Final Exam/Project, March 9, 2001

…posted on the class website by 5:00 pm, Friday, March 9^th, and must be completed by 5:00 pm, Sunday, March 16th. The exam/project can be done in teams of up to four members—one write-up per group, submitted as a Word document. Your report is expected to be high-quality and professional with title page for each of the two questions, statement of the problem, through discussion and embedded figures to describe how you completed each phase of the questions. BE SURE to summarize the input maps, processing operation and output map values at each step. Also, display the output maps in the best representative form (data type, display type and color pallet), complete with figure number/caption and reference to the figure in the discussion text.

Team members: _____________________________________________

(40 points) Question 1 – Wildfire Response Model

The above flowchart identifies the processing flow for calculating Wildfire Response using MapCalc with the Tutor25 database. Create and implement a script that solves for response–time considering the following steps…

Step 1) The “on-road travel” step calibrates the Roads map as ASSIGNING 10 TO 1 ASSIGNING 5 TO 2 ASSIGNING 2 TO 3 ASSIGNING 1 TO 4 ASSIGNING 5 TO 5 ASSIGNING 15 TO 21 THRU 43…with the base unit of effective distance as 1= .1 minute

Step 2) The “off-road relative barriers” step considers the relative ease of travel depending on the slope and cover type present where,

…the slope map is calibrated as ASSIGNING 1 TO 0 THRU 10 ASSIGNING 2 TO 10 THRU 30 ASSIGNING 3 TO 30 THRU 65

…covertype (tens digit) and slope_classes (one’s digit) are combined into a 2-digit code

…then calibrate the combined map as ASSIGNING 0 TO 11 ASSIGNING 0 TO 12 ASSIGNING 0 TO 13 ASSIGNING 15 TO 21 ASSIGNING 20 TO 22 ASSIGNING 25 TO 23 ASSIGNING 20 TO 31 ASSIGNING 30 TO 32

Step 3) The “off-road absolute barriers” step identifies locations that the response vehicle cannot go where,

…the water map is calibrated as ASSIGNING 1 TO 0 THRU 1 ASSIGNING 0 TO 2 THRU 8

…the slope map is calibrated as ASSIGNING 1 TO 0 THRU 50 ASSIGNING 0 TO 50 THRU 65

Step 4) The “off-road travel” step uses binary mathematics to set the no-go areas to zero while retaining the relative barriers to travel for accessible areas

Step 5) The “combine on/off-road travel” step uses a point by point overlay technique to update (replace) the off-road information for the areas with on road impedance information

Step 6) The “calculate response-time” step determines the effective proximity from the ranch to all locations in the project area

If the base-unit of effective proximity is .1 minute, how far away is the farthest accessible location?

How far away in minutes is location Column= 15, Row= 14?

What portion of the map area is within a 18-minute response time?

Considering the eight cells around location Column= 15, Row= 14, which (N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW given that N is at the top of the 2D Map) would be the first step on the quickest route between the ranch and that location? What would be the next step?

Identify and briefly discuss at least two extensions to the Fire-response model that you could add to improve the model.

Turn-in your MapCalc script with embedded “Notes” at the beginning of each set submodel commands (Fire_response.scr).

(60 points) Question 2 – Wildfire Risk Model

Wildfire Risk is dependent on three factors— Fuel Loading, Detection Period and Crew Response. Based on the considerations identified below, derive a fire risk map using YOUR OWN calibration assumptions.

Include a flowchart of your solution…color-coded by the three submodels and containing map names for the boxes AND MapCalc operations perpendicular to the lines.

Embed maps as appropriate and clearly state your assumptions in the discussion of the procedures and results.

Part A, Fuel Loading Submodel— Fuel Loading is dependent on two factors, TERRAIN and COVERTYPE conditions…

ü Terrain Conditions— fuel drying on steep southern slopes identify the highest indices, while north-facing slopes identify the lowest.

ü Cover Type Conditions-- update the terrain conditions index you just created for areas that are meadow assuming that they have half the fuel on the ground (0.5) as the forested locations (1.0) and open water as none at all (0.0).

…generate a Fuel Loading map containing index values from 0 to 9 (0=open water; 1= lowest; 9=highest fuel loading risk) .

Part B, Detection Risk Submodel— detection risk is dependent on the visual exposure to areas with high human surveillance…

ü Visual Exposure— fire locations visually connected to houses and roads are likely to be seen early, while those with less visual exposure are less likely.

…generate a Detection Risk map containing index values from 1 to 9 (1=lowest; 9=highest visual detection risk) .

Part C, Overall Fire Risk submodel— combines all three considerations (Loading, Detection and Response)…

ü Response-Time— calibrate your response-time map created in the previous question into an response-time index from 1 to 9 (1=lowest; 9=highest response-time risk).

ü Overall Fire Risk— generate an overall fire risk map by weight-averaging such that Fuel Loading is five (5) times as important and Response-Time is three (3) times as important as Visual Detection (1). Be sure to mask the open water areas to zero.

What is the overall fire-risk at location Column= 15, Row= 14?

What portion of the map area has an overall fire-risk index greater than five?

Identify and briefly discuss at least two extensions to the Fire-risk model that you could add to improve the model.

Turn-in your MapCalc script with embedded “Note” at the beginning of each set submodel commands (Fire_risk.scr).

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An example overall FireRisk_Index map based on instructor assumptions, calibrations and weights. Your FireRisk map will be similar, but not identical. Note that open water locations are set to zero and the overall FireRisk index ranges from 1 (low) to 9 (high).