| Forestry in the Third Dimension
Using World Construction Set in the forest landscape visualization
process in British Columbia, Canada
By Blair N. Allen A paradigm shift in terrain visualization software is causing a revolution in the British Columbia forest industry. Taking center stage is an extraordinarily powerful new terrain modeling and visualization tool called World Construction Set (WCS). This single program is rendering obsolete virtually all previous technology for producing landscape imagery.
The reason for this dramatic shift is due to the incredible number of functions in the program that were simply impossible to perform with older software. The program has the ability to quickly, easily, and economically produce remarkably realistic three-dimensional perspective view images of forested terrain that are indistinguishable from photographs.
Foremost among the new users is the British Columbia Ministry of Forests. They are currently in the process of installing the software throughout the province at both the regional and district levels. Most forestry consulting firms in the province are abandoning their existing image generation systems and switching to WCS because of its tremendous capabilities. Even forestry giants like MacMillan Bloedel, which have been slow to adapt to new technology in the past, now use World Construction Set on a daily basis. In the remote sensing arena, firms like PCI are using it to visualize forest cover maps that were updated using the Indian IRS-1C satellite 5.8-meter panchromatic imagery.
To understand why this new software is being greeted with such enthusiasm, one must first discover what major problems it has solved for the modern day forest industry in British Columbia.
Long gone are the days when logging companies had a license to clear-cut trees at will. Today in British Columbia, environmental concern about logging practices has become so vocal that strict regulations have been put in place to address these issues. Under the present Forest Practices Code, logging companies must now submit detailed designs for new clear-cuts that meet strict visual impact regulations before permission to begin logging will be given. In areas that are considered highly visually sensitive, only partial cutting techniques will be approved so that there will be no obvious alteration to the landscape. In all cases, each submission must include images from several different viewpoints that accurately show what the landscape will look like after the proposed logging is completed. If the proposals are deemed unacceptable, they must be re-designed and re-submitted.
The responsibility of preparing these images was placed squarely on the shoulders of the logging companies. In an attempt to address their needs, an entire consulting industry evolved to produce the required images. At last count there were well over 50 companies in British Columbia producing the images for the required visual impact assessments. The quality of the images produced depended on both the software used and the expertise of the company. Consultants that produced high quality images could charge in excess of (US) $10,000 for preparing a single proposal. With larger forest companies seeking annual permits for 20 or 30 new sites to log, the cost for producing the imagery required for the permits could amount to over a quarter million dollars per year. For the consulting industry, this was like having a license to print money. For the logging companies, this was the cost of doing business.
The central problem for the logging industry as a whole was the lack of simple, easy-to-use software that would allow them to quickly and economically produce the required imagery in-house. The logging companies had five main areas of concern. First, they needed to easily produce images of proposals that required them to use partial retention logging techniques. Second, they needed software that would allow them to quickly digitize proposed cut-blocks directly onto a computer generated perspective view of the landscape. Third was the need for a program to render species specific trees to make the images look as realistic as possible. Fourth was the need to interactively design and display realistic logging roads that could be cut directly into the terrain model. The fifth concern was the desire to use satellite imagery and aerial photography directly in the generation of up-to-date imagery. All of these problems simply evaporated when World Construction Set was introduced to the British Columbia forest industry earlier this year. Partial Retention
One of the biggest problems that WCS solved was quickly generating 3-Dimensional (3D) perspective view images of partial retention proposals. If a logging company was not permitted to clear-cut an area, they would have to resort to partial cutting techniques. The problem was in figuring out how to use existing GIS software to visually display in perspective view the maximum percentage of trees that could be removed while still making the alteration as visually acceptable as possible. To accomplish this, foresters now turn to World Construction Set. The user simply sets the tree density of the polygon in question to the proper value and renders the image. For example, if the surrounding area has a tree density of 300 stems per hectare and the user wants to see what it would look like with a fifty percent partial retention, the tree density property of the polygon is set to 150 stems per hectare. Since the introduction of WCS, the problem of producing images that require partial retention logging has become a non-issue. Perspective to Plan digitizing
Without a doubt, one of the most complex problems that WCS solved was the perspective to plan issue. The software has the ability to digitize a vector on screen in perspective view while it simultaneously draws the same vector on screen in planimetric view in another window. This unprecedented capability is saving foresters enormous amounts of time in designing visually effective cut-blocks. Prior to WCS, consultants had to use cumbersome GIS systems to draw proposed cut-block designs in plan view and then render an entire perspective image to see if the design had the desired shape. If it was the wrong shape, they had to repeat the process until they got it right. This was a very time consuming, repetitive and costly process. Now with WCS, foresters can digitize a proposed cut-block or logging road from any perspective view directly on-screen in a matter of seconds. For many forestry professionals, this feature alone has saved hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars in lost productivity. Species Specific Tree Images
For years, foresters have wished for a program that would populate the terrain with the actual species of trees found in that area. The individual tree species information has been available in digital forest cover data for years, but no system has been able to use that information for drawing realistic trees until now. In order to achieve this level of total realism, WCS solves the problem by using a built-in library of 24-bit, high resolution, true color scanned images of real trees. The trees are drawn onto the terrain in full color during the rendering process using a sophisticated three-dimensional shading technique. Foresters can populate the entire landscape or selected forest cover polygons with any combination of tree species, percentage composition, tree height and tree density. To achieve natural height diversity, the user can specify a minimum and maximum height range that will be used to draw each and every tree. These are just a few of the dozens of tree generation parameters which can be adjusted by the user. Road building
Another truly complex problem that WCS solved was in road building. The program has the ability to cut roads directly into the terrain model. By simply importing or digitizing a vector and assigning properties, a road will be created with whatever width, slopes, curves and surface attributes desired. WCS will integrate the road into the terrain where necessary and add fill where required. It is as close to the real thing as one can get. Each road can be chosen from a library of existing designs or created from scratch using a cross section profile editor. Any road can be assigned any one or a combination of surfaces such as gravel, dirt, grass, pavement, concrete etc. Users can even put yellow lines running down the middle of their highways if so desired. Foresters typically use the road building features to show what existing and proposed logging road networks will look like in their visual impact assessments and to bring the level of realism to an unprecedented new high. Like all other effects in WCS, the road effects can be created and stored in an effects library and can be re-used at any time in any other project. Satellite Imagery
One of the most advanced problems solved by WCS is its ability to use any satellite imagery or aerial photography to render perspective images fully populated with species specific trees. The satellite image or aerial photograph is first orthorectified, classified and then imported into WCS to be used as an indexed color map. A specific color or range of colors from the image can be assigned to a specific ecosystem such as water, ice, snow, bare ground, or any species or combination of species of trees. During rendering, when WCS finds a match between the range of color in the satellite image and the ecosystem color index, it will draw the specified ecosystem at that location. If the ecosystem happens to be a specific combination of tree species, then beautiful three-dimensional trees will be drawn. If the ecosystem is stratified rock then marvelous undulating rock strata will be drawn. If the ecosystem specified happens to be water, then the most realistic looking water imaginable with reflections of the terrain, trees, rocks and clouds will be drawn. This is infinitely superior to previous technology which simply draped the satellite image over the terrain. Although for users who still prefer it, WCS can do that too. GPS Ready
Some forestry firms are updating their forest cover maps by sending GPS equipped staff to walk the boundaries of their recently clear-cut areas. After differential correction is applied, the resulting vector polygons can be imported into WCS and then perspective view images can be generated. Techniques like this can provide images of logging in progress and help to avoid overstepping the boundaries of the visual impact regulations. This is just one of the dozens of tremendously powerful ways to use GPS data with WCS. 3-D Objects
Although it is not a requirement of the forest industry now, the reader may be interested to know that WCS has the ability to place three-dimensional objects such as houses, power poles, cars, hydro sub-stations or even entire neighborhoods anywhere on the terrain. As such, the usefulness of the program goes far beyond the boundaries of the forest industry. It extends into virtually any industry where perspective view images that include man-made objects are required to assess proposed alterations to the landscape. The reader is encouraged to visit the author's web site at www.visualsimulations.com to see more forestry images and learn about how World Construction Set is used in other industries. Conclusion
World Construction Set has been able to solve every image generation problem that has faced the logging industry in British Columbia. With this software now an integral part of their own GIS departments, logging companies will be able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by creating their own in-house imagery. For smaller logging companies that do not have their own GIS departments or still wish to contract the work, there are increasing numbers of progressive forestry consulting firms which have adopted WCS and can create the imagery for them. The firms that do not incorporate this new technology will simply not be able to compete with WCS generated imagery using what is seen by comparison as ancient technology. About the Author:
Blair N. Allen is the founder and CEO of Visual Simulations Group Ltd. His firm specializes in producing terrain animation for governments and industry around the world. He is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts in the world in the technical use of World Construction Set. He can be contacted by phone at: (250) 656-0256 or by e-mail: [email protected] Back |
