Raster GIS Applications

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring a relatively new way of representing and understanding landscape systems at a broad scale. Lets take some time now to consider what impact that this technology may have on the way we regulate and plan development.

Lets consider the following points:

• Many of our existing schemes for regulating development were developed in a relatively information poor circumstances.
• Our lack of information has manifest in a lack of reliable representation of actual conditions on the ground
• We still are in a condition of lacking reliable models of the processes whereby conditions relate to eachother as spatial, topological or ecological systems.
• Considering all of this, many of our current methods for regulating development are blunt instruments which operate in the dark with regard to the actual patterns and processes on the ground.
• How can a better representation of environmental conditions and processes lead to better planning and better policy?

Government as a Maintainer of a Virtual Landscape

The state of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, through MassGIS provides an information infrastructure, a virtual representation of the landscape. See MassGIS Data Layers. A similar infrastructure exists at the federal level in the Geospatial One-Stop.

While these systems mark continuing improvement in understanding the physical landscape, our current regulatory systems are relatively static and not informed by the processes that they regulate and actual dynamic patterns on the ground. For example, consider:

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Floodplain Designation
• The Endangered Species Act
• Surface-water protection laws that rely on flat buffers
• Ground-water protection systems that are ignorant of the actual mechanics and positions of ground water systems.

At the federal level, there is substantial work being done to develop reliable models concerning how development impacts landscape systems in order to come up with better regulations, see The EPA's Models Page.

New Approaches to Water Protection

Flat buffers of constant dustance are a blunt instrument for regulating runoff impacts on surface water. Take a look at this model for runoff evaluation developed by a former GSD MDesS student Patricia Farnum Click Here.

New Approaches to Habitat Preservation

The USA's primary approach to habitat protection, the Endangered Species Act is a very strong law that prohibits development in any area that is designated habitat for a listed endangered species. Without any means of prioritizing habitat protection, this law has been criticised for virtually paralyzing the development process in some fast-growing areas, exaserbating urban sprawl in some cases. By treating all habitat patches equally without regard to connectivity, minimum home-range territory or the planning of sustaninable habitat preserves.

Better ways of evaluating landscape connectivity may lead to a means of thinking more holistically about habitat preservation, see See this paper by David Theobald

Prioritizing habitats for preservation requires information about what landscapes are particularly valuable and which ones are particularly threatened, and or key for the functioning of overall systems. In order for this to work accross state lines, we need a national standard for representinig landscape systems, levels of landscape protection and threats. This is the subject of a national program for GAP Analysis, see The GAP Project Homepage

Regional Planning agencies are beginning to write local laws that attempt to accomplish the aims of habitat preservation without arbitrarily paralyzing development. These Multi-Habitat Conservation Plans are beginning to substitute for the Endangered Species Act in Southern California. See: Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan

Note how this plan makes use of a growing literature of functional habitat models that are made spatially explicit through the use of Raster GIS Techniques.

Models for Understanding Alternative Future Scenarios

The conquest of the landscape by development is an interplay between economics and politics and to a lesser degree, science If science plays a role at all, it must first impact politics. In this effort, it is useful to be able to show people the potential impacts of their decisions, or lack of decisions. Our own Carl Steinitz has been working in this area for many years. See: Alternative Futures for Camp Pendleton This is a study that Compared many scenarios with many Spatial Evaluation Models to experiment with the biodiversity future of a region of Southern California.

More!

• Analysis of Views and Prospects
• Take a look at the student projects from 2004 Especially:
  A Bi-Model Accessibility Study by Stephen Lippmann.
  • A "What-If" Transportation Study By Jen Hall
  Evaluating Railroads as Rips in the Pedestrian Fabric David Cutler,
• Several links from the Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis:
  • Agent Based Models
  • Take a look at all of these Papers!