Anna Petrasova

North Carolina State University | NCSU · Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Impacts of sea level rise will last for centuries; therefore, flood risk modeling must transition from identifying risky locations to assessing how populations can best cope. We present the first spatially interactive (i.e., what happens at one location affects another) land change model (FUTURES 3.0) that can probabilistically predict urban growth...

Learning to use geographic information system (GIS) software effectively may be intimidating due to the extensive range of features it offers. The GRASS GIS software, in particular, presents additional challenges for first-time users in terms of its complex startup procedure and unique terminology associated with its data structure. On the other ha...

Open education materials are critical for the advancement of open science and the development of open‐source software. These accessible and transparent materials provide an important pathway for sharing both standard geospatial analysis workflows and advanced research methods. Computational notebooks allow users to share live code with in‐line visu...

In spite of increasing point density and accuracy, airborne lidar point clouds often exhibit point density variations. Some of these density variations indicate issues with point clouds, potentially leading to errors in derived products. To highlight these issues, we provide an overview of point density variations and show examples in six airborne...

Models that are both spatially and temporally dynamic are needed to forecast where and when non-native pests and pathogens are likely to spread, to provide advance information for natural resource managers. The potential US range of the invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF, Lycorma delicatula) has been modeled, but until now, when it could reach the We...

As rapid urbanization occurs in cities worldwide, the importance of maintaining updated digital elevation models (DEM) will continue to increase. However, due to the cost of generating high-resolution DEM over large spatial extents, the temporal resolution of DEMs is coarse in many regions. Low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) and DEM data fusio...

https://wenzeslaus.github.io/grass-gis-talks/foss4g2021.html GRASS GIS is a well established, all-in-one geospatial number cruncher with Python interface, command line, and GUI. This talk will give an overview of new additions and highlight latest updates in version 7.8 and new major version 8.0. Major updates in 7.8 include Python 3 support, tran...

https://veroandreo.github.io/grass-gis-talks/wageningen2021.html

Ecological forecasts will be best suited to inform intervention strategies if they are accessible to a diversity of decision‐makers. Researchers are developing intuitive forecasting interfaces to guide stakeholders through the development of intervention strategies and visualization of results. Yet, few studies to date have evaluated how user inter...

Ecological forecasting has vast potential to support environmental decision making with repeated, testable predictions across management‐relevant timescales and locations. Yet resource managers rarely use co‐designed forecasting systems or embed them in decision making. Although prediction of planned management outcomes is particularly important fo...

Open source geospatial software is now ubiquitous – it is used and supported across industries, in government agencies, as well as research institutions and academia. This entry describes general principles of open source software development and provides an overview of the development platforms and tools. Specific focus is on the Open Source Geosp...

Preliminary results of CONUS extent urban growth projections

Recent advancements in mobile sensing and wearable technologies create new opportunities to improve our understanding of how people experience their environment. This understanding can inform urban design decisions. Currently, an important urban design issue is the adaptation of infrastructure to increasing cycle and e-bike use. Using data collecte...

Spatio-temporal simulations are becoming essential tools for decision makers when forecasting future conditions and evaluating effectiveness of alternative decision scenarios. However, lack of interactive steering capabilities limits the value of advanced stochastic simulations for research and practice. To address this gap we identified conceptual...

Visual characteristics of urban environments influence human perception and behavior, including choices for living, recreation and modes of transportation. Although geospatial visualizations hold great potential to better inform urban planning and design, computational methods are lacking to realistically measure and model urban and parkland viewsc...

Up to date geospatial data provide the foundation for the development of smart and connected communities. While high-resolution 2D imagery is becoming widely available at less than monthly intervals and several infrastructure layers (e.g., roads, building footprints) are updated on a continuous basis, digital surface models (DSM) are generated less...

Accurate information on the number and distribution of pedestrians in space and time helps urban planners maintain current city infrastructure and design better public spaces for local residents and visitors. Previous studies have demonstrated that using webcams together with crowdsourcing platforms to locate pedestrians in the captured images is a...

Low-density exurban development represents a unique form of landscape change motivated by aesthetics and individual choice, whether driven by perceptions of beauty or more broadly as worldviews expressed through outward appearance and actions. However, little is known about how individual preferences for new home sites manifest in landscape pattern...

Increasing population and rural to urban migration are accelerating urbanization globally, permanently transforming natural systems over large extents. Modelling landscape change over large regions, however, presents particular challenges due to local-scale variations in social and environmental factors that drive land change. We simulated urban de...

While there are numerical landscape evolution models that simulate how steady-state flows of water and sediment reshape topography over long periods of time, r.sim.terrain is the first to simulate short-term topographic change for both steady-state and dynamic flow regimes across a range of spatial scales. This free and open-source Geographic Infor...

Epidemiological models are powerful tools for evaluating scenarios and visualizing patterns of disease spread, especially when comparing intervention strategies. However, the technical skill required to synthesize and operate computational models frequently renders them beyond the command of the stakeholders who are most impacted by the results. Pa...

While there are numerical landscape evolution models that simulate how steady state flows of water and sediment reshape topography over long periods of time, r.sim.terrain is the first to simulate short-term topographic change for both steady state and dynamic flow regimes across a range of spatial scales. This free and open source, GIS-based topog...

Tangible Landscape works with many types of physical 3D models. When used to sculpt topography the physical model should be built of a malleable material such as sand or clay so that users can easily deform the surface. When used for object recognition the physical model can be built of a rigid material such as a wood product, foam, plastic, or res...

The setup of the Tangible Landscape system consists of four primary components: (a) a physical model that can be modified by a user, (b) a 3D scanner, (c) a projector, and (d) a computer installed with GRASS GIS for geospatial modeling and additional software that connects all the components together. The physical model, placed on a table, is scann...

People’s perception and experience of landscape plays a critical role in the social construction of these spaces—in how individuals and societies understand, value, and use landscapes. Perception and experience should, therefore, be an integral part of environmental modeling and geodesign. With the natural interaction afforded by Tangible Landscape...

Forest fires, whether naturally occurring or prescribed, are potential risks for ecosystems and human settlements. These risks can be managed by monitoring the weather, prescribing fires to limit available fuel, and creating firebreaks. With computer simulations we can predict and explore how fires may spread. We can explore scenarios and test diff...

Tangible Landscape allows us to explore the spatial patterns of topographic parameters and their relation to basic surface geometry. We can analyze the topography of a landscape model and how it changes by continually 3D scanning the model and computing DEMs from the scanned point clouds using binning or interpolation. By computing basic topographi...

Overland water flow can detach exposed soil and transport it over large distances, leading to soil loss and sediment deposition across landscape. Soil erosion can be effectively controlled by modifying topography to reduce concentrated overland flow or by planting vegetation to reduce soil detachment and transport. We used Tangible Landscape to ana...

Viewshed (visibility) analysis is used in many different fields for both practical and aesthetic applications. It can play an important role when planning new buildings or roads especially in urban settings where obstructed views may raise safety concerns. In recreation areas views of beautiful landscapes are highly valued and protected with great...

In this chapter we discuss how to simulate inundation and flooding in coastal landscapes, explain workflows for developing storm surge and sea level rise scenarios, and present two case studies. The first case study explores storm surge and dune breach impacts for two populated barrier islands. One of these studies is designed as a simple education...

The topography of the Earth’s surface controls the flow of water and mass over the landscape. Modifications to the surface geometry of the land redirect water and mass flows influencing ecosystems, crop growth, the built environment, and many other phenomena dependent on water. We used Tangible Landscape to explore the relationship between overland...

In this chapter we demonstrate how tangible geospatial modeling can be coupled with virtual reality as a tangible immersive environment for landscape design. In a tangible immersive environment spatial scientists and landscape architects can rapidly, collaboratively design new landscapes balancing aesthetic and environmental factors. As a case stud...

Solar radiation (insolation) is the primary driving force for Earth’s atmospheric, biophysical, and hydrologic processes. Knowing the amount of radiation at different geographic locations at different times is therefore necessary in many fields including energy production, agriculture, meteorology, ecology, and urban planning. In this case study we...

Geospatial models require various types of spatial data inputs, often with different attributes and geometries (i.e. continuous surfaces, points, lines, or polygons). To enable a broad range of applications, while keeping interactions tangible and intuitive, we use tangible objects such as wooden markers, wooden blocks, colored sand, and colored fe...

The design of a walking or hiking trail is based on fine scale topographic conditions and varied criteria specific to the particular context such as aesthetics, views, construction cost, and environmental sensitivity. As a result trail planning is typically a product of expert knowledge, field surveys, and creative design decisions—often made on si...

This paper presents novel and effective methods for teaching about topography–or shape of terrain–and assessing 3-dimensional spatial learning using tangibles. We used Tangible Landscape–a tangible interface for geospatial modeling–to teach multiple hands-on tangible lessons on the concepts of grading (i.e., earthwork), geomorphology, and hydrology...

We present Tangible Landscape-a technology for rapidly and intuitively designing landscapes informed by geospatial modeling, analysis, and simulation. Tangible Landscape is a tangible interface powered by a geographic information system that gives 3D spatial data an interactive, physical form so that users can naturally sense and shape it. It coupl...

This book provides an overview of the latest developments in the fast growing field of tangible user interfaces. It presents a new type of modeling environment where the users interact with geospatial data and simulations using 3D physical landscape model coupled with 3D rendering engine. Multiple users can modify the physical model, while it is be...

Open science uses open source to deal with reproducibility challenges in data and computational sciences. However, just using open source software or making the code public does not make the research reproducible. Moreover, the scientists face the challenge of learning new unfamiliar tools and workflows. In this contribution, we will look at a grad...

We developed and tested a new method for teaching hydrology, geomorphology, and grading using Tangible Landscape—a tangible interface for geospatial modeling.

This poster demonstrate a multi-method approach for modeling viewscapes for urban environments using LiDAR data and Immersive Geovisualization. We develop a viewscape model for an urban park based on a high-resolution LiDAR sourced DSM with improved vegetation visibility and a detailed landcover obtained from high-resolution multi-spectral imagery....

We introduce tangible immersion – virtual reality coupled with tangible interaction – to foster inter-disciplinary collaboration in a critical, yet creative design process. Integrating tangible, embodied interaction with geospatial modeling and immersive virtual environments (IVE) can make 3D modeling fast and natural, while enhancing it with reali...

Viewscapes are the visible portions of a landscape that create a visual connection between a human observer and their 3-dimensional surroundings. However, most large area line-of-sight studies have modeled viewscapes using bare-earth digital elevation models, which exclude the 3-D elements of built and natural environments needed to comprehensively...

This research is the very first attempts in describing social behavior of visitors in urban plazas using webcam data.

ICC conference abstract

Managing landscape-scale environmental problems, such as biological invasions, can be facilitated by integrating realistic geospatial models with user-friendly interfaces that stakeholders can use to make critical management decisions. However, gaps between scientific theory and application have typically limited opportunities for model-based knowl...

Remote sensing is one of the most important tools in ecology and conservation for an effective monitoring of ecosystems in space and time. Hence, a proper training is crucial for developing effective conservation practices based on remote sensing data. In this paper we aim to highlight the potential of open-access data and open-source software and...

Background New technologies for terrain reconstruction have increased the availability of topographic data at a broad range of resolutions and spatial extents. The existing digital elevation models (DEMs) can now be updated at a low cost in selected study areas with newer, often higher resolution data using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) or terrestr...

ContextExpansion of urban settlements has caused observed declines in ecosystem services (ES) globally, further stressing the need for informed urban development and policies. Incorporating ES concepts into the decision making process has been shown to support resilient and functional ecosystems. Coupling land change and ES models allows for insigh...

Tangible Landscape is a tangible interface for geographic information systems (GIS). It interactively couples physical and digital models of a landscape so that users can intuitively explore, model, and analyze geospatial data in a col-laborative environment. Conceptually Tangible Landscape lets users hold a GIS in their hands so that they can feel...

Today’s methods of acquiring Earth surface data, namely lidar and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery, non-selectively collect or generate large amounts of points. Point clouds from different sources vary in their properties such as number of returns, density, or quality. We present a set of tools with applications for different types of points c...

Spatial patterns of land use change due to urbanization and its impact on the landscape are the subject of ongoing research. Urban growth scenario simulation is a powerful tool for exploring these impacts and empowering planners to make informed decisions. We present FUTURES (FUTure Urban – Regional Environment Simulation) – a patch-based, stochast...

Complex spatial forms like topography can be challenging to understand, much less intentionally shape, given the heavy cognitive load of visualizing and manipulating 3D form. Spatiotemporal processes like the flow of water over a landscape are even more challenging to understand and intentionally direct as they are dependent upon their context and...

With the advent of the innovative techniques for generating high temporal and spatial resolution terrain models from Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) imagery, it has become possible to precisely map overland flow patterns. Furthermore, the process has become more affordable and efficient through the coupling of small UAS (sUAS) that are easily deploye...

Good estimates of ecosystem complexity are essential for a number of ecological tasks: from biodiversity estimation, to forest structure variable retrieval, to feature extraction by edge detection and generation of multifractal surface as neutral models for e.g. feature change assessment. Hence, measuring ecological complexity over space becomes cr...

Tangible Landscape works with many types of physical 3D models. When used as a continuous shape display the physical model should be built of a malleable material such as sand, clay, or wax so that users can easily deform the surface. When used for object recognition the physical model can be built of a rigid material such as a wood product, plasti...

Tangible Landscape allows us to explore the spatial patterns of topographic parameters and their relation to basic surface geometry. We can easily sculpt a physical model of a landscape with our hands changing its topography. With Tangible Landscape we can analyze the topography of a landscape model and how it changes by continually 3D scanning the...

Viewshed (visibility) analysis is used in many different fields for both practical and aesthetic applications. It can play an important role when planning new buildings or roads especially in urban settings where obstructed views may raise safety concerns. In recreation areas views of beautiful landscapes are highly valued and protected with great...

The design of a walking or hiking trail is based on fine scale topographic conditions and varied criteria specific to the particular context such as aesthetics, views, construction cost, and environmental sensitivity. As a result trail planning is typically a product of expert knowledge, field surveys, and creative design decisions—often made on si...

Solar radiation (insolation) is the primary driving force for Earth’s atmospheric, biophysical, and hydrologic processes. Knowing the amount of radiation at different geographic locations at different times is therefore necessary in many fields including energy production, agriculture, meteorology, ecology, and urban planning. In this case study we...

Forest fires, whether naturally occurring or prescribed, are potential risks for ecosystems and human settlements. These risks can be managed by monitoring the weather, prescribing fires to limit available fuel, and creating firebreaks. With computer simulations we can predict and explore how fires may spread. We can explore scenarios and test diff...

In this chapter we discuss how to simulate inundation and flooding in coastal landscapes, explain workflows for developing storm surge and sea level rise scenarios, and present two case studies. The first case study is a series of storm surge and dune breach scenarios for a populated barrier island. The second is a design—informed by flood and eros...

The setup of the Tangible Landscape system consists of four primary components: (a) a physical model that can be modified by a user, (b) a 3D scanner, (c) a projector, and (d) a computer installed with GRASS GIS for geospatial modeling and additional software that connects all the components together. The physical model, placed on a table, is scann...

The topography of the Earth’s surface controls the flow of water and mass over the landscape. Modifications to the surface geometry of the land redirect water and mass flows influencing ecosystems, crop growth, the built environment, and many other phenomena dependent on water and soil. We used Tangible Landscape to explore the relationship between...

While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities' educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since...

Geographical Information System (GIS) is known for its capacity to spatially enhance the management of natural resources. While being often used as an analytical tool, it also represents a collaborative scientific platform to develop new algorithms. Thus, it is critical that GIS software as well as the algorithms are open and accessible to anybody...