Correlation between Distribution of Rural Settlements and Topography in Plateau-Mountain Area: A Study of Yunnan Province, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a good paper written from original research on an important topic. The relationship between topography and settlement is an old subject that has been used to understand the force of the environment on human life and the ability of humans to adapt to that force. Before modern remote sensing few variables at one time we used. This paper is state of the art using the best of what is now available to understand an appropriate set of variables. The analysis makes a number of important contributions to both the study of this portion of China and to the more general discussion of the relationship between topography and human adaptation. I would publish it as it is.

 

It would be good for a reader to know about the history of the settlements, their ethnic (cultural) diversity, and whether or not major land modifications are being planned for the area which would involve the relocation of villages. Three Rivers come to mind as an example.

Author Response

Thanks for your review comments, I will continue to deepen in the discussion section. And continue to pay attention in the follow-up study.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article is complete and logically clear. The methodology of the study is highly feasible and has some innovative value. However, there are several issues that need improvement.
1. The abstract contains only the results of the study, please add the conclusions of the study.
2、The introduction section is too simple and needs more literature exploration. For example, what about previous studies? What are the innovative points of the authors' article?
2、2.2 The data underlying the study should all be presented in the article, and could also be placed at the back of the article in the form of an appendix.
2、 3.2.1 How were the results of the correlation analysis of the distribution of rural settlements with elevation, slope and gradient arrived at, please provide additional explanation. For example, how was Figure 4 calculated?

Author Response

1.Study conclusions have been added to the abstract section.

2.The introductory section has been revised to enhance the literature review.The innovation point is mainly reflected in the combination of research typicality and universality. In order to solve the problem that the digital elevation model (DEM) and settlement location are not complete in previous studies, this paper combined the natural village and administrative village settlements within Yunnan Province, with a large data sample size, which can more objectively reflect the reality. The correlation analysis of rural settlement distribution and topography is carried out in the special topography and landform area of plateau and mountain, and the regional characteristics are obvious and prominent. In addition, the case settlements are illustrated with examples, and the mechanism of rural settlements in Yunnan Province to adapt to the terrain is preliminarily discussed, so as to strengthen the mutual relationship between natural terrain and human settlement environment, which provides a basis for the subsequent rural revitalization and rural settlement optimization.

3.The data underlying the study have been placed at the back of the article in the form of an appendix.

4.The topography of the study area is calculated as raster data, therefore, each village settlement is assigned with topographic attributes by "value extraction to point" in Arc GIS 10.7, and the distribution of village settlements on different topographic factors is reflected by drawing histogram and cumulative frequency map in origin platform. The histograms and cumulative frequency plots are used to reflect the distribution of rural settlements on different topographic factors, and the correlations are derived from the statistical results and the proportion of each.

Reviewer 3 Report

Topography is one of the important factors influencing the distribution of rural settlements, especially in plateau-mountain area. Analyzing the correlation between settlement distribution and topography would help understand the influence of topography on human activities. Taking Yunnan Province as the research area, the paper analyzes the rural settlements distribution characteristics and terrain distribution characteristics, and introduces the distribution index to analyze the correlation between them. The research topic is interesting and meaningful, the research content is rich, the research method is relatively reasonable, and the conclusion is relatively reasonable. The following problems exist:

1、How many rural settlements are there in the study area? How to get it? There is no explanation.

2、Line 177: Figure 2 does not explain the meaning of a and b.

3、line 211 “and 2000m is a critical value for the vertical differentiation of village settlements in Yunnan province” and line 228 ”The slope value of 11.39° is a critical value for the distribution of rural settlements in Yunnan Province”. Why are 2000m and 11.39° critical values? There are no analysis.

4、Figure 4 and Table 2 express similar meanings. Are they repeated?

5、line 284: “ In terms of elevation, it is primarily distributed in the 1000–2500 meters range, accounting for 75.56% of the total area”。From table 2, the total is 75.59, not 75.56.

6、line 339: What is the abscissa number in Figure 5? There is no explanation.

7、line 365: “……and five topographic factors and obtains the extent to ……”. The conclusion is five topographic factors, but six topographic factors were analyzed above. The content is inconsistent.

8、line 394: “……a slope greater than 35°.” How do you get 35°? There is no correlation analysis above.

Author Response

1.The number of rural settlements obtained within the study area is 145,569, which includes two levels of natural villages and administrative villages. The data from Geographic Information Network. The information released by the official websites of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, National Bureau of Statistics, and Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Statistics were collated into text format, and their latitude and longitude data were obtained through geographic information processing and transformed into shape vector data; the authors randomly selected ten townships after obtaining the data, and through comparison with the data of China's Third Territorial Survey and high-precision satellite image data, and visual interpretation and correction, the data proved to be The source is reliable, the accuracy is high, and it can meet the research needs.

2.Figure 2a shows the distribution direction of rural settlements, and Figure 2b shows the distribution density of rural settlements.

3.It has been revised and improved in the text. Referring to the elevation of habitat suitability proposed in Yang Haiyan's thesis(Already cited in the text), and taking into account the actual situation of plateau-mountainou terrain in the Yunnan , this study defines 3000m above sea level as the critical value of rural settlements in terms of height distribution. According to the industry standard "Vertical Planning Specification for Urban and Rural Construction Land" (CJJ 83-2016) and "Land Use Status Survey Technical Regulations" issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of People's Republic of China, 25° is defined as the critical value of rural settlements in terms of slope distribution. Exceeding this value is considered unsuitable for most settlement sites.

4.Figure 4 shows the quantitative relationship between the distribution of rural settlements on different topographic positions. Table 2 uses the concept of distribution index, introduces the concept of land area, and uses the ratio of the two to reflect the distribution advantage of rural settlements on different topographic positions.

5.Corrected in the text.

6.The horizontal coordinates 1-5 are the grading of each terrain factor mentioned in Table 2, divided into 1-5 levels, without the meaning of the specific number of coordinates.

7.Corrected in the text.

8.This paper has been revised to 25°, based on the results of the above study and references to relevant literature.

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The author has revised the problems existing in the article. The article is more complete and clear, agreed to accept.

Author Response

It is a great honor to have your approval of our work.

Reviewer 3 Report

Most of the questions have been modified. The manuscript has the following problems.

1、How many rural settlements are there in the study area? How to get it? It should be supplemented in the manuscript。

2、Figure 2 does not explain the meaning of a and b. The meaning of a and b should be reflected in the Figure or the Figure name.

Author Response

1.The number of rural settlements obtained within the study area is 145,569, which includes two levels of natural villages and administrative villages. The data from Geographic Information Network. The information released by the official websites of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, National Bureau of Statistics, and Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Statistics were collated into text format, and their latitude and longitude data were obtained through geographic information processing and transformed into shape vector data; the authors randomly selected ten townships after obtaining the data, and through comparison with the data of China's Third Territorial Survey and high-precision satellite image data, and visual interpretation and correction, the data proved to be The source is reliable, the accuracy is high, and it can meet the research needs.The data is placed at the back of the article in the form of an appendix.

2.Figure 2a shows the distribution direction of rural settlements, and Figure 2b shows the distribution density of rural settlements.The name of Figure 2 has been changed to "Distribution direction and density of rural settlements in Yunnan Province".