Wilderness 3a: The Bulgaria analysis

I visited Bulgaria in December 2014. Based on discussions with BBF while contributing to their GIS training I decided to do a national wilderness analysis for Bulgaria. The Bulgaria analysis was done using OpenStreetMap data.

The above map is based on publicly available vector data from the OpenStreetMap-project covering Bulgaria. A wilderness analysis based on insufficient data will only represent a map of more or less mapped areas. In this case the basis for the analysis is decent. There will still be many errors.

The analysis has not in any way been sanctioned by Bulgarian authorities. But then again, why should it be? A map like this could be made by anyone having access to encroachment data and the tools to do the analysis.

The criteria used to map the wilderness areas based on OpenStreetMap in Bulgaria is as follows:

  • Roads: primary, secondary, tertiary, unclassified, motorway, trunk
  • Land use: industrial, reservoir, military, farmland, residential, orchard, commercial, quarry, farmland and salt_pond
  • Railways
  • Waterways: canal

The choice of data representing encroachments is highly subjective. A Bulgarian might have a completely different view of what qualifies as encroachment. And based on this one might establish a constructive dialogue on land use issues.

Wilderness 3b: The Guinea analysis

The map in this posting is the results of a calculation of wilderness based on methods discussed earlier in this series using OpenStreetMap data for Guinea.

One of the reasons why I choose Guinea for a wilderness analysis is that I do not know the country. I have not worked with anyone in the conservation scene in Guinea. I barely know the geography of the country. Guinea did however seem to have a decent OSM coverage. It has also had a lot of focus lately due to the ebola virus.  Continue reading

Wilderness 2: A practical approach to wilderness analysis using FME

Psalter World Map ca 1265

Psalter World Map ca 1265

In a former posting I discussed how wilderness is not only about politics, religion, philosophy and legal instruments. Unless we force it into a practical context, the term “wilderness” remains an intangible size. Geographers have a long history for making representations of the intangible – be it disease (John Snow), social justice and injustice, demography and more. To my knowledge one of the first impressions of wilderness or “the wild” is what we can find in some older maps. “Hic sunt dracones” (here be dragons) is an expression which can be found on the “Hunt-Lenox Globe” (c. 1503–07). Other maps bear similar indications of uncharted or remote areas. We, the geographers, have moved on. Today we paint our dragons in more sophisticated ways.

The use of technology to “find” or delimit wilderness has a long history in Norway and other countries. I will continue this tradition and do an analysis which in many ways is similar to those done in Norway. The encroachment types will be slightly different. So will the technology used to do the analysis.

In this posting I will look at how FME can be used to establish a wilderness areas data set. The results will be presented in a separate posting.

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Wilderness 1: What is wilderness?

wilderness_smallAny analysis of wilderness areas will be based on an understanding of environmental, philosophical, religious, human and political factors. In Norway this understanding has over the years led to a categorization of wilderness into different area classes based on distance to defined encroachments. Roads, railways, towers, and more represent encroachments in the context of wilderness.

Through a couple of blog posts I will look more broadly at terrestrial wilderness analysis using different GIS tools. The tools this time will be FME desktop, QGIS and Geonode. I will present methods for generating a wilderness layer and visualization. I will also present tools for analyzing changes in wilderness status based on new encroachments. The work will be done in collaboration with Tanzania Conservation Resource Centre which allowed me to use their FME license for this work.

Regreational road in Serengeti, June 2006.

Recreational road/track in Serengeti, June 2006. (photo: Ragnvald Larsen)

The term wilderness deserves more than a flat technical consideration. In my view our definition of wilderness also defines us as humans – for better and worse. In this posting, the first in this series, I will focus on the more philosophical side of the term wilderness. I did however choose to be a geographer and not a philosopher, so bear with me… Had I chosen to be a philosopher it would probably have been a lousy one – I hope I am a better geographer.

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QDGC-files updated

qdgc_logoThe Quarter Degree Grid Cells (QDGC) data set has been updated. It is well over a year since last time. Some errors in the current release has made this necessary.

One of the things which kept me from doing the update was the rather complicated python-scripts combined with using the arcpy-library. The whole process was in it self complex. I dreaded sticking my head down into the python/arcpy/manual processing soup.

Through the last year or so I have started using FME more and more. Once you know a tool well you start thinking – what if… So I thought – what  if I instead of going one more round with python and arcpy tried solving this challenge using FME? Continue reading

Uganda QGIS and remote sensing workshop

qgisThis week I had the privilege of coordinating a workshop on QGIS and remote sensing in Kampala, Uganda. Our trainers were Thomas Ballatore and Shane Bradt. We were very pleased with their walkthroughs and presentations of crucial software and plugins. The training is part of the Norwegian Oil for Development Program.

The focus was of course QGIS. But to be hones BEAM Visat was a real eye-opener. Yes, I have been introduced to the software while working in an expert group on satellite imagery. We earlier this year concluded a report for the Norwegian Space Centre where BEAM Visat was mentioned as one of several crucial components for handling remote sensing data. But – the workshop provided an applied context which gave me a whole new perspective to both software and methods.

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Droner i natur- og miljøforvaltningen

IMG_0013Hvordan kan droner benyttes som verktøy i forbindelse med kartlegging og overvåking knyttet til natur- og miljøforvaltning? Fins det områder hvor droner kan gi ny kunnskap? Kan bruk av droner effektivisere eksisterende metoder?

Gjennom sommeren kommer jeg til å gjøre en del utprøving av mulighetene for kartlegging ved bruk av droner. Innsamlingen av bilder skjer med privat utstyr på fritiden.  Continue reading