Difference between revisions of "PYL"

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General System description

System name: Pimp your landscape

Acronym: PYL

Brief overview

PYL is a cellular automaton based software, which supports the assessment of the impact of land-use management decisions on ecosystem services on regional scale. This includes land-cover changes, changes in sectoral land-use management practices and the establishment of linear and point-shaped infrastructural elements with defined impact area. Target group of the support system are planners on regional and municipal scale.

Scope of the system

The software "Pimp your landscape" (PYL)aims firstly at the support of planners by simulating alternative land-use scenarios and by an evaluation of benefits or risks for regionally important ecosystem services. Second, PYL supports an integration of information on environmental and landscape conditions into impact assessment. Third, PYL supports the integration of impacts of planning measures on ecosystem services. PYL allows the decision maker to capture existing knowledge on the impact of single land-use types (and the management practices within the land-use type) and infrastructural elements to assess the relative benefit of planning alternatives for a set of selected (by the planner) ecosystem services. The cellular automaton technique supports the integration of existing knowledge on the mutual impact of neighbouring land-use types and the definition of rules describing the impact of (actual and future) environmental and social parameters on (i) on ability of a land-use type or management practice to contribute to the provision of ecosystem services and (ii) on the probability of a transformation of a land-use type into another.

System origin

PYL is developed since 2007 in a cooperation of TU Dresden, Chair for Soil Science and Soil Protection (scientific concept) and PiSolution GmbH (Programming, Software Architecture). The software started with supporting participatory planning processes in the Euro-Region Neisse in the Frame of the Interreg-III-a project IT-Reg-EU and was then widened to support regional planning in the frame of the projects ENFORCHANGE and REGKLAM (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research). Furthermore, a more simple version of the software is used in environmental education at school level (DBU project KIDS) and in the frame of e-Learning (Leonardo da Vinci activity TrainForEducation). The software development was accompanied by extensive user requirements analysis and several test series. PYL is a semi-commercial product, as its further development is mostly done within R&D projects, while interrim versions are yet in test and use. For scientific purposes (R&D cooperations), the use is for free. For the use in practice (planning support and environmental education, a commercial software licence is available. Actually, an interdisciplinary team of 8 scientists (TUD) and 3 software engineers (PiSolution) develops the software for the application in assessing regional climate change mitigation strategies in land-use in Saxony (REGKLAM, MORO project Klimafit), testing alternatives for open-cast mining areas restoration in Saxony (regional planning association Western Saxony), deriving optimized strategies for catchment area management in Brazil (IWAS, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research / EMBRAPA).

Support for specific issues

PYL has three main objectives. First, it aims at the support of planners by an initial simulation of alternative land-use scenarios and by an initial evaluation of possible benefits or risks for regionally important ecosystem services. Regionally important means that these services are specified and selected by stakeholders involved in the evaluation and planning process (see chapter 2, section evaluation procedure). Second, PYL supports an integration of information on environmental and landscape conditions, such as climate data, pedological / geological and topographical data into the impact assessment. Third, PYL supports the integration of different impacts of planning measures on ecosystem services.To achieve these objectives, a technological approach was chosen that is based on a 2-D cellular automaton. The demand to integrate variable environmental parameters in addition to the land-use type as a basic attribute of a cell made it necessary to modify the original concept of a cellular automaton. The platform was complemented by some features of a Geographical Information System (GIS). These features enable the import and overlap of different information layers and the assignment of different attributes to the cells. Additionally, features were introduced that enable one to “draw” non-cellular infrastructural elements into the maps. These can be linear elements (e.g. roads or rivers), irregular spatial elements (e.g. water bodies) and point shaped elements with a spatial impact gradient (e.g. (chemical) industrial factories or power plants). To assess the impact of changes on landscape level on ecosystem services, a multicriteria assessment approach is integrated as third module within the PYL concept. The evaluation of the impact of planning measures follows a hierarchical approach and is carried out as moderated process. The evaluation starts (a) by selecting the land use types and by defining additionally types and size categories of linear, irregular or point shaped infrastructural elements, which are of regional relevance. (b) The user has to specify the environmental services of regional interest. In a subsequent step, the resulting value matrix must be filled out. Indicator sets are selected on the basis of literature analysis and expert knowledge, which provide regionally suitable information on the impact of the land use types and infrastructural elements on environmental services. The final identification of appropriate indicator sets is realized in several feed-back loops with regional experts. Based on this aggregated information, the impact of each land use type and each type and size categories of infrastructural elements on each environmental service or function is ranked on a relative scale from 0 (lowest value) to 100 (highest value). The value matrix contains initial impact values of the land use types and infrastructural elements on the environmental services. Note that in the evaluation philosophy of Pimp your landscape, the initial value of a land use type for a environmental service represents the maximum in the regional context, which can only be reduced (a) with regard to environmental cell attributes from additional information layers such as height above sea level, mean annual precipitation and temperature, soil type and exposition. (b). The impact of the cell environment (homogeneous land use types vs. different land use types) and neighborhood type (edge to edge vs. corner to corner) can impact the original maximum value. The consideration of these two impact factors (a) and (b) in the final evaluation result is supported by rule setting options. Furthermore, landscape structure aspects (landscape metrics) and temporal processes (ecosystem development in pre-defined time slots) are included to corrects the evaluation results.

Is the system designed to take into account specific uses? E.g. guidance on ways to characterize biodiversity, economic-biodiversity tradeoff analysis methods, risk assessment methods, landscape analysis methods, timber harvest effects, climate change effects, biological effects (pests, pathogens, invasives), fire,...

Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type

• Silvicultural (conversion / afforestation: relative benefit of alternative forest ecosystem types on landscape level)
• Conservation (ecosystem services)
• Development choices / land use zoning (alternative land-cover / land-use scenarios)
• Policy/intervention alternatives (impact of regional / municipal planning measures, support within participatory planning processes)
• Sustainability impact assessment (SIA)(impact on ecosystem services)

Capability to support decision making phases

(Click here to see a more detailed explanation)

1. Intelligence phase: PYL helps to assess the impact and relative benefit of alternative management and planning decisions on regionally important ecosystem services. The problem identification is given within the frame of regional (rural) development, where alternative scenarios have to be evaluated and relevant evaluation information has to be collected and aggregated first. A decision objective is defined within the planning process normally in a hierarchical order from development targets on national / state level (within the frame of political settings), local and regional development targets as "translation" of the global planning objectives and local objectives defined by the participating planning actors (regional planners, municipalities, administrations and NGO´s). Evaluation criteria are defined within the process of identifying and prioritzing regionally important ecosystem services and the underlying indicator and criteria sets to be used for the evaluation.

1. Design phase: PYL supports the fast assessment of alternative planning scenarios, which can be designed directly at the user interface or can be imported as geo-referenced layers (parameter setting). PYL does not give advice, which alternative to choose, but provides information on their impact on the ecosystem services compared to the starting situation and supports also to simulate e.g. the impact of alternative CC scenarios or landownership models(can be imported as GIS layers).

1. Choice phase

PYL supports the screening of alternative scenarios, but not the final decision, which scenario to choose, as it is designed for participatory planning processes in regional (spatial) planning, where decisions are always made in the course of a more or less public consultation process and preferences on ecosystem services might change within such a process.

1. Monitor phase (also called review or implementation)

The finally prefered land-cover / land-use scenario alternative(s) can be exported as shape or text file and is(are) then included as GIS file in the digital and printed planning materials on regional level (regional plan - map material).

Related systems

Cooperation with MANUELA - a grid-based system to assess the ecological impact of agricultural management practices. So far no Web-presentation available.

Data and data models

land-cover / land-use: Corine Landcover 2000/2006; Europmap environmental data: DGM, site / soil maps, geographical maps, regionalized data on precipitation, temperature, insoluation, evapotranspiration, etc. (different CC scenarios); sectoral data (forest inventory maps, agricultural maps, etc.) socio-economical data: cadastral map planning data: GIS layers with preference / reserved areas for specific environmental services and / or specific land-cover classes; attribute fill functionality data processing: cellular automaton with GIS features and Moore-Neighborhood / modified Moore-Neighborhood: autocalculation of erosion risks (extended USLE) and landscape metrics; data for evaluation: MCA;

Typical spatial extent of application

Regional / landscape scale; maximum resolution (cells) 100*100m² (CLC 2000/2006) or 25*25 m² (Euromap).

Category:DSS_by_spatial_level

Forest data input

digital land-cover maps with (if possible) embedded forest inventory information on stand types; for planning scenarios digital maps with development targets for the stands (future stand type). Data provenance: CLC 2000/2006 + forest inventory (if available). The system uses exclusively raster data (georeferenced) and - besides land-cover data - any available GIS data, which give information on important environmental / socio-economical parameters (cell attributes), which should be integrated in the evaluation. The data handling is supported by a routine called "OSM-to-Pimp", where a data container is automatically generated on the basis of Open-Street-Map (OSM) for infrastructural data, the selected land-cover data and all other available (geo-referenced) data, which can be selected within the data-packing routine. For the evaluation, information on indicators and criteria to assess the impact of land-use changes on ecosystem services is needed. This can be based on literature / published data, monitoring data / data bases, statistical data and can (should often) be completed by expert knowledge to fill data gaps considering not well described land-cover classes or land-management practices.

Type of information input from user (via GUI)

The GUI allows the user to define and select first the set of land-cover classes / land-use classes, which should be considered within the decision process;

in a next step the ecosystem services set has to be defined; the resulting value matrix has to be filled with values describing the relative impact of each land-cover class / land-use type on the ecosystem services on a scale from 0 (worst case) to 100 (best case). The basis of these values is normally worked out on regional level in a moderated process together with the land-users. In a next step, the mutual impact of land-cover classes / land-use types on their ability to contribute to the provision of ecosystem services and the respective impact of environmental and socio-economical parameters has to be specified. Then, rules have to be set up, which define the parameters (cell attributes, proximities), which restrict land-cover / land-use changes. Describe what is the information that the user directly inputs in the system if any): expert knowledge, opinion, goals and production objectives, preferences, stand/site information....

Models

Forest models

Growth, Yield, Carbon, Wood quality, biodiversity and habitat suitability, environmental and external effects (fire, storms, pests, diseases, climate change, etc)

Category:Forest_and_ecosystem_models

Social models

historical and cultural values of sites, values due to peace and quiet, esthetic values, values due to recreational activities, ethical values): E. g. Recreation, Health, Game

Decision Support

Definition of management interventions

Define what is available for the manager to intervene in the forest: time of harvest, plantations, thinnings, reconversions... Existence of prescription writer, simple enumeration of all possibilities, scenario simulation , etc.

Typical temporal scale of application

Define the temporal scale of the application: E.g., operational and immediate level, Tactical planning (short term) and strategic level.

Types of decisions supported

• Management level
  • strategic decisions
  • administrative decisions
  • operating control decisions
• Management function
• planning decisions
  • organizing decisions
  • command decisions
  • control decisions
  • coordination decisions
• decision making situation
  • unilateral
  • collegial
  • Bargaining / participative decision making

Decision-making processes and models

Category:DSS_Decision_support_approaches

• Logic modeling
• Operations research modeling
  • Direct approaches
  • Heuristic manipulation of simulation models
• Business modeling
• Simulation (with and without stochasticity)
• Multiple criteria/ranking
• Other

Output

Types of outputs

Types of outputs produced (tables, maps, 3-D visualizations, pre-programmed summaries, etc)

Spatial analysis capabilities

• integrated capabilities
• facilitates links to GIS (wizards, etc.)
• provides standard data import/export formats
• allows spatial analysis (e.g. topology overlays (e.g. multi layering of different maps, selection of objects based on selection criteria, aggregation by attributes (e.g. areas of similar characteristics), Linking by logical means, Statistics by area, analysis with digital terrain model)

Abilities to address interdisciplinary, multi-scaled, and political issues

Evaluate interactions between different basic information types (biophysical, economic, social). Produce coordinated results for decision makers operating at different spatial scales facilitate social negotiation and learning

System

System requirements

• Operating Systems: (Windows, Macintosh, Linux/UNIX, Web-based, Others)
• Other software needed (GIS, MIP packages, etc...)
• Development status

Architecture and major DSS components

Describe the basic architecture of the system in software and hardware. Desktop client-server, web based, as well as the integration with available systems. Basic data flow, focusing on retrieval of required input and propagation and implementations of decisions. Mention its modular and scalability capabilities.

Usage

Describe the level of use: Research level use, Industry use, Government use

Computational limitations

Describe the system limitations: e.g. number of management units, number of vehicles, time horizon

User interface

Describe the quality of user interface and the Prerequisite knowledge for using the system

Documentation and support

Describe the connection to Help-system and possibilities for assistance, as well as the required training and user support levels

Installation

• Prerequisite knowledge: Level of effort to become functional
• Cost: (purchase price, development costs, demonstrated return on investment, cost of use, training costs, licence and maintenance costs)
• Demo: allows the download/utilization of a trial version. If yes, where is it available and what are the trial conditions.

References

Cited references

External resources