed in an edited book titled “Climate Changes: Issues and Perspectives for South Asia” in 2020. He contributed to preparing the Small Area Atlas of Bangladesh for 64 districts and the Disaster Prone Area Atlas for the 19 Coastal districts of Bangladesh with support from UNFPA and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). He was a trainer in various workshops and courses related to applications of GIS and RS in different development concerns such as the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Bangladesh Petroleum Institute, Bangladesh Power Management Institute, Bangladesh Water Development Board, and Bangladesh Meteorological Department. He is a member of different professional organizations, including the Bangladesh National Geographical Association (BNGA), the South Asian Meteorological Association (SAMA). He has been working as a technical committee member Bangladesh Geographic Information System Platform (BGISP).

He is trying to develop his career in the following areas: Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA), Historical Cartography, Population in Pixels, and Geo-statistical Analysis. He traveled few countries (e.g., Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, The Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia) and also visited some Geospatial labs from different International Universities (e.g., University of Bremen, Hafencity University, Alborg University).

RESEARCH INTEREST

Geoinformatics, Statistical Analysis, Population Study, Disaster and Vulnerability Assessment

JOURNAL PAPER

Shobnom N, Hossain MS, Roni, R, Monitoring spatiotemporal changes of NO2 using TROPOMI and sentinel-5 images for Dhaka city and its surrounding areas of Bangladesh, Journal of Air Pollution and Health, 8, 3, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.18502/japh.v8i3.13785

Abstract: Discernable air pollution occurs in most developing countries due to rapid urbanization which can be parameterized by air, humidity, population density, temperature, contaminants, exorbitant fossil fuel consumption, and inadequate transportation. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), one of the most widely recognized air pollutants, has a detrimental impact on human health explicitly or implicitly and considerably influences on atmospheric composition. In this study, NOintensity was analyzed from 2018 aiming to monitor spatiotemporal changes in Dhaka and its surrounding areas with the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) sensor data. Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite data was used in the Google Earth Engine platform to get the result. The results revealed a strong relationship (R2=0.9478) between the NOconcentration and high population density and the temporal variation is higher during the pre-monsoon than throughout the post-monsoon. The reason behind this is the lack of sunlight and the difficulty in breaking down the NO2, which causes the removal of NOfrom the atmosphere to proceed more slowly. In contrast, Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) are also impacted by the high concentration that remains in the built-up area. This research mainly considered how NOconcentration was measured from satellite images with temporal variation within a year and what factors strongly influence raising NOlevels. This model can be used for policy-making to take proper initiatives to reduce NOconcentrations. The result showed significant uses of TROPOMI with relating population density and LULC in Dhaka and its surrounding areas of Bangladesh.

Roni, R. (2020), Extracting Building from Very High-Resolution Satellite Image through Object-based Image Analysis for Dhaka City, The Jahangirnagar Review, Part-II: Social Sciences, XLII, 2018, doi: ISSN 1682-7422
An Optimal Population Modeling Approach Using Geographically Weighted Regression Based on High-Resolution Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study in Dhaka City, Bangladesh,

Traditional choropleth maps, created on the basis of administrative units, often fail to accurately represent population distribution due to the high spatial heterogeneity and the temporal dynamics of the population within the units. Furthermore, updating the data of spatial population statistics is time-consuming and costly, which underlies the relative lack of high-resolution and high-quality population data for implementing or validating population modeling work, in particular in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Dasymetric modeling has become an important technique to produce high-resolution gridded population surfaces. In this study, carried out in Dhaka City, Bangladesh, dasymetric mapping was implemented with the assistance of a combination of an object-based image analysis method (for generating ancillary data) and Geographically Weighted Regression (for improving the accuracy of the dasymetric modeling on the basis of building use). Buildings were extracted from WorldView 2 imagery as ancillary data, and a building-based GWR model was selected as the final model to disaggregate population counts from administrative units onto 5 m raster cells. The overall accuracy of the image classification was 77.75%, but the root means square error (RMSE) of the building-based GWR model for the population disaggregation was significantly less compared to the RMSE values of GWR based land use, Ordinary Least Square based land use and building modeling. Our model has the potential to be adapted to other LMIC countries, where high-quality ground-truth population data are lacking. With increasingly available satellite data, the approach developed in this study can facilitate high-resolution population modeling in a complex urban setting, and hence improve the demographic, social, environmental and health research in LMICs.

 
Cite: Roni, R.; Jia, P. An Optimal Population Modeling Approach Using Geographically Weighted Regression Based on High-Resolution Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 1184.
 
 
Requirements and Importance for Standardization of Place Names of Bangladesh: A study on Meherpur District,

Roni, R & S. Dara Shamsuddin (2019). Requirements and Importance for Standardization of Place Names of Bangladesh: A study on Meherpur District. Jahangirnagar Bishwavidyalay Bhugol O Paribesh Samikkhan. Vol 37. Jahangirnagar University. ISSN 1027-8567.

Methodology for Development of GIS Database for Master Plan,

Roni, R. (2011). Methodology for development of GIS database for master plan. Social Science Review, p: 145-155, Jahangirnagar University. ISSN 1682-422.

Surface Temperature and NDVI Generation and Relation between Them: Application of Remote Sensing,

Roni, R. (2013). Surface temperature and NDVI generation and relation between them. Application of Remote Sensing, Asian Journal of Engineering and Technology Innovation 01 (01), p: 08-13. ISSN: 2347-7385.

Seasonality and Food Insecurity: A Study on Sundarban Impact Zone of Bangladesh,

Roni, R. & Iqbal, M. (2013). Seasonality and food insecurity: a study on Sundarban impact zone of Bangladesh. Environmental Science Journal, Jahangirnagar University.

Sundarban Reserve Forest Resource Collection Process: A Study on Golpata, Fish-shrimp and Mud-crab,

Roni, R. & Islam, S. T. (2015). Sundarban reserve forest resource collection process: a study on golpata, fish-shrimp and mud-crab. The Jahangirnagar Review, Part II: Social Science, Vol:XXXV. Printed in June 2015, p-145-156.

Assessing Socio-Demographic Vulnerability of Dhaka City Corporation.,

Mary, M. S., Kamal, A. & Roni, R., (2015). Assessing Socio-Demographic Vulnerability of Dahaka City Corporation. The Jahangirnagar Review, Part II: Social Science, Vol:XXXVI. Printed in June 2015, p-79-94

Rainfall modelling of coastal areas in Bangladesh: extreme-value approach,

Sultana, N. & Roni, R. (2015). Rainfall modelling of coastal areas in Bangladesh: extreme-value approach. Journal of Science, Technology & Environment Informatics, 02(02), 42–50. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18801/jstei.020215.15


BOOK

Climate Change: Issues and Perspectives of South Asia,

SMALL AREA ATLAS OF BANGLADESH,

Small Area Atlas of Bangladesh (2015), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. ISBN-978-984-33-8553-6.

Climate Variability: Issues and Perspectives for Bangladesh.,

Shamsuddin, S. D., Ahmed, R & Roni, R (2015). Introduction to some basic concepts of weather and climate. In Shamsuddin, S. D., Ahmed, R & Jahan, R (Eds.), Climate Variability: Issues and Perspectives for Bangladesh, pp. 3-20, Shahitya Prakash, Dhaka, Bangladesh, ISBN: 984-70124-0218-4.

Variability of Temperature at 12 Selected Stations in Bangladesh Between 1948 - 1979 and 1980 to 2011,

Jahan, R, Roni, R & Shamsuddin, S. D. (2015). Variability of temperature at 12 selected stations in Bangladesh between 1948 - 1979 and 1980 to 2011. In Shamsuddin, S. D., Ahmed, R & Jahan, R (Eds.), Climate Variability: Issues and Perspectives for Bangladesh, pp. 53-69,  Shahitya Prakash, Dhaka, Bangladesh, ISBN: 984-70124-0218-4.


BOOK CHAPTER

Toma, R.A., Rabby, M.F., Roni, R., Rashid, M.S., Assessing the Efficiency of Classification Techniques Between SVM and ML for Detecting Land Transformation in Bhawal Sal Forest, Springer, pp.443–458, 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77572-8_23

AbstractGlobally forests are endangered through deforestation and degradation where human or climate change is playing a vital role, and Bangladesh is not out of the context. Bangladesh is facing substantial deforestation since the last few decades. Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) is used to detect the changes, where satellite images are freely available and collecting data from the field is costly and time consuming for developing countries like Bangladesh. Maximum likelihood (ML) and support vector machine (SVM) are the most effective and easy-to-use algorithms in remote sensing. This research reveals the suitability of land cover classification techniques between ML and SVM for Landsat 5 and 8 with five types of land covers, for example, dense vegetation, light vegetation, water, built-up, and bare land, where forest was classified as vegetation. The error matrix was used to compare the result, and the accuracy of SVM was found to be higher (98.04%) than ML (93.44%). The kappa coefficient returned with values of 0.89 and 0.97 for ML and SVM, respectively. Afterward, the SVM method was applied to detect the forest cover change over the two decades and found that 0.37% Bhawal Sal Forest land transformed to built-up area and 15.42% land transformed into bare soil, which indicates the national deforestation status. The transformation contributes to an increase in localized natural disasters such as floods, top soil erosion, and ecosystem habitat. Further studies could be conducted with high-resolution satellite images and more field-based data that can be used to improve the accuracy of the land cover changes. The results may help to prepare the guideline for Sal forests’ protection and management planning efforts.


WORKSHOP

Attended “Capacity Development and Consultation Workshop on Bangladesh National Data Governance Framework”, organized by a2i on 14-15 March 2023 at Hotel Sonargaon, Dhaka.

2023.

Training program on “Fundamentals of GIS and Remote sensing” organized by the Department of Geography and Environment, Jahangirnagar University from 04-08 June 2023 for the participants of National Agricultural Training Academy (NATA), Gazipur.

Training workshop on “Roadmap to implement the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) including Blue Economy and Poverty-Environment Nexus (PEN) in Bangladesh” in collaboration with UNDP Bangladesh in December 7-8, 2022.

Workshop on “Preparing Action Plan for Sub-committee 5 and 14 to Implement Smart Bangladesh 2041” organized by ICT division, GoB from December 19-21, 2023.

Training workshop on “SDG Metadata and SDMX Template: Exercise on SDG Indicator 11.3.1” organized by The General Economics Division (GED) of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, with the support of UNDP and UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action on 14-15 November 2022.

November 2022.

Participated as a Resource Person in a day-long workshop on Geospatial data standardization in Bangladesh in the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics funded by UNFPA


Academic Info

Institute: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands. (NFP Scholarship)
Period: 2016-2018

Master of Science in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation for Geoinformatics

Institute: Bangladesh University of Professional (BUP), Mirpur Cantonment. Dhaka, Bangladesh
Period: 2009-2010

Masters of Business Administration - Executive (EMBA)

Institute: Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Period: 2005-2006

Master of Science (Thesis Group) in Geography and Environment

Institute: Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Period: 2001-2005

Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Geography and Environment,

 

Institute: Gurudayal Govt. College, Kishoregonj, Bangladesh
Period: 1999-2000

Higher Secondary Certificate

Institute: Kishoregonj Govt. Boys' High School,Kishoregonj, Bangladesh
Period: 1997-1999

Secondary School Certificate

Experience

Organization: Disaster and Human Security Management , Bangladesh University of Professionals, BUP
Position: Adjunct Faculty Member
Period: January - April, 2019

MDHSM-5105_Vulnerability and Risk Assessment

Organization: Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University
Position: Adjunct Faculty Member

Course No 201 & 207 

Organization: Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University
Position: Adjunct Faculty Member

Course No 408

Organization: Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, Dhaka University
Position: Adjunct Faculty Member

Course No 301 & 305

Organization: Jahangirnagar University
Position: Associate Professor
Period: From 12 Dec 2019 to till Data
Organization: Jahangirnagar University
Position: Assistant Professor
Period: From March 25, 2015 to 11 Dec, 2019
Organization: Jahangirnagar University
Position: Lecturer
Period: From December, 2011 to March 24, 2015
Organization: Standard Chartered Bank
Position: Officer
Period: Dec 2010-Nov 2011
Organization: Arc Bangladesh, Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Position: GIS and RS Analyst
Period: August 2008 to Nov 2010

Activity

Organization: GIZ & Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)
Position: Trainer
Period: 2023

Assignment for providing orientation of advanced GIS applications in infrastructure planning for high officials of LGED and open-sourced GIS software operation for the selected partners/stakeholders of CRISC project.

Organization: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs support (UNSD) & Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
Position: Trainer
Period: 2021

Data Modelling for Big Data Piloting Poverty Estimation (1st Phase)

Organization: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs support (UNSD) & Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
Position: Trainer
Period: 2022

Data Modelling for Big Data Piloting Poverty Estimation (2nd Phase)

Organization: NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
Position: Trainee
Period: April - May 2023

Fundamentals of Machine Learning for Earth Science

Reviewer

  • International Journal of GIScience Remote Sensing
  • International Journal of Geo-spatial Information Science
  • International Journal of Digital Earth
  • International Journal of Environmental Modelling and Software

Professional Membership

          ·         Life Member, Bangladesh National Geographical Association (BNGA)

          ·         Life Member, National Oceanographic and Maritime Institute (NOAMI)

          ·         Life Member, South Asian Meteorological Association (SAMA).

Organization: Bangladesh Petroleum Institute (BPI)
Position: Trainer
Period: August 2013

Pipeline Design, Engineering Construction & System Analysis

Organization: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
Position: Trainer
Period: May 2014

Advanced Mapping using ArcGIS Software

Organization: Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)
Position: Trainer
Period: March 2019

GIS & Image processing software 

Organization: DESCO
Position: Trainer
Period: February 2020

GIS & Image processing software 

Organization: Bangladesh Power Management Institute (BPMI)
Position: Trainer
Period: February 2021

Basic Training on GIS Mapping and SCADA 

Organization: Bangladesh Planning Commission, with the support of UNDP and UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action
Position: Trainer
Period: November 2022

SDG Metadata and SDMX Template: Exercise on SDG Indicator 11.3.1

Organization: UNDP Bangladesh
Position: Trainer
Period: December 2022

Roadmap to implement the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) including Blue Economy and Poverty-Environment Nexus (PEN) in Bangladesh

Organization: National Agricultural Training Academy (NATA), Gazipur
Position: Trainer
Period: March 2023

GIS and Remote Sensing form Smart Agriculture

Organization: Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB)
Position: Trainer
Period: May 2023

GIS and Remote Sensing form Smart GRID

Organization: National Agricultural Training Academy (NATA), Gazipur
Position: Trainer
Period: June 2023

Fundamentals of GIS and Remote sensing

Organization: IWFM, BUET
Position: Trainee
Period: September 2006

Remote Sensing and GIS in Water Management 

Organization: National Resilience Program, Programming Division, Ministry of Planning, GoB
Position: Trainee
Period: September 2021

Disaster Impact Assessment (DIA) framework and tool for making public investment resilient

Organization: NOAMI and BCA
Position: Trainee
Period: March 2022

Data Science & Machine Learning with Python 

Organization: NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
Position: Trainee
Period: September 2022

Monitoring and Modeling Floods using Earth Observations 

Organization: NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET)
Position: Trainee
Period: January 2023

Connecting Citizen Science with Remote Sensing 

Organization: Indian Institute of Drone
Position: Trainee
Period: 30 January 2020 to 01 February 2020

Multi Rotor Drone Pilot

Organization: National Oceanographic and Maritime Institute (NOAMI)
Position: Trainee
Period: 9 February 2013 - 11 May 2013

Certificate course on "Ninth Training Course on Oceanography: Principles & Applications"

Organization: Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO)
Position: Trainee
Period: 24-26 February, 2015

JAXA SAR-Data Training preparing for ALOS-2 Satellite Data Use" organized by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and RESTECT.

Organization: Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD)
Position: Trainer
Period: 6 days long

Training course on Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) Softwares.

Organization: Bangladesh Petroleum Institute
Position: Trainer
Period: 18-29 August 2013

Training Course on Pipeline Design, Engineering Construction & System Analysis.

Organization: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
Position: Trainer
Period: 25/05/2014 to 29/05/2014 (5 days)

Training program tilled "Advanced Mapping using GIS Software" under the project of ‘Strengthening Capacity Of BBS in Population and Demographic Data Collection Using GIS Project’.

Contact

Rezaul Roni

Associate Professor
Department of Geography & Environment
Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh.
Cell Phone: +8801716049335
Work Phone: +880 02 7791045-51/116
Email: georoni31@juniv.edu , georoni31@gmail.com