becmodel

Background

The Large Scale Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification Process generates biogeoclimatic ecosystem classifications for subzones/variants at a TRIM 1:20,000 scale.

Installation

Install with conda

Installation is generally easiest with conda. See this guide for how to install on a GTS Windows server.

Install with pip

Alternatively, install with pip if you are comfortable with managing your Python environment yourself. Installation to a virtual environment will be something like this:

    virtualenv becmodelvenv
    source becmodelven/bin/activate
    git clone https://github.com/smnorris/becmodel.git
    cd becmodel
    pip install .

Note that if you are installing via pip on Windows, you will need to manually download and install the correct pre-compiled wheels for gdal, fiona and rasterio before installing becmodel.

Data Prep

Before running the script, prepare the required files listed below:

1. Rule polygons

A polygon layer where each polygon represents a unique combination of elevations rules for the occuring BGC units. The file must:

• be a format readable by fiona (ESRI FileGDB, Geopackage, ESRI Shapefile, GeoJSON, etc)

• include a polygon number attribute (both long name and short name are accepted):

    polygon_number | polygonnbr  : integer
  

All internal files and outputs are in the BC Albers (EPSG:3005) coordinate system, the tool will attempt to reproject the input rule polygons to BC Albers if the provided layer uses some other coordinate system.

See example rule polygon layer

2. Elevation table

A table (one of csv/xls/xlsx formats) with the following columns (in any order, case insensitive, short names also accepted where noted)

beclabel                     : string
cool_low                     : integer
cool_high                    : integer
neutral_low    | neut_low    : integer
neutral_high   | neut_high   : integer
warm_low                     : integer
warm_high                    : integer
polygon_number | polygonnbr  : integer

If using an Excel file, the elevation table data must be in the first worksheet, with header originating at Column A, Row 1 and data originating at Column A, Row 2.

See example elevation file

3. Configuration / initialization file

A text initialization file that defines the parameters for the model run, overriding the defaults. The file must include the [CONFIG] section header. The file may have any file name or extension - file extensions ini, cfg, txt are all valid. Note that the config file does not have to contain all parameters, you only need to include those where you do not wish to use the default values.

See example config file listing all configuration parameters.

4. bec_biogeoclimatic_catalogue.csv (optional)

If your project contains BEC labels/values not already in the provincial table in the BCGW (WHSE_FOREST_VEGETATION.BEC_BIOGEOCLIMATIC_CATALOGUE), define the new labels/values in this file. The source file is available to download via the DataBC Catalogue and a static version is included in becmodel/data/bec_biogeoclimatic_catalogue.csv. Modify the table as required if creating new labels/values. To use this file, you must define the becmaster key in your config file as the full path to this file on the system. For example, the config would look something like this:

becmaster = C:\projects\bec\custom_bec_master.csv

This file must:

• be in .csv format
• include these columns:
  • biogeoclimatic_catalogue_id
  • zone
  • subzone
  • variant
  • phase
• have beclabel values (combined zone/subzone/variant/phase) that are unique and contain all beclabels present in your elevation table

5. DEM (optional)

By default, the model downloads TRIM DEM data as geotiff from the bc_elevation_25m_bcalb in the BC Web Coverage Service (WCS) as needed. When necessary, it will also default to downloading DEM data outside of BC from the Mapzen terrain-tiles.

To use a custom DEM, add the dem key to your configuration file, with the full path to your custom DEM file as the value. Any raster file format supported by GDAL should work.

Custom DEM notes

becmodel does not check to see if the profile of the provided DEM matches the related keys in your config. Because all becmodel processing is based on the DEM, you should manually:

• ensure your DEM covers your area of interest plus config expand_bounds_metres
• resample your DEM to a resolution that matches config cell_size_metres
• reproject your DEM to BC Albers (EPSG:3005)
• align your DEM to the HectaresBC grid default

For example, see scripts/create_test_dem.sh.

Also note that if a DEM file is provided to becmodel config, becmodel will not attempt to download non-BC data from Mapzen terrain-tiles. If you require elevation data outside of BC, integrate it into your DEM before running the model.

Running the model

On GTS, open a Python Command Prompt window and activate the becenv conda environment:

(arcgispro-py3)> activate W:\FOR\VIC\HRE\Projects\Landscape\ProvBGC\CurrentWork\TestingNewBECmodel2019\becmodel\becenv

Consider navigating to your project folder, eg:

    (becenv)> W:
    (becenv)> cd W:\FOR\VIC\HRE\Projects\Landscape\ProvBGC\CurrentWork\TestingNewBECmodel2019\sample_projects\robson

Finally, run the becmodel script with the path to your config file as an argument to the script:

(becenv)> becmodel robson_mini.cfg
2019-10-30 12:27:27,399 becmodel.main INFO     Initializing BEC model v0.1.0dev0
2019-10-30 12:27:27,399 becmodel.main INFO     Loading config from file: robson_mini.cfg
2019-10-30 12:27:27,480 becmodel.util INFO     Input data is not specified as BC Albers, attempting to reproject
2019-10-30 12:27:27,659 becmodel.main INFO     Temp data are here: tempdata
2019-10-30 12:27:27,661 becmodel.main INFO     Downloading and processing DEM
2019-10-30 12:27:27,661 becmodel.main INFO     Bounds: 1341987.5 916287.5 1374787.5 938787.5
2019-10-30 12:27:32,280 becmodel.main INFO     Generating initial becvalue raster:
2019-10-30 12:27:32,655 becmodel.main INFO     Running majority filter
2019-10-30 12:27:32,812 becmodel.main INFO     Running noise removal filter
2019-10-30 12:27:32,976 becmodel.main INFO     Running high_elevation_removal_threshold on alpine
2019-10-30 12:27:33,021 becmodel.main INFO     Running high_elevation_removal_threshold on parkland
2019-10-30 12:27:33,065 becmodel.main INFO     Running high_elevation_removal_threshold on woodland
2019-10-30 12:27:33,606 becmodel.main INFO     QA files are here: tempdata
2019-10-30 12:27:33,687 becmodel.main INFO     Logging config to here: becmodel-config-log_2019-10-30T12-27-27.txt
2019-10-30 12:27:33,687 becmodel.main INFO     Output robson_mini.gpkg created

Temporary files are written to the folder specified by the temp_folder key in the config file. The script writes all configuration options used for the model run to a text file named: becmodel-config-log_<DATE>T<TIME>.txt

The script includes several options, becmodel --help lists them all:

(becenv)> becmodel --help
Usage: becmodel [OPTIONS] [CONFIG_FILE]

Options:
  -dr, --dry_run, --dry-run       Validate inputs - do not run model
  -l, --load                      Download input datasets - do not run model
  -o, --overwrite                 Overwrite any existing DEM, aspect, slope
                                  files
  -d, --discard-temp, --discard_temp
                                  Do not write temp files to disk
  -v, --verbose                   Increase verbosity.
  -q, --quiet                     Decrease verbosity.
  --help                          Show this message and exit.