Case Study: Landscape Master Plan of Burggen in
Study Area Bavarian Alps
Data Input
Using Existing Data
At the beginning of the planning process, the availability
of digital data has to be determined. The official offer of spatial digital
data is still rare in Bavaria. Additionally, the price, distribution and
licence policy is often left unclear. Probably the best spatial data for
Bavaria can be found at the State Survey Branch in Munich, which offers
different thematic layers of the official topographic map in the common
Drawing Exchange Format (DXF). With the exception of that general data,
almost all other landscape and ecology related information has to be digitised
by landscape planners themselves, which is still very time consuming and
expensive.
Digitising Data
There are several different ways in which spatial data can
be recorded:
Alphanumeric Data
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Key board input of descriptive information with text processing
or data base software;
Vector Data
-
Recording site geometry and site features by photogrammetric
techniques (aerial stereo photographs):
-
Digitising from a stereo plotter (e.g. SD 2000 from Leica
or Planicomp from Zeiss) with CAD or GIS software by cursor input on the
system screen.
-
Recording sites by means of an analogue stereoscope as a
sketch map, which then has to be digitised on a digitiser board
-
Recording geometry and features of sites from distorted aerial
photographs, or adequate terrestrial photographs (WARNER 1993), by means
of the monoplotting procedure on the screen or on a digitiser board.
-
Digitising site geometry, and eventually site features, from
orthophotos and aerial photo maps on the screen or on a digitiser board.
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In-house digitising of field sketches and maps
-
In-field digital recording of site geometry and site features
by means of pen computers and suitable software (KIAS 1996)
Sound, Image and Video Data
-
Analogue or digital sound recording in the field. Additionally,
if necessary, in-house digitising and sound processing with a sound card
and audio software.
-
Scanning maps as background information; analogue or digital
photo shots in the field, subsequent in-house image processing.
-
Analogue sound-video recording in the field, digitising and
computer processing with video capture card and video processing software.
In practice, the ideal way of data recording is often not
possible since there are different data sources and formats which have
to be integrated into the GIS. For instance, besides the photogrammetric
landuse interpretation based on orthophotos or aerial stereo photo models,
the field mapping of landscape features based on existing maps still remains
necessary.
Data Analysis
Digital data enable the landscape planner to present his
results in a transparent way, even with a permanently increasing amount
of planning information. Chiefly, the possibility to overlay different
thematic maps plays an important role. In this way landuse conflicts can
be quickly displayed numerically and graphically with a level of clarity
and legibility that cannot be achieved by analogue cartographic illustrations.
Additionally, turning different map layers on or off helps to demonstrate
and mediate separate planning steps.
An important advantage of digital data and GIS is the
analysis of three-dimensional landscape models, which are the basis for
visibility, slope, aspect, line of sight or watershed calculations.
Fig. 1: 3 dimensional landscape
analysis with line of sight calculations (lower right) and Virtual Reality
Landscape Model (upper left) Click
on the Image to make it big!
The time related analysis of the scenery can be done by
implementing photorealistic simulations of alternative stages into the
GIS or by linking multi-temporal video or photo sets.
Visualisation and Data Presentation
As mentioned above, a Landscape Master Plan that is easily
understood is essential for the acceptance of design proposals. A client
friendly analysis and demonstration of planning results has become an important
factor for landscape planners. A GIS which is able to simulate geo-referenced
landscape stimuli is a suitable tool for creating a general awareness of
the relevant planning issues. The multimedia computer presentation facilitates
the illustration of, often very complex, planning goals and creates a sensitivity
for landscape related conflicts. Sustainable realisation of the planned
proposals, and the measures in the field, can only be achieved if the citizens
are fully aware of all the problems and can make informed decisions.
Fig. 2: GIS based presentation
of the Landscape Master Plan in front of the community council
Click on the Image to make it big!
We have chosen the GIS software ArcView 3.0 to present
and visualise the data of the Landscape Master Plan of a rural community
in Upper Bavaria. ArcView runs on Windows95 and encompasses all the multimedia
capabilities of that platform. The hardware components are a Pentium 133
MHz with 40 MB RAM (SiNix Notebook Mobile 700), sound card and two external
speakers. To project the data we generally put the removable LCD display
of the laptop computer onto a standard overhead projector. On other occasions
we used a Digital Light Projector with a better projection performance.
The following paragraphs describe the digital data composition
of the Master Plan. The ArcView Project window (Fig. 3) gives an overview
of the thematic and planning maps (called Views) used for the GIS demonstration.
Fig. 3: The ArcView Project window
of the Landscape Master Plan Click
on the Image to make it big!
The data listed below were added to the vector data in
ArcView. The vector data are ArcInfo coverages, ArcView shape files and
vectors in DXF format.
Videos in Video for Windows Format (*.avi)
The video is started interactively by a mouse click on the
mapped standpoint from where the video was taken or from a programmed pull-down
menu.
Fig. 4: Programmed pull-down
menu to select videos Click
on the Image to make it big!
In case of a sound video, you hear all the sounds at the
standpoint. The mouse click starts an ArcView Avenue script (Avenue is
the programming language of ArcView) which runs the Windows multimedia
player (Mplayer.exe) and the relevant *.avi file.
Fig. 5: Sound Videos illustrates
the conflicts in terms of recreation Click
on the Image to make it big!
Images in JPEG, GIF and TIF Format
The background information is in the form of black and white
topographic maps and orthophotos, scanned at 200 dots per inch (dpi) in
Tagged Image format (TIF) and added as a separate ArcView Theme to the
active View. Scanned (150 dpi) colour photos from the study area were added
to selected themes as so called "hotlinks" (programmed links to a file).
These can be displayed on the screen by a mouse click on the respective
theme which, in turn, starts another Avenue script. The photos chiefly
help to show certain landscape aspects in a photorealistic way. They were
partly manipulated with Photoshop 3.0 to illustrate the interference by
man and the impact on the scenery, for example, the extension of urban
areas or the growth of spruce plantations.
Fig. 6: Photoshop simulation
of growth of afforestations helps to illustrate future conflicts
Click on the Image to make it big!
Image Animation in GIF Format
To illustrate temporary landscape changes, for example, the
growth of afforestations, colour photos were successively altered with
Photoshop and made into an animation by means of the software "Ulead GIF
Animator”. The animation is shown with Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0, which
is run by an Avenue script after selecting it using a pull-down menu of
ArcView (Fig. 7). You can see the original animation on the Internet under:
www.lnn.forst.uni-muenchen.de/daten/foram/mmgis.
ArcInfo Grid
To give a three dimensional landscape impression, a so called
shaded grid has been calculated with ArcInfo based on acquired elevation
data from the survey branch. The shaded grid is added as a separate ArcView
Theme. If the extension "Spatial Analyst” is installed, the shaded grid
can be calculated with ArcView directly (see Fig. 2).
Tables in dBase Format
All spatial alphanumeric data can be added as dBase tables
to the feature (polygons, points, lines) attribute tables in ArcView. In
this way ArcView enables the user to query all the features which have
been added to the polygons, points and lines by mouse-clicking on them.
For instance it could be helpful to add external ecological (biotope mapping)
or sociological (census) data to the mapped sites.
TIN in VRML Format
ArcInfo TINs (Triangulated Irregular Network), which graphically
describe space conditions in three dimensions, can be transformed into
3D landscape models in Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) by means
of the ArcInfo command TIN2VRML. The VRML landscape model can be displayed
and navigated with Netscape Gold, which even allows a realistic flight
through the landscape (Fig. 1). The model is run by an Avenue script, which
starts Netscape after selecting it in a programmed pull-down menu of ArcView
(Fig. 7). You can start the model from the Internet under www.lnn.forst.uni-muenchen.de/daten/foram/mmgis.
Fig. 7: Pull-down menu to select
simulations running with Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0 Click
on the Image to make it big!