Prof. Dr. A. Grêt-Regamey

1 / 4 IRL/18.10.2016/ser

LANDSCAPE PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENTAL

SYSTEMS

EXERCISE I – LANDSCAPE METRICS – PATCH-LEVEL

Goals of the exercise

Practical application of landscape metrics in GIS

Using GIS extensions to calculate landscape metrics

Software extensions

The following software is recommended for calculating landscape metrics:

Patch Analyst (integrated in ArcGis)

http://www.cnfer.on.ca/SEP/patchanalyst/Patch5_1_Install.htm

V-Late 2.0 (integrated in ArcGis)

https://sites.google.com/site/largvlate/gis-tools/v-late

Fragstats (standalone, not integrated in ArcGis)

http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/fragstats/downloads/fragstats_downloads.html

In this exercise we will use the Patch Analyst extension for ArcGIS. The software is already

installed on the computers, but still needs to be added to the user interface in ArcMap.

Go to Customize -> Customize Mode to open the Customize menu (Fig. 1). In the

Commands tab, find [Menus] and select Patch Analyst on the right, then drag it onto the

ArcMap Toolbar (Fig. 2).

Prof. Dr. A. Grêt-Regamey

2 / 4 IRL/18.10.2016/ser

Figure 1: Customize menu in ArcMap

Figure 2: Patch Analyst integrated in ArcMap

Geodata

The following geodata are available for the analysis:

• Wetlands_historical.shp (historical wetland areas in canton Zürich in 1850)

• Wetlands_roads.shp (Wetlands_historical.shp intersected with buffered roads in

canton Zürich)

• Agricultural_area.shp (agricultural landscape; from the Biotope and land use

mapping of Austria)

• Mixed_forest_area.shp (mixed forest landscape; from the Biotope and land use

mapping of Austria)

Prof. Dr. A. Grêt-Regamey

3 / 4 IRL/18.10.2016/ser

• Conifer_forest_area.shp (coniferous forest landscape; from the Biotope and land

use mapping of Austria)

• Biotope_types.dbf (table; Biotope and land use key)

The data are provided as Shape-files because the Patch Analyst extension cannot work

with Geodatabases.

Task

Calculate, compare, and interpret the following landscape metrics in ArcMap using ArcGIS

tools and Patch Analyst to answer the given questions.

1) Patch Size (PS), Mean Patch Size (MPS), Patch Size Standard Deviation (PSSD),

Patch Size Coefficient of Variation (PSCV)

Data: Wetlands_historical.shp

- Where in ArcMap can you find the information on size units?

- Calculate the PS without using Patch Analyst.

- Calculate the MPS over all wetlands and per wetland type without using Patch

Analyst.

- Calculate the PS for every patch and the MPS, PSSD and PSCV per wetland type

using Patch Analyst (Spatial Statistics). Which units do the metrics have?

- Compare the MPS, PSSD und PSCV of individual wetland types. What information

do the metrics convey?

2) Core Area (CA), Core Area Index (CAI), Cority (CY)

Data: Wetlands_historical.shp, Wetlands_roads.shp

- Calculate the CA for a buffer of 40m without Patch Analyst.

- Calculate the CA for a buffer of 40m with Patch Analyst (Create Core Areas,

detach) and have a look at the Attribute table. What do the different fields mean?

- Repeat the analyses for the data Wetlands_roads.shp. What effect does the

construction of roads have on the wetland areas?

- Calculate the CAI and the CY. Which units do the metrics have? What information

do they convey?

Prof. Dr. A. Grêt-Regamey

4 / 4 IRL/18.10.2016/ser

3) Total Edge (TE), Edge Density (ED), Mean Patch Edge (MPE)

Data: Mixed_forest_area.shp, Conifer_forest_area.shp, Agricultural_area.shp

- What differences between the three landscapes can you observe visually?

- Calculate the TE, ED and MPE for the three landscapes using Patch Analyst (Spatial

Statistics) and compare the values. How do the results relate to your observations?

- Represent the biotopes of the three landscapes in a meaningful way (you can use

Biotope_types.dbf). What do you notice about the edges?

- Edit the three datasets to remove borders between polygons of the same land use

type and recalculate the metrics again. Does this affect the results?

Tools

Add Field, Buffer, Calculate Area, Dissolve, Field Calculator, Join, Select by Attribute,

Summary Statistics

Submission

No submission required.

Organization

Ana Stritih HIL H51.4 astritih@ethz.ch

Sibyl Brunner HIL H53.1 brunner@nsl.ethz.ch

Vincent Cohen HIL H52.1 cohenv@ethz.ch