Spatial Environmental Modeling with Open Source GIS



Helena Mitasova

Geographic Modeling Systems Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

hmitaso@unity.ncsu.edu



Abstract

Spatial simulations are playing increasingly important role in environmental risk assessment and sustainable land use management. The presentation will provide an overview of GIS-supported methods and tools as applied to a number of problems in environmental modeling:

a) digital model representation and analysis of multivariate, spatio-temporal phenomena using flexible scattered-data interpolation methods such as Regularized Spline with Tension;

b) simulation of overland water flow, sediment transport and net erosion/deposition using 2D spatially distributed models solved by path-sampling techniques;

c) multi-scale modeling applications to land use design aimed at conservation of natural resources.

The presented approach is based on landscape characterization using multivariate fields, distributed process-based models, efficient computational algorithms and dynamic visualization techniques. The methods will be illustrated by digital terrain modeling and analysis, multidimensional models of chemical concentrations, simulations of overland flow and sediment transport, and land use design supported by Open Source GRASS GIS. The prospects and plans for future will be outlined as well.

References

Mitasova, H., Mitas, L., 2001, Modeling Physical Systems, In: Parks B., Crane M. and Clarke, K. (Eds.), GIS and Environmental Modeling, Prentice Hall.

Mitas, L., Mitasova, H., 1999, Spatial Interpolation.In: P.Longley, M.F. Goodchild, D.J. Maguire, D.W.Rhind (Eds.), GIS: Principles, Techniques, Management and Applications, Wiley, 481-492.

Mitas, L., Mitasova, H., 1998, Distributed erosion modeling for effective erosion prevention, Water Resources Research Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 505-516.

Mitasova, H., L. Mitas, B.M. Brown, D.P. Gerdes, I. Kosinovsky, 1995, Modeling spatially and temporally distributed phenomena: New methods and tools for GRASS GIS. Int. Journal of GIS, 9 (4), GIS, p. 443-446.



Dr. Helena Mitasova is a Research Scientist with the Geographic Modeling Systems Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and adjunct associate professor with the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at NCSU, Raleigh. She has been involved in the development of the Open source GIS since 1991 as a member of GRASS GIS development team at the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, IL. She co-developed original methods for multivariate interpolation and surface geometry analysis for GIS and her work was recognized by the "Excellence in development" award from the Open GIS Foundation. Since 1995 she has served as principal investigator for research projects on soil erosion modeling for sustainable land use management at GMS Laboratory. She co-authored book chapters in major publications on Geographical Information Systems, as well as numerous papers on spatial interpolation, erosion modeling and visualization. She is an active member of the current OPEN SOURCE GRASS GIS development team and a member of editorial board for Transactions in GIS. She received her Masters and PhD degrees from the Slovak Technical University, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia and taught at the Department of Physical Geography and Cartography at the Comenius University in Bratislava before coming to USA.