[GRASSLIST:8631] Re: Interpolating and mapping the output of ecosystem models with GRASS

[David Finlayson]

I think this type of thing is very straight forward in GRASS. It is
one of the reasons I have started using GRASS instead of ArcGIS. It is
very easy to write a shell script (or Python or Perl, etc) to perform
a run of your model, convert the model output to GRASS format,
post-process the output and build visualizations. I do this for wave
and sediment transport models and there are many other disciplines
represented by people on this mailing list.

The interpolation and "masking" of irrelevant data is a key strength
of GIS in general and something that is trivial in GRASS. (usually
only a few GRASS commands depending on how sophisticated your good/bad
data criteria is).

David

On 10/13/05, Luigi Ponti <lponti at infinito.it> wrote:
> Dear GRASS Users Mailing List,
>
> I would like to ask some advice on using GRASS to map the output of
> weather-driven population models for ecosystem analysis.
>
> Our group is considering GRASS as a way to map the georeferenced output
> of the ecosystem models developed in our lab. In short, once
> meteorological data (i.e., model input) and geographic data are acquired
> for a particular landscape, an ecosystem model is run for each weather
> station location of interest. Therefore, the output of the model
> consists of a summary table combining the point locations of the weather
> stations with the output value of interest.
>
> In order for this output to be mapped, an interpolation process is
> needed to retrieve the spatial distribution of the values estimated by
> the ecological model across the landscape. Another critical point is the
> ability to 'clip' and eliminate areas which are not of interest to the
> study, such as elevation which is too high, or other tracts of land or
> water which are not of interest to the study.
>
> Would GRASS be able to interpolate such spatial distribution and also
> 'clip' the out-of-interest areas? I am new to GRASS but I assume that
> such capabilities are, at least potentially, already in place in GRASS.
> What I cannot figure out is the amount of work needed to implement such
> functionalities starting from the summary output table that I mentioned
> above. Any hint is appreciated.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Luigi Ponti
> Visiting Scholar
> University of California, Berkeley
> Environmental Science, Policy & Management
> lponti at nature.berkeley.edu
>
>


--
David Finlayson
Marine Geology & Geophysics
School of Oceanography
Box 357940
University of Washington
Seattle, WA  98195-7940
USA

Office: Marine Sciences Building, Room 112
Phone: (206) 616-9407
Web: http://students.washington.edu/dfinlays