Update on the Course Project

Course Project Option: Landscape Analysis & Prioritization

The remaining two class sections deal with [1] identifying important landscape features (e.g. habitat patches), [2] calculating various landscape metrics for these features (e.g. patch geometry, connectivity importance, equity co-benefits), and [3] developing conservation portfolios from various weightings of these attributes.

One course project idea would be to select a location to perform your own landscape analysis and prioritization. The region should not be too large, as this would involve too much calculation time, but it should not be too small as to have too few regions to prioritize.

The steps in your analysis should include:

  • Identification of the features you wish to prioritize. You may wish to filter features based on a minimum size.

  • Calculation of patch geometric attributes

  • Calculation of patch connectivity attributes

  • Calculation of patch threat or longevity attributes

  • Calculation of co-benefits (equity, biodiversity)

  • Scaling of patch/planning unit attributes

  • Weighting of scaled attributes*

  • Ranking of outputs*

    →The last two items can be done in the form of a dashboard. Alternatively, you can use ArcGIS Pro’s Data Engineering capabilities to produce graphs that can be compiled into a report.

So, one option to consider is to develop a team and tackle these steps for a region of your choice. You should feel free to explore various aspects in depth, e.g. a new approach to connectivity (e.g. using ESRI’s updated tools) or go deep on dashboards. Or, a well-rounded report on your findings works well too.

The scope of this project should be roughly equal to one of our first three lab projects, though if you are doing a group project, expectations will be a bit higher. Consider this an opportunity to show of a learned skill or to produce something you’d like to share with prospective employers.