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Track: Forestry
David J. Buckley
Innovative GIS Solutions, Inc.
2000 S College Ave Ste 300
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Telephone: 970-490-5900
Fax: 970-490-2300
E-mail: igis@fortnet.org
Dr. Joseph Berry
Integrating Advanced Visualization Techniques with ArcInfo for Forest Research and Management
The use of three-dimensional based visualization techniques with GIS has historically been applied for consideration of visual impact assessment in natural resource management. In particular, the aesthetics of forestry harvest cutblock shape, size, and location have been of primary importance. However, to date GIS technology has not provided visualization functionality that affords realistic presentation of the three-dimensional landscape. Considering the visualization software tools available in the scientific community, there has been very little integration of these techniques with commercial GIS software. This paper reviews the issues involved and the capabilities achieved by integrating readily available scientific visualization techniques with ArcInfo. In particular, this paper will focus on the integration of surface rendering functions and map animation tools with the ArcInfo Version 7.0+. These techniques are of interest to foresters in evaluating aesthetic issues related to harvest cutblock
design and operating plan approval. Conventional visual exposure analysis and three-dimensional surface fly-bys, with tree object rendering, are the primary capabilities utilized. The paper also focuses on applying these techniques beyond consideration of traditional visual impact assessments. In particular, the evaluation and interpretation of GIS-based model output is an area of research that to date has primarily focused on using functionality and techniques limited to the GIS toolkit. These techniques typically involve two-dimensional map overlays using standard mathematical and spatial statistics for assessing data variance, correlation, quantifying error, and data accuracy. However, scientific research often makes use of sophisticated visualization techniques, often three-dimensional representations, to enhance the interpretation of the content, logic, and sensitivity of natural resource analytical models. Unfortunately, there are few examples where these techniques have been successfully
integrated with de facto industry-standard GIS platforms such as ArcInfo. This research investigates the opportunities for integrating these technologies to address issues of model sensitivity analysis and interpretation of model output, as well as traditional visual impact assessment. Several different examples will be presented that combine the visualization of model data, both input and output, using two-dimensional and three-dimensional and fully animated map display techniques. In particular, the ability to fully animate temporal model output that includes spatial statistics is especially exciting. This includes consideration of single variable maps as well as bivariate correlation analysis.
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