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Lab 8 Questions

A cost distance raster is a tool used in geographic analysis to assign values to various factors that affect travel efficiency, such as terrain and obstacles, allowing for the calculation of the least costly route between two points. The raster model is preferred over vector data because it represents continuous data as a grid, enabling the assignment of specific costs to each pixel, which is essential for comprehensive route analysis. Input variables can be both categorical and continuous, and transforming these layers ensures they share a common scale for accurate analysis.

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2 views2 pages

Lab 8 Questions

A cost distance raster is a tool used in geographic analysis to assign values to various factors that affect travel efficiency, such as terrain and obstacles, allowing for the calculation of the least costly route between two points. The raster model is preferred over vector data because it represents continuous data as a grid, enabling the assignment of specific costs to each pixel, which is essential for comprehensive route analysis. Input variables can be both categorical and continuous, and transforming these layers ensures they share a common scale for accurate analysis.

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ldowney
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Explain in your own words (a short paragraph) what a cost distance raster is.

Refer to the
two articles linked in the tutorial (Distance Analysis Simplified and Determining how
distance is encountered by the traveler) to inform your explanation and articulate it
succinctly.

When traveling between two points, on a map, it appears that the fastest and easiest way to get
from one to another is a straight line. However, in real life, there are often many obstacles and
variables preventing this from happening. Each variable—difficult terrain cover, barriers like
private property, elevation gain—poses a certain cost to the traveler, and affects the efficiency of
the trek. A cost distance raster assigns a value (from least costly to most costly) to each aspect of
these factors, which is then used to calculate the least costly route from one point to another by
following the lowest value raster cells.

Why do you think the input layers we used today and the cost distance layers are all
raster? Why is the raster model better suited for this kind of analysis than using vector
(e.g. polygon) layers?

Vector data is used to represent discrete features, like lakes, so it would only show very obvious
tangible obstacles to a route (ones that are represented by polygons and lines). That would be
useful for knowing where to avoid roads, buildings, and other features, but not useful for
everything that could pose a cost to the traveler. Since raster data represents data as a continuous
grid of pixels, you can assign a specific cost to each pixel. This makes it easy to calculate a route
that follows a specific series of pixels.

Which of the input variables were categorical (or discrete), and which were continuous?
Why was it important to “transform” the input layers, as the tutorial described in the
beginning of the section, Generate cost surface before creating the costs surface layer?

Terrain ruggedness and distance to roads were continuous variables, and land cover and
protected status were categorical. It was important to transform the input layers so that all of
them shared a common scale, because categorical variables have a different scale than
continuous ones. Categorical variables are best displayed as vector data, but every layer had to
be translated to raster data for consistency, hence the transformation.

Think of some other question to which you could apply the analysis in this lab. What other
things move or migrate - animals, plants, or even people in our vehicles - across the
landscape. Could this methodology be used to analyze those? Pick a specific one and
brainstorm 3 to 5 input variables that might be relevant in creating a reasonable cost
surface – or on the flip side, determining suitability for that entity to inhabit or move
across the landscape?
If you were taking a road trip from the east coast to the west coast, like from New York City to
San Francisco, you would want to find the optimal route to get there both for gas efficiency and
for enjoyability. If I used the analysis in this lab to try and find the lowest cost path from NYC to
SF, I would use three input variables:
1. Traffic: Some interstates are much more heavily traveled than others and would increase
your risk of running into traffic, so I would use data about traffic density for one input
layer.
2. Elevation gain: I find it’s more fun to drive roads that vary in elevation, because driving
in very flat areas is not as enjoyable as driving through mountains. I would use an
elevation input layer to find a route with a lot of variation in elevation: for instance, I
would rather take I-70 because it goes through the Rockies, rather than I-80 which
bypasses them and is known for long flat stretches.
3. Gas prices: I would use data about average gas cost at gas stations in major cities and
different states to try and find the route that would cost me the least. For instance, I
would want to drive through states like Tennessee and Texas, which are known for lower
gas prices compared to more Northern states.

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