Taking Advantage of Esri Software Developments for Building Landscape Structure Analysis Programs

Author: Joseph K. Berry
Organization: Berry & Associates/Spatial Information Systems, Inc.

2000 S. College Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
USA

Phone: 970-490-2155
Fax: 970-490-5900
jberry@innovativegis.com

There is growing evidence that habitat fragmentation is detrimental to many species and likely contributes substantially to the loss of regional and global biodiversity. Recently developed GIS-based landscape analysis programs characterize the shape, pattern, diversity, and fragmentation of vegetation elements spatially depicted as individual "patches" (polygons), "classes" of similar patches, and entire "landscape" mosaics composed of all patches, analogous to a jigsaw puzzle. GIS-derived information on landscape structure is critical for effective planning and management of complex natural resource systems.

With the recent expansion of the Esri software line, landscape structure programs such as FRAGSTATS, a de facto standard for analyzing landscape structure, are becoming available on a variety of different user platforms. FRAGSTATS*ARC, the initial product for the Esri software line, utilizes ArcInfo topological vector and ARC GRID-based raster processing to calculate over 60 landscape metrics including advanced edge contrast, core area, and nearby neighbor statistics. The new FRAGSTATS for ArcView GIS version contains a subset of the metrics operating on shapefiles, instead of coverages, and provides tools for the non-GIS user in the popular ArcView GIS environment. As well, the recent move to a Microsoft COM platform for Esri has facilitated the development of an ArcInfo 8-based version based on ArcObjects. This provides many new, exciting tools for helping the landscape biologist assess habitat issues.

This paper will review the capabilities of each platform with a focus on advantages and issues in migrating to a standard COM platform for FRAGSTATS tools. Current status and future opportunities will be reviewed with demonstrations.