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Land Cover-basedLandscape Assessment
AlgorithmsIn the SmartConservation™
Model
Robert CheethamAvencia Incorporated
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Avencia Introduction
Clients: Local/State/Federal Government
Non-Profits
Academic Institutions
Topic Domains: GIS Software Development in:
— Real Estate
— Urban/Neighborhood Redevelopment
— Natural Resources
— Crime Analysis
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Presentation Objectives
How does SmartConservation™ Model use Land Cover data for calculating landscape metrics?
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What is SmartConservation?
• A method of identifying, evaluating and prioritizing landscape resources for their potential habitat health and viability.
• A weighted hierarchical model for evaluating arbitrary areas of land in Southeast Pennsylvania for their conservation value.
TM
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What is SmartConservation?A Decision Support System for assessing the ecological/conservation value of a given site:
- Model- Web-based assessment tool- Data Sets – existing + derived maps- Green Infrastructure Plan
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Some Guiding Principles
1. Score any arbitrary polygon in Piedmont region2. Generate scores on demand3. Use publicly available data (mostly)4. Generate comparable scores5. Make all assessments available to all users6. Integrate data with processes and make available
to organizations that don’t have access to analysis tools.
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Presentation
1. Overview of Model Components
2. Land Cover Adjustments
3. Land Cover Metrics
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What is Smart Conservation?
Data Methods+ Metrics
Metrics Site Assessme
nt
+Standar
d Weights
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Partner Relationships
- Manage the Project - Convene Science Forum committees - Develop methodologies - Acquire data sets
NLT
- Develop Software Components - Develop Algorithms - Collaborate w/ NLT on methodologies - Install and maintain softwareAvencia
- Assess data sets - Develop assessment methodologies - Approve methodologies and weights
Science Forum
PASDA
- Host web site and data - Primary Data Provider
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Model Weights
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Weighted Hierarchical Model<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--Generated by Natural Lands Trust Smart Conservation Model version 1.0, Avencia Incorporated, 2001-->
<model>
<user id=""/>
<site id="26"/>
<components>
<component id="FinalScore" label="Final Score" weight="1" score="4.32248001008288" display="true">
<component id="Mammals" label="Mammals" weight="15" score="4.39732593215804" display="true">
<component id="MPotentialHabitatSize" label="Potential Habitat Size" weight="17" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="MPotentialHabitatShape" label="Potential Habitat Shape" weight="13" score="0.587051895130942" display="true"/>
<component id="MSpecialHabitat" label="Special Habitat" weight="13" score="7" display="true"/>
<component id="MLandscapeMatrix" label="Landscape Matrix" weight="23.5" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="MInterestLevel" label="Interest Level" weight="10" score="7" display="true"/>
<component id="MPotentialSpeciesRichness" label="Potential Species Richness" weight="13.5" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
<component id="MPotentialConservationValue" label="Potential Conservation Value" weight="10" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="Plants" label="Plants" weight="20" score="6.70319445153518" display="true">
<component id="PNonDisturbance" label="Non-disturbance" weight="17.2" score="10" display="true">
<component id="PNDHuman" label="Human" weight="33.3" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="PNDInvasivePlant" label="Invasive Plant" weight="33.3" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="PNDDeer" label="Deer" weight="33.3" score="10" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="PCommunityDiversity" label="Community Diversity" weight="10.3" score="5" display="true"/>
<component id="PPotentialHabitatSize" label="Potential Habitat Size" weight="12.1" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="PPotentialHabitatShape" label="Potential Habitat Shape" weight="3.5" score="0.587186612676846" display="true"/>
<component id="PLandscapeMatrix" label="Landscape Matrix" weight="8.6" score="0" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="Birds" label="Birds" weight="15" score="4.65108337402344" display="true">
<component id="BLandscapeMatrix" label="Landscape Matrix" weight="25" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="BPotentialHabitatSize" label="Potential Habitat Size" weight="25" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="BPotentialSpeciesRichness" label="Potential Species Richness" weight="25" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
<component id="BPotentialConservationValue" label="Potential Conservation Value" weight="25" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="Aquatics" label="Aquatics" weight="15" score="4.62908699362623" display="true">
<component id="AquRiparianCorridorCover" label="Riparian Corridor Cover" weight="10" score="6.25" display="true">
<component id="AquRCC1_2" label="1st and 2nd Order" weight="62.5" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="AquRCC3_4_5" label="3rd, 4th and 5th Order" weight="31.25" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="AquRCC6_" label="6th+ Order" weight="6.25" score="0" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="AquRiparianCorridorFragmentation" label="Riparian Corridor Fragmentation" weight="10" score="6.25" display="true">
<component id="AquRCFrag1_2" label="1st and 2nd Order" weight="62.5" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="AquRCFrag3_4_5" label="3rd, 4th and 5th Order" weight="31.25" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="AquRCFrag6_" label="6th+ Order" weight="6.25" score="0" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="AquWatershedLandUse" label="Watershed Land Use" weight="10" score="8.34398746490479" display="true"/>
<component id="AquCommunityHealth" label="Aquatic Community Health" weight="10" score="10" display="true"/>
<component id="AquLocationSiteWatershed" label="Location of Site in Watershed" weight="10" score="0.837754829584176" display="true"/>
<component id="AquPotentialSpeciesRichness" label="Potential Species Richness" weight="10" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
<component id="AquPotentialConservationValue" label="Potential Conservation Value" weight="10" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
<component id="AquWetlandInventory" label="Wetland Inventory" weight="10" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="AquFloodplains" label="Floodplains" weight="10" score="0" display="true"/>
<component id="AquForestedWaterQuality" label="Forested Water Quality" weight="10" score="6.00479414567964" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="ReptilesAmphibians" label="Reptiles and Amphibians" weight="10" score="4.30216674804687" display="true">
<component id="HerpPotentialSpeciesRichness" label="Potential Species Richness" weight="50" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
<component id="HerpPotentialConservationValue" label="Potential Conservation Value" weight="50" score="4.30216674804687" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="LandscapeEcology" label="Landscape Ecology" weight="10" score="5" display="true">
<component id="StewardshipLandDistance" label="Stewardship Land Distance" weight="50" score="5" display="true"/>
<component id="StewardshipLandDensity" label="Stewardship Land Density" weight="50" score="5" display="true"/>
</component>
<component id="Rarity" label="Rarity" weight="15" score="0" display="true">
<component id="RareAnimals" label="Rare Animals" weight="40" score="0" display="false">
<component id="RAOnsite" label="Rare Animal Species Onsite" weight="67" score="0" display="false"/>
<component id="RAOffsite" label="Rare Animal Species Offsite" weight="33" score="0" display="false"/>
</component>
<component id="RarePlants" label="Rare Plant Species" weight="40" score="0" display="false">
<component id="RPOnsite" label="Onsite" weight="67" score="0" display="false"/>
<component id="RPOffsite" label="Offsite" weight="33" score="0" display="false"/>
</component>
<component id="RarePlantCommunities" label="Rare Plant Communities" weight="20" score="0" display="false">
<component id="RPCOnsite" label="Onsite" weight="67" score="0" display="false"/>
<component id="RPCOffsite" label="Offsite" weight="33" score="0" display="false"/>
</component>
</component>
</component>
</components>
</model>
Plant Criteria
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Site Score
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Model Components - Mammals
Mammals 13 %
Potential Habitat Size 2 %
Potential Habitat Shape 1 %
Special Habitat 1 %
Landscape Matrix 2 %
Important Mammal Area (IMA) 2 %
Habitat Structure Health (Deer) 1 %
Potential Species Richness 2 %
Potential Conservation Value 2 %
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Model Components - Plants
Plants 25 %
Habitat Disturbance 7.5 %
Human
Invasive Plant
Deer
Community Diversity 2.5 %
Plant Community Health 10 %
Potential Habitat Size 2 %
Potential Habitat Shape 1 %
Landscape Matrix 2 %
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Model Components - Birds
Birds 13 %
Landscape Matrix 2 %
Potential Habitat Size 2 %
Important Bird Area 2 %
Interior Forest Habitat 2 %
Habitat Structure Health (Deer) 1 %
Potential Species Richness 2 %
Potential Conservation Value 2 %
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Model Components - Aquatics
Aquatics 18 %
Riparian Corridor Fragmentation 2 %
1st and 2nd Order
3rd, 4th and 5th Order
6th+ Order
Watershed Land Cover 2 %
Aquatic Community Health 2 %
Location of Site in Watershed 1 %
Potential Fish Species Richness 2 %
Potential Fish Conservation Value 2 %
NWI Wetlands 2 %
Hydric Soils 1 %
Floodplains 1 %
Forested Water Quality 2 %
Steep Slopes 1 %
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Model Components - Herps
Reptiles and Amphibians 4 %
Potential Species Richness 2 %
Potential Conservation Value 2 %
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Model Components – Land. Eco.
Landscape Ecology 8 %
Hub Distance
Hub Density
Corridor Distance
Rarity 19 %
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Model Components
Totals 100 %
Directly derived from Land Cover data 20 %
Indirectly derived from Land Cover data 27 %
No relationship to Land Cover data 53 %
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Presentation
1. Overview of Model Components
2. Land Cover Adjustments
3. Land Cover Metrics
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Using the Tool
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Land Cover Adjustments• Adjustments
can be made to the local land use in order to make the local land survey more accurate. PDF files are made available to generate maps for the site survey.
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Presentation
1. Overview of Model Components
2. Land Cover Adjustments
3. Land Cover Metrics
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Land Cover Metrics
Indirect Metrics – MRLC land cover being used as a component, but is not the main focus
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Potential Species RichnessMammals
Fish
Birds
Herps
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Potential Conservation ValueMammals
Fish
Birds
Herps
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Interior Forest Habitat
Forested areas – edge = Interior Forest
Rank based on size
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Landscape Ecology - Merged Hubs
Protected Lands
PNDI
Cons. Resource Locations
Merged Hubs
merge
Before merge
After merge
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Modified Impermeability
+Modified Impedance -= ( )Barriers Conservati
on ValueHub Proximity
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Relative Travel CostRelative Travel Cost
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Barrier
Co
st
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Preliminary Impedance
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Hub Proximity Values• Merged
protected land sites with overlapping donut buffers of 1km and 2 km and values of 50% and 10 % respectively.
Overlap region with cumulativeproximity values
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Conservation Resource Lands
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Land Cover Metrics
Direct Metrics – MRLC land cover is the primary component of the metric
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Landscape Matrix: Preprocessing
Develop Taxa-specific land cover grid
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Landscape Matrix: on-the-flyCalculate Zonal Mean on site and in buffer
(10 - Abs(SiteLCMean – 1MileLCMean)) * SiteLCMean / 10
(10 - Abs(5.625 – 5.284)) * 5.625 / 10 = 5.433
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Potential Habitat Size/Shape1. Create taxa-specific
land cover value coverages
2. Slice up with TNC land blocks
3. Remove noise
4. Convert to polygons
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Potential Habitat Size/Shape1. Look at largest contiguous, un-fragmented land cover that is good habitat for taxa group
2. Assign size score based on size thresholds
3. Assign shape score based on roundedness.
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Watershed Land CoverDevelop Aquatic Taxa-specific land cover grid
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Watershed Land Cover1. Buffer site by 2 miles
2. Using site as pour point, calculate upstream watershed
3. Clip to 2 mile buffer.
4. Calculate Zonal mean of aquatic land cover
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Riparian Corridor Fragmentation
Buffer Streams and Water body edges to 100m
Convert to GRID using Stream Order
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Riparian Corridor Fragmentation
1. Clip Land Cover to Site Boundary
2. Clip Site Land Cover to the Stream Corridor
3. Reclass using Aquatic Land Cover and site survey adjustments
4. Average the Land Cover Values
5. Calculate NeighborhoodVariety
6. Convert to a 0-10 scale and Average for corridors
7. Lather, Rinse, Repeat….
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Neighborhood Variety
5 86
3 50
1 51
5
In Out
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Neighborhood Variety
8 88
8 8 48
8 48
4 8 2
8 4 1
1 11
1 2 21
2 31
2 4 3
2 3 3
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Technology Challenges
Web-based system is being accessed by multiple users simultaneously— Limit the Number of Users— Precalculate— Limit Extent— Queue requests for asynchronous calculation to
preserve rapid feedback
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Technology Challenges
Software Licensing— Partnering with PASDA— Worked with ESRI for special licensing arrangement
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Technology Challenges
Changing Requirements – changing data, changing model— Modular— Hierarchical— Use XML— Trained users before system complete— Versioning is still tough.
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Technology Innovations
Centralized geoprocessing using ArcObjects for multiple users
Asynchronous geoprocessing queue Automatic error recovery features Dynamic ArcIMS map layer generation
— Store layer info and symbology in database— Allows us to change datasets without changing ArcIMS services
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Other Challenges
We want it to be public but...
We want to move it outside SE PA, but …
SmartConservation is explicitly interpreted data, but …
We want people to do field surveys, but …
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Still to do….
SmartConservation™ Lite – no field survey
Update MRLC – versioning
Generalize model to other ecoregions – will require re-calibration of some criteria to account for differences in ecoregions.
Develop a Generalized Spatial Metric and Model Documentation Protocol
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Acknowledgements
PASDAConservation Science Partners
PA DEPPA DCNRWilliam Penn Foundation
Delaware Valley Regional Planning CommissionPennsylvania Environmental CouncilBrandywine ConservancyESRI
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Questions
Clare Billett – Natural Lands Trust – [email protected]
Robert Cheetham – Avencia – [email protected]
http://cegis4.cas.psu.edu/scm/