Space Imaging Solutions has recently completed development of an ArcGIS based Ecosystem Decision Support System (DSS) for Fort A.P. Hill, a 76,000-acre Army training installation located in Virginia. The DSS uses Ecosystem Management guidelines to develop stand prescriptions, apply growth and yield projections, and plan forestry activities to achieve desired military training objectives. A key component of the DSS is the development of an advanced 3-D visualization tool that allows staff to view the output of the USFS FVS model representing different management scenarios.
The application integrates the USFS FVS with ESRI’s ArcMap, allowing users to simulate the effects of various forest management activities into the future, based on source cruise data stored in the new ArcGIS GeoDatabase format. One or more scenarios can be defined and comparisons are made on timber availability, habitat suitability, and military training suitability. Spatial layers representing ‘areas of concern’ can also be defined to support users in evaluating the impact of applying different prescriptions for a given stand over time. Data is seamlessly moved into FVS for growth and yield modeling, and output FVS projections are seamlessly transferred into the ArcGIS GeoDatabase structure to facilitate querying, reporting and mapping using ArcMap. The iterative scenario modeling design allows users to undertake constraint analysis for non-forest landmarks, and adjust prescriptions to accommodate these values at risk.
Working with Fort A.P. Hill forestry staff and 3D Nature technical staff, Space Imaging also integrated a sophisticated 3-D visualization application with ArcGIS and FVS. This module utilizes projections from the FVS model, allowing forestry staff to visualize temporal projections of forest growth. Users can quickly visualize how prescribed management actions will appear in the future. The quality of the rendered 3-D scenes is stunning, providing realistic views of the landscape for any time period in the FVS simulation. Visualizations can support individual plot or stand level views, as well as landscape scale representations.
This paper will review the issues and requirements of integrating advanced visualization software with ArcGIS, focusing on technical approaches and requirements for integrating FVS output. Tips and techniques for integrating custom forest inventory data with FVS for ArcGIS will be presented. Multiple examples will also be provided including a real time demonstration to illustrate the realistic nature of the integration and visualization capabilities.
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